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{{quote|''"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life."''|'''Homer Simpson''', ''[[The Simpsons (
Alfred Matthew Yankovic (born October 23, 1959, in Downey, California), is a musical humourist with a career spanning thirty years.
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Raised in Lynwood, Al got an accordion and lessons for his seventh birthday; according to him, his parents made the decision because "The world needed one more accordion-playing Yankovic" (the first being Frankie, who isn't related). When he went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for an architecture degree, he worked for the school's radio station as a disc jockey, where he got the nickname "Weird Al".
He sent three songs to the Dr. Demento Show, "Belvedere Cruisin'", "Dr. D Superstar" (never aired), and "My Bologna", a parody of "My Sharona" by ''[[The Knack]]''. ''[[The Knack]]'''s lead singer heard "My Bologna", contacted Al, and got "My Bologna" released as a single. Despite a slow start, including a disastrous opening for ''[[
In 1989, Weird Al starred in the film ''[[
Usually releases a new album and goes on tour once every 2-3 years, thus John Garabedian of ''Open House Party'' has stated that "Every album is his comeback album, and then he goes away until the next one..."
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
Responsible for the [[Weird Al Effect]], where a parody remains popular long after the original, and his habit of using pop cultural metaphors (AKA [[Person
Since there are a ''lot'' of songs floating around LimeWire and other peer-to-peer networks [[Misattributed Song|falsely attributed]] to Al, [http://www.com-www.com/weirdal/notbyal.html The Not Al List] was created to catalog these. A lot of these songs are raunchy, offensive, and the lead vocal vaguely sounds like Al, so since [[Small Reference Pools|Al is the most-visible parody musician]], his name gets attached to them, despite having subject matter and lyrics he would never touch. Even with the occasional subtext, he still aims to be a family friendly performer.
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* ''Polka Party!'' (1986)
* ''Even Worse'' (1988)
* ''[[
* ''Off the Deep End'' (1992)
* ''Alapalooza'' (1993)
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Videography:
* ''The Compleat Al'' (1985)
* ''[[
* ''The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library'' (1992)
* ''Alapalooza: The Videos'' (1993)
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** [[Black and Nerdy]]
** [[Jewish and Nerdy]]
* [[I Pulled a Weird Al]], since renamed [[Person
* [[Weird Al Effect]]
----
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** The only song for which he didn't actually have permission was "Amish Paradise", but there was nothing malicious about it; a miscommunication led Al to believe he actually did have permission, and by the time it was cleared up, it was too late.
*** However, Coolio (the original artist), got over it and [http://yankovic.org/blog/2006/01/08/weird-and-coolio/ gave Al a hug].
** And then he ended up having the exact opposite problem he did with Coolio, this time with [[
** The only Weird Al parody that ''isn't'' affectionate is the early 1980s demo "It's Still [[Billy Joel]] to Me," which may be part of the reason it didn't appear on his debut album.
** Al has also said that "Achey Breaky Song" is pretty harsh, and apologized to Billy Ray Cyrus for it.
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*** 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.
* [[Bilingual Bonus]]:
** "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" uses [[Yiddish
** "Perform This Way" has « Excusez-moi, qui a pété? », which means {{spoiler|"Excuse me, who farted?"}}
** "Taco Grande", much like the song it parodies, is filled with [[Gratuitous Spanish]]. While Al's simple phrases are mostly things about foods he wants and paying for them, Cheech Marin's cameo in the bridge is a lengthy recommendation and description of a particularly hot dish and the side effects of eating it, ending by asking if the stupid customer can understand what he's saying.
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** His first non-concert appearance in Weird Al's works was the video for "Headline News", in which he portrayed Crash Test Dummies pianist Ellen Reid. A noble start.
* [[Call Back]]: One of "Al'"s costumes in "Perform This Way" has a hat with a train on it; this hat was also seen in "White and Nerdy".
** May also be a [[Shout-Out]] to [[
* [[The Cameo]]:
** In Al's work:
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*** Dick Van Patten shows up in a lot of his videos.
