Howard Hesseman of 'WKRP In Cincinnati' is dead at age 81

[Motown Eddie]

From bestclssicbands.com-

Howard Hesseman, the actor best known for his memorable role as DJ Doctor Johnny Fever on the TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, died yesterday [January 29, 2022], at age 81, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif. of complications from colon surgery that he had last summer.
Hesseman’s long career in Hollywood also spanned dozens of films [including Police Academy 2: The First Assignment and This Is Spinal Tap]. Although his WRKP role spanned the series’ entire four-year run from 1978-1982, he enjoyed an even lengthier run on Head of the Class as schoolteacher Charlie Moore.
Gary Sandy, who portrayed WRKP’s Program Director, Andy Travis, wrote: “RIP : Howard …. What a Bummer !! What A Talent … I Loved The Guy !”


Actor Michael McKean, a friend for five decades, offered a warm tribute.
Hesseman was one of many actors who had cameo appearances in 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap. In his sole [but memorable] scene, the band members and their bumbling manager greet him in Boston. Hesseman portrays the manager of a much more successful band and essentially blows them off, saying, “We’d love to chat but we have to sit in the lobby and wait for the limo.”
McKean wrote, “Impossible to overstate Howard Hesseman’s influence on his and subsequent generations of improvisors. The first time I saw him on stage [Troubadour, ’71, with The Committee] I saw that he was the real deal. He was a friend for 50 years.
“Howard’s character in Spinal Tap didn’t even exist until 24 hours before the shoot: we’d discovered that the musician we’d hired to play Duke Fame couldn’t improvise, so Rob said let’s give him a manager. I’ll call Howard. He blitzed it, of course.
“We’d go years without seeing each other [Howard and Caroline lived mostly in Europe] but when we did, he’d hilariously fill me in on the great music, dumb show biz and silly-ass humans he’d encountered. RIP Don Sturdy.”

[PeaceNHarmony]

Hesseman was in a scene from WKRP that bothers me still when I'm reminded of it. His character entered his office and closed the door behind him, revealing a promo poster of Grace Jones' lp Nightclubbing on the back of the door. He tore it down, crumpled it and threw in in the trash, meeting with delighted cheers from the studio audience.

[daviddesper]

Was that an isolated gesture and therefore it could have been any poster or was there a connection to a story line involving either Grace or disco music in general? That would be a key detail.

[Motown Eddie]

Hesseman was in a scene from WKRP that bothers me still when I'm reminded of it. His character entered his office and closed the door behind him, revealing a promo poster of Grace Jones' lp Nightclubbing on the back of the door. He tore it down, crumpled it and threw in in the trash, meeting with delighted cheers from the studio audience.

I don't remember that scene from WKRP but [as daviddesper suggested] it sounds like a gesture to the Anti-Disco-Backlash that was so prevalent in 1979 thru 1981. And I agree with you, I find that kind of stuff disturbing all these decades later [even though I don't listen to Grace Jones].

[PeaceNHarmony]

At the time I absorbed it as primarily racially-based first, fear of cultural change second, and then possibly anti-disco and/or anti-gay. I recall it as an utterly superfluous and unnecessary few seconds that had no plot relevance which made the gesture & the audience cheers even more dog-whistle-y. If the writers/producers had wished to make a less charged anti-disco statement they certainly could have used a poster of the Bee Gees Living Eyes which was released the same year as Nightclubbing [[which really is not disco).

[nativeNY63]

I remember the crazy interaction with Venus Flytrap; which I believe was Tim Ried??