Though he did his last original show in June 2025, the storied career of Dr. Demento lives on in his old radio shows. And since the songs he played were rarely contemporary, they're still as great and fresh as they were when he first started on the raido back in his college days. 

He not only spurred an interest in comedy and novelty records, but he became something of a mentor to another star: Weird Al Yankovic. 

"Hansen says he "considered myself perhaps a bit of a father figure" to Yankovic, something their roughly 20-year age difference made natural. The lyrics to Yankovic's break-out song ("Another One Rides the Bus" a parody of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust") were written in a cabin where Yankovic was spending the weekend with Hansen and some of Hansen's friends. Hansen helped get Yankovic his first job after college, and he went on a joint tour with Weird Al when Dr. Demento was much the bigger name."

The DJ Who Brought America Weird Al, Tom Lehrer, and 'Cows With Guns'