** Al in other works:
*** All three ''[[
*** [[
*** He performed the theme song for ''[[Spy Hard]]''.
*** He is Banana Man in one episode of ''[[
*** Al has directed several of Ben Folds' videos, and appears as himself in his role as the director in the video for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34u_3Z9_LUw "Rocking The Suburbs"].
*** Al has played the tambourine with [[
*** He also got a humorous moment in Michael Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl", which is a music video about a bunch of celebrities waiting to film a music video...
{{quote| '''Blair Underwood:''' ''[Seeing Al's hairdo from behind, and assuming it's Michael]'' Mikey?<br />
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*** He was brought in to discuss [http://blip.tv/rocketboom/know-your-meme-auto-tune-featuring-professor-weird-al-yankovic-2905623 Autotune] on Know Your Meme.
* [[Canada, Eh?]]: Parodied in "Canadian Idiot," which is a satire on American nationalism.
* [[Careful
** During the bridge of "Jurassic Park" and the end of "Cavity Search".
** The bridge of "Nature Trail to Hell"
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* [[Cross Dresser]]: Just listen to "Truck Driving Song".
* [[Curse Cut Short]]: The last part of "Another Tattoo", at the very end, is the closest he ''ever'' comes to swearing in a song (and those times he included "slut", "hell", and, if you count it, "crap" in his lyrics don't count, nor does "You cheap bastard!"). The line in question? "Ow! [[Mother F-Bomb|Motherf...]]"
* [[Cut His Heart Out
{{quote| ''I'd rather spend eternity eating shards of broken glass''<br />
''Than spend one more minute with you''<br />
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''I'd rather rip out my intestines with a fork''<br />
''Than watch you going out with other men'' }}
* [[A Date
{{quote| ''Cause I'm stranded all alone''<br />
''In the gas station of love''<br />
''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
** From the man himself:
{{quote| '''Al:''' I wrote "Eat It" because [[Money, Dear Boy|I wanted to buy a house.]] It worked.}}
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* [[Deconstruction]]: Not by him, but with his participation: the ''[[Series/Behind The Music|Behind The Music]]'' featuring Weird Al -- who's never had any real career adversity (by music-industry standards) or scandal -- deconstructed entertainment behind-the-scenes shows.
* [[Die Laughing]]: In the video for "Party in the CIA", {{spoiler|some of the agency's enemies have caught up with Al, and Al dies this way}}.
* [[Digital Head Swap]]: Most notably in the video for "Perform This Way", a parody of [[
* [[Digital Piracy Is Evil]]: [[Averted]]. Al doesn't have that many problems with people downloading his songs, and instead has many more problems with [[Misattributed Song|false attribution]], the type that labels him as the author of such songs as "Wienie in a Bottle", "Elmo's Got a Gun", and others that he wouldn't be caught dead singing.
** He parodied the phenomenon with "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEmTbpvj9fM Don't Download This Song]", which, ironically, was DRM-free when most online retailers were stuck with it and can be downloaded legally for free.
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* [[Forrest Gump]]: "Gump" (parody of [[The Presidents Of The United States Of America]]'s "Lump"). A verse from the song provides the movie's page quote.
* [[Funny Background Event]]: Whenever the basketball players appear in the video for "Smells Like Nirvana".
* [[Fun
* [[Game Show Appearance]]: The subject of "I Lost on Jeopardy". Amusingly, he later appeared on ''Rock & Roll Jeopardy!''… and lost. (However, he played a celebrity edition of ''[[Wheel of Fortune]]'' in 1994 and won.)
* [[Gem-Encrusted]]: Like a swimming pool.
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''Excusez-moi, Qui a pété?'' (Translation: Excuse me, who farted?) }}
* [[Greatest Hits Album]]: ''The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic'', ''Greatest Hits'', ''Greatest Hits II'', and ''Permanent Record'', a four-disc box set of Weird Al's favorite tracks from "My Bologna" to his then-latest single, "Headline News" (which was only available on that box set and ''Greatest Hits II'').
* [[Green Eggs and Ham]]: Sung to the tune of [[
* [[Heartbeat Soundtrack]]: The heartbeat monitor in "Like a Surgeon".
* [[Hell of a Heaven]]: "Everything You Know Is Wrong" has someone violating Heaven's dress code, and getting stuck with the room next to the noisy ice machine for all eternity. (Suggesting that Heaven is a mid-priced hotel.)
