Name: Dr. Demento on Letterman, May 17, 1983
Uploaded: 2020-04-06T00:04:40.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dr. Demento on Letterman, May 17, 1983' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-04-06. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dr. Demento on Letterman, May 17, 1983' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-04-06. Transcript available.

Thank you very much, folks.
My next guest has been conducting his own radio program for over 10 years
and has now heard in over 150 markets.
He embarks upon a national tour beginning Thursday in Washington, D.C.,
and he will be appearing this Saturday right here in New York at The Bottom
Line.
Please welcome Dr. Demento.
150 markets, that's pretty good, isn't it?
Yes, indeed.
For folks who may not have heard of you or the radio show, what kind of things
do you do on it?
I play demented music.
Spike Jonze, Monty Python, Frank Zappa, Weird Al Yankovic.
Peculiar stuff.
Yes, indeed.
Do you have taste guidelines, stuff that you would not play on the air?
Oh, yes, pretty much the same guidelines that apply to this program, I would
say.
More specifically, what would those guidelines be?
Well, there, of course, are the seven words that George Carlin made famous,
and there are certain subjects like you can't go into overt racism and things
like that,
but generally anything that I think makes people feel good.
So it's more peculiar stuff than it is necessarily racy or off-color.
It's everything.
It's very subjective, my...
Playlist.
Yes, right.
Now, tell me about the songs like Dead Puppies.
Yes.
What is this?
Well, dead puppies aren't much fun is the way that this goes.
This does not encourage molesting animals.
After I started playing the song Dead Puppies by Ogden Edsel, a group out of
Omaha, Nebraska,
people started sending me tapes of songs that said dead puppies are a lot of
fun or something like this.
So that's a good example of where I draw the line.
Dead puppies aren't much fun is fine.
Dead puppies are a lot of fun, that's a little beyond the peril.
What about Kinko the Clown?
Is that the correct title?
Yes.
Of course, that is a very educational number of warning children away from
contact with sinister strangers in funny hats.
And Let's Talk Dirty to the Animals?
Oh yes, Gilda Radner, delightful number there.
Though, when we play it on the air, we have to put a few beeps in there.
Now, in addition to, you have a huge record collection, right?
About 150,000 records at last count.
Now, where does one, specifically you, keep this stuff?
Well, they've crowded me out of my nice suburban San Fernando Valley home, just
about.
I have half of one bedroom left.
Do you, are they, they must be cataloged and?
Yes, they are.
But 150,000, this, you'll, you'll never get to those, will you?
Most of them, most of them I've heard.
Now, in addition to this, you're also now collecting videotapes, video, various
sources.
Yes, of course.
We have something tonight.
Yes, I'm going to be delighted to be able to do something that I cannot do on
the radio,
because I guess sitting here on television and watching me spin a record might
get a little pointless,
so I'm going to do something I can't do on the radio, not even on 150 stations.
We're going to play a demetid film.
In fact, I think second for second, this is the most demetid film ever made.
Runs about 90 seconds.
It's by a brilliant filmmaker by the name of Marv Newland,
and it's called Bambi Meets Godzilla.
Bambi Meets Godzilla.
Bambi Meets Godzilla.
Bambi Meets Godzilla.
He's a student project at Marv did.
He now does more sophisticated things, did a fine film called Sing, Beast, Sing,
that's won many awards.
All right.
Now, you brought, Doctor, we have some things from your collection.
Do you want to show us those?
Oh, yes, indeed, from my collection.
Yes, some sports records here.
Let's see.
We have an early number by Muhammad Ali, back when he went by another name.
He does a fine version of Benny E. King's Stand By Me.
He's a fine singer, actually.
I wish we had a phonograph here.
He's a little better singer, I might say, than Warren Spahn, though Warren has
a classy cover there, the great baseball pitcher.
Warren Spahn.
Yeah.
Here's one that I got at the Dodger Stadium souvenir stand that they don't sell
there anymore.
It's by Ron Say, now of the Chicago Cubs.
Do you know what's on there?
What this particular...
He sings a number called Third Base Bag, and as a singer, he's a fine third baseman.
I love baseball.
It's my favorite sport.
I'm not much of a batter, despite having listened to Stan, the man's hit record.
I'm very fond of this one, the amazing Mets, featuring the hit single.
We're going to win this series, they do that one.
It was recorded, I think, the night after they clinched the pennant, and so
they all had hangovers, but that just makes it all the better.
All right, I think we've played a cut from that, actually, on this show.
Denny McLean, remember him?
Oh, yeah, Denny of Detroit Tigers.
Yeah, as an organist, he's a fine 30-game winner.
And Albie Pearson, another baseball player of yore.
Quite a fine vocalist, and another baseball team effort here.
The Giants win the pennant.
1962, highlights of the 1962 baseball.
So that's just a little bit of the sports section of my collection.
They have peculiar records over and above, just for their content, don't you?
Oh, yes, I have records of all speed, shapes, and sizes.
Okay, I'll tell you what, Doctor, while you're getting those out, we have to go
away, but we'll be right back and take a look at them.
So go ahead and pull them over there.
Hi there, we're back with Dr. Demento, and we have more unusual records.
Now this is, as far as you know, it's not the largest record in the world, is
it?
It's pretty close, though.
That's a radio transcription from the 50s.
That was the only way they could get a lot of music on one record.
All right.
And then these before the long plays.
That's one of the smallest ones I have.
That plays for 30 seconds, one of the hit tunes of 1923.
What speed would that play at?
78.
As do these, these picture records from the 1940s.
Now these are amazing.
These are beautiful.
They're beautiful.
Cheesecake here, yes, indeed.
Wow.
Now what's on the record itself?
Well, that's a song called Atlanta GA, and this is the one called Serenade to a
Pair of Nylons.
And, of course, I've added to the picture record tradition with one of my own,
of course.
Oh, let's see this one.
Yes.
All right.
This is wonderful things.
Yes, indeed.
And I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to sing tonight, Doctor.
Well, I'm sorry, too, but I'll be singing when I'm on my tour with Weird Al Yankovic,
starting at the bottom line this Saturday, and we'll be covering quite a few
cities.
Good luck to you.
Hope to see you all.
Continued success.
And then come back, and you can sing another time on the show, sir.
Okay, David.
Stay demented.
Thank you.
We got to say goodnight.
I want to mention that Raymond Shapiro, who was originally scheduled to be on
this program,
will be rescheduled.
I think you know just how painful that will be.
My thanks to Pee Wee Herman, Paul Schaefer, Bill Wendell, the studio audience,
of course,
tomorrow night, Johnny Winter, Kirk Newrock and his performing Guinea Pigs, and
Rita Mae Brown.
What a show.
Goodnight.
Goodnight.