"Weird Al" Yankovic

American comedy musician (born 1959) the album "Weird Al" Yankovic (album)"Weird Al" Yankovic (album) yes September 2024 September 2024 "Weird Al" Yankovic Weird Al Yankovic Photo Op GalaxyCon St. Louis 2025.jpg Yankovic in 2025 "Weird Al" Yankovic at GalaxyCon St. Louis in 2025 Alfred Matthew Yankovic 1959 10 23 Downey, California, U.S. Lynwood, California, U.S. Suzanne Yankovic 2001 yes 1 Comedy parody polka Singer musician songwriter Vocals accordion keyboards Discography videography polka medleys 1976–present Rock 'n Roll Capitol Placebo TK Scotti Brothers Way Moby Volcano RCA weirdal.com Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" YankovicPronunciation: ' j æ ŋ k ə v ᵻ k en-us-Yankovic.ogaPronounciation_Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is an American musician, best known for writing and performing comedy songs that often parody specific songs by contemporary musicians. He also performs original songs that are style pastiches of the work of other acts, as well as polka medleys of popular songs, most of which feature his trademark accordion. Since having one of his comedy songs aired on The Dr. Demento Radio Show in 1976 at age 16, Yankovic has sold more than 12 million albums (2025 y),Milzoff Rebecca 'Weird Al' Yankovic on His Unexpected Longevity, Biggest Tour Ever & Creative Freedom: 'Nobody Owns Any Piece of Me' Billboard 2025-06-09 https://www.billboard.com/music/features/weird-al-yankovic-tour-billboard-cover-story-1235991234/ 2025-08-16 Billboard estimates he has sold 12 million albums in the United States (based on RIAA certifications pre-1991 and Luminate data from 1991 on).Melena Ryzik Weird Al Is Enjoying His Rock-Star Moment The New York Times July 15, 2025 https://www.nytimes.com/card/2025/07/15/arts/music/weird-al-is-enjoying-his-rock-star-moment August 16, 2025 Weird Al has sold over 12 million albums and won five Grammys. August 14, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250814225236/https://www.nytimes.com/card/2025/07/15/arts/music/weird-al-is-enjoying-his-rock-star-moment liveHarrington_20070810Greenburg_20150226 recorded more than 150 parodies and original songs,http://ninemsn.video.msn.com/v/en-au/v.htm?f=39&g=b738d4f6-1921-4e6f-9836-1ce2b2b0850c&p=autvshows_authecatchup&t=m2556&mediaid=77139 Weird Al Yankovic's latest send-ups on The Catch-up March 14, 2007 September 22, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070922002829/http://ninemsn.video.msn.com/v/en-au/v.htm?f=39&g=b738d4f6-1921-4e6f-9836-1ce2b2b0850c&p=autvshows_authecatchup&t=m2556&mediaid=77139http://www.weirdal.com/catalog.htm Weird Al Yankovic: Catalog October 28, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20090924073711/http://www.weirdal.com/catalog.htm September 24, 2009http://www.weirdal.com/bio.htm Weird Al Yankovic: Biographies October 28, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061110025903/http://weirdal.com/bio.htm November 10, 2006 and performed more than 2,000 live shows.http://www.weirdal.com/livepage.htm Weird Al Yankovic: Live Performances November 10, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061113132038/http://weirdal.com/livepage.htm November 13, 2006https://bsky.app/profile/alyankovic.bsky.social/post/3lzegoj4ods2u Post by @alyankovic.bsky.social Bluesky Social September 21, 2025 September 21, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250922143555/https://bsky.app/profile/alyankovic.bsky.social/post/3lzegoj4ods2u September 22, 2025 Yankovic's success has been attributed to his effective use of music videos to further parody pop culture, the songs' original artists, and the original music videos themselves. He has directed some of his own music videos and also directed music videos for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, the Black Crowes, and the Presidents of the United States of America. With the decline of music television and the onset of social media, he used YouTube and other video sites to publish his videos; this strategy helped boost sales of his later albums. He has not released a full album since Mandatory Fun, opting instead for timely releases of singles amid touring. Yankovic's work has earned him five Grammy Awards and a further eleven nominations, four gold records and six platinum records in the U.S. His first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. His fourteenth studio album, Mandatory Fun (2014), became his first number-one album during its debut week. In addition to his music career, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film UHF (1989) and the television series The Weird Al Show (1997). He has produced two satirical films about his own life, The Compleat Al (1985) and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022). He has appeared in various television shows and web series, in addition to starring in Al TV specials on MTV. He has also written two children's books, When I Grow Up (2011) and My New Teacher and Me! (2013). Early life 210px right 'Weird Al' Yankovic – Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?, 7:02, Diffuser.fm'Weird Al' Yankovic Plays 'Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?' Diffuser.fm July 30, 2014 http://diffuser.fm/weird-al-wikipedia-fact-or-fiction/ September 29, 2015 December 29, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20141229035406/http://diffuser.fm/weird-al-wikipedia-fact-or-fiction/ dead Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born in Downey, California, on October 23, 1959,Ankeny Jason Weird Al Yankovic Biography https://www.allmusic.com/artist/weird-al-yankovic-mn0000817315/biography AllMusic.com (Rovi) July 24, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150909164337/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/weird-al-yankovic-mn0000817315/biography September 9, 2015 live the only child of Mary Elizabeth (née Vivalda, 1923–2004) and Nick Yankovic (1917–2004). He was raised in nearby Lynwood, California.http://weirdal.com/archives/faq/ Frequently Asked Questions "Weird Al" Yankovic official website July 24, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150321162320/http://weirdal.com/archives/faq/ He grew up in Lynwood, California (a suburb of Los Angeles), although the hospital he was actually born in was in the neighboring town of Downey ... Al's grandparents on his father's side were Yugoslavian. March 21, 2015 live His father, who was born in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, was of Slovene and Croatian descent: Nick Yankovic was the son of Matthew Yankovich (baptized Matija Jankovič, 1887–1969), who was born in Weidendorf, Austria-Hungary (now Bedenj, Slovenia),Taufbuch 1875–1902 Adlešiči 100 https://data.matricula-online.eu/sl/slovenia/ljubljana/adlesici/03746/?pg=103 November 26, 2022 November 26, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221126055054/https://data.matricula-online.eu/sl/slovenia/ljubljana/adlesici/03746/?pg=103 liveConrad Harold Guccione Bob Jr. August 1985 The Glamorous Life Of Al Yankovic Spin 1 4 48–50 0886-3032 https://books.google.com/books?id=TZaFMCee5HQC&pg=PA48 February 4, 2013 It is of no minor coincidence that his parents are of Yugoslavian lineage and it so happens that Frankie Yankovic (no relation), known as the polka king and one of the best accordionists in the country, also happens to be a Yugoslav. A little chauvinism here. and Mary Yankovich (née Braj, 1890–1968), also born in Austria-Hungary (in what is now Croatia)."United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X77B-9FL https://web.archive.org/web/20221126104620/https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X77B-9FL November 26, 2022 : accessed November 26, 2022), Mary Yankovich in household of Matt Yankovich, Kansas City, Wyandotte, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 32, sheet 23B, line 65, family 394, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 729; FHL microfilm 2,340,464. Nick Yankovic began living in California after earning two Purple Hearts for his service as a medic during World War II.Demento Dr. Liner notes, Permanent Record Scotti Bros. September 27, 1994 http://dmdb.org/al/booklet.html B00000I029 August 16, 2018 December 21, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20180816004619/http://dmdb.org/al/booklet.html livehttp://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20040412-1434-yankovic.html Autopsy confirms Yankovic parents died from carbon monoxide poisoning The San Diego Union-Tribune April 12, 2004 March 7, 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090103012127/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20040412-1434-yankovic.html January 3, 2009 He believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy. Yankovic's mother, a stenographer from Kentucky of English and Italian descent, married his father in 1949. She moved to California a decade before Yankovic was born. Yankovic's first accordion lesson, which sparked his interest in music, took place on the day before his seventh birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered his parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims that his parents chose the accordion over the guitar because "they figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world"; this was in reference to Frankie Yankovic,http://dmdb.org/al/booklet.html Permanent Record: Al in the Box August 24, 2006 August 16, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180816004619/http://dmdb.org/al/booklet.html live to whom he is not related. He has also said that they chose the accordion because "they were convinced it would revolutionize rock". Since his mother did not let him outside the house often, he had plenty of time to practice the instrument at home. He continued lessons at the music school for three years before deciding to continue learning on his own. In the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and cites John's 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as one of the reasons he "learned to play rock 'n' roll on the accordion". As for his influences in comedy and parody music, he has listed artists including Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Tom Lehrer, Allan Sherman, Shel Silverstein, and Frank Zappa, as well as "all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists" he found through The Dr. Demento Radio Show.https://www.myspace.com/weirdal "Weird Al" Yankovic on MySpace April 2, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20061202004114/http://www.myspace.com/weirdal December 2, 2006 Other sources of inspiration for his comedy came from Mad magazine, the British comedy troupe Monty Python,http://podcasts.triplem.com.au/audio/20070307_spoon_best_weirdalredux.mp3 "Weird Al" Yankovic interview by Spoonman on Triple M Australia 9:10 April 2, 2007 July 4, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070704191934/http://podcasts.triplem.com.au/audio/20070307_spoon_best_weirdalredux.mp3 and the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films.http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0494 Midnight Star 'Ask Al' Q&As for April 1994 April 2, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070329025047/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#090604 March 29, 2007 He had also enjoyed George Carlin's stand-up comedy album FM & AM so much that he transcribed it by typewriter. thumb|upright=0.7|Yankovic in his Lynwood High School yearbook, Accolade 1976|alt=Yankovic wearing a suit and glasses Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children and skipped second grade, later saying, "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist, so I was labeled a nerd early on." He attended Lynwood High School, where his unusual schooling experience meant he was two years younger than most of his classmates. He was not interested in sports or social events but was active in other extracurricular programs, including: the National Forensic League-sanctioned public speaking events; a play based on Rebel Without a Cause; the yearbook, for which he wrote most of the captions; and the Volcano Worshippers club, which he later said did "absolutely nothing" and was started "just to get an extra picture of [themselves] in the yearbook". He graduated in 1976,https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article39491970.html 'Weird Al' Yankovic: Cal Poly alum still getting laughs after 35 years The Tribune Patrick Pemberton July 28, 2014 November 6, 2022 February 13, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210213031929/https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article39491970.html live and was valedictorian of his senior class. He attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, earning a bachelor's degree in architecture. After graduation, he worked at Westwood One, first in the mail room and then calling stations confirming that paid advertisements had indeed run on air.June 22, 2010 Tiny Desk Concerts Thompson Stephen Stephen Thompson (journalist) NPR https://web.archive.org/web/20230607113513/https://www.npr.org/2010/06/22/127983640/-weird-al-yankovic-tiny-desk-concert June 7, 2023 'Weird Al' Yankovic: Tiny Desk Concert https://www.npr.org/2010/06/22/127983640/-weird-al-yankovic-tiny-desk-concert Career 1976–1981: Dr. Demento and early fame Yankovic's music received its first on-air exposure via syndicated comedy radio personality Dr. Demento's Southern California–based show, later saying, "If there hadn't been a Dr. Demento, I'd probably have a real job now."Dr. Demento Marks 30 Years Of Funny Music https://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/syracuse/syracuse-post-standard/2000/03-01/page-36 Jim Bessman BPI Entertainment March 4, 2016 September 8, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055726/http://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/syracuse/syracuse-post-standard/2000/03-01/page-36 live Despite his mother having caught him listening to Dr. Demento's program and banning him from listening to it again, he found ways to do it discreetly. In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at Yankovic's school, where the 16-year-old gave him a homemade cassette tape of original and parody songs on accordion and recorded in Yankovic's bedroom into a "cheesy little tape recorder". The tape's first song, "Belvedere Cruisin (about his family's Plymouth Belvedere) was played on Demento's radio show, launching Yankovic's career. Demento said, "Belvedere Cruisin' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put the tape on the air immediately."http://weirdal.com/rare89.htm 'Weird Al' Yankovic: Rare Items: UNLABELED TAPE August 24, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20090212232947/http://weirdal.com/rare89.htm February 12, 2009 Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses, accompanied by fellow dorm resident Joel Miller on bongos. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2017/02/16/how-weird-al-eclipsed-almost-every-star-he-ever-parodied/ Was 'Weird Al' the real star all along? Geoff Edgars February 16, 2017 November 16, 2017 The Washington Post November 17, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171117003015/http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2017/02/16/how-weird-al-eclipsed-almost-every-star-he-ever-parodied/ live He recalled in 2007: It was sort of like amateur music night, and a lot of people were like wannabe Dan Fogelbergs. They'd get up on stage with their acoustic guitar and do these lovely ballads. And I would get up with my accordion and play the theme from 2001. And people were kind of shocked that I would be disrupting their mellow Thursday night folk fest.Venutolo Anthony The clown prince of song parodies NJ.com 2007-08-10 https://www.nj.com/ledgerentertainment/2007/08/michael_blackwellif_you_asked.html 2025-08-07 November 7, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20251107162827/https://www.nj.com/ledgerentertainment/2007/08/michael_blackwellif_you_asked.html live During Yankovic's second year as an architecture student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at KCPR, the university's radio station. Yankovic had been called "Weird Al" originally as a more derogatory nickname by others in his dormitory, since he was seen as the strange outcast compared to other residents. Though he initially took it as an insult, Yankovic eventually "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station. In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP Slo Grown, as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous nearby landmarks such as Bubblegum Alley and the waterfall toilets at the Madonna Inn.February 2026 In mid-1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by the Knack was on the charts. Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics and recorded a parody titled "My Bologna". He sent the recording to Dr. Demento, who played it to a positive listener response. Yankovic met the Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. "My Bologna" was released with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract. Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music. On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on The Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began. "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder on April 21, 1981.TV Listings, Tuesday, April 21 The Baltimore Sun April 19, 1981 TV24 535950110Tweet_20210421YouTube_tZkouut-9RQ On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects. Yankovic's record label, TK Records, went bankrupt about two weeks after the single was released, so Yankovic received no royalties from its initial release.Harrington Richard 'Weird Al' Taking Off The Washington Post May 19, 1983 C8 147567013 1981–1989: Band and fame In 1981, Yankovic went on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away". Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982. Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons.Bullock John Paul 'Weird Al' Yankovic on His New Single, and Future Album Plans https://www.spinmagazine.com/2024/07/weird-al-yankovic-polkamania-interview/ SPIN Next Management Partners 8 September 2026 Bullock2014 19 July 2024 One of your first big shows was opening for the Los Angeles new wave band Missing Persons (in 1982 at the Santa Monica Civic Center). What was that experience like? Did the audience immediately accept you? I’ve never even seen an opening act treated as poorly as we were treated. I kid you not, we were being paid a total of $500 to play for 45 minutes. And, as soon as the curtain went up, we were pelted with anything that wasn’t nailed down. Just stuff thrown at us continually. But I wasn’t gonna leave the stage because I was getting my $500, you know? They wouldn’t even applaud. At the end of each song, they would just yell ‘Get off the stage!’ I remember at the end of our set the band was on the floor picking up the loose change. Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road" (a parody of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" originally recorded by The Arrows), which was produced by Rick Derringer, in 1982.February 2026 The song was a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Brothers Records.February 2026 In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. The song "Ricky" (a parody of Toni Basil's hit "Mickey") was released as a single and the music video received exposure on the still-young MTV.February 2026 "Ricky" broke the top 100 videos on MTV at the time, which Yankovic took as a sign that his career was in music, quitting his job as a mailroom clerk at the local offices of Westwood One to pursue the music career. thumb|upright|left|Yankovic speaking with a concert promoter before a show in 1984 Yankovic released his second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D in 1984. The first single "Eat It", a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It", became popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, and what Yankovic sarcastically described as his "uncanny resemblance" to Jackson. Yankovic said he felt he had become an overnight success once the video for "Eat It" aired on MTV, as both the song and video, as well as Jackson's approval for the parody, drew attention to him from other musicians and made it easier for him to obtain permissions to use others' songs. https://apnews.com/article/weird-al-polkamania-sabrina-carpenter-michael-jackson-389628a124d4d07e4267b17a661e1936 Weird Al on new music, Sabrina Carpenter, a decade of 'Mandatory Fun' and 40 years of 'Eat It' Maria Sherman July 19, 2024 July 19, 2024 Associated Press News July 20, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240720085556/https://apnews.com/article/weird-al-polkamania-sabrina-carpenter-michael-jackson-389628a124d4d07e4267b17a661e1936 live "Eat It" was also aided by the first of Yankovic's Al TV specials that aired on MTV on April 1, 1984, the network looking to Yankovic's rising popularity to help fill its programming time. Peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1984,Eat It – Weird Al Yankovic https://www.billboard.com/artist/weird-al-yankovic/chart-history/ Billboard April 4, 2013 November 21, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211121091724/https://www.billboard.com/artist/weird-al-yankovic/chart-history/ live "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at No. 9 in October 2006.White & Nerdy https://www.billboard.com/artist/weird-al-yankovic/chart-history/ Billboard April 4, 2013 November 21, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211121091724/https://www.billboard.com/artist/weird-al-yankovic/chart-history/ live In Canada, "Eat It" reached No. 5.https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.6319.pdf RPM Top 100 Singles – April 14, 1984 September 14, 2021 September 29, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210929202416/https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.6319.pdf live In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life titled The Compleat Al (the title being a parody of the 1982 documentary The Compleat Beatles), which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction.February 2026 The film also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials.February 2026 The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later.February 2026 Also released around the same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al, a biographical book based on the film. February 2026The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents.February 2026 Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for the Monkees in mid-1987 for their second reunion tour of North America.February 2026 Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with the Monkees, even though he said that the promoter cheated them out of "a bunch of money".'Ask Al' Q&As for November 1998 http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#1198 June 5, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070609200738/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#top June 9, 2007 In 1988, Yankovic was the narrator on the Wendy Carlos recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.Steve Johnson, "Weirdly Normal: Pop-tune Buster Al Yankovic Saves Worst Wackiness For The Screen" https://web.archive.org/web/20241212122920/https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/07/25/weirdly-normal/ December 12, 2024, Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1989. The album also included a sequel to Camille Saint-Saëns's composition The Carnival of the Animals, titled "The Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original.February 2026 That year, Yankovic made his theatrical film debut with a cameo appearance in the film Tapeheads, starring as himself.https://www.weirdal.com/archives/miscellaneous/film-tv/ Film & TV Weird Al Yankovic "Weird Al" Yankovic This was followed by a cameo appearance in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, also in 1988. Yankovic's success led to a deal to make his film UHF, which premiered in July 1989. While the film has since become a cult title, its initial release was against mediocre reviews, and it was up against several other summer blockbusters, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, Batman, and Licence to Kill. While Yankovic released an associated soundtrack album, UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff, it was not as successful as his previous albums. Yankovic fell into a slump over the next three years as a result of the poor performance of the film. https://www.avclub.com/article/we-got-it-all-uhf-oral-history-weird-al-yankovics--215579 We got it all on UHF: An oral history of "Weird Al" Yankovic's cult classic Sean O'Neil March 23, 2015 March 23, 2015 The A.V. Club March 26, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150326032005/http://www.avclub.com/article/we-got-it-all-uhf-oral-history-weird-al-yankovics--215579 live 1990–1997: Revived career Yankovic had returned to the studio to prepare songs for his next album Off the Deep End around 1990. During production, Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts. Further, Yankovic took over production from Rick Derringer in 1992. While Derringer had produced six of Yankovic's previous albums, for which he won two Grammy Awards, Derringer's drug-related issues had become a problem, along with Yankovic's increasingly more complex musical vision (involving horns and other instruments). By 1992, most of the original songs for Off the Deep End were complete, but Yankovic still did not have a strong parody and was waiting for the next big hit to work from, as he was still in a slump post-UHF. When Jackson released his next album, Dangerous, and its hit single "Black or White", Yankovic had quickly written a parody, "Snack All Night", from it, and hoped Jackson would allow him to use the parody. Jackson denied Yankovic this, as Jackson felt "Black or White" carried a serious message that would be undermined by the parody. Yankovic "Weird Al" Dr. Demento The Dr. Demento Show http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/interviews/otde.txt 1992 June 26, 2010 February 9, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210209043239/http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/interviews/otde.txt live Around this time, Nirvana and the grunge music scene began to take off. Yankovic wrote a parody of Nirvana's hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Smells Like Nirvana", and was able to secure the band's permission for the parody; Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain reportedly said that getting Yankovic to parody their work was a sign their band had "made it". https://www.spin.com/2012/10/weird-al-yankovic-looks-back-at-20-years-of-smells-like-nirvana/ 'Weird Al' Yankovic Looks Back at 20 Years of 'Smells Like Nirvana' Spin Christopher R. Weingarten October 11, 2012 October 11, 2012 July 1, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150701213122/http://www.spin.com/2012/10/weird-al-yankovic-looks-back-at-20-years-of-smells-like-nirvana/ live "Smells Like Nirvana" became the lead song on Off the Deep End, landing at No. 35 on the Billboard charts, his second top-40 hit in the United States. Off the Deep End reached No. 17 on the Billboard 200, and helped to revitalize Yankovic's career after the failure of UHF. Yankovic's next two studio albums were modest successes in light of Off the Deep End. Alapalooza was released in 1993, and led with "Jurassic Park", a spoof of "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris while mocking the 1993 film of the same name. Alapalooza peaked at No. 46 on the Billboard 200. Bad Hair Day in 1996 headlined with "Amish Paradise", a parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". "Amish Paradise" reached No. 53 on the top Billboard Hot 100 singles, while the album reached No. 14 on the Billboard 200, and eventually was certified double platinum in sales by RIAA, making it one of Yankovic's more successful works. In addition, Yankovic released a number of compilation works during this period, including Permanent Record: Al in the Box, a four-CD collection which included most of Yankovic's previous works as well as an informational booklet with contributions from Dr. Demento. Other compilations included Greatest Hits Volume II, a collection of songs that were not included on Permanent Record, and The TV Album, featuring songs loosely based on television shows. 