By 1980, wacky California-based musicologist Barry
Hansen, a/k/a Dr. Demento, was entering his peak years. He was heard on
hundreds of stations, including 97 Rock here in Buffalo, which played his show
on Sunday evenings.
Dec. 15, 1980 review
Loony Tunes from Dr. Demento
With
his tall top hat, his formal coat and beard, Dr. Demento resembles a 19th
century patent medicine salesman as he peers over a large black box containing
his turntables on stage in Harvey and Corky's Stage One in Clarence Sunday
night.
The
host of the nation's most popular syndicated radio show is on tour, celebrating
his 10th anniversary by dispensing generous quantities of his famous elixir –
dementia, the musical variety.
There's
plenty on the Dr. Demento Song Ballot, which is distributed at the door. It's
up to the 150 fans out there to choose the evening's Funny Five, which turn out
to be Frank Zappa's " **** and Beer," Monty Python's "Lumberjack
Song," a parody of the Carpenters called "Hamster Love," the
maudlin "Dead Puppies" and "Gilligan's Island," which
spoofs Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."
Also on
the list are a couple numbers – "Junk Food Junkie" and "Shaving
Cream" – which went from Dr. Demento's show to become nationwide novelty
hits.
And
then there's Weird Al Yankovic's takeoffs on pop hits "My Sharona,"
"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" and "Another One Bites the
Dust," in which the doctor himself provides some odd glottal stops.
It
turns out that Buffalo has made two significant contributions to the doctor's
dementia. A former Buffalonian, Steven Segal, better known as Obscene Steven
Clean, first invited this unconventional musicologist to play his oddball
records on a freeform FM rock station in Los Angeles.
The
doctor serves up one of the records he played that first night –
"Transfusion," a weird 1956 hit from an Oakland trucker calling
himself Nervous Norvus. "Slip the blood to me, bud," Nervous says in
an aside. This was the record that got people calling him demented.
The
second Buffalo connection is John Valby, the outrageously raunchy piano player
who's something of a local legend. The doctor spins one of his numbers (title
unmentionable) and plans to scour the record stores here for Valby's album.
He also
plays Spike Jones and Tom Lehrer, Allen Sherman and Monty Python, profane tapes
of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis trying to tape a commercial for "The
Caddy." He plays with his props too. Flashing sunglasses. A ray gun.
Whistles.
Between
funny records, he rolls funny film. "Bambi Meets Godzilla." Abbott
and Costello doing "Who's on First." A 1932 Betty Boop cartoon set to
music by Louis Armstrong. The uncensored version of "Fish Heads,"
which ran on "Saturday Night Live." Ronald Reagan introducing the
voluptuous Jayne Mansfield at a Hollywood awards ceremony.
It's
all wickedly amusing. The crowd roars its approval throughout the 90-minute
set. When it's over, the doctor signs autographs on his personal prescription
slips. His recommendation: "Stay demented.:
* * * * *
IN THE PHOTO: Undated publicity photo of Dr. Demento, probably from the 1980s.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE: Setlist.fm reports that it doesn’t have
enough data to calculate an average Dr. Demento setlist for 1980. At his peak,
he was heard on more than 150 stations and released numerous compilations of
novelty songs. Holder of a master’s degree in folklore and ethnomusicology from
UCLA, he went totally online in 2010 and kept creating new shows for
subscribers until two months ago, retiring on his 55th anniversary. He’s still providing
prescriptions for hilarity at his website at drdemento.com, where hundreds and
hundreds of his shows are archived and available.
As for his Buffalo connections, Obscene Steven Clean was
a pioneering underground radio host in Boston and then in Los Angeles. He introduced
listeners to Barry Hansen on his show on KMET and gave him his nickname. He
died in October 2022.
John Valby is alive and well and still pounding out endlessly
lewd choruses of “Waltz Me Around Again, Willie.”
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