Dr. D: Well, there's my wife and I and a few other people...The creative end of it has always been pretty much just me. I use records pretty much from my own collection.
EJ: What sort of criteria do you use to select the new material?
Dr. D: Oh, it has to entertain me, and it has to have the chance to entertain others. I try to look for things that are funny or bizarre. It is a very subjective thing. I can't look it up in a book and see what's playing and what's not playing, nor can I look in a trade magazine and see what is a hit on other stations. It is a judgment call. And of course I can judge when I put on the show by how many requests it receives.
EJ: Have you ever had any competitors?
Dr. D: Oh, there have been other syndicated comedy shows from time to time, but none have lasted as long as mine.
EJ: What do you attribute this to?
Dr. D: Well, it's very unique.
EJ: You deal with a lot of recording artists. Are there any particular artists that stand out in your mind?
Dr. D: The most requested song that I've ever played is called Fish-Heads. That was recorded in the artists' living room. It just came by mail one day, Fish-Heads by Barns and Barns. I didn't know who Barns and Barns were. I still play artists, even if I don't know who they are. In that particular case, it turns out that one of them had a history as a child actor who had appeared in several films... But then of course, another person who served for the first time on my show, who I can take credit for discovering, is Weird Al Yankovic.
EJ: I understand that since he has been on your show, you have been really involved in his career. Would you like to talk a little bit about that?
Dr. D: Well, I can start from the beginning. Al was still in high school and sixteen years old when he started to send me some of his tracks. I decided to put him on the air and gradually he started to get more and more response. The first one got a positive reaction, the second one got even more and the fifth or sixth was My Bologna.
EJ: And that was a take-off of My Sharona?
Dr. D: Yes, My Sharona, and that was very popular. Then, through a whole series of steps, Al's career kept growing; there was Another One Rides the Bus, which was big for a long time. The response was phenomenal. It was at that time that a lot of radio stations started carrying my show, just because of that song. The next step for him was in video. This is when he crossed the gold and platinum record bridge.
Actually, I have occasionally toured with him in 1980 through '83. I have made a personal appearance introducing Weird Al Yankovic as Dr. Demento! [For the first time in the interview, he says his name in the demented voice we all know him by.]
Al has certainly been generous (or should I say accurate) about how much he was inspired by what he heard off my show. And people like Al sure have contributed to the success of my show. And he has thanked me by giving me a little part in some of his videos.
EJ: You're kidding.
Dr. D: The latest one which is Headline News, at the end, I am one of the people filing out of the auditorium.
EJ: What was your first show like?
Dr. D: Well, it started in 1970, it became more and more popular, and by 1973 it was the most listened to Sunday night program. In '74 we were syndicated.
EJ: How would you say that your show has evolved over the years?
Dr. D: A lot of new material is constantly coming in. There is always new stuff that surely changes what I play. When I started, Cheech and Chong were sort of coming up front as comedy material and I used a lot of their work. Nowadays, they're considered collectors items.
One way that things have changed is that you don't have as many comedy records coming out on major labels like you used to. One reason for that is that comedy is so adaptable to home video. People, instead of buying an LP by Robin Williams, will buy a video by Robin Williams. But on the other hand, a lot of people continue to prove me wrong, and even though the conception of Weird Al Yankovic and a handful of other labels don't go far, a lot of people still keep making them and some of them are darn good. I keep playing them on my show.
EJ: By what criteria do you reject selections. Is it because of your personal standards or because you felt you needed to please the radio stations?
Dr. D: It's a little of both. I want the show on the air. But there is a standard of taste that actually applies. I have my own standards. I won't play something that is racist or extremely homophobic or extremely degrading to women; I have to give it my own interpretation. I do try to pick the tasteless pieces out. Hopefully, as many listeners as possible will be as open-minded as I am.
