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.”