What happened to KROQ's Bean and Mike?

Kelli Skye Fadroski (Orange County Register via Daily Mail); COMMENTARY BY  Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Gene “Bean” Baxter is in bad shape and on a medical leave of absence (Armando Brown).

 
Gene Bean Baxter of KROQ’s Kevin & Bean Show explains why he’s been off the air.

Is the Kevin & Bean radio show working?

[So sickly old man Bean is dying? He and Kevin have been eating meat and fried junk food for a long time, and it shows. But Bean has only one kidney and lots of medical issues. He hasn't been on the air for weeks, which is very unusual. Unless they're on vacation, they rarely miss work. A further mystery is why KABC-fired Psycho Mike Dwight Catherwood, who was appearing on the show to do the comedy for them in place of fired funnyman Ralph Garman, did not seamlessly replace Bean. He had been sitting in, probably volunteering to stay busy and find a new gig beyond his tweets and Swole Patrol podcast. Not only is Bean missing without explanation or so much as an acknowledgement, so now is Mike. A funny person is needed, or this show doesn't work. Everyone else feeds off of that person. Ralph Garman is ruined because his comedy partner, director Kevin Smith, had a heart attack or stroke, so bye-bye Hollywood Babble On. Bean is amusing, but Mike offered voices and opinions. Allie Mac Kay stinks, Stryker is horrible pablum, and Kevin is a one-note male Allie. Allie used to be called "She Bean" for her quirkiness, and now the show is like listening to two brother and sister amateur idiots who cannot handle the work without punching bag Bean. Who knew so much of his entertainment-value depended on dependably-weird Bean, the show's resident a hole?]

At the 10th annual Kevin & Bean’s April Foolishness comedy benefit show at the sold-out Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles on March 31, many longtime fans of the KROQ 106.7 FM “The Kevin & Bean Show” were asking, “Where’s Bean?”

 

Fired by Dr. Drew and Kevin & Bean, Inc.?

The easily recognizable figure was noticeably absent as his partner in crime Kevin Ryder and co-host Allie Mac Kay took over the bulk of the hosting and presenting duties throughout the evening.

The rest of the morning show crew played it off and made some jokes about him being on vacation or simply missing his plane since he records the show live every weekday from his home in New Orleans.

However, on Wednesday, the show sent out a tweet to its fans about the extended absence of Gene “Bean” Baxter, letting them know he was taking medical leave:

Many of you have noticed that Bean hasn't been on the show for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, he's taking a medical leave. We don't have any more information, but we'll let you know as soon as we can. We're thinking of him, and wish him a full and speedy recovery. — Kevin & Bean Show (@kevinandbean) April 4, 2018

KROQ's new Kevin & Catherwood Show!

Though the tweet was vague, there was an outpouring of support from the KROQ listeners as well as some messages from those left feeling a bit uneasy about the situation after the recent departure of longtime co-host Ralph Garman late last year.

This happened along with other changes at the station [after new owners took over] including letting go of Rodney Bingenheimer who famously hosted the late-night “Rodney on the ROQ” show for more than four decades.

 

Following the official tweet from the show, Ryder, who has worked alongside Baxter for over a quarter of a century, tweeted out that... More