* [[Here We Go Again]]: From the last verse of "I Lost on [[Jeopardy
{{quote| ''Well, I sure hope I do better''<br />
''Next weekend on ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' '' }}
* [[Hitler Cam]]: Used in "One More Minute" at the end, where Al rips out 'his' (plastic) heart.
* [[Hoist
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: Amish Paradise contains the line "I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art"
* [[Hollywood Nerd]]: Al played this image up early in his career with the large glasses, white guy Afro, and cheesy mustache. Once he ditched these, around the time "Running with Scissors" came out (although a few videos before then didn't have them), it was suddenly discovered that Mr. Yankovic is actually very good-looking to go along with his geeky charm.
* [[Hollywood Silencer]]: A sound effect in "Party In The CIA"<ref>A lyrical parody of "Party In The USA" by [[
* [[Home Porn Movie]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S9N1oCX_nI Here]. {{spoiler|Compare the "White and Nerdy" video}}
* [[I Am Not Shazam]]: "Perform This Way"<ref>A lyrical parody of "Born This Way" by [[
* [[Incendiary Exponent]]: Parodied in "Perform This Way"
{{quote| ''I'll wrap my small intestines round my neck''<br />
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''I'll bet you've never seen a skirt steak worn this way'' }}
* [[Inherently Funny Words]]: Frequently among his lyrics.
* [[Ink Suit Actor]]: His roles on ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' and ''[[Lilo and Stitch: The Series]]''. Also appeared as himself on ''[[The Simpsons (
* [[In the Style Of]]: At least half of Al's non-parodies mimic the style of another significant musician, perhaps the most famous being "Dare To Be Stupid", his take on [[
** "Dog Eat Dog" parodies the Talking Heads, and even includes modified versions of lines from "Once in a Lifetime". Al even puts on a David Byrne-style giant suit when performing this song live.
** "Trigger Happy" is a take on the style of of ''every [[The Beach Boys
** "Bob" is a bunch of palindromes sung like [[
** "CNR" is a style parody of [[
** "Close But No Cigar" is an absolutely spot-on pastiche of the band Cake's signature style, including blurty trumpet, ad-libs (yelled off-mic), and rampant Vibra-Slap abuse.
** In a lot of cases, his "style parodies" are a result of not getting permission to do a parody of an actual song by the band. For example, after Trent Reznor refused to let him do any [[
*** For similar reasons, he has done two songs in the style of Prince: "Traffic Jam" and the indirectly Beck-styled "Wanna B Ur Lovr".
** "If That Isn't Love" is mostly a style parody of his close friends, the boys of [[
** In a slightly less musical example, ''Carnival of the Animals, Part Two'' (the B-side to ''[[Peter and The Wolf]]'') includes recited poetry in the style of Ogden Nash.
* [[It Came From the Fridge]]: The aptly titled "Livin' in the Fridge" provides the page quote.
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** "Party in the CIA"
* [[Major Injury Underreaction]]: In "A Complicated Song", he is merely frustrated about being beheaded.
* [[
* [[Manipulative Editing]]: ''Al TV'''s fake interviews, where Al adds weird questions to a famous person's answers ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIaO7sRjyxw original]/[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPwBdnknGIs edited]). And sometimes, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepM8VCGN7c the interviewee acts weird enough to help!].
* [[Memetic Badass]]: [[In-Universe|In-song]] example--[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLnapb-30hA Charles Nelson Reilly].
* [[Memetic Outfit]]: Earlier in his career, there was a particular pair of horrendously ugly pants given to Al that he wore at every concert (which can be seen on his first album cover). He eventually ditched them. Later, he was known for his large collection of Hawaiian-print shirts and Vans sneakers. He still pulls these out, though not as frequently.
* [[
** Also he actually delayed his album (which would later be "Off the Deep End") just so he could do a parody of a song off Micheal's new album (Dangerous).. only for Micheal to offer Al any song but Black or White (Which Al wanted to parody), because Micheal didn't want to lower the song's message.
* [[Mind Screw]]: "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05av9iJvgiQ Everything You Know Is Wrong]", among others.
