"Weird Al" Yankovic: Difference between revisions

In 1989, Weird Al starred in the film ''[[UHF]]'', and he had a short-lived [[CBS]] "kids' show" in the 1990s, ''[[The Weird Al Show]]''. He provided the voice of the Squid Hat on ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]''. He has been involved with the ''[[Transformers]]'' franchise twice: his song "Dare To Be Stupid" was played in the [[Transformers: The Movie|1986 movie]], and he provided the voice of Wreck-Gar in ''[[Transformers Animated]]''. He had a recent cameo (as himself) in the ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' crossover episode of ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', where he [[Improbable Weapon User|defeated the Joker with his accordion]].

Unlike other parodic artists, Al and his band [[Long Runner Lineup|(who have been together since the 80s)]] from the second album on (the first album used accordion on every track in keeping with Al's trademark talent) have kept extremely close to the original melodies and instrumentation of the parodied song. The most extreme example is in "Trapped in the Drive-Thru", based off "Trapped in the Closet" by ''R. Kelly''. To those not in the know, [[Detournement|it sounds exactly like the original.]] Al is [[One of Us|very sympathetic to geek communities]] and frequently gives them [[Proud to Be a Geek|recognition in his songs]].

{{tropenamer}}

* [[Drives Like Crazy]] ("She Drives Like Crazy")

* [[Indexed and Nerdy]] (from "White & Nerdy")

** [[Asian and Nerdy]]

** [[Jewish and Nerdy]]

* [[I Pulled a Weird Al]], since renamed [[Person as Verb]]

----

** In fact, Al became a Vegan in the 90s, severely lessening his chances of becoming a [[Big Eater]] in the future (though he's not a strict vegan).

*** He's also said that watching himself eat while in the fat suit during the filming of "Fat" convinced him he never, ever wanted to be fat himself.

** "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" uses [[Yiddish as a Second Language]] to make puns such as "The parents pay the mohel and he gets to keep the tip."

** "Perform This Way" has « Excusez-moi, qui a pété? », which means {{spoiler|"Excuse me, who farted?"}}

Then burn all the clothes you may have worn any time you were online! }}

* [[Brand Name Takeover]]: Arguably the reason so many non-Al songs are attributed to him. There are thousands of amateur parody artists out there (all you need is an idea and a recorder to make one), but Al is the big guy on the block - no other parody artist comes ''close'' to his success. His name has probably become so synonymous with song parodies that this trope kicked in. Al doesn't like it, for obvious reasons.

** The spoken interlude of "Jerry Springer" also mentions this. "That goat doesn't love you!"

** In "CNR", Charles Nelson Reilly "made sweet, sweet love to a manatee."

*** The video for "Tacky" features [[Margaret Cho]], [[Jack Black]], [[CSI|Aisha]] [[Whose Line Is It Anyway?|Tyler]], [[Modern Family Eric Stonestreet]], and [[Flight of the Conchords|Kristen]] [[30 Rock|Schaal]].

** Al in other works:

*** [[Rob Zombie]]'s ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]] II''.

*** He performed the theme song for ''[[Spy Hard]]''.

** The bridge of "Nature Trail to Hell"

** "Albuquerque", but a box of one dozen starving, crazed weasels will do that.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]

* [[Conspicuous CG]]: The video for "Perform This Way" features Weird Al's [[Digital Head Swap|head digitally superimposed]] on a woman's body. The effect works for the most part, but it looks just ''[[Uncanny Valley Makeup|slightly]]'' off...

''And I have to use the self-service pumps'' }}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Watching Al in candid interviews where he drops the act reveals a subdued, deadpan humor and very dry, very, ''very'' sharp wit. A good example of this is the [[VH-1]] ''Behind the Music'' special.

{{quote|'''Al:''' I wrote "Eat It" because [[Money, Dear Boy|I wanted to buy a house.]] It worked.}}

** And: "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave the serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline."

** Al also has a habit of leaking one or more songs from his upcoming albums early, usually by posting it to [[YouTube]] or some other such site.

** And now for some [[Irony]]. [[YouTube]] seems to have blocked one person's upload of his music videos in the U.S. due to copyright concerns from Sony... said person is Weird Al himself.