1998–2014: Reinvention On January 23, 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia.LASIK story and pictures http://weirdal.com/thelook1.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20071025050146/http://www.weirdal.com/thelook1.htm October 25, 2007 Yankovic had the surgery for free when he agreed to let KTLA Morning News broadcast it live on television.Yankovic Weird Al "Weird Al" Yankovic Gets Eye Surgery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gsC-vtSyvo YouTube December 12, 2023 December 14, 2023 December 14, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231214094312/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gsC-vtSyvo live When Running with Scissors debuted in 1999, he unveiled a radically changed look. In addition to shedding his glasses, he had shaved off his moustache and grown out his hair. He had previously shaved his moustache in 1983 for the video of "Ricky" to resemble Desi Arnaz, in 1989 for segments of the "UHF" music video and in 1996 for the "Amish Paradise" video. Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every couple of decades."Archive.org for www.weirdal.com/bio.htm for February 8, 2001 http://www.weirdal.com/bio.htm October 29, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20010208173222/http://www.weirdal.com/bio.htm February 8, 2001 He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for Hanson's "River", claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about", that being "the music".'Weird Al' Yankovic MTV Unplugged Promo http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/videos/EatItUnpluggedPromo.wmv October 28, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060929075952/http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/videos/EatItUnpluggedPromo.wmv September 29, 2006 Running with Scissors was followed by his next studio album Poodle Hat in 2003. Poodle Hat was met with mixed reviews without any standout singles, although the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200. Yankovic's following album was Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006, which featured the single "White & Nerdy", a parody of "Ridin" by Chamillionaire. "White & Nerdy" became Yankovic's first Billboard Top Ten single, debuting at No. 29 and peaking at No. 9. "Canadian Idiot", a parody of "American Idiot" by Green Day, also charted in the Hot 100. The album as a whole reached No. 10 in the Billboard 200, and by 2008 was Yankovic's first certified platinum album, having reached over one million sales. Following Straight Out of Lynwood, Yankovic started to explore digital distribution of his songs. On October 7, 2008, Yankovic released to the iTunes Store "Whatever You Like", a parody of the T.I. song of the same title, which Yankovic said he had come up with two weeks before. Yankovic said that the benefit of digital distribution is that "I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated—I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately."Vreval Jeff Weird Al Goes Digital With T.I. Cover Billboard October 6, 2008 https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1043863/weird-al-goes-digital-with-ti-cover October 6, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081007144039/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1043863/weird-al-goes-digital-with-ti-cover October 7, 2008 In 2009, Yankovic released four more songs: "Craigslist" on June 16, "Skipper Dan" on July 14, "CNR" on August 4, and "Ringtone" on August 25. These five digitally released songs were packaged as a digital EP titled Internet Leaks, with "Whatever You Like" retroactively included in the set.'Weird Al' Yankovic Releases New Single 'Craigslist' an Homage to the Doors PR Newswire June 16, 2009 http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20090616/NY3313516062009-1.html June 21, 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090620071251/http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20090616/NY3313516062009-1.html June 20, 2009 thumb|upright=0.7|Yankovic performing in 2011 In 2011, Yankovic completed his thirteenth studio album, titled Alpocalypse, which was released on June 21, 2011.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0YJpwKwinE https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/w0YJpwKwinE December 21, 2021 live "Weird Al" Yankovic – The New Album YouTube April 21, 2011 April 22, 2011 The album contains the five songs from the previous Internet Leaks digital download release, a polka medley called "Polka Face", a song called "TMZ", for which Bill Plympton created an animated music video, and five other new songs. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/exclusive-weird-al-yankovic-almost-done-with-13th-studio-lp-20110203 Exclusive: 'Weird Al' Yankovic Almost Done With 13th Studio LP Jason Richards February 3, 2011 February 7, 2011 Rolling Stone February 7, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110207030407/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/exclusive-weird-al-yankovic-almost-done-with-13th-studio-lp-20110203 livehttp://coedmagazine.com/2010/10/06/idiots-angels-coed%E2%80%99s-interview-with-oscar-nominated-animator-bill-plympton/ Idiots & Angels: COED's Interview With Oscar Nominated Animator Bill Plympton October 13, 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20101011210502/http://coedmagazine.com/2010/10/06/idiots-angels-coed%E2%80%99s-interview-with-oscar-nominated-animator-bill-plympton/ October 11, 2010 Yankovic had reported an interest in parodying Lady Gaga's material,Gary Graff Weird Al May Parody Lady Gaga On Next Album https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/957666/weird-al-may-parody-lady-gaga-on-next-album Billboard June 22, 2010 September 13, 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100828222609/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/957666/weird-al-may-parody-lady-gaga-on-next-album August 28, 2010 and on April 20 announced that he had written and recorded a parody of "Born This Way" titled "Perform This Way" to be the lead single for his new album. However, upon first submitting it to Lady Gaga's manager for approval (which Yankovic does as a courtesy), he was not given permission to release it commercially.Gaga Parody Permission As he had previously done under similar circumstances (with his parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful", which was titled "You're Pitiful"), Yankovic then released the song for free on the internet. Soon afterwards, Gaga's manager admitted that he had denied the parody of his own accord without forwarding the song to his client, and upon seeing it online, Lady Gaga granted permission for the parody.Gaga Parody Update Yankovic has stated that all of his proceeds from the parody and its music video will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, to support the human rights themes of the original song. Yankovic was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/pastjudges.asp Past Judges Independent Music Awards October 26, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110724134001/http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/pastjudges.asp July 24, 2011 Yankovic stated in September 2013 that he was working on a new album,TMZ_20130930 and in 2014, he used social media websites to hint at a July 15 release of the new album. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/weird-al-yankovic-returning-with-new-album-this-summer-20140615 'Weird Al' Yankovic Returning With New Album This Summer Miriam Coleman June 15, 2014 June 16, 2014 Rolling Stone June 13, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180613134018/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/weird-al-yankovic-returning-with-new-album-this-summer-20140615 live The album artwork and title, Mandatory Fun, were confirmed by his publisher. http://www.rcarecordspress.com/artist/weird-al-yankovic 'Weird Al' Yankovic RCA Records June 16, 2014 June 20, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140620104202/http://www.rcarecordspress.com/artist/weird-al-yankovic live Mandatory Fun was released to strong critical praise and was the No. 1 debut album on the Billboard charts the week of its release, buoyed by Yankovic's approach for releasing eight music videos over eight continuous days that drew viral attention to the album as described below. It became Yankovic's first No. 1 album. Additionally, the song "Word Crimes" (a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines") reached No. 39 on the Top 100 singles for the same week; this is Yankovic's fourth Top 40 single (following "Eat It", "Smells Like Nirvana", and "White & Nerdy") and made him the third musical artist, after Michael Jackson and Madonna, to have a Top 40 single in each decade since the 1980s. https://www.billboard.com/pro/magic-rude-no-1-hot-100-sam-smith-stay-with-me-iggy-azalea/ MAGIC!'s 'Rude' No. 1 On Hot 100, Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me' Surges Billboard July 22, 2014 July 22, 2014 Gary Trust November 21, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211121041302/https://www.billboard.com/pro/magic-rude-no-1-hot-100-sam-smith-stay-with-me-iggy-azalea/ live 2015–present: Transition from studio albums In an interview promoting Mandatory Fun, Yankovic said that, with the end of his recording contract, he was unlikely to release any more albums, in the sense of recording and releasing that many songs at a time. Instead, he said he would likely switch to releasing singles and EPs over the Internet, allowing him to release music faster, particularly parodies that can quickly become dated.Keith Tamara 'Weird Al' Yankovic On Parody in the Age Of YouTube https://www.npr.org/2014/07/12/329873481/weird-al-yankovic-on-parody-in-the-age-of-youtube July 15, 2014 Weekend Edition NPR July 12, 2014 July 15, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140715012041/http://www.npr.org/2014/07/12/329873481/weird-al-yankovic-on-parody-in-the-age-of-youtube live He has released no albums, and indeed, few songs, since Mandatory Fun. In a 2017 interview, he told Rolling Stone, "I can't tell you when any material is coming out. Inspiration could strike tomorrow and I might have something out next month. There's no plan. It's just going to be whenever it winds up being." https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/weird-al-yankovic-breaks-down-his-upcoming-ill-advised-vanity-tour-125196/ Weird Al Yankovic Breaks Down His Upcoming 'Ill-Advised Vanity Tour' Andy Green October 30, 2017 October 31, 2018 Rolling Stone November 1, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181101015329/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/weird-al-yankovic-breaks-down-his-upcoming-ill-advised-vanity-tour-125196/ live After several years of fan-driven campaigns, Yankovic received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018.http://www.eonline.com/news/862829/hollywood-walk-of-fame-s-class-of-2018-revealed-steve-irwin-and-more-set-to-receive-stars Hollywood Walk of Fame's Class of 2018 Revealed: Steve Irwin and More Set to Receive Stars Mike Vulpo E! June 22, 2017 June 22, 2017 June 12, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180612164137/https://www.eonline.com/news/862829/hollywood-walk-of-fame-s-class-of-2018-revealed-steve-irwin-and-more-set-to-receive-stars livehttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/weird-al-yankovic-gets-star-on-hollywood-walk-of-fame/ Weird Al Yankovic gets star on Hollywood Walk of Fame CBS News August 27, 2018 August 27, 2018 August 28, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180828024609/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/weird-al-yankovic-gets-star-on-hollywood-walk-of-fame/ live In March 2018, Yankovic released "The Hamilton Polka", a medley of several songs from the musical Hamilton written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.Greene Andy Lin-Manuel Miranda, 'Weird Al' Yankovic Talk New 'Hamilton Polka' https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/lin-manuel-miranda-weird-al-yankovic-on-hamilton-polka-w517343 Rolling Stone March 2, 2018 March 27, 2018 March 3, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180303013317/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/lin-manuel-miranda-weird-al-yankovic-on-hamilton-polka-w517343 livehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UYuFRDvNoo https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/7UYuFRDvNoo December 21, 2021 live Jimmy Geeks Out with Lin-Manuel Miranda and "Weird Al" Yankovic Over Hamilton and Music March 3, 2018 December 28, 2020 YouTube Yankovic and Miranda had met and become friends before the latter's work on Hamilton and had discussed a possible music project together. After the success of Hamilton, Miranda provided Yankovic the score from the musical, hoping that Yankovic would create a few singles from it, but Yankovic ultimately created a full polka medley. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/lin-manuel-miranda-weird-al-yankovic-talk-new-hamilton-polka-116803/ Lin-Manuel Miranda, 'Weird Al' Yankovic Talk New 'Hamilton Polka' Andy Greene March 2, 2018 July 19, 2024 Rolling Stone The song was the first polka to chart on Billboard's Digital Songs Sales Chart.Zellner Xander 'Weird Al' Yankovic's 'The Hamilton Polka' Debuts on Billboard's Sales Charts https://www.billboard.com/pro/weird-al-yankovic-hamilton-polka-charts/ Billboard March 27, 2018 December 3, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211203101456/https://www.billboard.com/pro/weird-al-yankovic-hamilton-polka-charts/ live After Hamilton premiered on Disney+ in July 2020, Yankovic released a video version of "The Hamilton Polka" that synched his song to video clips from the show. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/weird-al-hamilton-mashup_n_5f02bb7bc5b6acab28528f0c 'Weird Al' Yankovic Gives 'Hamilton' The Musical Makeover You Didn't Know You Needed Ed Mazza July 6, 2020 July 6, 2020 HuffPost July 6, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200706145320/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/weird-al-hamilton-mashup_n_5f02bb7bc5b6acab28528f0c live Also in March, Yankovic released two remixes of songs by Portugal. The Man: "Feel It Still" and "Live in the Moment".Gaca Anna Hear Weird Al's Polka Remixes of Portugal. the Man's "Feel It Still" and "Live in the Moment" https://www.spin.com/2018/03/portugal-the-man-feel-it-still-weird-al-remix/ Spin March 16, 2018 March 27, 2018 March 28, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180328041112/https://www.spin.com/2018/03/portugal-the-man-feel-it-still-weird-al-remix/ live In 2020, he collaborated with the band on their single "Who's Gonna Stop Me", which was released for Indigenous Peoples' Day.Portugal. The Man and "Weird Al" Yankovic team up for new song 'Who's Gonna Stop Me' https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/portugal-the-man-and-weird-al-yankovic-team-up-for-new-song-whos-gonna-stop-me-2782470 October 14, 2020 NME October 13, 2020 en October 14, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201014002035/https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/portugal-the-man-and-weird-al-yankovic-team-up-for-new-song-whos-gonna-stop-me-2782470 live Since Mandatory Fun, Yankovic has focused less on new songs than on projects such as his tours and the 2022 parody biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. That year, Yankovic told the Los Angeles Times that he was not writing many new parodies because it had become harder to tell which new songs would be big hits, due to what the newspaper described as popular music trending more towards "micro-niche[s]" than a "monoculture".https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-10-26/weird-al-yankovic-story-movie-roku-daniel-radcliffe 'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Great American Novelty October 26, 2022 Pappademas Alex Los Angeles Times https://web.archive.org/web/20221026130912/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-10-26/weird-al-yankovic-story-movie-roku-daniel-radcliffe October 26, 2022 live Yankovic released a new polka medley, "Polkamania!", on July 19, 2024, featuring his take on "Flowers", "Bad Guy", and "Old Town Road", among others. Because he had not released a polka in ten years, he considered this the opportunity to include his "white whales", though limited the songs to those that reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts. https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/weird-al-shares-his-zany-summer-playlist-with-us 'Weird Al' Shares His Zany Summer Playlist. And His Social Security Number. Emily Sandstrom July 18, 2024 July 19, 2024 Interview Magazine August 26, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240826193918/https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/weird-al-shares-his-zany-summer-playlist-with-us live https://consequence.net/2024/07/polkamania-weird-al-polka-medleys/ 'Weird Al' Breaks Down All 14 of His Polka Medleys, Including the New 'Polkamania' Ben Kaye July 19, 2024 July 19, 2024 Consequence of Sound July 20, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240720010942/https://consequence.net/2024/07/polkamania-weird-al-polka-medleys/ live The single included the release of video created by several animators that Yankovic had worked with in past videos, such as Bill Plympton, Augenblick Studios, Liam Lynch, and Jarrett Heather as well as new collaborations with artists like Cyriak and Vivienne Medrano. https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/weird-al-yankovic-polkamania-new-song-1235735033/ 'Weird Al' Yankovic's 'Polkamania!': Inside His Studio Return & Why He Needed to Include 'WAP' in the Polka Medley Jason Lipshutz July 19, 2024 July 19, 2024 Billboard July 19, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240719232325/https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/weird-al-yankovic-polkamania-new-song-1235735033/ live https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/weird-al-yankovic-taylor-swift-olivia-rodrigo-billie-eilish-polkamania-1235058975/ Hear 'Weird Al' Yankovic Take on Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish on 'Polkamania!' Andy Greene July 19, 2024 July 19, 2024 Rolling Stone August 3, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240803001924/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/weird-al-yankovic-taylor-swift-olivia-rodrigo-billie-eilish-polkamania-1235058975/ live Yankovic co-headlined Riot Fest in September 2025 Chicago along with Green Day, Blink-182, Jack White, Weezer, and Idles.2025-09-20 Riot Fest 2025: Schedule, lineup, how to get there and more you need to know this year - CBS Chicago https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/riot-fest-2025-schedule-lineup-how-to-get-there/ 2026-03-05 www.cbsnews.com en-US Yankovic said he had turned down a seven-figure offer to perform at the 2025 Riyadh Comedy Festival, saying that "I'm doing enough that I don't need to take any amount of money if it makes me feel icky, and that kind of did." https://deadline.com/2026/07/weird-al-yankovic-turned-down-riyadh-comedy-fest-1237003068/ Weird Al Yankovic Says He Turned Down Seven-Figure Riyadh Comedy Fest Gig: “It Makes Me Feel Icky” Glenn Garner July 24, 2026 July 24, 2026 Deadline Hollywood Personal life Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski, a marketing executive with 20th Century Fox, after they met in 2001. They were introduced to each other on a blind date by their mutual friend Bill Mumy.rolling stone house Their daughter, Nina, was born in 2003. Moreland Jo Parody star's parents die in Fallbrook North County Times San Diego County April 10, 2004 http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/article_573af5a0-7061-5e21-803b-554b0c4a09ce.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120204134459/http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/article_573af5a0-7061-5e21-803b-554b0c4a09ce.html February 4, 2012 February 16, 2014 They live in Los Angeles, where they own a house previously owned by writer Jack S. Margolis and rapper Heavy D. https://www.wired.com/2008/09/ff-weirdal/ Weird Al: Forefather of the YouTube Spoof Brian Raferty September 22, 2008 November 17, 2017 Wired November 18, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171118222440/https://www.wired.com/2008/09/ff-weirdal/ live In contrast to his stage persona, Yankovic is known by friends and associates to be polite, shy, and introverted, even among family. He is a Christian, and a married couple from the church he attends can be seen in the background on the cover of his album Poodle Hat."Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ask Al Archive http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0795 https://web.archive.org/web/20090508164943/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm May 8, 2009 August 7, 2009http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0195 "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ask Al Archive Weird Al August 14, 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100624113954/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0195 June 24, 2010 His religious upbringing is reflected in his abstinence from profanity, alcohol, and drugs. On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents were found dead at their home in Fallbrook, California, the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace. Hours after his wife notified him of this, he made the decision to go on with his concert in Appleton, Wisconsin.Yankovic Alfred Poodle Hat Tour 2003/2004 http://www.weirdal.com/phtour.htm The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site July 24, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20061206003731/http://www.weirdal.com/phtour.htm December 6, 2006http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/2004-04-11-weird-al-parents_x.htm Elderly parents of 'Weird Al' Yankovic found dead in California home July 16, 2014 January 6, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150106133319/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/2004-04-11-weird-al-parents_x.htm live He later said, "Since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well ... it would at least give me a break from sobbing all the time."https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/id/6689521 [Untitled interview with Yankovic] The B.S. Report (ESPN) June 23, 2011 ??? February 6, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20151009132013/http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=6689521 October 9, 2015 livehttp://www.weirdal.com/msg.htm A Message From Al June 20, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20141212235802/http://www.weirdal.com/msg.htm December 12, 2014 Their deaths occurred following the release of Poodle Hat, which was Yankovic's lowest-selling album in 20 years. He considered the Appleton show and subsequent tour dates therapeutic: "If I didn't have anything to distract me, I probably would have spiraled into an even deeper depression. For a couple of hours each night, I could go onstage and put on a big fake smile and pretend like everything was just okay." In a 2014 interview, he cited the deaths of his parents as the worst thing that had ever happened to him, adding, "I knew intellectually, that at some point, probably, I'd have to, you know, live through the death of my parents, but I never thought it would be at the same time, and so abruptly."http://www.axs.tv/ui/inc/show_transcripts.php?ami=A10935&t=The_Big_Interview&en=304 The Big Interview: Weird Al Yankovic Rather Dan Dan Rather AXS TV April 1, 2015 April 2, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150402141109/http://www.axs.tv/ui/inc/show_transcripts.php?ami=A10935&t=The_Big_Interview&en=304 Yankovic became a vegetarian in 1992 when his girlfriend gave him a copy of the 1987 John Robbins book Diet for a New America, which he said "made a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet".http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0195 Midnight Star 'Ask Al' Q&As for January, 1995 April 4, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20100624113954/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0195 June 24, 2010 When asked how he can rationalize performing shows at events such as the Great American Rib Cook-Off as a vegetarian, he replied, "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though I'm not a student anymore."http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0500 "Ask Al" Q&As for May, 2000 June 23, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070621200540/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#090206 June 21, 2007 In a 2011 interview with OnMilwaukee, he clarified his stance on his diet, "I am still a vegetarian, and I try to be a vegan, but I occasionally cheat. If there's a cheese pizza on the band bus, I might sneak a piece."Snyder Molly Weird Al Yankovic celebrates 35 years of spoofing around https://onmilwaukee.com/music/articles/weirdalyankovic.html OnMilwaukee June 2, 2011 January 25, 2017 February 19, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170219140007/https://onmilwaukee.com/music/articles/weirdalyankovic.html live In 1998, Yankovic underwent LASIK eye surgery to correct his near-sightedness. As his glasses were part of his signature look prior to the surgery, Yankovic considered wearing fake glasses but decided against it. Around this time, he had also decided to shave off his trademark mustache.https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1999/11/12/yankovic-has-a-new-look-but-hes-still-weird-al/ YANKOVIC HAS A NEW LOOK BUT HE'S STILL WEIRD AL November 12, 1999 December 29, 2023 December 29, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231229100451/https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1999/11/12/yankovic-has-a-new-look-but-hes-still-weird-al/ live Musical style List of songs recorded by "Weird Al" Yankovic thumb|right|upright|Yankovic, photographed by Kyle Cassidy Parodies Yankovic is well known for creating parodies of contemporary radio hits, which typically make up about half of his studio releases. Unlike other parody artists such as Allan Sherman, Yankovic and his band strive to keep the backing music in his parodies the same as the original, transcribing the original song by ear and re-recording the song for the parody. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/weird-al-endures Weird Al Endures July 16, 2014 August 8, 2014 The New Yorker Ian Crouch August 11, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140811123921/http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/weird-al-endures live In some cases, after Yankovic has requested that the original band allow his parody, the band will offer to help out with the recreation: Dire Straits members Mark Knopfler and Guy Fletcher perform on "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", Yankovic's parody of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing", while Imagine Dragons provided Yankovic with advice on how to recreate some of the electronic sounds they used for "Radioactive" in Yankovic's parody "Inactive".https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6157636/weird-al-yankovic-interview-pharrell-mandatory-fun 'Weird Al' Yankovic On Getting Pharrell's Permission: 'He Could Not Have Been Nicer' Gary Graff July 15, 2014 July 15, 2014 Billboard July 17, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140717105704/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6157636/weird-al-yankovic-interview-pharrell-mandatory-fun live Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil, MC Hammer, and Men Without Hats.http://www.spokane7.com/music/stories/?ID=401 Weird Al's shtick still draws a crowd October 16, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182156/http://www.spokane7.com/music/stories/?ID=401 September 27, 2007http://www.wickedlocal.com/northofboston/x1575047109 https://web.archive.org/web/20120923200022/http://www.wickedlocal.com/northofboston/x1575047109 September 23, 2012 Revenge of the nerd: 'Weird Al' gets all white and nerdy for summer tour August 13, 2007 Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006) has enabled him to escape the one-hit wonder stigma often associated with novelty music.http://www.tweak.com/phonetag/weirdal Tweak: Phone Tag – Weird Al Yankovic October 16, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060509010828/http://www.tweak.com/phonetag/weirdal May 9, 2006 Yankovic considers his body of work to primarily feature parodies, rather than satires of the original song or artist, as he found that satire of songs or artists has already been done before. https://www.vulture.com/2017/03/weird-al-on-turning-blurred-lines-into-word-crimes.html Weird Al Yankovic Details Exactly How He Turned 'Blurred Lines' Into 'Word Crimes' Jesse David Fox March 25, 2017 July 24, 2019 Vulture July 24, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190724235354/https://www.vulture.com/2017/03/weird-al-on-turning-blurred-lines-into-word-crimes.html live Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics. Yankovic's humor normally lies more in creating unexpected incongruity between an artist's image and the topic of the song, contrasting the style of the song with its content (such as the songs "Amish Paradise", "White & Nerdy", and "You're Pitiful"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichés (such as "eBay" and "Don't Download This Song"). Yankovic's parodies are often satirical of popular culture, including television (see The TV Album), films ("The Saga Begins"), and food (see The Food Album). Yankovic claims he has no intention of writing "serious" music. In his reasoning, "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave the serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline."http://hub.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070702/NOISE02/707040313/1104/HUB 'Weird Al' Yankovic – Parodist promises a high-energy show – with costume changes July 8, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070930020306/http://hub.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20070702%2FNOISE02%2F707040313%2F1104%2FHUB September 30, 2007 Yankovic considered that his first true satirical song was "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit".https://www.avclub.com/weird-al-yankovic-1798226810 "Weird Al" Yankovic Nathan Rabin June 29, 2011 June 29, 2011 The A.V. Club https://web.archive.org/web/20110701100237/http://www.avclub.com/articles/weird-al-yankovic,58244/ July 1, 2011 live Other satirical songs include "Achy Breaky Song", which refers to the song "Achy Breaky Heart", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in "Got My Mind Set on You", and "Perform This Way", set to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", that drew inspiration from Lady Gaga's outlandish but confident attitude. Yankovic is the sole writer for all his songs and, for "legal and personal reasons", does not accept parody submissions or ideas from fans. There exists, however, one exception to this rule: Madonna was reportedly talking with a friend and rhetorically asked when Yankovic was going to turn her "Like a Virgin" into "Like a Surgeon". Madonna's friend was a mutual friend of Yankovic's manager, Jay Levey, and eventually Yankovic himself heard the story from Levey. In writing his parodies as well as his original songs, Yankovic spends a great deal of time in deciding the right words that not only match the beat of the original song but that fit the theme of the parody. He says that the lyrics of some songs have taken him weeks to write as he permutes the various choices, sometimes entering a "zombie phase" as he mulls these over in his home. For example, Yankovic believes he could have written a completely different version of "White & Nerdy" based on the alternative choices of lyrics he had come up with and had discarded for the final song. He has also done significant research for other song parodies to get facts and keywords for certain areas of knowledge, such as for "I Think I'm a Clone Now" or hospitals for "Like a Surgeon". Yankovic has documented all these past lyrical attempts, first through binders and then computerized in case he needs to go back for future songs. Polka medleys List of "Weird Al" Yankovic polka medleys Most of Yankovic's studio albums include a polka medley of about a dozen contemporary songs at the time of the album, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. In Yankovic's early career, before recording his first album, he had performed such polka medleys in live shows in California, though then using songs from lesser-known bands like Bad Brains and the Plasmatics. He had been inspired to do so from Spike Jones, who had transitioned from classical music into polka.Padgett Ray https://www.avclub.com/exclusive-book-excerpt-weird-al-isnt-just-a-parody-mas-1819695905 Cover Me Sterling 2017 978-1-4549-2250-6 New York City 139–151 November 16, 2017 November 15, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171116080222/https://www.avclub.com/exclusive-book-excerpt-weird-al-isnt-just-a-parody-mas-1819695905 live Yankovic said that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended". Yankovic did not include a medley on his first album, but considered this for his second, In 3-D, recognizing that it would only work if he used well-known songs. The resulting "Polkas on 45", which featured songs from Devo, Deep Purple, Berlin, and The Beatles, was popular, and the polka medley became a staple of all but one of Yankovic's future albums. Yankovic said that "fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley."http://www.livedaily.com/news/Weird_Al_talks_new_album_2007_tour-10776.html 'Weird Al' talks new album, 2007 tour October 26, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061021191206/http://www.livedaily.com/news/Weird_Al_talks_new_album_2007_tour-10776.html?t=1 October 21, 2006 More current polka medleys feature songs that Yankovic had wanted to parody but which had proved difficult, such as Daft Punk's "Get Lucky", which lacked sufficient lyrics to parody. The polkas are recorded in studio, including the sound effects which are performed live during recording, which Yankovic considered one of his favorite parts of recording. In 2018, Yankovic created a medley of songs from the musical Hamilton, "The Hamilton Polka". Original songs Yankovic has recorded numerous original humorous songs, such as "You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute". Many of these songs are style pastiches of specific bands with allusions to specific songs. For example, "First World Problems" from Mandatory Fun is a style take on Pixies, with the opening stanza reminiscent of Pixies' "Debaser". https://www.avclub.com/review/weird-al-yankovic-smartly-skewers-embraces-pop-cul-206851 'Weird Al' Yankovic smartly skewers, embraces pop culture Annie Zaleski July 15, 2014 August 8, 2014 The A.V. Club August 11, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140811042423/http://www.avclub.com/review/weird-al-yankovic-smartly-skewers-embraces-pop-cul-206851 live Other style parodies includes those of Rage Against the Machine with "I'll Sue Ya" (which features many aspects of the hit song "Killing in the Name"), Devo with "Dare to Be Stupid", The B-52's with "Mr. Popeil", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", Frank Zappa with "Genius in France", Nine Inch Nails with "Germs", and Queen with "Ringtone".http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0100 "Ask Al" Q&As for January 2000 October 30, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061106023621/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm November 6, 2006 Some songs are pastiches of an overall genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now", charity records with "Don't Download This Song" and college fight songs with "Sports Song"). Yankovic stated that he does not have any unreleased original songs, instead coming up and committing to the song ideas he arrives at for his albums and other releases. https://www.spin.com/2014/12/weird-al-yankovic-interview-best-of-2014-mandatory-fun/ SPIN 2014 Exit Interviews: 'Weird Al' Yankovic Dan Weiss December 19, 2014 December 19, 2014 Spin April 27, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150427030503/http://www.spin.com/2014/12/weird-al-yankovic-interview-best-of-2014-mandatory-fun/ live Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from Johnny Dangerously; "Polkamon" from the film Pokémon: The Movie 2000; and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in Spy Hard), in addition to his own film, UHF. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as "Dare to Be Stupid" in The Transformers: The Movie. In 2017, Yankovic made a guest appearance on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, performing a new song "The North Korea Polka", as part of an episode about the political state of North Korea. Since around 2015, most of Yankovic's output was his original works rather than parodies, with Yankovic explaining "I wanted to prove that I'm more than just the parody guy", and that there was more challenge in creating original works and pastiches. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-08-29/weird-al-kia-forum-bigger-and-weirder-tour Why did Weird Al Yankovic abandon musical parodies for a decade before his bigger, weirder comeback? Stuart Miller August 29, 2025 August 30, 2025 Los Angeles Times August 29, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250829211122/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-08-29/weird-al-kia-forum-bigger-and-weirder-tour live Recurring themes One of Yankovic's recurring jokes involves the number 27. It is mentioned in the lyrics of several songs, and seen on the covers for Running with Scissors, Poodle Hathttp://www.weirdal.com/images/phathires.jpg Poodle Hat album cover October 26, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110612183015/http://www.weirdal.com/images/phathires.jpg June 12, 2011 and Straight Outta Lynwood. He had originally just pulled the number 27 as a random figure to use in filling out lyrics, but as his fans started to notice the reuse of the number after the first few times, he began to use 27 in his lyrics, videos, and album covers. He explains that "It's just a number I started using that people started attaching a lot of importance to."https://www.avclub.com/weird-al-yankovic-1798212490 Interview: "Weird Al" Yankovic October 17, 2007 July 2, 2011 David Wolinsky The A.V. Club June 26, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220626055210/https://www.avclub.com/weird-al-yankovic-1798212490 live Other recurring jokes revolve around the names Bob (the Al TV interviews often mention the name,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVGiUu2ciYY Weird Al Interviews Avril Lavigne YouTube October 29, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20131210155357/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVGiUu2ciYY December 10, 2013 David Bowe's character in UHF is named Bob, and a song called "Bob", which parodies Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan, is featured on Poodle Hat), Frank (e.g. "Frank's 2000" TV"), and the surname "Finkelstein" (e.g. the music video for "I Lost on Jeopardy", or Fran Drescher's character, Pamela Finkelstein, in UHF). A number of songs use the phrase "internal organs". A hamster called Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in The Weird Al Show and the Al TV specials, as well as the subject of an original song on Alapalooza. Other recurring jokes include Yankovic borrowing or being owed $5. In a number of Al TV interviews, he often asks if he can borrow $5, being turned down every time. This motif also occurs in "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?", in which his deceased friend owes him $5. Another recurring joke is his attraction to female nostrils or nostrils in general. This also appears in numerous Al TV interviews as well as in several of his songs (such as "Albuquerque" and "Wanna B Ur Lovr"). Yankovic also asks his celebrity guests if they could "shave his back for a nickel". This also appears in the song "Albuquerque". Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/faq/#secret Al-oholics Anonymous' Frequently Asked Questions August 24, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060829151229/http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/faq/ August 29, 2006 Music videos While the lyrics of Yankovic's musical parodies generally do not allude to the subject songs or artists, his music videos sometimes parody their videos. https://www.theverge.com/2014/7/23/5926693/the-8-most-best-weird-al-parodies-video The 8 best Weird Al parody videos The Verge July 23, 2014 July 25, 2014 July 24, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140724220115/http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/23/5926693/the-8-most-best-weird-al-parodies-video live The video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses a set that closely resembles that of the video for Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and uses several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that draw directly from those of the original song include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", "Bedrock Anthem", "Bob", "Headline News", "It's All About the Pentiums", "Amish Paradise", "Like a Surgeon", and "White & Nerdy". Yankovic has said the video for "Dare to Be Stupid" parodies Devo videos in general.http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0100 Ask Al" Q&As for January, 2000 August 5, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070806052956/http://weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm August 6, 2007 Several videos include celebrity cameos. Dr. Demento appeared in several of Yankovic's earlier videos, such as "I Love Rocky Road" and "Ricky". Actor Dick Van Patten is featured in "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem"; Drew Carey, Emo Philips and Phil LaMarr appeared in "It's All About the Pentiums"; Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Donny Osmond, Judy Tenuta and Seth Green appeared in "White & Nerdy"; and Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone appeared in "Gump". The video for "I Lost on Jeopardy" includes Greg Kihn, the artist whose song, "Jeopardy", was being parodied, along with Don Pardo and Art Fleming, Jeopardy's original announcer and host, as themselves. Florence Henderson plays an Amish seductress in "Amish Paradise". While most videos that Yankovic creates are aired on music channels such as MTV and VH1, Yankovic worked with animation artists to create music videos for release with extended content albums. The DualDisc version of Straight Outta Lynwood features six videos set to songs from the release, including videos created by Bill Plympton and John Kricfalusi; one video, "Weasel Stomping Day" was created by the producers of the show Robot Chicken, and aired as a segment of that program. For the 2010 Alpocalypse, Yankovic produced videos for every song; four of those were previously released for each of the songs on the EP Internet Leaks, with the videos for the remaining songs released via social media sites and included in the deluxe edition of Alpocalypse. These live-action and animated videos were produced by both previous collaborators such as Plympton for "TMZ", video content providers like Jib-Jab and SuperNews!, and other directors and animators. To help promote his 2014 album Mandatory Fun in social media circles, Yankovic produced eight music videos for the album releasing them over eight consecutive days with release of the album, believing it "would make an impact because people would be talking about the album all week long". http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/07/18/weird-al-yankovic-adapint-to-digital-age/ https://web.archive.org/web/20140719030222/http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/07/18/weird-al-yankovic-adapint-to-digital-age/ dead July 19, 2014 Weird Al Yankovic adapting to digital age Ashley Dvohrik July 18, 2014 July 19, 2014 Fox News https://time.com/2949882/weird-al-yankovic-not-that-weird/ The Al Yankovic Paradox: He Doesn't Seem That Weird Anymore Lily Rothman July 2, 2014 July 2, 2014 Time July 2, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140702192959/http://time.com/2949882/weird-al-yankovic-not-that-weird/ live RCA Records opted not to fund production of any of these videos, and Yankovic turned to various social media portals including Funny or Die and CollegeHumor which he had worked with in the past; these sites helped to cover the production cost of the videos with Yankovic foregoing any ad video revenue. He chose to distribute the videos to different portals to avoid burdening any single one with all of the costs and work needed to produce them. This approach proved to be successful, as the total collection of videos had acquired more than 20 million views in the first week. This release strategy was considered by The Atlantic as a "web-enabled precision video delivery operation, and evidence of some serious digital distributional forethought" as it allows the videos to be seen by different sets of audiences for each site. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-surprisingly-savvy-weird-al-internet-machine/374649/ The Surprisingly Savvy Weird Al Internet Machine Robinson Meyer July 19, 2014 July 20, 2014 The Atlantic July 19, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140719183653/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-surprisingly-savvy-weird-al-internet-machine/374649/ live The approach was considered to be essential to promoting Mandatory Fun to reach the No. 1 position on the Billboard charts on its debut week. https://www.billboard.com/pro/weird-al-yankovic-billboard-200-mandatory-fun-number-one/ 'Weird Al' Yankovic Gets First No. 1 Album On Billboard 200 with 'Mandatory Fun' Keith Caulfield July 23, 2014 July 23, 2014 Billboard Businessweek attributed the sales success of Mandatory Fun to the viral music video campaign. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-21/weird-al-yankovics-mandatory-fun-owns-the-internet https://web.archive.org/web/20140722183805/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-21/weird-al-yankovics-mandatory-fun-owns-the-internet July 22, 2014 The Internet Should Have Killed Weird Al. It Only Made Him Stronger Claire Suddath July 21, 2014 July 21, 2014 Bloomberg BusinessWeek ABC World News elaborated that Yankovic's success is in part due to the Internet's interest in viral and humorous videos catching up with what Yankovic has been doing for his entire career. Yankovic himself was amazed with the response he got from the album and video releases, stating that "I've been doing the same thing for 30 years and all of a sudden I'm having the best week of my life" https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/weird-al-targets-internet-fans-latest-music-video-24656313 Weird Al Targets Internet Fans in Latest Music Video Project ABC World News July 21, 2014 July 21, 2014 July 24, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140724002332/http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/weird-al-targets-internet-fans-latest-music-video-24656313 live and that he "kind of stumbled on my formula for the future".http://adage.com/article/digital/escape-weird-al-s-marketing-blitz/294219/ Why You Couldn't Escape Weird Al's Marketing Blitz Advertising Age July 21, 2014 July 21, 2014 Max Wellins https://web.archive.org/web/20140722045231/http://adage.com/article/digital/escape-weird-al-s-marketing-blitz/294219/ July 22, 2014 In 2025, Yankovic announced the Bigger & Weirder Tour, a concert tour featuring performances at large venues such as Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum. Following the release of his album Mandatory Fun in 2014, Yankovic has released limited new music, but the tour has seen strong ticket sales, marking it as one of his most commercially successful to date. The tour includes elaborate performances with approximately 20 costume changes for Yankovic and nine for his band, each completed in 45 seconds or less.Newman Melinda Why 'Weird Al' Yankovic's 2025 Tour Could Be His Most Epic Yet Billboard 2025-05-29 https://www.billboard.com/music/features/weird-al-yankovic-tour-billboard-cover-story-1235991234/ 2025-06-10 June 10, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250610191441/https://www.billboard.com/music/features/weird-al-yankovic-tour-billboard-cover-story-1235991234/ live Reactions from original artists The United States Supreme Court affirmed in the 1994 case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. that certain parodies (even those sold commercially) can qualify under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law, which means that parody musicians such as Yankovic do not need to obtain permission from the original artists. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/flashback-weird-als-rejected-wings-parody-chicken-pot-pie-20160526 Flashback: Weird Al's Rejected Wings Parody, 'Chicken Pot Pie' Andy Greene May 26, 2016 October 13, 2016 Rolling Stone November 21, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171121124055/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/flashback-weird-als-rejected-wings-parody-chicken-pot-pie-20160526 live However, as a personal rule, Yankovic has always sought permission from the original artist before commercially releasing a parody, to respect the original musicians, avoid lawsuits, and to work out agreeable royalty arrangements.https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/arts/music/weird-al-yankovics-album-alpocalypse.html?_r=1 Serving Pop Stars, but on a Skewer David Itkzoff June 9, 2011 June 21, 2011 The New York Times https://web.archive.org/web/20110612233123/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/arts/music/weird-al-yankovics-album-alpocalypse.html?_r=1 June 12, 2011 live Yankovic stated of these efforts: "I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. I don't want to be embroiled in any nastiness. That's not how I live my life. I like everybody to be in on the joke and be happy for my success. I take pains not to burn bridges." The communications are typically handled by his manager Jay Levey, but at times Yankovic has asked the artist directly, such as flying to Denver, Colorado, to attend an Iggy Azalea concert and speak to her personally about parodying her song "Fancy". https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6188148/why-weird-al-yankovic-means-big-business Why 'Weird Al' Yankovic Means Big Business Gary Graff July 25, 2014 July 26, 2014 Billboard July 29, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140729133312/http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6188148/why-weird-al-yankovic-means-big-business live He claims that only about two to three percent of the artists he approaches for permission deny his requests.https://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/06/weird-al-yankovic-alpocalypse Alpocalypse Now: 'Weird Al' Yankovic Says 'Twitter Saved My Album' Angela Watercutter June 20, 2011 August 16, 2025 Wired https://web.archive.org/web/20110624231911/http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/06/weird-al-yankovic-alpocalypse/all/1 June 24, 2011 Yankovic has stated that the holder of the publishing rights to the original song holds the publishing rights/royalties to his parodies, but that he works out an agreement to split the songwriting credit with the original songwriters. Separately, Yankovic needs to negotiate for royalties to the original artists for including their songs within a polka medley, which is considered a cover in copyright law. This created difficulties in recording his first medley, "Polkas on 45", since it involved thirteen different royalty schemes, but since then, he has established a relationship with most large music publishers to easily secure the license to use their songs. Positive left|thumb|upright|Yankovic performing "The Saga Begins" in Auckland, New Zealand, on March 10, 2007. Both Don McLean and George Lucas have reportedly expressed approval of the parody. Many artists parodied by Yankovic have considered this as a rite of passage to show they have made it in the music industry. Michael Jackson was a big fan of Yankovic, and Yankovic claimed Jackson "had always been very supportive" of his work. Jackson twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat", respectively). When Jackson granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat", Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Badder" video from the Moonwalker film. http://people.com/celebrity/weird-al-yankovic-says-prince-wasnt-a-fan-of-his-parodies/ Weird Al Yankovic Reveals the One Musician Who Always Said No – Prince Gillian Telling August 2, 2016 October 13, 2016 People October 14, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161014062234/http://people.com/celebrity/weird-al-yankovic-says-prince-wasnt-a-fan-of-his-parodies/ live Yankovic said that Jackson's support helped to gain approval from other artists he wanted to parody. Though Jackson allowed the first two parodies to be made, he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White", titled "Snack All Night", because he felt the message was too important. This refusal, coming shortly after the commercial failure of Yankovic's film UHF in theaters, had initially set Yankovic back; he later recognized this as a critical time as, while searching for new parodies, he came across Nirvana, leading to a revitalization of his career with "Smells Like Nirvana". Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows.'Weird Al' Yankovic: Concert Set Lists http://www.weirdal.com/setlists.htm October 28, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061107164841/http://weirdal.com/setlists.htm November 7, 2006 Yankovic was one of several celebrities who appeared in the 1989 music video for Jackson's song "Liberian Girl".Montgomery James Michael Jackson's Video Co-Stars: From Eddie Murphy To Marlon Brando http://www.mtv.com/news/1614795/michael-jacksons-video-co-stars-from-eddie-murphy-to-marlon-brando/ https://web.archive.org/web/20140618194756/http://www.mtv.com/news/1614795/michael-jacksons-video-co-stars-from-eddie-murphy-to-marlon-brando/ dead June 18, 2014 MTV News June 27, 2017 en Dave Grohl of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". On his Behind the Music special, Yankovic stated that when he called Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um... it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with, "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics." According to Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic interviewed for Behind the Music, when the band saw the video of the song, they were laughing hysterically. Additionally, Cobain described Yankovic as "America's modern pop-rock genious " in his posthumously released personal notebook.http://www.theage.com.au/news/gig-previews--reviews/weird-al-yankovic/2007/03/19/1174152930142.html Weird Al Yankovic – Gig previews & reviews April 16, 2007 Melbourne, Australia The Age March 19, 2007 Guy Blackman March 28, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070328220256/http://www.theage.com.au/news/gig-previews--reviews/weird-al-yankovic/2007/03/19/1174152930142.html live Mark Knopfler approved Yankovic's parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" for use in the film UHF on the provision that Knopfler himself be allowed to play lead guitar on the parody which was later titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Yankovic commented on the legal complications of the parody in the DVD audio commentary for UHF, explaining "We had to name that song 'Money for Nothing "slash" Beverly Hillbillies "asterisk because the lawyers told us that had to be the name. Those wacky lawyers! What ya gonna do?"Al Yankovic, "UHF" DVD Audio Commentary (0:35:15) The Permanent Record: Al in the Box booklet referred to the song's "compound fracture of a title". When a fan asked about the song's title, Yankovic shared his feelings on the title, replying "That incredibly stupid name is what the lawyers insisted that the parody be listed as. I'm not sure why, and I've obviously never been very happy about it."http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#1098 "Ask Al" Q&As for October, 1998 September 15, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203544/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm September 27, 2007 The Presidents of the United States of America were so pleased with "Gump", Yankovic's parody of their song "Lump", that they ended the song with his last line instead of their own ("And that's all I have to say about that") on the live recording of "Lump" featured on the compilation album Pure Frosting. In 2008, Yankovic directed the music video for their song "Mixed Up S.O.B." Don McLean was reportedly pleased with "The Saga Begins", a parody of "American Pie" that summarizes Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances.http://weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0999 "Ask Al" Q&As for September 1999 October 29, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060902121655/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0999 September 2, 2006 His parody not only replicates the music from the original McLean song, but it replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a Lucasfilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/weirdal.asp TheForce.Net – Jedi Council TheForce.Net Chris Knight August 24, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061022180839/http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/weirdal.asp October 22, 2006 Chamillionaire was also very pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" (a parody of "Ridin") on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy [...] I didn't know he could rap like that. It's really an honor when he does that. [...] Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big."http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/mixtape_monday/091106 https://web.archive.org/web/20061027043800/http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/mixtape_monday/091106/ dead October 27, 2006 MTVNews.com – Mixtape Monday: Lil Wayne, Juelz To Drop Real Album; Ness Drops Da Band MTV October 28, 2006 In September 2007, Chamillionaire credited "White & Nerdy" for his recent Grammy win, stating "That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable. It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al's song."https://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-09-16-chamillionaire_N.htm Chamillionaire triumphs over cursing on 'Ultimate Victory' Steve Jones USA Today September 20, 2007 September 17, 2007 October 11, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20071011023446/http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-09-16-chamillionaire_N.htm live In 2011, Yankovic was initially denied permission to parody Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for his song "Perform This Way" for release on a new album, but through his release of the song on YouTube and subsequent spread via Twitter, Lady Gaga and her staff asserted that her manager had made the decision without her input, and Gaga herself gave Yankovic permission to proceed with the parody's release.Alfred Yankovic The gaga saga April 20, 2011 http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/the-gaga-saga April 20, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110423010155/http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/the-gaga-saga/ April 23, 2011 live Gaga considered herself "a huge Weird Al fan",Lady Gaga – I Didn't Reject Weird Al Yankovic TMZ April 20, 2011 https://www.tmz.com/2011/04/20/weird-al-yankovic-lady-gaga-rejected-born-this-way-parody-perform-this-way April 20, 2011 April 22, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110422044242/http://www.tmz.com/2011/04/20/weird-al-yankovic-lady-gaga-rejected-born-this-way-parody-perform-this-way/ live and she stated that the parody was a "rite of passage" for her musical career and considered the song "very empowering".https://www.rollingstone.com/videos/new-and-hot/lady-gaga-weird-al-parody-empowering-20110525 https://web.archive.org/web/20110528113911/http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/new-and-hot/lady-gaga-weird-al-parody-empowering-20110525 May 28, 2011 Lady Gaga – Weird Al parody 'empowering' May 25, 2011 June 20, 2011 Rolling Stone Yankovic states that his style parodies have also been met with positive remarks by the original artist. He noted that his friends and fellow musicians Ben Folds and Taylor Hanson helped to support their respective style parodies "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?" and "If That Isn't Love". He also noted positive reactions he got from friends his band members have, such as from Frank Black of Pixies for "First World Problems" and Southern Culture on the Skids for "Lame Claim to Fame", and a similar praise when he encountered Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, and Nash on the street, and was able to play his recently completed "Mission Statement" for him. Negative thumb|Coolio initially reacted negatively to "Amish Paradise", feeling it undermined the serious message of the original song, but later apologized and said he considered Yankovic's parody "actually funny as shit". One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintained that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I don't remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt I'll be invited to Coolio's next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#042706 "Ask Al" Q&As for April 27, 2006 September 2, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20090508164943/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm May 8, 2009 In an interview in 2014, Coolio extended his apology for refusing his permission, stating that at the time "I was being cocky and shit and being stupid and I was wrong and I should've embraced that shit and went with it", and that he considered Yankovic's parody "actually funny as shit".https://www.vice.com/en/article/after-all-these-years-coolio-still-lets-his-nuts-hang/ After All These Years, Coolio Still Lets His Nuts Hang April 28, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20150318041016/http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/blog/after-all-these-years-coolio-still-lets-his-nuts-hang March 18, 2015 July 15, 2014 Vice Dan live Ozzi In 1999, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea told Behind the Music that he was unimpressed and disappointed by Yankovic's 1993 song "Bedrock Anthem", which parodied the band's songs "Under the Bridge" and "Give It Away". He was quoted as stating, "I didn't think it was very good. I enjoy Weird Al's things, but I found it unimaginative."Khanna Vish "Weird Al" Yankovic Alpocalypse Now... and Then https://exclaim.ca/music/article/weird_al_yankovic-alpocalypse_now8230_then July 16, 2024http://www.weirdalforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5673&hl= Reactions From Original Artists Weirdalforum.com October 8, 2006 June 13, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20090524031735/http://www.weirdalforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5673&hl= May 24, 2009 Refused parodies On numerous occasions, Prince refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic had stated in interviews prior to Prince's death in 2016 that he had "approached him every few years [to] see if he's lightened up".http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/interviews/hotwired.txt "Weird Al" Yankovic Interview by Michael Small of Hotwired.com October 28, 2006 September 27, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003048/http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/interviews/hotwired.txt live Yankovic told one story where, before the American Music Awards where he and Prince were assigned to sit in the same row, he received a telegram from Prince's management company, demanding he not even make eye contact with the artist. Among parodies that Yankovic had ideas for included one based on "Let's Go Crazy" about The Beverly Hillbillies, "Yellow Snow" as a parody of "Purple Rain", "1999" as an infomercial with a call-in number ending in −1999, and parodies of "Kiss" and "When Doves Cry". Despite these refusals, Yankovic was able to gain permission to parody the "When Doves Cry" video as part of his music video for the song "UHF". https://www.vulture.com/2012/05/the-complete-weird-al-music-video-library.html The Complete 'Weird Al' Music Video Library Natalie Hazen May 17, 2012 December 19, 2018 Vulture December 20, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181220230540/https://www.vulture.com/2012/05/the-complete-weird-al-music-video-library.html live He later wrote "Traffic Jam" for his album Alapalooza, in the style of "Let's Go Crazy", without Prince's express permission.'Weird Al' Yankovic Reveals the Huge Singer Who Would 'Never' Approve a Musical Parody https://people.com/weird-al-yankovic-reveals-huge-singer-would-never-approve-parody-11751553 2025-10-03 People.com en July 2, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250702095221/https://people.com/weird-al-yankovic-reveals-huge-singer-would-never-approve-parody-11751553 liveGonik Michael 2017-04-06 Prince's Strange Relationship with Parody (and Weird Al) Detailed in Excerpt From Ben Greenman's 'Dig If U Will The Picture' [Exclusive] https://www.okayplayer.com/princes-strange-relationship-with-parody-and-weird-al-detailed-in-excerpt-from-ben-greenmans-dig-if-u-will-the-picture-exclusive/495166 2025-10-03 www.okayplayer.com en-US November 7, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20251107161324/https://www.okayplayer.com/princes-strange-relationship-with-parody-and-weird-al-detailed-in-excerpt-from-ben-greenmans-dig-if-u-will-the-picture-exclusive/495166 live2021-09-30 The Big Squeeze Day Eighty-Four: "Traffic Jam" from Alapalooza https://www.nathanrabin.com/happy-place/2021/9/29/the-big-squeeze-day-eighty-three-traffic-jam-from-alapalooza 2025-10-03 It Turns Out the Naming Rights! Membership Option Was For Real and Someone Is Now Five Hundred Bucks Poorer Presents Nat en-US November 7, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20251107161918/https://www.nathanrabin.com/happy-place/2021/9/29/the-big-squeeze-day-eighty-three-traffic-jam-from-alapalooza live Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic suggested the idea of creating a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page was "less than thrilled with the prospect, so [Yankovic] didn't pursue it".http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0699 "Ask Al" Q&As for June, 1999 October 27, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061106023621/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm November 6, 2006 Yankovic was, however, allowed the opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru".https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/weird-al-yankovic-dishes-on-james-blunt-discusses-his-role-as-the-whitest-nerdiest-rock-star-ever-20060919 Weird Al Yankovic Dishes On James Blunt, Discusses His Role As the Whitest, Nerdiest Rock Star Ever Rolling Stone September 19, 2006 October 27, 2006 April 27, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110427114936/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/weird-al-yankovic-dishes-on-james-blunt-discusses-his-role-as-the-whitest-nerdiest-rock-star-ever-20060919 live Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", titled "Chicken Pot Pie", because, according to Yankovic, McCartney is "a strict vegetarian and he didn't want a parody that condoned the consumption of animal flesh". Though McCartney suggested possibly changing the parody to "Tofu Pot Pie", Yankovic, who is also a vegetarian, found this would not fit the lyrics he had written, which featured the sound of a chicken throughout the chorus. While never recorded for an album, Yankovic did play parts of "Chicken Pot Pie" as part of a larger medley in several tours during the 1990s. In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". Yankovic believes that Eminem thought that the video would be harmful to his image.Thomas Mike Is the King of Pop losing it? http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-jacko14.html https://web.archive.org/web/20041016051807/http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-jacko14.html October 16, 2004 Chicago Sun-Times October 16, 2004 December 3, 2010 In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission, despite Blunt's personal approval of the song. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood because of his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, and plays it in concert, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody.https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482774 Free 'Weird Al' Yankovic! NPR June 13, 2006 August 24, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060820173526/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482774 August 20, 2006 Thompson Stephen Yankovic referenced the incident in his video for "White & Nerdy" when he depicts himself vandalizing Atlantic Records' Wikipedia article. Yankovic was considering a complete polka medley with only U2 songs, but the band's publisher did not accept the terms. Similarly, he had included Weezer's "Buddy Holly" in a polka medley, but had to pull it when the band's publisher refused to receive partial rates. Yankovic had approached Beck asking for permission to parody his song "Loser", which Yankovic had created called "Schmoozer". At the time, Beck was just entering the music industry, and did not want his reputation to be seen as a one-hit wonder and refused the parody. Beck stated in 2022 that he wished he had given Yankovic permission, saying "I think it would have been an amazing video, I'm actually really sad it didn't happen."Chow Katie Beck wishes he had let "Weird Al" Yankovic parody "Loser" https://www.avclub.com/beck-weird-al-yankovic-loser-parody-1849128630/amp The A.V. Club June 30, 2022 September 13, 2022 October 10, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221010073709/https://www.avclub.com/beck-weird-al-yankovic-loser-parody-1849128630/amp live Although the parody was refused, "Loser" was used as the opening song in "The Alternative Polka" from Bad Hair Day. Yankovic had planned to make a parody based on "Hedwig's Theme" from the Harry Potter film series, but had been refused by Warner Bros. Pictures. Yankovic said that perhaps if he did a parody based on a franchise, "it's usually better just to do it and ask for forgiveness rather than permission". https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/weird-al-yankovic-warner-bros-harry-potter-parody-request-1235256215/ "Weird Al" Yankovic Says Warner Bros. Turned Down His 'Harry Potter' Parody Request Christy Pena November 24, 2022 November 24, 2022 The Hollywood Reporter Live performances left|thumb|Weird Al wearing his "Atlantic Records Sucks" shirt during a performance of "You're Pitiful", in 2007, at the Ohio State Fair Yankovic often describes his live concert performances as "a rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza"http://music.uk.launch.yahoo.com/read/interview/12027570 Weird Al Yankovic Interviews on Yahoo! Music February 17, 2012 https://archive.today/20121216142458/http://music.uk.launch.yahoo.com/read/interview/12027570 December 16, 2012 with an audience that "ranges from toddlers to geriatrics". Apart from Yankovic and his band performing his classic and contemporary hits, staples of Yankovic's live performances include a medley of parodies, many costume changes between songs, and a video screen on which various clips are played during the costume changes. A concert from Yankovic's 1999 tour, Touring with Scissors, for the Running with Scissors album was released on VHS in 1999 and on DVD in 2000. Titled "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!, the concert was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, on October 2, 1999.http://www.weirdal.com/100299.htm Weird Al Photo Gallery – Backstage "Pep Talk" November 10, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060925044253/http://weirdal.com/100299.htm September 25, 2006 For legal reasons, video clips (apart from those for Yankovic's own music videos) could not be shown for the home release, and unreleased parodies were removed from the parody medley for the performance.http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0300 "Ask Al" Q&As for March, 2000 November 10, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061106023621/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm November 6, 2006 In 2003, Yankovic toured overseas for the first time. Before 2003, Yankovic and his band had toured only the United States and parts of Canada. Following the success of Poodle Hat in Australia, Yankovic performed eleven shows in Australia's major capital cities and regional areas in October of that year.http://www.weirdal.com/phtour.htm "Weird Al" Yankovic: Poodle Hat 2003/04 tourdates November 10, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061206003731/http://www.weirdal.com/phtour.htm December 6, 2006 Yankovic returned to Australia and toured New Zealand for the first time in 2007 to support the Straight Outta Lynwood album. On September 8, 2007, Yankovic performed his 1,000th live show at Idaho Falls, Idaho. Yankovic has invited members of the 501st Legion on stage during performances of his Star Wars-themed songs "Yoda" and "The Saga Begins", recruiting members of local garrisons (club chapters) while on tour. In appreciation, the 501st inducted Yankovic as a "Friend of the Legion" in September 2007.http://www.501stlegion.org/news.php?archive=2007,9 501st Legion.org—Archived News Sep 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20110825230840/http://www.501st.com/news.php?archive=2007,9 August 25, 2011 He performed his first ever European mini-tour, including an appearance at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in Minehead, England in December 2010. Yankovic was picked to perform by the Canadian band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who curated the festival's lineup. Yankovic played three other dates in the UK around his festival appearance before performing a single date in the Netherlands.http://www.weirdal.com/livepage.htm "Weird Al" live tour dates, 2010 July 19, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20131130124245/http://www.weirdal.com/livepage.htm November 30, 2013 A second concert film, "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!: The Alpocalypse Tour, aired on Comedy Central on October 1, 2011, and was released on Blu-ray and DVD three days later. The concert was filmed at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, during Yankovic's tour supporting the album Alpocalypse. As before, video clips (apart from those for his own videos) and unreleased songs were edited out for legal reasons. Yankovic performed George Harrison's "What Is Life" at the live-recorded George Fest (Los Angeles, 2014). DVD and Blu-Ray CD combos of the concert honoring Harrison became available in early 2016. Following the release of Mandatory Fun, Yankovic toured across the United States, Canada, and selected overseas venues in the Mandatory World Tour from 2015 through 2016, principally featuring songs from this album. After taking a year off, Yankovic returned to tour in the United States and Canada from February to June 2018 in The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour. On this tour, he performed mostly original songs (not parodies) and did not use costumes, props, or video screens. Comedian Emo Philips was the opening act.Menta Anna Weird Al Tour Dates Are Here, but the Shows Are 'Not for Everybody' http://www.newsweek.com/weird-al-tour-dates-684571 Newsweek.com October 13, 2017 October 13, 2017 October 14, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171014040757/http://www.newsweek.com/weird-al-tour-dates-684571 liveTour http://weirdal.com/tour/ WeirdAl.com October 13, 2017 October 13, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171013180425/http://weirdal.com/tour/ live A further staple of this tour was Yankovic's cover performance of a different famous song at each venue, which Yankovic stated was something he and his band enjoyed doing. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hear-all-77-covers-weird-al-played-on-2018-tour-628740/ Hear All 77 Covers 'Weird Al' Played on 2018 Tour Andy Green June 14, 2018 October 31, 2018 Rolling Stone November 1, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181101015415/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hear-all-77-covers-weird-al-played-on-2018-tour-628740/ live Starting in June 2019, Yankovic went on his Strings Attached Tour, where he performed every show backed by a forty-one piece orchestra assembled from local musicians.https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/weird-al-yankovic-orchestra-tour-748465/ 'Weird Al' Yankovic To Tour With Orchestra in 2019 Greene Andy October 29, 2018 Rolling Stone October 31, 2018 en-US October 31, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181031052710/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/weird-al-yankovic-orchestra-tour-748465/ live The tour was inspired by a 2016 performance he did with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, which he considered a "religious experience" and sought to replicate on tour. The shows were generally much shorter, as under union rules Yankovic could only perform 90 minutes per show with an orchestra, requiring him to select songs that he felt would be ones that he had either long wanted to perform with an orchestra, such as the deep-cut "Harvey the Wonder Hamster" from Alapalooza, or that fit best with the orchestra backing. https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/weird-al-yankovic-interview-strings-attached-tour-8519483/ 'Weird Al' Yankovic On Pulling Off His 'Most Overblown Production Ever' Gus Ginsburg July 11, 2019 August 24, 2019 Billboard July 2, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220702153730/https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/weird-al-yankovic-interview-strings-attached-tour-8519483/ live https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/weird-al-yankovic-orchestra-show-forest-hills-861666/ Weird Al' Yankovic Revamps Classic Parodies With an Orchestra at NYC Show Andy Green July 22, 2019 August 24, 2019 Rolling Stone August 19, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190819121024/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/weird-al-yankovic-orchestra-show-forest-hills-861666/ live Yankovic had the shows open with the orchestra performing a few instrumental themes, seemingly giving the concert a high-brow quality, before he and his band entered and played his songs backed by the orchestra. The concerts finished with a large flashy production of his Star Wars songs, including "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda". https://consequence.net/2019/07/live-review-weird-al-yankovic-forest-hills-stadium/ Live Review: "Weird Al" Yankovic Gets Classy with Full Orchestra at New York's Forest Hills Stadium Ben Kaye July 22, 2019 August 24, 2019 Consequence of Sound July 5, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220705003451/https://consequence.net/2019/07/live-review-weird-al-yankovic-forest-hills-stadium/ livehttps://www.broadwayworld.com/orlando/article/BWW-Review-Classy-Meets-Wacky-in-WEIRD-ALs-Must-See-STRINGS-ATTACHED-Tour-at-Melbourne-FLs-King-Center-20190611 BWW Review: Classy Meets Wacky in 'WEIRD AL's Must-See STRINGS ATTACHED Tour at Melbourne, FL's King Center Wallace Aaron June 11, 2019 Broadway World August 23, 2019 en-US August 24, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190824070324/https://www.broadwayworld.com/orlando/article/BWW-Review-Classy-Meets-Wacky-in-WEIRD-ALs-Must-See-STRINGS-ATTACHED-Tour-at-Melbourne-FLs-King-Center-20190611 live Yankovic toured again in 2022, following up from his 2018 tour with the Unfortunate Return Of The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, focusing on his lesser-known songs. The tour included 133 shows, concluding with Yankovic's first performance at Carnegie Hall in October 2022. Yankovic said "I've loved doing every single incarnation of my live show, but honestly the Vanity tour is the most fun I've ever had on stage, so I've been dying to get back out there and torture everybody with it once again!" https://www.spin.com/2021/12/weird-al-yankovic-tour/ 'Weird Al' Yankovic Details 'The Unfortunate Return Of The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour' Marisa Whitaker December 3, 2021 December 3, 2021 Spin December 3, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211203153913/https://www.spin.com/2021/12/weird-al-yankovic-tour/ live Yankovic toured in 2025 with the Bigger and Weirder Tour, with 65 different shows, including his first ever performance at Madison Square Garden. https://www.nytimes.com/card/2025/07/15/arts/music/weird-al-is-enjoying-his-rock-star-moment Weird Al Is Enjoying His Rock-Star Moment Melina Ryzek July 15, 2025 July 22, 2025 The New York Times July 18, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250718230154/https://www.nytimes.com/card/2025/07/15/arts/music/weird-al-is-enjoying-his-rock-star-moment live Legacy and influence With "Word Crimes" from Mandatory Fun debuting at No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014, Yankovic became the third musical artist after Michael Jackson and Madonna to have a song in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 over each decade since the 1980s, his other Top 40 songs being "Eat It", "Smells Like Nirvana", and "White & Nerdy". Since then, only U2 and Kenny G have also entered this group. https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/8542554/kenny-g-top-40-hits-four-decades-kanye-west-use-this-gospel Thanks to Kanye, Kenny G Is Just the Fifth Act With Hot 100 Top 40 Hits in Each of the Last Four Decades Gary Trust November 4, 2019 April 10, 2020 Billboard November 12, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20191112131002/https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/8542554/kenny-g-top-40-hits-four-decades-kanye-west-use-this-gospel live Billboard named Yankovic No. 15 of the top 100 music video artists of all time in an August 2020 compilation, addressing that alongside his musical fame, "his accompanying video parodies are a vital part of the recipe". https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/9440075/100-best-music-video-artists The 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time: Staff List August 27, 2020 August 28, 2020 Billboard March 12, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210312003745/https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/9440075/100-best-music-video-artists live With his four-decade career, Yankovic's work has also influenced newer artists. Andy Samberg of the group The Lonely Island considered Yankovic an influence during his childhood. Lin-Manuel Miranda directly credits Yankovic as an influence on his musical Hamilton. Television producer Michael Schur considered that Yankovic's music represented a "deep egalitarian spirit of our culture" that allowed his comedy writers to reflect on society within his shows. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/magazine/weird-al-yankovic.html The Weirdly Enduring Appeal of Weird Al Yankovic Sam Anderson April 9, 2020 April 9, 2020 The New York Times April 9, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200409091041/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/magazine/weird-al-yankovic.html live While a large percentage of Yankovic's fanbase are from those that grew up with his music during the 1980s and 1990s, these fans have since become parents of their own and have shared their love of Yankovic's music with their children, and many of his more recent live tours in the 2020s are attended by both generations of fans, particularly fathers with their sons. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/arts/music/weird-al-yankovic-fans-fathers-sons.html Weird Al Never Grew Up. Neither Did These Fans (or Their Dads). Melena Ryzik September 23, 2026 September 23, 2026 The New York Times In 2017, a commemorative plaque was installed outside of the bathroom at California Polytechnic State University (Yankovic's alma mater) where he recorded the track "My Bologna".Post by @alyankovic on Twitter. Posted July 20, 2017. The plaque humorously refers to the bathroom, which is room 229 of Building 26"From Cal Poly bathrooms to No. 1 on Billboard 200: Weird Al through the years". Mustang News. Published August 14, 2014. Accessed October 7, 2026., as "Studio 229". On August 25, 2019, the town of Darwin, Minnesota permanently renamed the street beside the Largest ball of twine built by a single person "Weird Alley" in recognition of Yankovic, who was performing that week at the Minnesota State Fair.Song, Kayla. "Darwin, Minnesota names ‘Weird Alley’ in honor of twine ball troubadour ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic". The Current. Published August 26, 2019. Accessed October 7, 2026. Yankovic had previously written about the ball of twine with the track "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" from the soundtrack of the film UHF (1989). In response to the honor, Yankovic wrote on Twitter that "the Grammys and platinum albums are nice and all, but now I know I’ve finally made it: they just re-named the alley next to the Darwin, MN Twine Ball".Post by @alyankovic on Twitter. Posted August 25, 2019. In 2020, Mark Riedl, a researcher at Georgia Tech, created an algorithm that generates lyrics to match the rhyme and syllable schemes of preexisting songs. The algorithm was called "Weird A.I. Yankovic" in reference to Yankovic's similar song parodies.https://www.businessinsider.com/weird-ai-yancovic-algorithm-parody-song-fair-use-2020-7 A researcher created a 'Weird A.I. Yancovic' algorithm that generates parodies of existing songs, and now the record industry is accusing him of copyright violations Katie Canales July 24, 2020 July 25, 2020 Business Insider July 25, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200725073459/https://www.businessinsider.com/weird-ai-yancovic-algorithm-parody-song-fair-use-2020-7 live As of 7 September 2026, The International Astronomical Union designates minor planet 14331 as asteroid Alyankovic.(14331) Alyankovic = 1981 EC26 The nomination comes from researchers Allison McGraw, Tim McCoy, Melissa Brucker and astrophysicist Steve Desch. Yankovic was nominated and honored on the basis of his outsized contributions to nerd culture and his science-related music. Alyankovic orbits the sun approximately once every 3.8 years and resides in the Asteroid Belt between Jupiter and Mars.https://www.space.com/astronomy/asteroids/astronomers-just-named-an-asteroid-after-weird-al-yankovic Astronomers just named an asteroid after 'Weird Al' Yankovic Elizabeth Howell September 23, 2026 Spacehttps://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/article_1220f6e6-29cd-46a7-9046-81b259a61023.html ‘Weird’ science: U of A grad helped get asteroid named after Al Yankovic Henry Brean September 20, 2026 Arizona Daily Star Other works Films UHF UHF (film) In 1989, Yankovic starred in a feature film called UHF, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the film RoboCop.http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0599 "Ask Al" Q&As for May, 1999 October 28, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061106023621/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm November 6, 2006 However, it was unsuccessful in theaters due to both poor critical reception and competition from other summer blockbusters at the time such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, Batman and Licence to Kill. https://www.avclub.com/article/weird-als-iuhf-iis-uneven-but-that-just-made-it-ah-81212 Weird Al's UHF is uneven, but that just made it ahead of its time The A.V. Club June 14, 2012 July 14, 2014 Scott Tobias July 15, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140715185528/http://www.avclub.com/article/weird-als-iuhf-iis-uneven-but-that-just-made-it-ah-81212 live The failure of the film left Yankovic in a three-year slump, which was later broken by his inspiration to compose "Smells Like Nirvana". The film has since become a cult classic;Vaux Rob November 27, 2014 UHF Blu-ray Review: Weird Al Yankovic's 1989 Movie https://collider.com/uhf-25th-anniversary-edition-blu-ray-review/ November 2, 2022 Collider en-US fans bought it on eBay for high prices before it came out on DVD.Keeley Pete August 27, 2018 "Weird Al" on His Upcoming "Strings Attached" Tour, Cult Classic 'UHF' https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/weird-al-his-upcoming-biggest-ever-tour-cult-classic-uhf-1137568/ November 2, 2022 The Hollywood Reporter en-US November 2, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221102094157/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/weird-al-his-upcoming-biggest-ever-tour-cult-classic-uhf-1137568/ live Yankovic occasionally shows clips from the film at his concerts (to which MGM, the film's current owner, initially objected in the form of a cease and desist letter). In an apparent attempt to make it more accessible to overseas audiences, where the term UHF is used less frequently to describe TV broadcasts, the film was titled The Vidiot From UHF in Australia and parts of Europe. UHF shows the creation of Yankovic's signature food—the Twinkie Wiener Sandwich. The snack consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a makeshift bun, a hot dog, and Easy Cheese put together and dipped in milk before eating. Yankovic has stated that he has switched to using tofu hot dogs since becoming a vegetarian, but still enjoys the occasional Twinkie Wiener Sandwich.http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#1095 Midnight Star 'Ask Al' Q&As for October/November, 1995 October 26, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061106023621/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm November 6, 2006 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Weird: The Al Yankovic Story In 2010, Eric Appel produced a Funny or Die trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a fictional biographical film that parodies other films based on musicians; Yankovic (played by Aaron Paul) is seen hiding his "weirdness" from his parents (Gary Cole and Mary Steenburgen), making it big using song parodies with the help of Dr. Demento (Patton Oswalt), falling in and out of love with Madonna (Olivia Wilde), and fading into alcoholism and being arrested, at which point his father finally admits he is "weird" as well. Yankovic himself plays a music producer in the short. http://newsroom.mtv.com/2010/03/24/weird-al-yankovic-movie/ https://web.archive.org/web/20120609122011/http://newsroom.mtv.com/2010/03/24/weird-al-yankovic-movie/ June 9, 2012 'Weird Al' Yankovic Gets The Parody Biopic He Deserves March 24, 2010 March 24, 2010 Kyle Anderson MTV dead http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/23/geek-out-trailer-for-weird-al-biopic-up-on-funny-or-die/ Geek Out!: Trailer for Weird Al 'biopic' up on Funny or Die March 23, 2010 March 24, 2010 CNN Doug Gross March 27, 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100327081114/http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/23/geek-out-trailer-for-weird-al-biopic-up-on-funny-or-die/ dead https://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/03/24/weird-al-gets-serious-biopic-treatment-thanks-to-funny-or-die/ https://web.archive.org/web/20100328192543/http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/03/24/weird-al-gets-serious-biopic-treatment-thanks-to-funny-or-die/ March 28, 2010 'Weird Al' Gets Serious Biopic Treatment Thanks to Funny or Die Daniel Kreps March 24, 2010 March 25, 2010 Rolling Stone Yankovic and Appel announced in January 2022 that they would be making a full-length biopic of the same name based on the trailer, starring Daniel Radcliffe as Yankovic, Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento.Grobar Matt https://deadline.com/2022/01/daniel-radcliffe-to-play-weird-al-yankovic-in-roku-biopic-from-funny-or-die-1234913838/ 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story': Daniel Radcliffe To Portray Grammy Winner In Roku Biopic From Funny Or Die & Tango Deadline Hollywood January 18, 2022 January 18, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220118235108/https://deadline.com/2022/01/daniel-radcliffe-to-play-weird-al-yankovic-in-roku-biopic-from-funny-or-die-1234913838/ January 18, 2022 live The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022, and was released on the Roku Channel in November 2022. The film's soundtrack album includes several re-recorded parodies featured in the film along with an original song "Now You Know".September 9, 2022 Maureen Lee Lenker Weird Al Yankovic may have an Oscar campaign ahead for original song 'Now You Know' https://ew.com/movies/weird-al-yankovic-oscar-campaign-original-song-now-you-know-weird/ September 23, 2022 EW.com en September 23, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220923150009/https://ew.com/movies/weird-al-yankovic-oscar-campaign-original-song-now-you-know-weird/ live Among other nominations and awards, the film won the Best Television Movie at the 75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/2023-creative-arts-emmys-best-tv-movie-winner-weird-the-al-yankovic-story-1235780915/ 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story' Wins Best TV Movie at Creative Arts Emmys Hilton Dresden January 6, 2024 January 7, 2024 The Hollywood Reporter January 7, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240107044130/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/2023-creative-arts-emmys-best-tv-movie-winner-weird-the-al-yankovic-story-1235780915/ live Television The Weird Al Show In 2012, Yankovic extensively featured in the sixth-season episode of 30 Rock, "Kidnapped by Danger", in which Jenna Maroney desperately tries to come up with a Weird Al'-proof" song.Luippold Ross December 6, 2017 2012-03-23 Weird Al's '30 Rock' Parody Song Takes Shot At NBC (VIDEO) https://www.huffpost.com/entry/weird-als-30-rock-parody-song-blasts-nbc_n_1375837 live The Huffington Post en https://web.archive.org/web/20221207041800/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/weird-als-30-rock-parody-song-blasts-nbc_n_1375837 December 7, 2022 October 12, 2023 WATCH: Weird Al Does '30 Rock' Theme Song In 2014, he performed at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, singing a comedic medley of songs based on the themes of several Emmy-nominated shows, including Mad Men and Game of Thrones.Cruz Gilbert August 25, 2014 Watch Weird Al's Emmys TV Theme-Song Medley https://www.vulture.com/2014/08/watch-weird-al-emmys-tv-theme-song-medley.html live Vulture en https://web.archive.org/web/20230208180345/https://www.vulture.com/2014/08/watch-weird-al-emmys-tv-theme-song-medley.html February 8, 2023 October 12, 2023 Yankovic and Miranda appeared on the July 21, 2025, episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert a few days after news that the program would be cancelled, showing support for Colbert along with a number of guest cameos from other late night talk show hosts. https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/stephen-colbert-viva-la-vida-weird-al-lin-manuel-miranda-1236026684/ Stephen Colbert Cheered Himself Up After Cancellation News With 'Viva La Vida' Cover Feat. 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda Gil Kaufman July 22, 2025 July 22, 2025 Billboard July 22, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250722121623/https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/stephen-colbert-viva-la-vida-weird-al-lin-manuel-miranda-1236026684/ live Al TV Al TV Following the success of "Eat It" and its subsequent music video in 1984,Hansen Barret December 1992 Permanent Record: Al In The Box https://dmdb.org/al/booklet.html live Demented Music Database Yankovic was the host and writer of specials on MTV and VH1 directed by Jay Levey and Robert K. Weiss known as Al TV. These specials were usually 1–4 hours in runtime, and consisted of sketches and other comedic gags throughout the show. The gags mainly consisting of commercials for imaginary products, fake celebrity interviews (edited to appear as if Yankovic is really interviewing said celebrity), and letters from fans, along with various other non sequiturs. 10 specials were aired, with the first 8 airing on MTV and the last two airing on VH1 in 2006. A special similar in premise titled Al Music was broadcast in Canadian audiences on the MuchMusic channel. Animation and voice work Star Wars Detours Star Wars Detours Yankovic has done voice-overs for several animated series. He appeared in a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, singing "The Ballad of Homer & Marge" (a parody of John Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane") with his band. The episode, "Three Gays of the Condo", in which Marge hires Yankovic to sing the aforementioned song to Homer in an attempt to reconcile their marriage, later won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". Yankovic also had cameos in a 2008 episode, titled "That '90s Show", during which he records a parody of Homer's grunge hit "Shave Me" titled "Brain Freeze" (Homer's song, "Shave Me", was itself a parody of Nirvana's "Rape Me"), and in the couch gag of a 2023 episode, titled "Hostile Kirk Place", making Yankovic one of only a handful of celebrities to appear three times on the show playing themselves. He appeared in the animated Adult Swim show Robot Chicken as himself, which provided him with a music video for the song "Weasel Stomping Day".http://video.adultswim.com/robot-chicken/weasel-stomping-day.html Weasel Stomping Day Adult Swim Cartoon Network https://web.archive.org/web/20120514060537/http://video.adultswim.com/robot-chicken/weasel-stomping-day.html May 14, 2012 mdy-allhttp://humor.about.com/od/comediansr/a/weird_al_qa_2.htm "Weird Al" Yankovic: An Interview About Humor About.com April 8, 2012 Durrett, Mike About.com Entertainment https://web.archive.org/web/20120205193149/http://humor.about.com/od/comediansr/a/weird_al_qa_2.htm February 5, 2012 mdy-all Yankovic is the voice for Squid Hat on the Cartoon Network show The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He is also the announcer of the cartoon's eponymous video game adaptation. Yankovic had a guest appearance voicing Wreck-Gar, a waste collection vehicle Transformer in the Transformers: Animated cartoon series;http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/cartoon-network-to-air-transformers-animated-episo/13008/ Cartoon Network To Air Transformers Animated Episode "Garbage In, Garbage Out"--10:30 am June 15, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080531214120/http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/cartoon-network-to-air-transformers-animated-episo/13008/ May 31, 2008 previously, Yankovic's "Dare to Be Stupid" song was featured in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie, during the sequence in which Wreck-Gar was first introduced; as such, the song is referenced in the episode. He also plays local TV talent show host Uncle Muscles on several episodes of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! along with other appearances on the show. Yankovic has also supplied the voice of one-shot character 'Petroleum Joe' on The Brak Show. He also voiced himself on a Back at the Barnyard episode, and he appeared as a ringmaster who helps the regular characters of Yo Gabba Gabba! organize a circus in a 2007 episode of the children's show. In 2011, Yankovic appeared as himself in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!"https://www.themarysue.com/scooby-doo-batman-brave-and-bold/ Scooby Doo Batman: The Brave and the Bold April 1, 2011 September 10, 2021 September 10, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210910230333/https://www.themarysue.com/scooby-doo-batman-brave-and-bold/ live In 2012, he appeared on two episodes of The Aquabats! Super Show!, playing two different characters as the superhero SuperMagic PowerMan and as the president of the United States. In 2014, he appeared in the fourth season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Pinkie Pride" as Cheese Sandwich, a rival party planner to Pinkie Pie.Exclusive: 'Weird Al' Yankovic graces 'My Little Pony' https://www.usatoday.com/story/popcandy/2014/01/15/weird-al-my-little-pony/4490001/ USA Today February 1, 2014 January 19, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140119211015/http://www.usatoday.com/story/popcandy/2014/01/15/weird-al-my-little-pony/4490001/ live He later reprised the role in the season 9 episode "The Last Laugh".Nordyke Kimberly 'My Little Pony' Sets Ninth and Final Season on Discovery Family (Exclusive) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/my-little-pony-sets-final-season-discovery-family-1193235 The Hollywood Reporter March 8, 2019 September 10, 2019 en March 14, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190314211312/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/my-little-pony-sets-final-season-discovery-family-1193235 live In 2015, Yankovic voiced the supervillain Darkseid in the Teen Titans Go! episode "Two Parter". He initially speaks with a deep, intimidating voice due to having a cold; after taking a lozenge, he speaks in his normal voice, and the heroes are no longer afraid of him. Cyborg points out that Darkseid sounds like Yankovic, and the villain replies that he was "a true monster" for "undercutting musicians by subverting their words and compromising their artistic integrity". Cyborg objects to this, and they battle.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoZ9C9_TTQM https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/DoZ9C9_TTQM December 21, 2021 live Darkseid Sounds Like Weird Al I Teen Titans Go I Cartoon Network December 5, 2015 www.youtube.com In 2016, Yankovic appeared in two episodes of BoJack Horseman as Mr. Peanutbutter's brother, Captain Peanutbutter, and began portraying Milo Murphy in the Disney XD series Milo Murphy's Law.Alyssa Sage https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/milo-murphys-law-disney-xd-cast-weird-al-1201696481/ 'Milo Murphy's Law' Voice Cast: Weird Al to Lead Disney XD Series Variety February 4, 2016 June 16, 2016 June 4, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160604003935/http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/milo-murphys-law-disney-xd-cast-weird-al-1201696481/ live Yankovic guest voiced as Papa Kotassium in a 2016 episode of Cartoon Network's animated series, Mighty Magiswords, which was created by Weird Al fan, musician and accordionist Kyle Carrozza. Carrozza sent a FAQ to Weird Al when Carrozza was in college in 1999.http://weirdal.com/archives/miscellaneous/ask-al/ Ask Al Yankovic Weird Al "Weird Al" Yankovic December 19, 2016 December 21, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161221094351/http://weirdal.com/archives/miscellaneous/ask-al/ live Web media In 2008, Weird Al joined Michael J. Nelson as a guest on the RiffTrax audio commentary of Jurassic Park. On November 10, 2009, Weird Al was a guest "internet scientist" on Rocketboom's "Know Your Meme" video series, in the installment on the topic of Auto-Tune, hosted by Jamie Wilkinson. Yankovic later appeared in another Funny or Die short alongside Huey Lewis which parodied the ax murder scene in the film American Psycho, in which Christian Bale's character Patrick Bateman discusses the nature of Lewis's musical work before killing his victim. http://www.spin.com/2013/04/weird-al-yankovic-huey-lewis-american-psycho-spoof-video/ Watch Huey Lewis Ax-Murder 'Weird Al' in 'American Psycho' Spoof Spin April 4, 2013 November 12, 2015 Chris Martins November 16, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20151116190545/http://www.spin.com/2013/04/weird-al-yankovic-huey-lewis-american-psycho-spoof-video/ live http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/e3662085fb/american-psycho-with-huey-lewis-and-weird-al American Psycho with Huey Lewis and Weird Al Funny or Die April 3, 2013 November 12, 2015 November 14, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20151114025435/http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/e3662085fb/american-psycho-with-huey-lewis-and-weird-al live Yankovic performed with his core band for NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts in June 2010, and again with a larger backing band in August 2026. https://consequence.net/2026/08/weird-al-yankovic-tiny-desk-concert/ “Weird Al” Returns to NPR's Tiny Desk 16 Years After Last Visit, This Time with a Full Band: Watch Ben Kaye August 20, 2026 August 21, 2026 Consequence of Sound For The Nerdist Podcast, Weird Al began hosting a new comedic celebrity interview web series, Face to Face with 'Weird Al' Yankovic, on April 3, 2012. The series features Al TV-esque fake interviews with film stars. Al has appeared on numerous other webshows, including CollegeHumor, LearningTown, Some Jerk with a Camera, Team Unicorn, and Epic Rap Battles of History appearing as Sir Isaac Newton in a battle against actors portraying Bill Nye, the Science Guy (YouTube star Nice Peter), and Neil deGrasse Tyson (Chali 2na of the group Jurassic 5).Pearl Mike 2014-07-22 "Weird Al" Yankovic Sat Down with Us to Explain How He Conquered the Internet https://www.vice.com/en/article/weird-al-yankovic-explains-how-he-conquered-the-internet-722/ 2025-10-03 VICE en-US November 7, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20251107161231/https://www.vice.com/en/article/weird-al-yankovic-explains-how-he-conquered-the-internet-722/ live Yankovic has collaborated with the Gregory Brothers on music videos satirizing American presidential election debates. The first music video was released in October 2016, titled "Bad Hombres, Nasty Women", shortly after the third debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, with Yankovic singing between autotuned snippets from the candidates. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article109760707.html#wgt=trending Final debate inspires 'Bad Hombres, Nasty Women' music video with Weird Al Yankovic Gutierrez Lisa Kansas City Star October 21, 2016 October 22, 2016 October 23, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161023064252/http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article109760707.html#wgt=trending livehttps://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-weird-al-yankovics-bad-hombres-nasty-women-video-w446071 See Weird Al's Hilarious Debate Parody 'Bad Hombres, Nasty Women' Rolling Stone October 23, 2016 October 23, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161023104457/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-weird-al-yankovics-bad-hombres-nasty-women-video-w446071 live Yankovic collaborated with the Gregory Brothers on a similar video, titled "We're All Doomed" after the first debate in the 2020 campaign between Trump and Joe Biden. https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000007370133/presidential-debate-weird-al.html Weird Al Presents: 'America Is Doomed, the Musical' September 30, 2020 September 30, 2020 The New York Times In 2024, Yankovic and the Gregory Brothers released "Deja Vu (But Worse)" about the presidential debate in June 2024 between Trump and then-candidate Joe Biden.Notheis Asher July 1, 2024 'Weird Al' Yankovic stars in 'Deja Vu' song on first presidential debate - Washington Examiner https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/entertainment/3065740/weird-al-yankovic-deja-vu-song-presidential-debate/ August 16, 2024 en-US August 16, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240816211928/https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/entertainment/3065740/weird-al-yankovic-deja-vu-song-presidential-debate/ live In 2018, Yankovic performed the theme song for the Dropout animated web series Cartoon Hell.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8FWYCMPRho Drawfee Presents CARTOON HELL [Official Trailer] YouTube September 30, 2018 March 20, 2024 March 20, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240320211719/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8FWYCMPRho live Directing Yankovic has directed many of his own music videos; he has directed all of his music videos from 1993's "Bedrock Anthem" to 2006's "White & Nerdy". He also directed the end sequence of 1986's "Christmas at Ground Zero" (an original piece juxtaposing Christmas with nuclear warfare) from his Polka Party! album and the title sequence to Spy Hard, for which he sang the title song.http://www.weirdal.com/videtc.htm "Weird Al" Yankovic: Video Facts October 26, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061110025414/http://weirdal.com/videtc.htm November 10, 2006 Yankovic wrote, directed and starred in the short 3-D film attraction "Al's Brain: A 3-D Journey Through The Human Brain", a $2.5 million project which was sponsored by and premiered at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California, in 2009.http://yankovic.org/blog/2008/07/30/go-into-als-brain/ Go into Al's Brain: Yank Blog July 31, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080924164407/http://yankovic.org/blog/2008/07/30/go-into-als-brain/ September 24, 2008 The project included a brief cameo by Sir Paul McCartney, which Yankovic directed during McCartney's appearance at the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. http://taxdollars.freedomblogging.com/2009/08/11/fair-will-produce-more-spectacles-after-polling-shows-affection-for-als-brain/30601/ 'Al's Brain' is declared a success, and OC Fair will produce more 'feature exhibits' OC Watchdog August 11, 2009 August 17, 2009 Teri Sforza https://web.archive.org/web/20091016214928/http://taxdollars.freedomblogging.com/2009/08/11/fair-will-produce-more-spectacles-after-polling-shows-affection-for-als-brain/30601/ October 16, 2009 Fair CEO Steve Beazley, who supported the project, considered the project a success and explored leasing the exhibit to other fairs; the second appearance of the exhibit was at the 2009 Puyallup Fair in Washington. http://www.thefair.com/puyallup-fair/things-to-do/weird-al.php Al's Brain Exhibit Puyallup Fair August 17, 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090606193627/http://www.thefair.com/puyallup-fair/things-to-do/weird-al.php June 6, 2009 He has also directed several videos for other artists, including Hanson (the Titanic sequences in "River"), The Black Crowes ("Only a Fool"), Ben Folds ("Rockin' the Suburbs"), Jeff Foxworthy ("Redneck Stomp" and "Party All Night"), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ("Wail"), and the Presidents of the United States of America ("Mixed Up S.O.B"). He has cameo appearances in his videos for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Hanson (as the interviewer), and Ben Folds (as the producer fixing Folds' "shitty tracks"). On January 25, 2010, Yankovic announced that he had signed a production deal with Warner Bros. to write and direct a live-action feature film for Cartoon Network.http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/this-thing-im-doing This Thing I'm Doing " AL'S BLOG Weird Al January 25, 2010 August 14, 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100620070654/http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/this-thing-im-doing June 20, 2010 Although Yankovic previously wrote the script for UHF, this was to be the first film he directed. Yankovic stated that he would not be starring in the film, as Cartoon Network wanted a younger protagonist. During an interview on Comedy Death-Ray Radio, Yankovic revealed that though Cartoon Network "loved" his script, the network decided that they were no longer intending to produce feature films. Yankovic initially stated that he would instead shop the script around to other potential studios,http://blip.tv/file/3624596 Comedy Death-Ray Radio, Episode 53 March 28, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20120225012022/http://blip.tv/comedy-deathray-radio/comedy-death-ray-radio-53-3643755 February 25, 2012 dead but in 2013 revealed that the project had been scrapped as "it was really geared for Cartoon Network" and that he had "cannibalized jokes from that script to use for other projects".I am 'Weird Al' Yankovic – Ask Me Anything!: IAmA June 27, 2013 https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1h7afc/i_am_weird_al_yankovic_ask_me_anything/ https://web.archive.org/web/20130701034719/http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1h7afc/i_am_weird_al_yankovic_ask_me_anything July 1, 2013 live June 28, 2013 Books Yankovic wrote When I Grow Up, a children's book released on February 1, 2011, and published by HarperCollins.http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/When-Grow-Up/?isbn13=9780061926914&tctid=100 When I Grow Up December 29, 2010 October 21, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20131021180512/http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/When-Grow-Up/?isbn13=9780061926914&tctid=100 The book features 8-year-old Billy presenting to his class the wide variety of imaginative career possibilities that he is considering. Yankovic stated that the idea for the book was based on his own "circuitous" career path. http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/02/01/weird.al.book/ What happened when Weird Al grew up Ann Hoevel February 1, 2011 February 1, 2011 CNN The book allows Yankovic to apply the humorous writing style found in his music in another medium, allowing him to use puns and rhymes. Yankovic worked with HarperCollins' editor Anne Hoppe—the first time that Yankovic has had an editor—and found her help to be a positive experience. The book is illustrated by Wes Hargis, who, according to Yankovic, has "a childlike quality and a very fun quality and a very imaginative quality" that matched well with Yankovic's writing. The book reached the No. 4 position on The New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Picture Books for the week of February 20, 2011. https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-02-20/picture-books/list.html Children's Picture Books – Feb. 20, 2011 The New York Times February 12, 2011 Jennifer Schuessler Yankovic also wrote a sequel to When I Grow Up, 2013's My New Teacher and Me!. Yankovic became the first guest editor for Mad magazine for their 533rd issue, published in April 2015. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/02/13/mad-magazine-names-its-first-guest-editor-in-its-seven-decade-history-weird-al-yankovic/ MAD magazine names its first guest editor in its seven-decade history: 'Weird Al' Yankovic Michael Cavna February 13, 2015 March 1, 2015 The Washington Post February 14, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150214202105/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/02/13/mad-magazine-names-its-first-guest-editor-in-its-seven-decade-history-weird-al-yankovic/ live Yankovic partnered with Z2 Comics to produce The Illustrated Al: The Songs of "Weird Al" Yankovic, which was released on January 19, 2023. The book takes twenty of Yankovic's songs and illustrates them in comic form, each by different artists. Yankovic selected artists for the book based on past experience in working with the artists, but short of proofing the final work, was otherwise hands-off for various editorial choices. https://www.ign.com/articles/weird-al-yankovic-interview-illustrated-al-z2-broadway-prince Life Imitates Al: 'Weird Al' Yankovic On How His Parody Songs Inspired a New Graphic Novel Mike Avila January 21, 2023 January 21, 2023 IGN January 21, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230121161231/https://www.ign.com/articles/weird-al-yankovic-interview-illustrated-al-z2-broadway-prince live Following publication of The Illustrated Al, Yankovic started working with the illustrators to produce new videos for these older songs, the first which was released in January 2023. https://ew.com/music/weird-al-yankovic-graphic-novel-the-illustrated-al-music-video/ 'Weird Al' Yankovic songs get animated in graphic novel The Illustrated Al: Watch new music video Lester Fabian Brathwaite January 19, 2023 January 19, 2023 Entertainment Weekly January 19, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230119161815/https://ew.com/music/weird-al-yankovic-graphic-novel-the-illustrated-al-music-video/ live Stage musical Dare to Be Stupid: The Weird Al Musical was announced in development in May 2026. Alex Timbers is set to direct with Yankovic, Scott Brown and Anthony King writing the musical. The musical will feature works from throughout Yankovic's musical catalog.https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Weird-Al-Yankovic-Musical-DARE-TO-BE-STUPID-is-Being-Developed-for-the-Stage-20260512 'Weird Al' Yankovic Musical DARE TO BE STUPID is Being Developed for the Stage Chloe Rabinowitz May 12, 2026 Broadwayworld.com May 13, 2026 May 13, 2026 https://web.archive.org/web/20260513114333/https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Weird-Al-Yankovic-Musical-DARE-TO-BE-STUPID-is-Being-Developed-for-the-Stage-20260512 live As of October 2026, Yankovic said that while they were practicing the musical, they were waiting for music rights to be cleared before pushing forward with it. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/weird-al-yankovic-uhf-live-show-weird-sequel-1235639023/ ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Is Celebrating ‘UHF’ With a Live Show, But Struggling to Make a Biopic Sequel Andy Green October 8, 2026 October 8, 2026 Rolling Stone Other media Yankovic competed on a week of Wheel of Fortune taped at Disney's Hollywood Studios in March 1994.https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/orlandosentinel/access/77962431.html?dids=77962431:77962431&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+01%2C+1994&author=&pub=Orlando+Sentinel&desc=WHEEL+OF+FORTUNE%27+SPINS+INTO+O-TOWN&pqatl=google Archives Pqasb.pqarchiver.com March 1, 1994 April 4, 2012 June 25, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130625033851/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/orlandosentinel/access/77962431.html?dids=77962431:77962431&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+01%2C+1994&author=&pub=Orlando+Sentinel&desc=WHEEL+OF+FORTUNE%27+SPINS+INTO+O-TOWN&pqatl=google He also competed on Rock & Roll Jeopardy! Yankovic joined the band Hanson in their music video for "Thinking 'bout Somethin" in which he plays the tambourine. Yankovic contributed backing vocals for the song "Time" on Ben Folds' album Songs for Silverman. Yankovic was also one of many celebrities who took part in the NOH8 Campaign against Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.http://www.noh8campaign.com/photo-gallery/familiar-faces/photo/5622 Familiar Faces NOH8 Campaign February 1, 2010 August 14, 2010 June 7, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110607055418/http://www.noh8campaign.com/photo-gallery/familiar-faces/photo/5622 live Yankovic was approached by a beer company to endorse their product. Yankovic had turned it down because he believed that "a lot of my fans were young and impressionable".http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2010/11/weird-al-yankovic-regrets-turning-down.html Weird Al Yankovic Talks About Beer Endorsement He Turned Down MOG Campaign November 26, 2010 November 26, 2010 November 27, 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20101127033500/http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2010/11/weird-al-yankovic-regrets-turning-down.html Yankovic later posted on his Twitter account that he never regretted the decision.alyankovic Al Yankovic 8100855014236160 November 26, 2010 This headline is inaccurate – I NEVER regretted the decision. It's just a bummer to turn down that much money, you know? http://j.mp/i5GEQn https://web.archive.org/web/20220523025003/https://twitter.com/alyankovic/status/8100855014236160 May 23, 2022 In 2009, Yankovic was a special guest on an episode of G4's Web Soup where he came as Mark Gormley at first.bxFMyuASO8g Weird Al Yankovic Melts Down on Web Soup (uploaded December 11, 2009) In 2011, Yankovic guest starred as the character "Banana Man" in an episode of Adventure Time. The same year, he appeared as himself in the How I Met Your Mother episode "Noretta". In 2012, he appeared as himself along with Alice Cooper, Bret Michaels, and Maria Menounos in The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange for the Christmas special, and sung with Alice, Bret, and Orange. On May 31, 2014, Yankovic won the ACE Award (Amateur Cartoonist Extraordinaire) from the National Cartoonists Society at its awards banquet in San Diego.https://www.nationalcartoonists.com/2014/05/2014-ncs-awards-winners/ 2014 NCS Awards Winners! Nationalcartoonists.com October 19, 2021 October 20, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211020041851/https://www.nationalcartoonists.com/2014/05/2014-ncs-awards-winners/ live From 2014 until 2017, Yankovic appeared as a celebrity contestant in eight episodes of the game show Celebrity Name Game.http://epguides.com/CelebrityNameGame/ Celebrity Name Game Epguides.com March 19, 2020 March 18, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200318124941/http://epguides.com/CelebrityNameGame/ live On November 19, 2014, a RadioShack ad was uploaded to YouTube which featured Al in the role of a RadioShack employee.RadioShack: Weird Al November 19, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL039Z5VIz8 December 4, 2023 en December 4, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231204022722/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL039Z5VIz8 live In 2015, Yankovic made an appearance on an episode of The Odd Couple as a yoga student in the class Felix takes over for one day. Also in 2015, Yankovic was featured as Mad magazine's first ever guest editor for their 533rd issue.https://www.madmagazine.com/issues/mad-533 Mad #533 Madmagazine.com January 13, 2015 August 27, 2021 live https://web.archive.org/web/20150429044808/http://www.madmagazine.com/issues/mad-533 April 29, 2015 In 2016, Yankovic became the bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang!, on which he had previously guest starred.https://www.avclub.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-joins-comedy-bang-bang-bandleade-231216 "Weird Al" Yankovic joins Comedy Bang! Bang! as bandleader and co-host January 25, 2016 The A.V. Club Rife Katie June 7, 2016 In the official video for Weezer's cover of "Africa" published in September 2018, which itself is parody of Weezer's video for "Undone – The Sweater Song", Yankovic stands in for Rivers Cuomo as vocalist and lead guitar. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/weezer-weird-al-yankovic-africa-video-728416/ Weezer Recruit 'Weird Al' Yankovic for Video of Toto Cover 'Africa' Daniel Kreps September 24, 2018 September 24, 2018 Rolling Stone September 25, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180925025944/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/weezer-weird-al-yankovic-africa-video-728416/ live Though he does not appear, Yankovic is mentioned directly by name in the 2021 television series Y: The Last Man adapted from the 2000s comic book series of the same name, which involves a post-apocalyptic alternative timeline where all the men of the world had died. Whereas the comic book had the characters reflect on the absence of the Rolling Stones, showrunner Eliza Clark opted to update the references for the show, and used Yankovic as a more modern artist that had been considered a great loss. https://www.polygon.com/interviews/22715340/y-the-last-man-radiohead-rolling-stones Why Y: The Last Man dumped the Rolling Stones for Radiohead and 'Weird Al' Yankovic Tasha Robinson October 7, 2021 October 7, 2021 Polygon October 7, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211007223220/https://www.polygon.com/interviews/22715340/y-the-last-man-radiohead-rolling-stones live In 2025, Yankovic appeared in the music video for "Terrapin" by American indie musician Clairo, in which he plays Clairo. The music video was directed by American actress Ayo Edebiri, marking Yankovic's first collaboration with either of them.Green Walden 2025-02-06 Clairo Shares New "Terrapin" Music Video Starring "Weird Al" Yankovic https://pitchfork.com/news/clairo-shares-new-terrapin-music-video-starring-weird-al-yankovic-watch/ 2025-02-07 Pitchfork en-US December 28, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20251228172853/https://pitchfork.com/news/clairo-shares-new-terrapin-music-video-starring-weird-al-yankovic-watch/ live With the growth of generative AI in the 2020s, abbreviated as "AI", the "Weird Al" name has often been juxtaposed with the phrase "weird AI", which in many fonts look visually similar. Yankovic rejected an offer to appear in advertisements for a company selling business products that used artificial intelligence; while he had initially accepted the offer, on learning that the products used artificial intelligence, he backed out, saying "Oh no, I can't be the poster boy for AI, forget it." https://variety.com/2026/biz/news/weird-al-yankovic-rejected-ai-commercial-money-offer-1236800794/ Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Despite Offer to Make a 'Nice Pile of Money': 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI' Corbin Bolies July 2, 2026 July 2, 2026 Variety Misattribution and imitators thumb|upright|A screenshot of LimeWire PRO, showing a large number of parodies misattributed to Yankovic, as well as numerous misspellings of his surname (2007 02) Songs posted to file-sharing networks are often misattributed to him because of their humorous subject matter. Often, his surname is misspelled (and thus mispronounced) as "Yankovich", among other variations. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, these misattributed files include songs that are racist, sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive. A young listener who had heard several of these offensive tracks by way of a file-sharing service confronted Yankovic online, threatening a boycott because of his supposedly explicit lyrics.http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#100205 'Ask Al' Q&As for October 2, 2005 August 24, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20070530005210/http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#100205 May 30, 2007 Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina" by Mark Jonathan Davis (not, in a double misattribution, his lounge-singer character Richard Cheese), "Star Wars Gangsta Rap", "Yoda Smokes Weed", "Chewbacca", "The Devil Went to Jamaica", and several more have a Star Wars motif.http://free.house.cx/~eil/etc/notal_list.html The Not Al Page: The most popular songs he didn't even write (or perform)! December 29, 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20080728111957/http://free.house.cx/~eil/etc/notal_list.html July 28, 2008 Some songs misattributed to him are not songs, but spoken skits, such as "Sesame Street on Crack", which is also widely misattributed to Adam Sandler. A list of songs frequently misattributed to Yankovic can be found at The Not Al Page and a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website.http://weirdal.com/archives/miscellaneous/recording-dates/ Recording Dates Page December 1, 2006 September 13, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060913095310/http://www.weirdal.com/rcdgdate.htm live Yankovic cites these misattributions as his only real problem with peer-to-peer file-sharing sites: If you do a search for my name on any one of those sites, I guarantee you that about half of the songs that come up will be songs I had absolutely nothing to do with. That particularly bothers me, because I really try to do quality work, and I also try to maintain a more-or-less family-friendly image—and some of these songs that are supposedly by me are just, well, vulgar and awful. I truly think my reputation has suffered in a lot of people's minds because of all those fake Weird Al songs floating around the Internet.http://www.itworld.com/060918download Don't not download this song September 23, 2006 June 21, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080621225321/http://www.itworld.com/060918download dead In terms of legitimate parodies of Yankovic, the Mr. Show sketch "Superstar Machine" features Bob Odenkirk as the character Daffy "Mal" Yinkleyankle. Yankovic was impressed by the parody, and stated that it "zeroed in on everything that's irritating about me".Wolinsky David October 12, 2007 Interview: 'Weird Al' Yankovic https://www.avclub.com/weird-al-yankovic-1798212490 The A.V. Club February 22, 2012 June 26, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220626055210/https://www.avclub.com/weird-al-yankovic-1798212490 liveRubin, Jeff My Interview with Weird Al September 18, 2006 http://www.collegehumor.com/article/105103/weird-al-yankerview CollegeHumor February 22, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20140207075056/http://www.collegehumor.com/post/105103/weird-al-yankerview February 7, 2014 live Fan-driven campaigns The Weird Al Star Fund was a campaign started by Yankovic's fans to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their mission was to "solicit, collect, and raise the necessary money, and to compile the information needed for the application to nominate 'Weird Al' Yankovic for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame".http://www.weirdalstar.com/ The Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Campaign for 'Weird Al' Yankovic March 15, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20090512190917/http://www.weirdalstar.com/ May 12, 2009 live Fans worldwide have sent donations to raise the US$40,000 needed for a nomination. In addition to the preferred method of cash donations, many methods were used to raise money for the cause, such as a live benefit show held April 11, 2006, and selling merchandise on the official website and eBay, including T-shirts, calendars, and cookbooks.http://www.weirdalstar.com/tributeshow.html The Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Campaign for 'Weird Al' Yankovic October 29, 2006 November 21, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061121181516/http://www.weirdalstar.com/tributeshow.html live On May 26, 2006, the campaign hit the then-$15,000 target, just five days before the May 31 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork. However, Yankovic was not included on the list of inductees for 2007.http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=8ce9efb9-2eb5-4f61-85ab-c5c2ffb9d885 Damon, Diddy, Ponch Got Star Power Gina Serpe E! Online News October 29, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20071001063722/http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=8ce9efb9-2eb5-4f61-85ab-c5c2ffb9d885 October 1, 2007 live On February 9, 2007, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce raised the price to sponsor a new star to $25,000. Yankovic's application was resubmitted for consideration in 2007, but he was not included among 2008's inductees.http://www.hollywoodtoday.net/?p=1129 https://web.archive.org/web/20070928032853/http://www.hollywoodtoday.net/?p=1129 September 28, 2007 New Stars to Grace Hollywood Walk of Fame July 2, 2007 In December 2010, the price was raised again to $30,000, and in 2017 the price was raised to $40,000. The campaign raised the new target each time and applications continued to be submitted yearly, until The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced in June 2017 that Yankovic would receive a star on the Walk of Fame as one of the 2018 inductees. In an official induction ceremony on August 27, 2018, https://www.avclub.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-getting-star-hollywood-walk-fame-257220 'Weird Al' Yankovic is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame William Hughes June 22, 2017 June 22, 2017 The A.V. Club Al received the 2,643rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6914 Hollywood Blvd, directly across the street from TCL Chinese Theatre. The ceremony was attended by 1,500 fans.Peterson Pia April 9, 2020 A Group Picture That Just Had to Be Weird en-US The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/reader-center/weird-al-photo.html November 5, 2022 0362-4331 subscription November 5, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221105165101/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/reader-center/weird-al-photo.html live Similar to the Weird Al Star Fund, a second fan-driven campaign called "Make the Rock Hall 'Weird has tried to enshrine him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, for which he has been eligible since 2004.http://www.allthingsyank.com/rockhall/goal.htm Make the Rock Hall "Weird" – Our Mission June 15, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080723161416/http://www.allthingsyank.com/rockhall/goal.htm July 23, 2008 Previous attempts to raise awareness for the campaign and support Yankovic's nomination included a petition drive from 2006 to 2007, which raised over 9000 signatures; an art competition in 2005; additionally, a documentary film about the campaign is currently being developed.http://www.allthingsyank.com/rockhall/faq.htm Make the Rock Hall "Weird" – FAQ June 15, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080723161441/http://www.allthingsyank.com/rockhall/faq.htm July 23, 2008http://www.allthingsyank.com/rockhall/what.htm Make the Rock Hall "Weird" – How You Can Help June 15, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080723161505/http://www.allthingsyank.com/rockhall/what.htm July 23, 2008 In addition to these efforts, an ongoing campaign is underway in which supporters of Yankovic's nomination are requested to send "sincere, thoughtful" letters to the Rock Hall Foundation's headquarters in New York. The Hall has not considered Yankovic for nomination since the campaign started in 2004. A 2009 Rolling Stone poll named Weird Al as the top artist that should be nominated for the Hall of Fame, followed by Rush (who were inducted in 2013) and The Moody Blues (inducted in 2018) in the top ten. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/daily-blog/blogs/rsstaffblogpost_2011/45550/39509 https://web.archive.org/web/20120225012049/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/staff-blog/readers-rock-list-who-should-be-nominated-for-the-hall-of-fame-20090928 February 25, 2012 Readers' Rock List: Who Should Be Nominated For the Hall of Fame? Rolling Stone September 29, 2009 June 12, 2011 dead According to the museum's chairperson John Sykes, while Yankovic has come up in various discussions on nominees, "he's never made it close to the ballot" due to the artists that vote towards the inductees.https://www.vulture.com/article/rock-hall-of-fame-ceremony-2024-john-sykes.html The Rock Hall's Top Boss Has a Method Behind the Madness Vulture Ivie Devon December 31, 2024 January 14, 2025 January 12, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250112135016/https://www.vulture.com/article/rock-hall-of-fame-ceremony-2024-john-sykes.html live Yankovic himself has stated that he is indifferent to being inducted.Mike Palm TribLive Q&A: 'Weird Al' Yankovic gets Bigger & Weirder in a tour headed to Star Lake https://triblive.com/aande/music/weird-al-yankovic-gets-bigger-and-weirder-in-a-tour-headed-to-pittsburgh/ Pittsburgh Tribune-Review July 22, 2026 September 3, 2026 But honestly, I don't think that I'm ever going to be on their shortlist. And I'm OK with that. I'm not losing any sleep over it. A smaller ongoing effort has been made by fans to have Yankovic perform at the halftime show of a Super Bowl game. https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/13/five-reasons-weird-al-yankovic-should-perform-at-next-years-super-bowl/ Five Reasons 'Weird Al' Yankovic Should Perform at Next Year's Super Bowl Melissa Lockar February 13, 2012 July 23, 2014 Time July 29, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140729211714/http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/13/five-reasons-weird-al-yankovic-should-perform-at-next-years-super-bowl/ live This inspired Yankovic to write the fight song parody "Sports Song" for Mandatory Fun to help round out his repertoire. http://kroq.cbslocal.com/weird-al-yankovic-on-mandatory-fun-super-bowl-halftime-show-uhf-geeking-out-on-paul-mccartney/ 'Weird Al' Yankovic on Mandatory Fun CBS July 18, 2014 July 23, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140722070225/http://kroq.cbslocal.com/weird-al-yankovic-on-mandatory-fun-super-bowl-halftime-show-uhf-geeking-out-on-paul-mccartney/ July 22, 2014 mdy-all Subsequent to the success of Mandatory Fun, another fan-driven campaign pushed for Yankovic to headline the then-upcoming Super Bowl XLIX at the highlight of the artist's career, which was noticed by many media outlets, including CNN and Wired, though the decision for this selection would reside within the management of the NFL (who instead chose Katy Perry for that position). http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/07/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/weird-al-yankovic-super-bowl-halftime/ Fans backing Weird Al for Super Bowl halftime Todd Leopold August 7, 2014 August 7, 2014 CNN August 11, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140811082000/http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/07/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/weird-al-yankovic-super-bowl-halftime/ live http://www.ajc.com/news/entertainment/weird-al-super-bowl-xlix-what-are-chances/ngx2S/ 'Weird Al' at Super Bowl XLIX: What are the chances? Atlanta Journal-Constitution August 8, 2014 August 8, 2014 Christian Bryant August 9, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140809232606/http://www.ajc.com/news/entertainment/weird-al-super-bowl-xlix-what-are-chances/ngx2S/ deadhttps://www.wired.com/2014/08/weird-al-super-bowl-petition/ You Can Help Weird Al Headline the Super Bowl's Halftime Show August 7, 2014 August 12, 2014 Watercutter, Angela Wired August 12, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140812081547/http://www.wired.com/2014/08/weird-al-super-bowl-petition/ live Yankovic believed that he would never be selected as a standalone act for the Super Bowl, but could see other bands include him as a special guest if they were selected. https://variety.com/2023/tv/awards/weird-al-yankovic-movie-parodies-new-music-madonna-1235625689/ '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 Michael Schneider May 25, 2023 May 26, 2023 Variety May 26, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230526004332/https://variety.com/2023/tv/awards/weird-al-yankovic-movie-parodies-new-music-madonna-1235625689/ live Awards "Weird Al" Yankovic File:"Weird Al" Yankovic at the Lin-Manuel Miranda Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony (45212532085) (cropped).jpg 5 16 5 17 Grammy Awards Year Category Work Result 1984 Best Comedy Recording "Eat It" https://www.grammy.com/artists/Weird-Al-Yankovic/17123 Weird Al Yankovic Grammy Awards July 19, 2023 October 9, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221009101718/https://www.grammy.com/artists/Weird-Al-Yankovic/17123 live 1985 Dare to Be Stupid 1987 Polka Party! 1988 Best Concept Music Video "Fat" Best Recording for Children Peter & the Wolf/Carnival of the Animals – Part II Best Comedy Recording Even Worse 1992 Off the Deep End 1994 Best Short Form Music Video "Jurassic Park" 2003 Best Comedy Album Poodle Hat 2006 Straight Outta Lynwood Best Surround Sound Album 2009 Best Comedy Album Internet Leaks 2011 Best Short Form Music Video "Perform This Way" Best Comedy Album Alpocalypse 2014 Mandatory Fun 2018 Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic 2023 Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards Year Category Work Result 2023 Best Writing in a Streaming Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story https://hollywoodcriticsassociation.com/hollywood-critics-association-announces-the-2023-hca-tv-award-nominations-for-broadcast-networks-cable/ Hollywood Critics Association Announces the 2023 HCA TV Awards nominations for Broadcast Networks & Cable Hollywood Critics Association July 11, 2023 July 11, 2023 July 11, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230711222228/https://hollywoodcriticsassociation.com/hollywood-critics-association-announces-the-2023-hca-tv-award-nominations-for-broadcast-networks-cable/ live 2023 Best Original Song "Now You Know" https://hollywoodcriticsassociation.com/hollywood-critics-associations-creative-arts-category-nominations-for-the-2023-hca-tv-awards/ Hollywood Critics Association's Creative Arts Category Nominations for the 2023 HCA TV Awards Hollywood Critics Association July 11, 2023 July 11, 2023 July 12, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230712015303/https://hollywoodcriticsassociation.com/hollywood-critics-associations-creative-arts-category-nominations-for-the-2023-hca-tv-awards/ live Hollywood Music in Media Awards Year Category Work Result 2017 Best Original Song – Animated Film "Captain Underpants Theme Song" https://www.hmmawards.com/2017-music-in-visual-media-nominations/ 2017 Music in Visual Media Nominations Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 17, 2017 July 19, 2013 April 17, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230417130846/https://www.hmmawards.com/2017-music-in-visual-media-nominations/ live 2022 Best Original Song – Streamed Film (No Theatrical Release) "Now You Know" https://www.hmmawards.com/2022-hmma-nominations/ 2022 HMMA Nominations Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 3, 2022 November 16, 2022 January 11, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230111194844/https://www.hmmawards.com/2022-hmma-nominations/ dead Music Themed Film, Biopic or Musical Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Online Film and Television Association Awards Year Category Work Result 2019 Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend http://www.oftaawards.com/television-awards/23rd-annual-tv-awards-2018-19/ 23rd Annual TV Awards (2018-19) Online Film & Television Association July 19, 2023 October 8, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221008041535/http://www.oftaawards.com/television-awards/23rd-annual-tv-awards-2018-19/ live Primetime Emmy Awards Year Category Work Result 2023 Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story https://www.emmys.com/bios/al-yankovic Al Yankovic Emmys.com Academy of Television Arts & Sciences July 12, 2023 July 19, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230719235707/https://www.emmys.com/bios/al-yankovic live 2023 Outstanding Television Movie Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics "Now You Know" Producers Guild of America Awards Year Category Work Result 2022 Outstanding Producer of Streamed or Televised Motion Pictures Weird: The Al Yankovic Story https://producersguild.org/producers-guild-of-america-awards-celebrates-top-honors/ Producers Guild of America Awards Celebrates 'Everything Everywhere All at Once', 'White Lotus', 'The Bear', 'Navaln' & More with Top Honors Producers Guild of America Awards February 27, 2023 February 27, 2023 March 4, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230304092112/https://producersguild.org/producers-guild-of-america-awards-celebrates-top-honors/ live Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards Year Category Work Result 2022 Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production "Now You Know" https://thescl.com/news/nominees-announced-for-4th-scl-awards/ Nominees Announced for 4th SCL Awards Society of Composers & Lyricists December 22, 2022 December 22, 2022 December 22, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221222170455/https://thescl.com/news/nominees-announced-for-4th-scl-awards/ live Streamy Awards Year Category Work Result 2010 Best Guest Star in a Web Series Know Your Meme Nicoletti Karen 2010-04-11 Streamys Honor Best of Web Series https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/streamys-honor-best-web-series-22515/ 2025-08-16 The Hollywood Reporter en-US July 9, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210709185957/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/streamys-honor-best-web-series-22515/ live Writers Guild of America Awards Year Category Work Result 2022 TV & New Media Motion Pictures Weird: The Al Yankovic Story https://awards.wga.org/awards/nominees-winners 2023 Writers Guild Awards Winners & Nominees 2023 Writers Guild of America West en October 12, 2023 live https://web.archive.org/web/20230904013906/https://awards.wga.org/awards/nominees-winners September 4, 2023 Band members Yankovic's core band, consisting of Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, Jim West, and Steve Jay, have performed with him for more than 40 years, and grew with the addition of Rubén Valtierra. Yankovic credits this group as having the flexibility to play any musical genre, allowing him to perform songs across a wide range of musical styles, in addition to "we're kind of telepathic in the way we communicate now, so we're a lot better than we were back in the day". With his 2025 Bigger & Weirder Tour, Yankovic added four additional members, Probyn Gregory, Scheila Gonzalez, Payton Velligan, and Monique Donnelly, all together that add a range of additional instruments that Yankovic can incorporate, in addition for three-part female vocal harmony with Gonzalez, Velligan, and Donnelly. Current members "Weird Al" Yankovic – lead vocals, accordion, keyboards, occasional live percussion (1976–present) Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1980–present) Jim "Kimo" West – guitar, mandolin, backing vocals, occasional banjo (1983–present) Steve Jay – bass, banjo, backing vocals, occasional live keyboards (1983–present) Rubén Valtierra – piano, keyboards, backing vocals, occasional live percussion (1991–present) Touring members Probyn Gregory – backing vocals, trumpet, trombone, tuba, guitars, percussion (2025–present)Garro Adrian PSA: Don't Miss "Weird Al" Yankovic and His Expanded Band on His Appropriately Named 'Bigger & Weirder' Tour (Show Review/Details) https://rockcellarmagazine.com/weird-al-yankovic-bigger-and-weirder-tour-review-2025-details/ Rock Cellar Magazine July 8, 2025 June 19, 2025 July 9, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250709020726/https://rockcellarmagazine.com/weird-al-yankovic-bigger-and-weirder-tour-review-2025-details/ live"Weird Al" Yankovic - Players https://www.weirdal.com/archives/miscellaneous/players/ WeirdAl.com July 8, 2025 2025 July 17, 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100717171604/http://www.weirdal.com/players.htm liveMaltese Joseph "Weird Al" Yankovic: Weirder and Bigger https://www.musicconnection.com/weird-al-yankovic-weirder-and-bigger/ Music Connection July 8, 2025 November 21, 2024 July 9, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250709020726/https://www.musicconnection.com/weird-al-yankovic-weirder-and-bigger/ live Scheila Gonzalez – backing vocals, saxophone, clarinet, percussion (2025–present) Payton Velligan – backing vocals, guitars, percussion (2025–present) Monique Donnelly – backing vocals, keyboards, percussion (2025–present) Former members Rick Derringer – guitar, occasional mandolin, backing vocals (1982–1990; died 2025) Timeline width:900 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea= left:125 bottom:135 top:5 right:20 Alignbars= justify DateFormat= dd/mm/yyyy Period= from:01/01/1976 till:01/06/2025 TimeAxis= orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals,_accordion id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar,_mandolin id:bass value:blue legend:Bass,_banjo,_occasional_live_keyboards id:drums value:orange legend:Drums,_percussion id:keys value:purple legend:Piano,_keyboards,_occasional_live_percussion id:back value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:studio value:black legend:Studio_album id:eps value:gray(0.75) legend:EPs Legend= orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor= increment:2 start:1976 ScaleMinor= unit:year increment:1 start:1976 BarData = bar:Alfred text:"'Weird Al' Yankovic" bar:Rick text:"Rick Derringer" bar:Jim text:"Jim 'Kimo' West" bar:Steve text:"Steve Jay" bar:Ruben text:"Rubén Valtierra" bar:Jon text:"Jon 'Bermuda' Schwartz" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Alfred from:start till:end color:vocals bar:Jon from:14/09/1980 till:end color:drums bar:Jim from:01/10/1983 till:end color:guitar bar:Steve from:31/03/1982 till:end color:bass bar:Rick from:11/02/1982 till:01/01/1990 color:guitar bar:Ruben from:13/10/1991 till:end color:keys width:3 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Alfred from:31/10/1983 till:end color:keys bar:Jon from:14/09/1980 till:end color:back bar:Jim from:01/10/1983 till:end color:back bar:Steve from:31/03/1982 till:end color:back bar:Rick from:11/02/1982 till:01/01/1990 color:back bar:Ruben from:13/10/1991 till:end color:back LineData = layer:back color:studio at:26/05/1983 at:28/02/1984 at:18/06/1985 at:21/10/1986 at:12/04/1988 at:04/10/1988 at:18/07/1989 at:14/04/1992 at:05/10/1993 at:12/03/1996 at:29/06/1999 at:20/05/2003 at:26/09/2006 at:22/06/2011 at:15/07/2014 layer:back color:eps at:31/01/1981 at:25/08/2009 Discography "Weird Al" Yankovic discography List of songs recorded by "Weird Al" Yankovic Studio albums "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983) "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D (1984) Dare to Be Stupid (1985) Polka Party! (1986) Even Worse (1988) UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989) Off the Deep End (1992) Alapalooza (1993) Bad Hair Day (1996) Running with Scissors (1999) Poodle Hat (2003) Straight Outta Lynwood (2006) Alpocalypse (2011) Mandatory Fun (2014) Tours 20em An Evening of Dementia with Dr. Demento in Person Plus "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983) Tour of the Universe in 3-D (1984) The Stupid Tour (1985) The Off the Deep End Tour (1992) The Alapalooza Tour (1994) The Al-Can Tour (1995) The Bad Hair Tour (1996–1997) Touring with Scissors (1999–2000) The Poodle Hat Tour (2003–2004) The Straight Outta Lynwood Tour (2007–2008) The Internet Leaks Tour (2010–2011) The Alpocalypse Tour (2011–2013) The Mandatory World Tour (2015–2016) The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour (2018) Strings Attached Tour (2019) The Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour (2022–2023) Bigger & Weirder (2025–2026) Videography "Weird Al" Yankovic videography Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1988 Tapeheads Himself The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! Himself 1989 UHF George Newman Also screenwriterWeird Al Yankovic (visual voices guide) http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Weird-Al-Yankovic/ December 26, 2023 Behind The Voice Actors April 27, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240427051929/https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Weird-Al-Yankovic/ live A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. 