"Weird Al" Yankovic: Difference between revisions

** Similarly, "Albuquerque" - he saves it for the encore, as it wrecks his throat and makes it difficult for him to sing anything else afterward.

* [[Bait and Switch Comparison]]: From the December 1998 edition of "Ask Al":

'''Yes, very much. And I'm a big fan of the band, too.''' }}

* [[Big Eater]]: Not Al himself, but some of his songs are about this (most obviously, "Fat", "My Bologna", and "Eat It") enough to compile an album in the early 90s. The trope is inverted with his song called [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eahmcBn0QLY "Grapefruit Diet"].

* [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]]: See [[Motor Mouth]] below for the example.

** "Virus Alert" has many examples, but most notably:

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.

*** Al has played the tambourine with [[Hanson]] quite a few times.

*** 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...

'''Al:''' No, but I think [[Cool Pet|Bubbles]] is here. }}

*** 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.

* [[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 with a Spoon]]: To himself in "One More Minute".

''Than watch you going out with other men'' }}

* [[A Date with Rosie Palms]]: From "One More Minute:"

''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.

** From the man himself:

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

* [[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.

* [[Disturbed Doves]]: These show up in the music video for "If That Isn't Love" during a couple of repeats of the chorus.

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

* [[The Dog Bites Back]]:

** The last verse of "I Remember Larry". {{spoiler|The singer ends up tying Larry's mouth with a rag, "[dragging] him by the ankles to the middle of the forest and [stuffing] him in a big plastic bag".}}

** "Trapped in the drive-thru" and "Genius in France".

* [[Even the Subtitler Is Stumped]]: The music video for "Smells Like Nirvana," in one hilarious moment:

With all these marbles in my mouth }}

** And according to the insert for the CD, those are the ''actual lyrics''.

* [[Fan Flattering]]: Al's band (not Al himself, though he loves his fans, too) recorded the song "[http://weirdaltribute.bandcamp.com/track/als-band Al's Band]". The third to last stanza has:

You're the reason why we play }}

* [[Four More Measures]]: Lampshaded in "You're Pitiful".

* [[Grammar Nazi]]: See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVqMnbg4Ni0 here] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGWiTvYZR_w here].

** Let's not forget this part of "Close But No Cigar"

''But frankly, I can't imagine why'' }}

** And carried further in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc "Word Crimes"]] from 2014's ''Mandatory Fun''.

* [[Gratuitous French]]: Parodied in "Perform This Way"

''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'').

* [[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!]]":

''Next weekend on ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' '' }}

* [[Hitler Cam]]: Used in "One More Minute" at the end, where Al rips out 'his' (plastic) heart.

* [[I Am Not Shazam]]: "Perform This Way"<ref>A lyrical parody of "Born This Way" by [[Lady Gaga]]</ref> has the line "I'm [[Frankenstein]], I'm [[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]". [[Not an Example]] of [[Cowboy Bebop at His Computer]] though, as it was [[Invoked Trope|deliberately invoked.]]

* [[Incendiary Exponent]]: Parodied in "Perform This Way"

''And set fire to myself on stage'' }}

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Real life example: one of his long time band members goes by "Bermuda" Schwartz.

** Another possible example in "I Remember Larry," after he talks about tying the titular prankster's mouth with a rag and leaving him for dead:

''He would have to agree with me - it was a pretty good ''gag!'''' }}

** Most of "Party at the Leper Colony", but especially:

''Wait a minute, it looks like Stu!'' }}

** From "Perform This Way," regarding Gaga's meat dress, which the woman in the video also wears:

''I'll bet you've never seen a skirt steak worn this way'' }}

* [[Inherently Funny Words]]: Frequently among his lyrics.

* [[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.

* [[Motor Mouth]]: The middle of "Hardware Store". He speaks at a rate of ''242 words per minute'', or all of the below in ''30 seconds'' and ''in one breath''.