** Al himself authorized his album ''Alpocalypse'' to be streamed over the internet a week before its release date.

* [[DIY Disaster]]: "The Plumbing Song".

{{quote|''When I flush the john, it turns the shower on!''}}

** Averted by "TMZ", which is more of a downer ''song'' with a sort of heroic [[The Dog Bites Back]] ending.

** "The Night Santa Went Crazy". Depending on which version you listen to, it ends with Santa Claus either in jail for several hundred years, or dead.

* [[Epic Rocking]]:

** "Albuquerque." Emphasis on "epic".

* [[Green Eggs and Ham]]: Sung to the tune of [[U2]]'s "Numb", but refused by the [[Dr. Seuss|Seuss]] estate.

* [[Heartbeat Soundtrack]]: The heartbeat monitor in "Like a Surgeon".

* [[Here We Go Again]]: From the last verse of "I Lost on [[Jeopardy!]]":

{{quote|''Well, I sure hope I do better''

* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]: [[Played for Laughs]] (obviously) in "Party in the C.I.A."

* [[Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life]]: "Don't Download This Song"

** But only because [[Richard Simmons|Richard]] [[Camp Gay|Simmons]] [[Very False Advertising|wasn't]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|in it]].

* [[Limited Wardrobe]]: Al has almost always been seen wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt, black trousers, and brightly-patterned Vans shoes since the 1980s. Until Al had his vision corrected with LASIK eye surgery in the 1990s, his distinctive large wire-rimmed eyeglasses were also part of his trademark look, as was his "white-guy afro".

** For instance, Mark Knopfler insisting on playing the lead guitar part for "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies".

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: The ''UHF'' video, in which the parodied musicians include Robert Palmer (''Addicted to Spuds" never got its own video), [[Prince]], and [[The Beatles]].

* [[Not Making This Up Disclaimer]]: In the booklet that came with ''Permanent Record'', Al notes that the song "Midnight Star" (about ridiculous tabloid headlines) contained mostly real headlines from various tabloids. He specifically noted that he held onto one about The Incredible Frog Boy from the ''[[Weekly World News]]'' for years.

** The telephone company's new service that lets you talk to the dead came from a late 70s-early 80s issue of ''[[The National Enquirer]]''.

* [[Poke the Poodle]]: "Young, Dumb & Ugly" is a song about this.

* [[Posthumous Narration]]: In "Melanie".

[[Tress MacNeille]] does during a portion of the song parodying a typical episode of the show:

{{quote|'''Tress MacNeille''': Woofie, you ''bitch!''}}

* [[Random Events Plot]]: "Albuquerque."

* [[Rap Rock]]: "All About The Pentiums", [[Parodied Trope|parodies]] a rock remix of a rap song called "It's all about the Benjamins"

''[[Gilligan's Island|It's as primitive as can be!]]'' }}

** According to [http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0400 Word of] [[Word of God|Al]], "Slime Creatures from Outer Space" includes a line from an [[SCTV]] sketch, and the vinyl of ''Dare to Be Stupid'' had "[[Talking Heads (band)|More Songs About TV and Food]]" etched into the inner groove.

** There is even a [[Shout-Out]] '''TO''' Al out there. Chamillionaire's remix of "Ridin'" called "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JfHXU0yv-0 Ridin' Overseas]" mentions "White And Nerdy". (1:59 in the linked video)

{{quote|''A year later, after "White And Nerdy",''

** Al rags on Pauly Shore every once in a while.

* [[Technology Marches On]]:

*** The screen issue in the song is an [[Averted Trope]] because TV companies have the same problem with TV sets as monitor manufacturers have - ''there's only so big you can make them''. The ratio to human eyes and human perception remain the same. If the price for the bigger sets went down, they would have to introduce a room-size to be their top, money-making model, and living rooms are only so big. Getting back to Weird Al, he actually lampshades this in "Frank's 2000 Inch TV". (A 2000 inch TV set would be 166 feet on the diagonal.)

** Weird Al's first popular music polka medley was released in 1984 and titled "Polkas on 45", referring to 45 rpm record singles. At the time it was a bit of a joke - polkas were from an era long before 45's. Now that 45's have been out of mainline production for almost a quarter century so both are considered quaint now, taking away from the original intention.