1991 The Naked Gun 2 1 2: The Smell of Fear Police Station Thug 1994 Naked Gun 33 1 3: The Final Insult Himself 1996 Spy Hard Himself Also composed the film's opening credits song 1997 Safety Patrol Himself 1998 Desperation Boulevard Himself 2000 Nothing Sacred Clothing Store Customer 2003 Haunted Lighthouse Waiter 2009 Halloween II Himself Al's Brain Himself / Phineaus Cage Short film 2014 The Moving Picture Co. 1914 Jesus Christ Short film2015 Uncle Kent 2 Himself Batman vs. Robin Anton Schott/Dollmaker Voice 2016 Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Hammerleg Lead Singer 2017 Sandy Wexler Himself A Witches' Ball Jax How to Be a Latin Lover Himself 2019 Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans Jim Craddock/Gentleman Ghost, Darkseid Voice 2020 Bill & Ted Face the Music Himself Cameohttps://www.gamespot.com/gallery/bill-ted-face-the-music-45-easter-eggs-references-/2900-3563/ Bill & Ted Face The Music: 45 Easter Eggs, References, And Things You Missed Hayner Chris E. August 28, 2020 GameSpot August 29, 2020 August 30, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200830104654/https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/bill-ted-face-the-music-45-easter-eggs-references-/2900-3563/ live Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe Shirt Cannon Guy VoiceTiny Tim: King for a Day Narrator 2022 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Tony Scotti Also co-writer and producerThe Soccer Football Movie Himself Voice 2025 The Naked Gun Himself https://variety.com/2025/film/news/liam-neeson-the-naked-gun-reboot-needed-1236473518/ Liam Neeson on Why 'The Naked Gun' Reboot Is Needed: 'Because We're All F—ed' Antonio Ferme July 29, 2025 July 29, 2025 July 29, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250729224947/https://variety.com/2025/film/news/liam-neeson-the-naked-gun-reboot-needed-1236473518/ liveWhen We Went MadHimselfLatchem John 2025-08-20 When We Went Mad! — The Unauthorized Story of 'Mad Magazine' https://www.mediaplaynews.com/when-we-went-mad-review/ 2026-07-01 Media Play News en-US 2026 Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass Himself Television + List of live-action appearances on television Year Title Role Notes 1984 Welcome to the Fun Zone Himself Television special Saturday Morning Preview Park Himself Television special 1987 Amazing Stories The Cabbage Man Episode: "Miss Stardust" 1988 Hey Hey It's Saturday Himself Episode: "17.23" 1989 D.C. Follies Himself Episode: "Dolly Parton Gives Makeup Tips to Barbara Bush"Just Say Julie Himself Episode: "Pilot" 1990 Seriously...Phil Collins Executive Television film 1991 Parker Lewis Can't Lose Himself Episode: "The Human Grace" 1991–1992 Square One Television Himself / Murray the Mouth 3 episodes 1993 Living and Working in Space: The Countdown Has Begun Giles Standish Television special 1994–1997 Space Ghost Coast to Coast Himself 2 episodes 1995–1998 The Eddie Files Waiter / Man Interrogated /Bones McDuff 3 episodes 1997 Oddville, MTV Himself Episode: "160" The Weird Al Show Himself / Various 13 episodes 1998 The Drew Carey Show Himself Episode: "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" 1999 Mad TV Himself Episode: "5.1" 2001 V.I.P. Himself Episode: "Val's Big Bang" 2007–2010 Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Simon / Uncle Muscles 7 episodes 2010 Yo Gabba Gabba! Ringmaster Episode: "Circus"Funny or Die Presents Himself Episode: "1.12" 2011 How I Met Your Mother Himself Episode: "Noretta" 2012 30 Rock Himself Episode: "Kidnapped by Danger" The Aquabats! Super Show! President Stuncastin / Super Magic Power Man! 2 episodes 2012–2016 Comedy Bang! Bang! Himself / Mike Cankers 25 episodesGuest star (season 1–4); bandleader/co-host (season 5) 2013–2015 Childrens Hospital Young Michael / Himself 2 episodes 2014 Good Morning Today Sir Alfred Yankovic Episode: "1.9" @midnight Himself 5 episodesGarfunkel and Oates Himself Episode: "Third Member" 2014–2015 The Hotwives Coach Cliff Bonadenturo / Bill 3 episodes 2014–2018 Drunk History Adolf Hitler / Adolf Eichmann 2 episodes 2015 Impress Me Himself 2 episodes The Odd Couple Steve Episode: "Enlightening Strikes" Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp Jackie Brazen 2 episodes Gaming Show (In My Parents' Garage) Himself Episode: "The Power Up 1000" 2015–2016 Galavant Confessional Monk 2 episodes 2016 The Goldbergs Himself Episode: "Weird Al" Ask the StoryBots Spud Spa Yogi Episode: "Where Do French Fries Come From?" Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ Tug Friendly Episode: "Amir vs Dean" 2016–2017 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Himself 2 episodeshttps://www.hbo.com/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver/2016/30-november-13-2016 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – Episode 89 HBO en February 7, 2018Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – 51 – Episode 110 https://www.hbo.com/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver/2017/51-episode-110-north-korea February 7, 2018 HBO en October 6, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181006075251/https://www.hbo.com/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver/2017/51-episode-110-north-korea live 2017 My Brother, My Brother and Me Himself Episode: "Candlenights & Vape Ape"Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! Awesome 10 Year Anniversary Version, Great Job? Uncle Muscles Television special Lady Dynamite Himself Episode: "Little Manila" 2018 Carpool Karaoke: The Series Himself Episode: "'Weird Al' Yankovic & The Lonely Island" 2019 Adam Ruins Everything Shop Owner / The Devil Episode: "Adam Ruins Games"Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History Himself Television special Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Bernie Episode: "I Have a Date Tonight" 2019–2021 Work in Progress Himself 2 episodes 2020 The Eric Andre Show Himself Episode: "Lizzo Up" Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun Himself / Lindsay 2 episodes 2020–2022 Reno 911! Ted Nugent 2 episodes 2021 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! Himself Television special 2023 The Muppets Mayhem Himself Episode: "Track 5: Break On Through"2026Stuart Fails to Save the UniverseHimselfEpisode: "Stuart Makes a Wallet" + List of voice performances on television Year Title Role Notes 1997 Eek! The Cat Himself Episode: "The FugEektive" 1999 Sabrina: The Animated Series Himself 3 episodes 2002 The Brak Show Petroleum Joe Episode: "Feud" 2003, 2008, 2023 The Simpsons Himself 3 episodes 2003 Lilo & Stitch: The Series Singing Minstrel Episode: "Tank: Experiment 586" 2003–2005 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy The Squid Hat 3 episodes 2004 Johnny Bravo Himself Episode: "Johnny Makeover" 2006 Robot Chicken Himself / Kevin Episode: "The Munnery" 2008–2009 Transformers Animated Wreck-Gar / Technician 2 episodes 2010 Back at the Barnyard Himself Episode: "Get Bessy/A Beautiful Freddy" Yo Gabba Gabba! The Ringmaster Episode: "Circus" 2011 Batman: The Brave and the Bold Himself Episode: "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!" 2011–2016 Adventure Time Banana Man 3 episodes 2012 The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange Himself Episode: "Generic Holiday Special" DC Nation Shorts Animal Man 4 episodes 2012, 2015 WordGirl The Learnerer 3 episodes 2013 Mad Superman / Krang Episode: "Mad's 100th Episode Special" 2014 Wallykazam! Wizard Jeff Episode: "Mustache Day"https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/watch-weird-al-yankovic-sing-about-underpants-on-wallykazam-cartoon-187924/ Watch Animated 'Weird Al' Sing About Underpants Daniel Kreps Rolling Stone October 21, 2014 September 10, 2021 September 10, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210910230323/https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/watch-weird-al-yankovic-sing-about-underpants-on-wallykazam-cartoon-187924/ live 2014, 2019 My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Cheese Sandwich 2 episodeshttps://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/my-little-pony-sets-final-season-discovery-family-1193235 'My Little Pony' Sets Ninth and Final Season on Discovery Family Kimberely Nordyke March 8, 2019 March 8, 2019 The Hollywood Reporter March 14, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190314211312/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/my-little-pony-sets-final-season-discovery-family-1193235 live https://ew.com/tv/2019/08/02/exclusive-trailer-final-episodes-my-little-pony-friendship-magic/ Exclusive: See the trailer for the final episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Maureen Lee Lenker August 2, 2019 August 4, 2019 Entertainment Weekly August 4, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190804094120/https://ew.com/tv/2019/08/02/exclusive-trailer-final-episodes-my-little-pony-friendship-magic/ live 2015 Uncle Grandpa Pal.0/Weird Pal Episode: "Pal.0"Mercedes Milligan http://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/weird-al-stars-and-sings-on-uncle-grandpa/ Weird Al Stars and Sings on 'Uncle Grandpa' Animation Magazine June 11, 2015 June 16, 2016 March 20, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160320102831/http://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/weird-al-stars-and-sings-on-uncle-grandpa/ live Gravity Falls Probabilitor Episode: "Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons" Wander Over Yonder Dr. Screwball Jones 2 episodes 2015, 2018 Teen Titans Go! Darkseid 2 episodes 2016 Mr. Pickles Additional voices Episode: "Vegans" The 7D Shapeshifter Episode: "Shapeshifter" 2016–2019 BoJack Horseman Captain Peanutbutter 3 episodes Milo Murphy's LawPetski Denise https://deadline.com/2016/02/weird-al-yankovic-cast-voice-milo-murphys-law-disney-xd-1201696262/ "Weird Al" Yankovic To Voice Title Role In 'Milo Murphy's Law' Deadline Hollywood February 4, 2016 June 16, 2016 January 10, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220110083453/https://deadline.com/2016/02/weird-al-yankovic-cast-voice-milo-murphys-law-disney-xd-1201696262/ live Milo Murphy Main role 2017 Voltron: Legendary Defender Blumfump Episode: "Depths" Star vs. the Forces of Evil Preston Change-O Episode: "Trickstar" Pig Goat Banana Cricket Mr. Ding-a-Ling Episode: "The Ding-A-Ling Circus" Danger & Eggs Polka Sven Episode: "Finding Cheryl/The Trio" Mighty Magiswords Papa Kotassium Episode: "Do You Know the Muffin King?" We Bare Bears Lewis Episode: "The Fair" Robot Chicken Kaiju / Himself Episode: "Hey I Found Another Sock" 2018 Little Big Awesome Mr. Sun 6 episodes 2019 The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Himself 2 episodeshttp://www.animationmagazine.net/streaming/watch-adventures-of-rocky-and-bullwinkle-season-2-debuts-jan-11/ WATCH:'Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle' Season 2 Debuts Jan. 11 Mercedes Milligan January 3, 2019 January 11, 2019 Animation Magazine January 11, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190111024948/http://www.animationmagazine.net/streaming/watch-adventures-of-rocky-and-bullwinkle-season-2-debuts-jan-11/ live Happy! Smoking Man Baby Episode: "19 Hours and 13 Minutes"https://tvline.com/2018/12/20/weird-al-yankovic-happy-season-2-cast-smoking-man-baby/ Happy!: 'Weird Al' Yankovic Is 'Smoking Man Baby' – 2019 FIRST LOOK TVLine Michael Ausiello December 20, 2018 December 21, 2018 December 21, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181221004823/https://tvline.com/2018/12/20/weird-al-yankovic-happy-season-2-cast-smoking-man-baby/ dead Archibald's Next Big Thing Jasper Episode: "Glide & Gobble/Wheelie, No Hands" Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Himself Episode: "Attack of the Weird Al-Osaurus!" 2019–2020 Where's Waldo? Wizard Artbeard 2 episodes 2020 Blaze and the Monster Machines The Litter Critter Episode: "Recycling Power!" Close Enough Himself Episode: "The Canine Guy" American Dad! Himself Episode: "First, Do No Farm" 2020–2022 Pete the Cat Wawa Weasel 3 episodes 2022 LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation Vic Vankoh Television specialAmin Arezon 'Lego Star Wars Summer Vacation' Trailer Finally Lets Ben Solo Fly the Falcon https://collider.com/lego-star-wars-summer-vacation-trailer-disney-plus/ June 21, 2022 June 21, 2022 Collider June 21, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220621155638/https://collider.com/lego-star-wars-summer-vacation-trailer-disney-plus/ live Hamster & Gretel Wacko Wally Episode: "U.F. UH-OH! Part I" 2023 Velma Dandruff Tuba 4 episodes Mulligan Himself Cameo appearanceThe comedic geniuses behind 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt have a brand new animated series on @Netflix called Mulligan. It takes place in a post-alien-invasion apocalyptic world where the only surviving celebrities are @Questlove and myself. Check it out! 1657127243775344643 alyankovic May 21, 2023 en Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Documentary Announcer Episode: "Lights. Camera. Sparks?!" 2023–2024 Hailey's On It! Chip Dingle / Himself 3 episodeshttps://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2023/04/28/haileys-on-it-trailer/ Disney TV Animation Shares New Trailer For "Hailey's On It!" Starring Auli'i Cravalho Coming Soon to Disney Channel and Disney+ Tony Betti April 28, 2023 May 4, 2023 May 12, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230512174435/https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2023/04/28/haileys-on-it-trailer/ live 2024 Firebuds Latch Episode: "Woodland Wiley/P.I. Piston" Transformers: EarthSpark Cosmos Episode: "The Butterfly Effect" 2024–present Mighty MonsterWheelies Mayor Van Helsing Main role 2025 SpongeBob SquarePants I.M. Poster the Pirate Episode: "Bizarro Bottom" 2026 Strip Law Gordo Cippolini / Patrick Episode: "Trophy Son (Or 'The Mother Wound')" Video games Year Title Role 2006 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Announcer Pinball Year Title Role 2022 Weird Al's Museum of Natural Hilarity Himself Web series Year Title Role Notes 2008RiffTraxHimself"Jurassic Park" 2009"RiffTrax Live: Christmas Shorts-stravaganza!" 2010 Funny or Die Music Producer "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" https://www.avclub.com/great-job-internet-weird-the-weird-al-yankovic-story-1798219427 Great job, Internet: Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic Story Genevieve Koski March 23, 2010 February 3, 2019 The A.V. Club February 4, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190204122356/https://www.avclub.com/great-job-internet-weird-the-weird-al-yankovic-story-1798219427 live 2012 5-Second Films Himself "Weird Owl" https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/quick-way-become-internet-sensation-9641/ 1 Quick Way to Become an Internet Sensation Kevin Redding March 9, 2015 February 3, 2019 Back Stage February 4, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190204174350/https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/quick-way-become-internet-sensation-9641/ live 2013 Funny or Die "American Psycho with Huey Lewis and Weird Al Yankovic" https://www.spin.com/2013/04/weird-al-yankovic-huey-lewis-american-psycho-spoof-video/ Watch Huey Lewis Ax-Murder 'Weird Al' in 'American Psycho' Spoof Chris Martins April 3, 2013 February 3, 2019 Spin 2014 Epic Rap Battles of History Isaac Newton "Sir Isaac Newton vs Bill Nye" https://www.avclub.com/weird-al-yankovic-plays-isaac-newton-in-epic-rap-batt-1798269627 'Weird Al' Yankovic plays Isaac Newton in Epic Rap Battles Of History William Hughes June 18, 2014 February 3, 2019 The A.V. Club July 4, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220704210518/https://www.avclub.com/weird-al-yankovic-plays-isaac-newton-in-epic-rap-batt-1798269627 live 2015 CollegeHumor Himself "Weird Al Gets Whiplashed"Canfield David Watch: Weird Al Gets Whiplashed in Hilarious CollegeHumor Original https://www.indiewire.com/2015/02/watch-weird-al-gets-whiplashed-in-hilarious-collegehumor-original-65232/ IndieWire February 10, 2015 February 10, 2015 August 22, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190822025643/https://www.indiewire.com/2015/02/watch-weird-al-gets-whiplashed-in-hilarious-collegehumor-original-65232/ live 2018 Hot Ones Season 7, Episode 12 https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2018/12/weird-al-yankovic-goes-beyond-insanity-while-eating-spicy-wings-hot-ones "Weird Al" Yankovic Goes Beyond Insanity While Eating Spicy Wings Hot Ones December 20, 2018 February 3, 2019 Complex February 4, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190204014656/https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2018/12/weird-al-yankovic-goes-beyond-insanity-while-eating-spicy-wings-hot-ones deadhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTvORn_2B7I https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/XTvORn_2B7I December 21, 2021 live "Weird Al" Yankovic Goes Beyond Insanity While Eating Spicy Wings Hot Ones December 20, 2018 January 10, 2021 YouTube 2019 Guest Grumps Episode: "Wheel of Fortune w/ Special Guest WEIRD AL"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpJhrw7zVE https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/JEpJhrw7zVE December 21, 2021 live Wheel of Fortune w/ Special Guest WEIRD AL – Guest Grumps YouTube Game Grumps January 18, 2019 January 19, 2019Episode: "Mom Hid My Game w/ Special Guest WEIRD AL"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ06yMergxo https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/QZ06yMergxo December 21, 2021 live Mom Hid My Game w/ Special Guest WEIRD AL – Guest Grumps YouTube Game Grumps January 19, 2019 February 26, 2019 Theater Year Title Role Notes 2023 Gutenberg! The Musical! Producer Cameo Notes References 30em n.d. NLS Other Writings: Say How, Y-Z https://www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/standards-guidelines/yz/#y live National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled en-US Library of Congress https://web.archive.org/web/20220924132142/https://www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/standards-guidelines/yz/ September 24, 2022 November 7, 2022 Yankovic, "Weird Al" (YANG-kə-vik) dmy-all Harrington Richard August 10, 2007 Weird Al's Imitation: A Funky Form of Flattery https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/09/AR2007080900305.html live The Washington Post en-US 0190-8286 2269358 https://web.archive.org/web/20190402153027/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/09/AR2007080900305.html April 2, 2019 November 7, 2022 Masterful mockery: Rewriting lyrics since 1979, "Weird Al" Yankovic has sold 12 million albums. dmy-all Greenburg Zack O'Malley Zack O'Malley Greenburg February 26, 2015 Weird Al Yankovic's Business Plan: No More Albums https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2015/02/26/weird-al-yankovics-business-plan-no-more-albums/?sh=54c4a5c021fd live subscription Forbes en-us 0015-6914 sf86091533 6465733 https://web.archive.org/web/20210123083931/https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2015/02/26/weird-al-yankovics-business-plan-no-more-albums/?sh=40c64e3e21fd January 23, 2021 November 7, 2022 The musician, who had just won his fourth Grammy—and has sold over 12 million records in his 39-year career—was not an arena rocker or Vegas crooner, but Alfred Matthew Yankovic, better known as Weird Al. dmy-all Greene Andy July 25, 2014 16 Things We Learned After a Day at 'Weird Al' Yankovic's House https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/16-things-we-learned-after-a-day-at-weird-al-yankovics-house-245670/ live Rolling Stone en-US 0035-791X https://web.archive.org/web/20221102183117/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/16-things-we-learned-after-a-day-at-weird-al-yankovics-house-245670/ November 2, 2022 November 4, 2022 mdy-all Yankovic Al http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/the-gaga-saga/ The Gaga Saga April 20, 2011 Al's Blog The web log of "Weird Al" Yankovic November 4, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20110423010155/http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/the-gaga-saga/ April 23, 2011 live As of this posting, I still don't know specifically what kind of problem she has with the song (obviously I take a few jabs at her, but y'know, it's satire – that's how it's supposed to work). And I'm especially confused as to why she waited until I actually recorded the song (at her insistence!) before saying no. It's not like there were any surprises in the finished song that she couldn't have foreseen by, you know, READING THE LYRICS. mdy-all Yankovic Al http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/gaga-update/ Gaga Update April 20, 2011 Al's Blog The web log of "Weird Al" Yankovic November 4, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20110426031039/http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/gaga-update/ April 26, 2011 live en-US Gaga's manager has now admitted that he never forwarded my parody to Gaga – she had no idea at all. Even though we assumed that Gaga herself was the one making the decision (because, well, that's what we were TOLD), he apparently made the decision completely on his own. mdy-all Weird Al Yankovic – I'm Droppin' a New Album! September 30, 2013 TMZ https://www.tmz.com/2013/09/30/weird-al-yankovic-new-album-music-recording/ November 4, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221104163438/https://www.tmz.com/2013/09/30/weird-al-yankovic-new-album-music-recording/ November 4, 2022 live en-US Al was in NYC this weekend – and as the master of parody was strolling into a building in Midtown, he told us, "I'm working on the new album right now." mdy-all 1385052648668221444 alyankovic Tonight marks the 40th anniversary... Al Yankovic April 21, 2021 November 4, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220523025005/https://twitter.com/alyankovic/status/1385052648668221444 May 23, 2022 live mdy-all tZkouut-9RQ "Weird Al" Yankovic – Another One Rides the Bus External links "Weird Al" Yankovic https://www.weirdal.com/ 946148 "Weird Al" Yankovic alyankovic alyankovic "Weird Al" Yankovic Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection Awards for "Weird Al" Yankovic Category:1959 births Category:20th-century American accordionists Category:American male accordionists Category:20th-century American male actors Category:20th-century American male singers Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters Category:20th-century Christians Category:21st-century American accordionists Category:21st-century American male actors Category:21st-century American male singers Category:21st-century American male non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American singer-songwriters Category:21st-century Christians Category:American children's writers Category:American Christian writers Category:American comedy rappers Category:American male comedians Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American male voice actors Category:American music video directors Category:American novelty song performers Category:American parody musicians Category:American people of Croatian descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American people of Slovenian descent Category:American people of Yugoslav descent Category:Articles with quotation marks in the title Category:California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, alumni Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Christians from California Category:Comedians from Los Angeles County, California Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Lynwood High School alumni Category:Male actors from Los Angeles County, California Category:Nerdcore artists Category:People from Lynwood, California Category:Polka musicians Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners Category:RCA Records artists Category:Scotti Brothers Records artists Category:Screenwriters from California Category:Singer-songwriters from California Category:Singers from Los Angeles Category:Streamy Award winners Category:Volcano Entertainment artists Category:Writers from Los Angeles County, California