Line #18 Creator/DrDemento


1	[[quoteright:343:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dr_Demento_9513.jpg]]
2
3	->''The doctor is in!''
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5	Dr. Demento (AKA Barret Eugene Hansen, born April 2, 1941) is a disc jockey and ethnomusicologist who achieved fame and/or infamy with his long-running syndicated radio program which features strange and bizarre novelty tunes of every type and description. Along with reviving popular interest in performers such as Music/SpikeJones and Music/TomLehrer, he introduced Music/WeirdAlYankovic to the world, which is pretty much a lifetime achievement in itself. Other performers often associated with his show include Music/DaYoopers, Music/NapoleonXIV, Music/TroutFishingInAmerica, Music/IvorBiggun, and Music/TheGreatLukeSki.
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7	The show continues to air weekly via the Internet, and can be found [[http://www.drdemento.com here.]]
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9	He is [[NoodleIncident reportedly]] one of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson's]] [[SitcomArchnemesis arch-enemies.]] Off the air, he has an extensive knowledge of music history, and has written articles, essays, and liner notes on a wide variety of music subjects. A fictitious version of Demento appears in ''Film/WeirdTheAlYankovicStory'' portrayed by Creator/RainnWilson.
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12	!!Tropes associated with the good Doctor:
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14	* AlliterativeName: Not just his own on-air name, but his crew of regulars mostly had alliterative nicknames too (Whimsical Will, Musical Mike, Jovial Joan, etc.).
15	* AntiChristmasSong: He usually devotes all of December to holiday music and these make up the majority of the playlists.
16	* BlackComedy: A staple of the show, exemplified by one of the two all-time most requested songs, "Dead Puppies (Aren't Much Fun)" by Ogden Edsl.[[note]]"Fish Heads" by Barnes & Barnes is the other one. They've been in a close race for the most-requested song since they both debuted on the show in 1978, with "Dead Puppies" holding the title in TheEighties and TheNineties, but "Fish Heads" overtaking it after that[[/note]] Usually with a good helping of LyricalDissonance to boot.
17	* {{Bowdlerise}}: He tends to SoundEffectBleep out naughty words on his broadcasts, including an epic version of Creator/GeorgeCarlin's [[SevenDirtyWords "seven dirty words"]] routine with a different effect for each word.
18	* TheCameo:
19	** Often turns up in Music/WeirdAlYankovic videos:
20	*** He's one of the TV operators in the video for "I Lost On Jeopardy".
21	*** At the 1:10 mark in the "I Love Rocky Road" video, he appears behind the cash register for a couple of seconds as a cashier.
22	*** He stands in for Creator/AllenGinsberg in Weird Al's "Bob" (which reproduces the video for [[Music/BringingItAllBackHome "Subterranean Homesick Blues"]]).
23	*** He's an audience member in ''Film/{{UHF}}'' who gets whipped cream sprayed into his mouth by Stanley.
24	** Has a small role in the video for "Fish Heads" by Barnes & Barnes (which was directed by and starred Creator/BillPaxton).
25	* ChristmasInJuly: Typically he'll devote a show to Christmas music sometime in July.
26	* EarlyBirdCameo: On the April 18, 1976 national show he played a home-recorded jingle called [[Music/JesusChristSuperstar "Dr. D Superstar"]] sent to him by a high school kid who listened to his LA show, [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic Alfred Yankovic]].
27	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In his earliest shows he only played a few novelty records here and there but when he realized those songs were getting the most response from his listeners he decided to devote the majority of his show to them.
28	* IncomingHam: The classic, very loud open to his show, where he shouts "WIND UP YOUR RADIOS!!"
29	%%* InnocentInnuendo
30	* InsistentTerminology: He uses "funny music" for the name of the genre he plays, rather than "novelty songs", feeling that the latter term is demeaning and not very descriptive.
31	* {{Lobotomy}}: Topic of the song "I'd Rather Have a Bottle in Front of Me (Than a Frontal Lobotomy)." It's all in the title (which was originally a Music/TomWaits quote), but to recap: would you rather solve your problems with [[DrowningMySorrows alcohol]], or would you choose frontal lobotomy?
32	* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Some of the songs he plays can probably cause brain damage.
33	* MorePopularSpinOff: How he got his start.
34	* OutsiderMusic: He plays it once in a while, sometimes in a SoBadItsGood vein, other times with genuine esteem for the material. Music/TheShaggs got their first known radio airplay on his show in 1973 (as selected by his guest Music/FrankZappa). He also helped revive the career of Music/WildManFischer.
35	* PhoneWord: For a while Dr Demento's request line was 1-900-BANANAS.
36	* RealSongThemeTune: The opening theme is "Pico and Sepulveda" (a ListSong about the streets of UsefulNotes/LosAngeles), originally recorded by Freddy Martin (under the name Felix Figueroa) in 1947, but eventually replaced with an instrumental version. Every episode closes with the 1928 song "Cheerio, Cherry Lips, Cheerio" by Scrappy Lambert.
37	* SigningOffCatchPhrase: "Stay demented!"
38	* StrawmanU: He went to Reed College, a famous RealLife Berserkley.
39	----
40	-->''Don't forget to stay demented!''

Context Creator / DrDemento