Kevin and Bean

Updated on Oct 12, 2024

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Other names Kevin and Bean Country United States		Genre Comedy, Variety Home station KROQ-FM
Starring Kevin RyderGene 'Bean' BaxterAllie Mac Kay Created by Kevin RyderGene Baxter

Kevin and Bean is the morning show on KROQ-FM, an alternative rock-format radio station in Los Angeles, California. It is hosted by Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter. The show has been on the air since 1990 and intersperses music and news with comedy, celebrity interviews, listener call-ins, and live music performances.

History

The show debuted on KROQ on December 31, 1989, when they hosted the annual countdown of the year's best songs.

On November 10, 2008, the Kevin and Bean Show started an afternoon segment, "Cinco De La Tarde" weekdays from 5-6 p.m. As of August 3, 2009, this segment has been discontinued and the morning show has been restored to its original 10:00 AM end time. A Best of Kevin and Bean show called "Same Shit, Different Day" was added on Saturday mornings airing from 7:00-10:00 AM.

On May 11, 2009, Kevin and Bean began syndicating on KEDJ, 103.9 The Edge in Phoenix, Arizona, KFRR 104.1 Fresno and KRZQ-FM Reno. The show is also available as a podcast on iTunes.

In February 2015 the Kevin and Bean show let go of long-time contributors, Lisa May and Boyd R. Britton (Doc on the ROQ). May started as a traffic reporter on the program and had grown to become a key contributor of the Kevin and Bean Show during her 24 years with the program, while Doc had been providing the news for 27 years. Kevin and Bean explained that management had made it clear audiences were not tuning in to KROQ for traffic or news, so the painful decision was made to make changes to the show. Allie Mac Kay later joined the show to help fill the role lost by the exit of May.

Kevin and Bean were inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame on April 14, 2015 during a ceremony hosted by NAB President (and former Oregon Senator) Gordon Smith. Bean said, "We are happy to share the recognition with our great team who works just as hard as we do to make the show successful." The three-day NAB trade show is held every April at Las Vegas Convention Center.

Opening segments

Each episode opens with an audio montage (usually created by Baxter) featuring musical and audio clips that draw from current events in politics, pop-culture, and the news. An overview of the day's show is also given, as well as any small talk about the cast's day to day lives.

Hourly segments

Music from the standard lineup of KROQ is played regularly during the program.

"The Showbiz Beat" is an hourly entertainment-news report featuring Ryder and Baxter's actor co-host Ralph Garman. Topics include current celebrity gossip, celebrity birthdays, as well as happenings in Hollywood or entertainment that might interest the listeners.

Recurring segments

Many of the show's periodically recurring segments are based on listener participation, and involve the hosts taking calls on a discussion topic or for a guest, or involve games and contests created around promotional giveaways. Ryder and Baxter will also occasionally read emails sent to them, and play messages from the show's voice mail service, known as the "Afro Line". Other segments focus on the hosts and their personalities and quirks, like "Thanks for That Info, Bean", which pokes fun at Baxter's intense interest in seemingly trivial topics, and "A Moment with...", where a humorous audio clip of a statement made on-air by a host is replayed. "Would You Like to Take That Back?" is another feature during which the hosts give each other the option of "taking back" an unsuccessful or poorly delivered joke or pun.

Several segments feature regular guests, including weekly interviews with TMZ.com's Harvey Levin, "This Week in Rage" with former Kevin and Bean Show member Adam Carolla, and sports updates from the Petros and Money Show co-host and former Kevin and Bean Show sports reporter Matt "Money" Smith. Since January 2010, Dr. Drew Pinsky, whose syndicated radio program Loveline was broadcast by KROQ, has also appeared frequently on the program.

Vocal impressions and celebrity impersonations are typically voiced by Garman and former Kevin and Bean assistant producer and Loveline co-host "Psycho" Mike Catherwood. Ryder and Baxter often conduct fake interviews with celebrities including Gene Simmons and Sean Connery. On other occasions impressions might involve a relatively unknown person in a news story or current event.

The show also features a listener call in segment called "What's Good?" where listeners are invited to phone in on a topic of their choosing. This segment has appeared in various forms throughout the show's history, and was previously known as "What is your deal?" before being renamed after a phrase coined by rapper Snoop Dogg "What it do, nephew?", and finally "What's Good?" after a Nicki Minaj reference from the 2016 VMA's.

