Sad news with the death of Howard Hesseman at age 81. The actor/comedian received Emmy nominations for his biggest role, radio deejay Dr. Johnny Fever on the hit sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, a job he worked early in his career. He made it cool to be in radio and even inspired me to want to work in the business.

Respects were paid to Hesseman, who also was known for his role as teacher Charlie Moore on the sitcom Head Of The Class in 1986 and films like This Is Spinal Tap with Michael McKean, Police Academy 2 and About Schmidt.

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. 2/3

— Michael McKean (@MJMcKean) January 30, 2022

RIP Howard Hessman. What great times we had. Great laughs and fun going to see Etta James in Manhattan Beach and Joe Tex at The Parisian Room. Staying at your beautiful house in Ramatuellle. Oh god this hurts.

— Laraine Newman (@larainenewman) January 30, 2022

Rest easy, Heavy Early. Or Johnny Fever, Johnny Cool, Johnny Midnight. The absolute best radio character in TV history. Howard Hesseman made us all laugh and cry, often at the same time. RIP. pic.twitter.com/KbNZPVLmED

— John Derringer (@JohnDerringer) January 30, 2022

Every radio guy wanted to be Dr. Johnny Fever. Especially guys associated with Cincinnati radio.
He was also “Head of the Class.”
Rest easy Howard Hesseman. Thank you for letting radio guys say “booger” on the air. pic.twitter.com/J5xqK7a75V

— Redlegs Radio Report (@RedlegsRadioRep) January 30, 2022