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* [[Misplaced Sorrow]]: "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?" is all about this.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]:
** A perfect example is on the album "Straight Outta Lynwood," after his [[
*** A similar example is on the album "Running With Scissors", where the [[
** Within the song "That's Your Horoscope for Today", the prediction for Sagittarius goes from the lighthearted, silly predictions for others to '''"Kill them"''' in a deep, evil sounding voice without any music playing, then jumps straight back to silly in the very next line.
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Ducktorate]]: Given the content of the song "I Want A New Duck," one presumes a duck of less-than-ideal behavior was already being dealt with.
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Where was I? }}
* [[Mockumentary]]: Two, actually. There's the rare "The Compleat Al," made to help promote the ''Dare To Be Stupid'' album, and the Disney Channel combination [[Mockumentary]]/[[Rockumentary]] "There's No Going Home", which was included as an [[Easter Egg]] on the ''Running With Scissors'' album.
* [[Mondegreen]]: Done [[In
{{quote| ''I hopped up and said, "I don't know, do you want to get something delivered?"''<br />
''And she's like, "Why would I want to eat liver?''<br />
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''It's just a lousy flesh wound, Dad''<br />
''You know I'm trigger happy, trigger happy every day'' }}
* [[Parody Assistance]]: Sometimes Al gets more than just permission to parody an artist's songs. [[
** Ben Folds played piano on "Why Does This Always Happen To Me"... which is a parody of Ben Folds songs. "Genius in France", a style parody of [[
** Though more of a stretch, singer and voice coach Lisa Popeil has done female backup vocals for Al since 1983. The first song to feature her? "Mr. Popeil", a song that makes fun of her father's products and brother's infomercials in the style of [[The B
** James Brown arranged for Al to record the music video using the backdrop where he performed the song in ''[[Rocky IV]]''.
** On Al's 2011 album Alpocalypse, he did a style parody of [[
* [[Peacock Girl|Peacock Boy]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iybANfcD8k "Perform This Way"] (he also wears it in the actual music video)
* [[Poe's Law]]: Some people believed that "Don't Download This Song" was actually trying to spread the message that [[Digital Piracy Is Evil]].
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* [[Ridiculous Future Sequelisation]]: "Theme from Rocky XIII".
* [[Ripped from the Headlines]]: "Headline News" has three verses describing the American kid who got caned in Singapore, the Nancy Kerrigan incident, and Lorena Bobbitt.
** And new verses (from the 2007 tour) about Paris Hilton's DUI and [[
* [[Running Gag]]: The number 27 and poodles.
** Also, a hatred of Prince, especially in his fake interviews.
* [[Runs
* [[Saw Star Wars 27 Times]]: From "Cable TV,"
{{quote| My friends are getting kinda worried,<br />
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* [[Shaggy Dog Story]]: Albuquerque is a long rambling rant all sorts of stuff but ultimately about how {{spoiler|he hates sauerkraut}}.
* [[Shaped Like Itself]]: "That snorkel's been just like a snorkel to me!"
* [[Shave and
* [[Shoulders of Doom]]: When performing "Dog Eat Dog", a style parody of [[Talking Heads (
* [[Shout-Out]]: These lines from "Amish Paradise":
{{quote| ''[[Gilligan's Island
''[[Gilligan's Island
''[[Gilligan's Island
''[[Gilligan's Island
** 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 (
** "Alpocalypse" has a song called "CNR" which contains a shout-out to Jim Croce.
** 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)
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** White and nerdy also mentions Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: About the songs and artists he parodies.
** "Trigger Happy" and "Pancreas", his [[The Beach Boys
* [[Signed Up for
* [[Small Reference Pools]]: In addition to the part about parody musicians, there are a number of people to this day (as evidenced by the comments left on videos on YouTube) that don't realize Al does original songs as well, due to his biggest hits all being parodies.
* [[Something Blues]]: "Buckingham Blues" and "Generic Blues".
* [[Song Parody]]: What he's best known for making.
* [[Spell My Name
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: "Polka Face" is essentially "Polkarama!" with more modern songs.
** ''Face to Face with "Weird Al" Yankovic'', a [[Web Original]] which sees Al "interviewing" celebrities, is this to ''Al TV''.
