John Valby

John Valby (born November 22, 1945 in Rochester, New York) is a musician and comedian who plays in barrooms and college campuses up and down the East Coast. Using an old-fashioned piano, he creates comedic, obscene parodies of classic songs. He can always be found performing in his classic white tailcoat and black derby hat.

Valby lives up to his nickname "Dr. Dirty". His songs and shows focus mainly on sex and racial slurs, with a mix of current and historic people and events.

Many of the songs sung by Valby are drinking songs like Ya, Ya, Ya (aka limericks), Roll Your Leg Over, Barnacle Bill, etc. See Richard Reuss' master thesis and Ed Cray's Erotic Muse for further examples.

Valby lives outside Buffalo, New York with his wife and five children. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Middlebury College Class of 1966. He served in the Army and claims that he avoided being sent to Vietnam because his superior officer liked him. He is a classically trained pianist, as well as an avid hockey player.

In 1975, Valby was playing ragtime piano, a style popular around the turn of the century, in Buffalo bars. One evening, he blended three dirty songs into his act. The next evening, the bar was full of people who came out just to hear him sing the dirty songs. Dr. Dirty was born.

While Valby is best known for his "Dr. Dirty" act, he has recorded and produced pop and rock albums for himself and other artists. One unusual act he was responsible for producing was that of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jim Schoenfeld in 1971, for the album Schony. He also had a small role as a piano player in a Tijuana brothel in the 1983 film Losin' It, which featured an early performance by Tom Cruise.

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