Closing segments

The program generally ends with a short preview of the next show, and on Fridays the show closes (and opens) with a cover of "Don't Bogart Me" by Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise (a song first performed by the band Fraternity of Man), as performed by the hosts.

Bean

Baxter was born and raised until his early teens in Middlesex, England, but graduated from Bowie High School in Bowie, Maryland in 1977, and speaks with an American accent. He is married to Donna H. (Mendivil) Baxter, who works as a fashion designer. Bean talks from a room in his house where he has a sound mixing board, recording equipment, a video monitor showing staff in the KROQ studio in Los Angeles, a computer and a microphone attached to a high-quality phone line.

Other cast members and staff

Also on the show are:

Allie Mac Kay co-hosts the program and, along with Ryder and Baxter, is present for nearly all on-air segments. In addition to regular on-air commentary during call-ins and interviews, she will occasionally participate in pre-recorded segments and regularly fills in on the Show Biz Beat if Garman is absent. A former features reporter with the Los Angeles-based KTLA Morning News team and occasional contributor to the Kevin and Bean Show, she joined the show as a full-time cast member in February 2015.

Danielle "Chip" Lehman, is the current board op for the Kevin and Bean morning show. The nickname "Chip" is a result of her work with a previous employer. She is an avid bass player and current member of the band Well Hung Heart.

Dave "The King of Mexico" Sanchez is the show's producer, who was given the nickname 'King Of Mexico' because even though his parents are both Mexican and fluent in Spanish, he can't speak a word of it. He is a Los Angeles Clippers fan, and composes songs extolling the team. When the Clippers fell short of the playoffs in the 2006-2007 season, he was teased for his boasting, including a mocking song submitted by a listener.

Jonathan "Beer Mug" Kantrowe, got his nickname from a beer mug tattoo he has on his foot. Currently he is helping Kevin and Bean in studio on air (running the soundboard). A recurring segment now involves sending him to red carpet premieres in Hollywood where he fails miserably at interviewing stars.

Omar Khan AKA "DJ Omar" is the main DJ of the show who is mostly responsible for all the technical aspects. He also creates many of the jingles for various segments, which are mostly other songs with alternate lyrics. Khan directed the low-budget film Cucamonga Heat, often referred to on the show, while in school . After being featured in the show, there is an often-played clip of the film featuring a man sitting down in a chair (played by Khan) ordering a fake drug deal to occur. This clip is usually played during instances where a clip from a movie should be played usually as a joke or to signify that the thing being reviewed is bad. This also led to anyone named "Eric" to be greeted by "Yea, Eric" when calling in. Every few months, Khan will take a popular song and make a parody of it, often inserting clips of embarrassing on-air mistakes by Kevin and Bean.

Ralph Garman is an impressionist and contributor. He handles entertainment news segments and often acts as a substitute when Kevin or Bean is not present. His segment "Ralph's Showbiz Beat" is one of the segments on the show.

Former cast members

Personalities no longer with the show include:

Adam Carolla was Mr. Bircham the woodshop teacher from 1995-97.

Jay "Lightning" Tilles Formerly a producer of the Kevin and Bean show.

Jimmy Kimmel was "Jimmy the Sports Guy" from 1994–97, when he left to host "Win Ben Stein's Money" and then to co-star in "The Man Show", with Adam Carolla.

Lisa May was the traffic reporter from 1990 to 2015. A running joke on the show involves Kevin and Bean trying to offer other women the job of traffic reporter. May has appeared on the TV show "Reba" and has done audio looping for the TV show "Alias." Every year, for Christmas and May's birthday, Kevin and Bean call QVC and purchase whatever is being shown on television at the moment for her gift, regardless of the price or usefulness of the product. On May 11, 2015, Lisa May joined the morning radio program "The Heidi and Frank Show" on 95.5 KLOS FM.

Matt "Money" Smith was the sports commentator after Jimmy Kimmel. Matt left the Kevin and Bean show in 2006.

Michael "The Maintenance Man" Burton was an actual maintenance man in the building where KROQ had its studios, he came to be an active member of the show, performing man-on-the-street interviews and making public appearances. In the fall of 1995, Burton left the show and filed a wrongful-termination suit charging the station along with Kevin and Bean with racial and religious discrimination. The suit was settled in late 1996.

"Psycho" Mike Catherwood started as a board operator for the Kevin and Bean show, but over the years he became a regular on the air contributor to the show, mainly doing character voices and impersonations. Mike left in 2010 to co-host "Loveline", with Dr. Drew Pinsky.

References

Kevin and Bean Wikipedia

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