On This Day: Remembering WKRP’s Johnny Fever
Actor Howard Hesseman passes away at age 81.
Note: With the Super Bowl (and Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift) dominating news coverage, I wanted to resurface a story from 2022, when we lost the actor behind one of my all-time favorite TV characters. Two years is a lifetime— both in professional sports and music—and the league’s darlings then (the Bengals) weren’t even an afterthought in this year’s postseason. Success in sports can be fleeting, but good TV lives forever, both in syndication and our memories.
“I’m also known as Johnny Midnight, Johnny Cool, Johnny Duke, Johnny Style, and Johnny Sunshine,”
It takes a lot of work to look like you’re not doing anything.
And so it was with WKRP’s Johnny Fever. We loved that he was barely awake for his sets. That a coffee cup became a permanent part of his anatomy (an affliction I, too, suffer from).
As a kid, I loved his cavalier attitude toward work & norms; as an adult, I aspire to it.
Jennifer and Bailey were beautiful (#teamBailey), Venus was fly, and Herb was well, Herb.
But Fever was something else; he was relatable. The other people at WKRP made me laugh. Johnny Fever made me want to be a DJ.
I first tried in my early 20s. To say those interviews went poorly would be putting it kindly. Trying again in my late 30s (for a low-powered city-owned station) went much better but ultimately fell through due to work & parenting commitments. I'm not sure how Johnny would’ve felt about either of those.
At least I didn’t get fired for saying “booger” on the air.
Behind those shades and that mustache was Howard Hesseman, an accomplished actor. He had built a solid body of work long before Johnny stumbled into the Queen City by way of Amarillo, Denver, Boise, Fargo, and more.
We lost Hesseman yesterday at age 81—a dark spot in an otherwise blindingly great day for Cincinnati. Fever probably would’ve never imagined himself living to such a ripe old age, let alone see the Bengals punch their ticket to the Super Bowl again.
And so we say goodbye to Howard Hesseman but not to Johnny Fever, who lives on people’s memories (and on the air).
After all, rock-and-roll never dies.
WKRP (also team Bailey, BTW) was such a well done show that was at first considered a ripoff of the movie FM, but it quickly developed its absurd style and was a constant watch for me.
The Thanksgiving episode is justifiably regarded as one of the best moments of television, but watching it today, you realize that the show’s style is nothing like today’s traditional sitcom. The great punchline perfectly delivered, is the result of what would be considered an interminably long build up today.
Hesseman took a stock character and turned him into the heart of the show, IMO. Yes, Johnny Fever is missed.
One of my favorite shows. Loved Hesseman in everything he did. Clue, though a small part, lives rent free in my mind.