weird al in 1992, correctly predicting 2023 https://t.co/PaxSOEE1T5
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) June 7, 2023
From Variety, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic on Outlasting the Stars He Parodies, Why He’s Not Making New Music and the Truth About His Torrid Affair With Madonna :
… This is a guy who has now spent five decades in the limelight — far longer than many of the artists he has parodied over the years. “Nobody wanted to sign me in the early ‘80s,” he says. “They thought, ‘comedy music, you’re a novelty artist.’ And historically, novelty artists become one-hit wonders, and then they’re forgotten quickly. So yeah, that’s kind of the big irony of my life is, I’m still here.”…
Yankovic has earned five Grammy awards and sold more than 12 million albums. Some of that is in “Weird,” which he wrote with Eric Appel. But make no mistake, this is by no means an actual biopic. Of course the master of parody would ultimately make a parody of biopics: Despite what you see on screen, Weird Al didn’t have a torrid love affair with Madonna (played by Evan Rachel Wood). He didn’t become a drug kingpin. And Dr. Demento (played by Rainn Wilson) never laced Al’s guacamole with LSD…
Weird Al famously always got permission from artists before parodying their songs — which is why he never got to do his take on anything from Prince’s catalog. But when it came to the movie, “our lawyers said, ‘don’t worry about it.’ Public figure.”
Apparently, a number of viewers who have taken “Weird” as a true chronicle of his life, despite the sheer absurdity of where the story ends up going. “I’ve learned about the Internet and the general population, no matter how ironic and obviously insincere you’re being, somebody’s going to believe it,” he chuckles…
A few other tidbits from our chat with Weird Al:
= Don’t expect a new album anytime soon. “I signed a record deal in 1982 for 10 albums, and then I renegotiated twice, and it became a 14-album contract, which I finally fulfilled in 2014,” he says. “I just don’t want to sign under the contract. I like being a free agent and doing whatever I need to do or want to do. I’m more into one-off stuff now. Because when you do an album, if you’re doing my kind of material, it’s hard to have 12 songs ready to go all at once and have them all be topical and timely. I like having the freedom of being able to just put out material whenever I feel like it. Granted, I haven’t done a lot of that since 2014.”
= Weird Al knows there are petitions to get him to perform the Super Bowl halftime show. But he doesn’t think he’ll ever be on the NFL shortlist. “I’m just being real here. I just don’t see it ever happening. Maybe the Foo Fighters will do it and have me on as a special guest… That kind of stage scares me for a number of reasons. One of which is, no matter who you are, when you’re put in front of that many eyeballs, you’re going to have a lot of haters. And I know I don’t like being hated.”…
There are now up-res versions of EVERY SINGLE ONE of my music videos, thanks to the work of our friend Pete Holmberg. So good news if you’ve been looking for an excuse to go down a Weird Al video rabbit hole on YouTube… they’ve never looked better!
— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) May 19, 2023
Jerzy Russian
I loved his biopic. Entertaining as hell.
Chris T.
Sign o the Times? I mis-read the ell as an eye, Weird A(rtificial) I(ntelligence)…
MattF
Weird Al was always ‘way ahead of his time.
OzarkHillbilly
I got used to it.
dmsilev
From the not-funny lunatics files,
House in stalemate after hard-right Republicans defy McCarthy, block legislation
Now that the global economy isn’t faced with immediate destruction, we can sit back, pop a nice bowl of popcorn, and enjoy the howler monkey circus.
Baud
Weird Al is awesome.
patrick II
There are people who think Chuck Barris was actually a CIA spy after seeing ” Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” and still others who think Trump is a genius businessman after watching “The Apprentice “, so believing Weird Al had a relationship with Madonna is relatively grounded thinking.
Shana
Holy crap. Have you guys seen this?
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-07/revenge-delivered-ice-cold-top-l-a-law-firm-outs-former-partners-racist-sexist-emails
I’d seen something about the anti-semitic emails but the story is so so much more.
Splitting Image
Years ago I had a co-worker who said that her opinion of Weird Al was that he was about a half-step above Milli Vanilli. I guess she believed Al just sings funny lyrics over a karaoke version of the real song, but I remember thinking that that was one of the stupidest things I ever heard a co-worker say.
(I have since dealt with co-workers who believed in chemtrails.)
I’ve followed Al’s career since the beginning. Nice to see one of the good guys win for a change.
Eljai
@Shana: I read that story this morning and it’s mind boggling and horrific. I mean, the law firm those 2 racist, misogynistic assholes used to work for is just now getting around to hiring diversity experts? WTF! Can’t even imagine the kind of toxic environment that festered there.
TriassicSands
I never paid any attention to Weird Al, but in the mid-80s, I went to see Warren Zevon at a small venue, and Weird Al opened. Zevon’s appearance was remarkably short and very disappointing. Weird Al, on the other hand, was quite entertaining. I was never a fan, nor did I buy a Weird Al album, but he put a lot more into his appearance than did Zevon. Whoever went to that concert to see Al got their money’s worth; those who went to hear Zevon didn’t.
The only thing that made it worth leaving home that night was the very weird Weird Al.
Ohio Mom
@Splitting Image: Rolling my eyes —Weird Al is very, very smart. And a mensch.
That could be an entire thread, everyone describing the dumbest person they ever worked with.
moonbat
I play Weird Al’s “Christmas at Ground Zero” every holiday season. :)
And honestly I enjoyd some of his parodies so much that I cannot remember the original lyrics to some of the songs he covered.