* [[Stalker
** Also, "Do I Creep You Out".
* [[Stealth Pun]]: "Polka Face" uses a section of [[Name's the Same|Frankie Yankovic's]] "Tick Tock Polka" as a bridge. The next song in the medley? [[Kesha
* [[Stepford Smiler]]: at the end of the ''"Skipper Dan"'' animated music video. Keeping the same tone as the rest of the song, [[Tear Jerker|it's one of the saddest examples ever animated.]]
* [[Stock Scream]]: During the "Perform This Way" video, after the line, "I'll poke your eye out with a dress like this." S/he [[Eye Scream|hits a backup dancer]] with the spiky dress and, well... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbYsoEasio "AAUGH!"]
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even if [[Take That|it's a piece of junk!]]r }}
* [[Take That]]: "One More Minute" was written to get over an ex, and he rips her picture in the video.
** Not to mention the lengthy one against Atlantic Records over his James Blunt parody "You're Pitiful," which eventually led to [[
*** Which was caused by Al ''pretending'' to deface that entry in his video for "White and Nerdy".
** And let's not forget "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEmTbpvj9fM Don't Download This Song]", mentioned above.
** There's also the unreleased "It's Still [[
** Al generally tries to avoid blatantly making fun an artist who has given him permission to parody their work, but sometimes he does his fair share of good-natured ribbing, example include the above mentioned "It's Still Billy Joel to Me," "Smells Like Nirvana," and "Perform This Way."
** What about "Achy Breaky Song" and "Brady Bunch"? Both of them are about how he would rather watch or listen to ANYTHING but those.
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* [[Trekkie]]: "White and Nerdy":
{{quote| ''The only question I ever thought was hard<br />
Was do I like [[Star Trek:
* [[Turn Your Head and Cough]]: In the song "Living With A Hernia," the narrator goes to see his physician, Dr. Jones, who we are told takes off the narrator's pants and tells him to cough.
* [[Triple Nipple]]: "CNR" claims that Charles Nelson Reilly had a third nipple on the back of his neck.
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** The "Guy who made his wife so mad one night that she cut off his wiener" is about [[wikipedia:John and Lorena Bobbitt|John and Lorena Bobbitt]]
* [[Useless Spleen]]: "Pancreas" has the line "My spleen just doesn't matter."
* [[What Could Have Been]]: Bassist Steve Jay almost got a chance to audition for [[
* [[What Happened to
* [[When I Was Your Age]]: The subject of the song of the same name.
* [[Wiki Vandal]]: He pretends to replace the entire Atlantic Records Wikipedia entry with the phrase "YOU SUCK!" in 72-point letters [[In-Universe|during the video]] of "White And Nerdy."
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* [[Yes, Virginia]]: Now Santa's Doing Time. In a Federal prison, for his infamous crime.
** Or... Yes, Virginia: Now Santa Claus Is Dead. Some guy from the SWAT team blew a hole through his head.
* [[Yiddish
* [[You Don't Look Like You]]: Al looks almost nothing like the above image nowadays, thanks to laser eye surgery and an image change. Some early videos ("Ricky", "UHF") foreshadowed his modern appearance.
** Al himself has relayed a story of a television appearance he had soon after the surgery and shaving off his moustache (''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', season 4 episode 4, "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place"). The people at the TV studio wanted him in his "classic" look, and got him prop eyeglasses and a fake moustache. Al described the experience as surreal, "like I was wearing a Weird Al costume". [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE3vIE5QBo4 See it here].
** Averted, however, with a recent appearance on ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' -- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVaSaya_4QQ the segment Al appears in] takes place in 1985, and he looks almost ''exactly'' like he did in those days.
* [[Your Head Asplode]]: Al's head explodes while holding out the last note to the opening theme of ''[[Spy Hard]]'', a [[Shout-Out]] to the rumor that [[Music/Tom Jones|Tom Jones]] passed out while holding the last note of the opening theme of ''[[
* [[You Watch Too Much X]]: Al has described himself as watching too much television. Also the focus of a few songs, like "Cable TV".
** Al has a song about television on nearly every album. Enough for his label to compile them into a full-length album of its own.
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