Trailer hitch demagnetizers, [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|automatic circumcisers]]<br />

Tennis rackets, angle brackets, Duracells and Energizers<br />

** Let it be known that the aforementioned listing is the main reason Al won't do the song on tour. He apparently doesn't think he can do it again.

** Also in the middle of "Your Horoscope for Today," also all in one breath:

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-Universe]] in the song "Trapped In The Drive-thru"

''She's like, "Whatever... I just don't want any liver."'' }}

* [[Mouthful of Pi]]: In ''White and Nerdy'' the title character claims to know Pi to a thousand places.

** Heck, it's pretty much the only thing anyone actually likes about that movie. It is the first film made by [[Seltzer and Friedberg]], after all.

* [[Only a Flesh Wound]]: From ''Trigger Happy''

''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. [[Michael Jackson]] donated the subway set used for "Badder" (the kid version of "Bad" filmed for ''[[Moonwalker]]'') to Yankovic for his parody "Fat", Ray Manzarek of [[The Doors]] played keyboards and bass on "Craigslist", and [[Dire Straits|Mark Knopfler]] would only allow Al to parody "Money for Nothing" if he was permitted to do the guitar work himself.

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: In "Jerry Springer"; appropriately, Yankovic himself doesn't use the word, but guest vocalist

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

* [[Punctuated for Emphasis]]: "I! HATE! '''SAUERKRAUT!'''"

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

* [[Runs with Scissors]]: The title and image art of his album [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Running With Scissors."]]

* [[Saw Star Wars 27 Times]]: From "Cable TV,"

[[Arc Number|Twenty-seven]] times this week. }}

* [[Self-Backing Vocalist]]: A large amount of the time. Notable exceptions include female vocals, lines low enough to be sung by Steve Jay, and several songs such as "Trigger Happy" and "Don't Download This Song".

* [[Shoulders of Doom]]: When performing "Dog Eat Dog", a style parody of [[Talking Heads (band)|Talking Heads]], Al wears a suit with ''massive'' shoulder pads as a spoof of David Byrne's [[Memetic Outfit]]. He also wears it briefly in the "UHF" video.

* [[Shout-Out]]: These lines from "Amish Paradise":

''[[Gilligan's Island|Not a single luxury!]]''<br />

''[[Gilligan's Island|Like]] [[Robinson Crusoe|Robinson Ca-rusoe,]]''<br />

** "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)

''On the grind, still tryin', still flyin' birdies.'' }}

** "Running With Scissors" has two shout-outs to Monty Python. "The Truck Drivin' Song" to "The Lumberjack Song" (both about a man in a masculine occupation who likes to dress in ladies' clothing) and in "Albuquerque" a donut shop that has no donuts (referencing the "Cheese Shop" sketch).

* [[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!"]

* [[Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion]]: Al does this a couple of times to get around cursing, like in this couplet from "I'm So Sick Of You":

You're just one big pain in the neck! }}

** Also "This Song Is Just Six Words Long":

I know I could find a good rhyme here <ref>Probably a rip on the parodied song rhyming the word "it" with ..."it."</ref> }}

** From "It's Still Billy Joel to me"

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.

* [[Toilet Seat Divorce]]: Apparently the Columbia Record Club is too big of a commitment for Al.

* [[Trekkie]]: "White and Nerdy":

Was do I like [[Star Trek: The Original Series|Kirk]] or do I like [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Picard]]?}}

* [[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.

* [[Truck Driver's Gear Change]]: Appropriately used in "Truck Driving Song". Lampshaded in "I Need a Nap":

* [[Umpteenth Customer]]: From "Hardware Store:

* [[Understatement]]: This bit of "A Complicated Song":

What a bummer }}

* [[Unintentional Period Piece]]: All of his parodies hark back to some (possibly forgotten) hit or the era it came from. "Headline News", however, is not only a parody but recounts a few of the big news stories of the early 1990's: