Dr. Demento
Comedy rock, Musical Artist
1941 –
Who is Dr. Demento?
Barret Eugene "Barry" Hansen, better known as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present.
Hansen created the Demento persona in 1970 while working at Los Angeles station KPPC-FM. After Hansen played "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on the radio, DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play that. Thereafter, the name stuck. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and from 1978 to 1992 was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Network. Broadcast syndication of the show ended on June 6, 2010, but the show continues to be produced weekly in an online version.
Hansen has a degree in ethnomusicology, and has written magazine articles and liner notes on recording artists outside of the novelty genre. He is credited with introducing new generations of listeners to artists of the early and middle 20th century whom they may not have otherwise discovered, such as Haywire Mac, Spike Jones, Benny Bell, Yogi Yorgesson, and Tom Lehrer, as well as with bringing parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic to national attention.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Apr 2, 1941
Minneapolis - Also known as
- Barret Hansen
- Demento, Dr.
- Barret Eugene Hansen
- Barry Hansen
- Doctor Demento
- Spouses
- Sue Hansen
(1983 - )
- Sue Hansen
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Reed College
( - 1963)
- Lived in
- Minnesota
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Dr. Demento." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/dr_demento>.
Discuss this Dr. Demento biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In