I think his choosing Daniel Radcliffe to play him in the movie was inspired.
dmsilev
@Shana: So, basically the law firm was fine with its partners sending all those toxic emails, just so long as those partners didn’t go off to start their own firm.
gwangung
Weird Al for president.
He’d certainly do a better job than any Republican. And he’d go toe to toe with Dark Brandon.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Something I love about the Weird Al movie which nobody seems to talk about, is that it was originally a “Funny or Die” sketch. The sketch was the trailer for the non-existent movie. Then 10 or so years later Weird Al comes along and makes a movie which is absolutely faithful to the fake trailer. I find that hilarious for some reason.
Also Daniel Radcliffe really works as Weird Al for some reason, despite being about 40% too short. Doesn’t seem to matter. Maybe because he’s so willing to be, well… weird.
TriassicSands
@patrick II:
I can’t imagine why Weird Al would even want to have a relationship with Madonna. So, the fact that he didn’t makes perfect sense to me.
The Fourth Reich?
gwangung
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Of course. We all know that physical resemblance is less important that persona resemblance…and selling yourself as Weird is the sine non qua essence of Weird Al.
Anonymous At Work
“Albuquerque” will be both the music at my fake funeral and the only eulogy allowed. My body’s going to science. My father, bless his heart, has chosen to become a tree and I’m to read the funeral speech from Hot Shots!
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be down the rabbit hole.
Ruckus
@dmsilev:
Not necessarily. It’s a big firm, they may not have followed internal communication emails between lawyers. Especially if they didn’t reference a client or case being handled. I have zero idea if that’s true but in a firm as big as this it might have required a large staff just to do the reviewing. Wanna bet they do that now though?
TriassicSands
Weird Al is 6 feet tall. Radcliffe is 5’4-1/2″ or 5’5″. That will require some CGI! Or maybe it’s just Al’s sense of humor at work.
NotMax
This calls for a bit of song parody. Move over, Music Man.
Oh the Mar-a-lago charges are coming down the pike
Oh please let them be for he
Oh the Mar-a-lago charges are coming down the pike
I wish I knew how many there will be
.
Steve in the ATL
@OzarkHillbilly: I live for it!
oatler
What’s the deal with being stymied by Prince? I thought several lawsuits decided in Mad Magazine’s favor gave them the right to parodize songs.
Anonymous At Work
@TriassicSands: Sense of humor and Radcliffe has the ability to laugh at himself. If you’re going to play Weird Al, you have to acknowledge, at some level, that you’re an actor playing Weird Al.
JaySinWA
@oatler: What’s that line? Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Weird Al had a code that he lived by, at least until the movie version.
Anonymous At Work
@oatler: Yes, against Prince’s wishes. Weird Al only does songs if the original artist agrees. Prince would never allow his songs to be parodied.
NotMax
@Anonymous At Work
And thus was the world denied Nurple Pain.
Keith P.
Make sure to check out his movie “Weird” on Roku (free, viewable from browser). Worth it alone for the scene with Guy-from-Queen asking Al to play Live Aid with them.
Snarki, child of Loki
The problem with Prince is not the lyrics being parodied. It’s the MUSIC, which is the same for both the original and the Weird Al versions.
Weird Al was able to avoid that stuff, in his early Doctor Demento days, by doing live songs on the radio; there’s some sort of “automatic license” for performers doing covers of existing songs: they have to pay, but the amount is standard, reasonable, and does not require prior permission. I forget (or never knew) the details of how it works, but there’s some music clearinghouse that handles the payments, etc.
That works for “live” shows, but any recording requires permission.
Frederick Stibbert
@NotMax:
The Intracoastal waters were shinging like an ormolu pissoir, he is traveling down the highway, hoping to foment a civil war.
Down to Disgraceland, Disgraceland, east of West Palm Beach, down to Disgraceland. Proud Boys & Karens & Roger Stone are going to Disgraceland.
& his traveling companion is ‘thirty-nine’ years old, she was a child during his first marriage. I have reason to believe, she’ll often be deceived in Disgraceland.
Percysowner
@dmsilev:
So in order to punish McCarthy for helping the Democrats get what they wanted, not tanking the economy and raising the debt ceiling, they are now going to help Democrats get what they want, not passing stupid legislation? I guess that’s a plan. It’s a STUPID plan, but they are the Far Right, so that’s to be expected.
TriassicSands
@Anonymous At Work:
But, wait a minute, isn’t weird Al already an actor playing Weird Al?
Frankensteinbeck
@Anonymous At Work:
Thus the story about when he called Nirvana and told them he wanted to make a parody of Smells Like Teen Spirit, and the band member on the phone asked, “It’s not going to be about food, is it?” Al responded, “No, it will be about how nobody can ever understand your lyrics.” and the guy goes “Cool,” and hangs up.
Elizabelle
@Frederick Stibbert: brilliant! And: welcome.
“Ormolu pissoir.” Have you met Tony Jay??
Elizabelle
Weird Al was honored by California’s Orange County Fair maybe 12 years ago or so. If I ever find my photos, I will share. His visage covered a small hillside.
Has anyone done that for Prince, may I ask??
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
Used to listen to Dr. D when I was in college and remember Weird Al doing his songs. Loved “Another One Rides the Bus”.
Paul in KY
One time at Bonnaroo, I was watching a Portugal. The Man set on the Which Stage and Weird Al came out and jammed with them for a couple songs. He played the mandolin. The band was super stoked, as they had recently mentioned hoe much they loved Weird Al.
Miss Bianca
@dmsilev:
And so, I’m sure, are the 11 Republicans in question. I don’t know why this particular sentence has struck my funnybone so hard, it just has.