Social media is weird. Sometimes, those algorithms that control what you see and what you don’t, they seem to work with absolutely no rhyme or reason. Like whenever I Google a particular country just to check what time it is there, I’m guaranteed to see targeted advertisements for vacations and package tours in all my feeds for at least the next month.
And then other times, it’s almost like the Internet knows every last thing about you.
Earlier this year, I was doomscrolling through Facebook when a post from Rolling Stone magazine popped up. Now I haven’t read that magazine in years, and I’ve never interacted with their social media feeds, so this post really came out of nowhere:
In junior high school, I always struggled to stay awake during my Monday morning classes. And I guess that’s not too unusual for a teenager, but in my case, adolescence wasn’t to blame— it was Doctor Demento.
Back then, every Sunday night from 10 pm until midnight, The Doctor Demento Show used to air on Boston’s Classic Rock station, 100.7, WZLX. And in the days before social media, when kids used to hear about things by talking to other people, at some point somebody let me listen to their tape recording of The Doctor Demento Show, a two-hour show featuring parodies and novelty songs. I was hooked instantly. From that point forward, every Sunday night I’d tune in myself, hiding my Sony Walkman and headphones down underneath the bedsheets.
“Doctor Demento” is the radio persona of Barrett Eugene Hansen, a California-based DJ, broadcaster, and record collector. Hansen started off hosting a rock and roll radio show, but over the years, he acquired an extensive personal collection of novelty and comedy records. In 1970, when he started introducing a few of his own records into his show, a friend told him that he’d have to be “demented” to play these songs on the air, and the alter ego was born. The Doctor Demento Show quickly grew in popularity, especially among California’s underground punk rock scene, and in 1974 it went into syndication. The nationwide broadcast ran for an incredible thirty-six years before the show switched to an online-first format in 2010. And while Doctor Demento earned a fiercely loyal cult following, he might be even more famous for introducing the world to “Weird” Al Yankovic.
In 1976, when Doctor Demento attended an event at California Polytechnic State University, a young Alfred Matthew Yankovic managed to slip the good Doctor a self-recorded cassette tape of his parodies. And after one of these original songs— an ode to cruising around town in the family’s station wagon— was featured on the show, the positive reception convinced “Weird” Al to make a career out of music.
“Weird” Al’s success quickly overshadowed his mentor’s, and us ‘80s kids would be overjoyed whenever MTV played videos like “Fat” or “Like a Surgeon”. By 1989, “Weird” Al’s success led to a feature film called “UHF,” a cult classic about a lovable loser who inherits a local TV station. The film starred future legends like Michael Richards and Victoria Jackson— and of course, Doctor Demento snuck in there for a quick cameo appearance.
Every week, Doctor Demento ended his show with “The Funny Five”, a short list of the week’s most requested songs, and I would always try to stay up until midnight to hear the results. At some point, though, my grades took precedence over my late-night listening, and the Doctor and I parted ways. I hadn’t thought about Doctor Demento much at all since then, but that Rolling Stone article absolutely brought me back in time.
As a fitting end to his career, Doctor Demento is planning to air his last show in October 2025 with a special tribute to the top 40 songs from the show’s history. An extended version of the Funny Five— What a way to say farewell!
From all of us Dementites— past, present, and future— congratulations, Doctor Demento, and best wishes for your retirement!
