I discovered Dr. Demento's radio show around 1972, shortly after he first began broadcasting in that identity. It was a regular Sunday night ritual for a long time and I even rigged up a device to tape him when I couldn't listen live. His show then was a cornucopia (that's the first time I've used that word on this weblog) of rare and funny "novelty records" by the likes of Spike Jones, Stan Freberg, Allan Sherman and a lot of folks I hadn't previously heard of. Later on, my interest petered out as he began playing what I felt were too many homemade and garage recordings by amateurs. It was great that he was giving these folks some exposure but, well, you know…not one of them was Spike, Stan or Allan. Still later, the Good Doctor seems to have come to his senses and the pendulum swung back to a nice mix of new and old and I now give a listen whenever I can.
What prompted so many musicians to create songs for Dr. Demento to play was that he made a star out of one guy who submitted a tape — "Weird Al" Yankovic. He first played one of Al's homemade efforts around '76 and then a few years later, "My Bologna" (a parody of The Knack's "My Sharona") became a frequent entry on the Demento Funny Five. "Weird Al" became a genuine recording artist/star and the guy deserves it. His records are well-produced, his parodies work and he's often very funny. These three things are not true of most of the folks out there who think they can be "Weird Al." But they're true of "Weird Al."
Our feature presentation is one of his earlier efforts — the music video for "I Lost on Jeopardy," complete with appearances by Art Fleming and Don Pardo, who hosted and announced the show in its first incarnation. And Dr. Demento's in there, too.
