The Untold Truth Of Weird Al Yankovic

"Weird Al" Yankovic is an odd superstar, but considering his dedicated fan base, a shelf full of major awards, and a decades-long career that is seemingly going stronger than ever, superstar is the only accurate category for him. Nerdy, lanky, and armed with an ... accordion, of all things, Yankovic has carved a niche for himself in mainstream music that even the thousands of imitators on YouTube can't shift him from.

There's a striking lack of salaciousness about Yankovic, which should come as no surprise to anyone who's caught his episode of "Behind the Music," where Yankovic was baffled as to why such a controversy-free celebrity like himself would even be considered for the series. Still, just because there's an absence of scandal doesn't mean there isn't plenty of information that hasn't yet pervaded the mainstream consciousness. As such, each of the following truths about Yankovic should successfully make your head explode just like "Scanners."

Given their shared last name and a mutual gift for the accordion, it'd be reasonable for anyone to presume that "Weird Al" Yankovic and legendary polka man Frankie Yankovic are related, but they're not. They were, however, friends, which led to the two accordionists trading licks on Frankie Yankovic's "Songs of the Polka King, Vol. 1" album.

But no matter how many times the question about a family connection has been asked and answered, interviewers continue to bring it up. As he clarified in a 2001 conversation with TheForce.net: "Sometimes after explaining to a reporter for the third time that Frankie wasn't my dad, I would read the article, and it would say, 'There's obviously a rift in the Yankovic family — Al won't even admit that Frankie's his father!'"

Had "Weird Al" Yankovic's unique skill as a parodist (and shockingly underrated prowess as a legitimate musician) failed to turn into a lifetime gig, there's no question that he was smart enough to make his way in some other field, as Today I Found Out explains. Yankovic started kindergarten a year early and skipped second grade. He graduated as valedictorian of his class at Lynwood High School in Lynwood, California, at age 16. He went on to attend California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where he received his bachelor's degree in architecture. Could we have had the next Frank Lloyd Wright on our hands? The world will never know.

It's a rare "Weird Al" Yankovic interview that doesn't find him acknowledging how he effectively owes his career to Michael Jackson, first for letting him parody "Beat It" as "Eat It" and then for letting him transform "Bad" into "Fat." But Jackson also helped by not letting him parody one of his songs. Yankovic wanted to turn "Black or White" into "Snack All Night," but Jackson refused. "He thought [it] was more of a message song, and he didn't feel as comfortable with a parody of that one," Yankovic told Rolling Stone. In that same interview, he also credited the rejection for getting him out of the rut of safe MJ parodies. Instead, he chose to poke fun at a new band called Nirvana, and the resulting tune's smash success legitimized Yankovic's career forevermore.

The Rolling Stone piece also reveals another fun fact about the Jackson/Yankovic relationship: in the early '90s, Jackson told Yankovic that he liked to play Yankovic's movie "UHF" for his friends at Neverland Ranch.

Over the years, most artists have been cool with "Weird Al" Yankovic parodying their tunes — Dave Grohl once told Jon Stewart that he felt Nirvana had made it when Yankovic parodied them — but there are a few less sporty types as well. Paul McCartney's reason for not wanting Yankovic to turn "Live and Let Die" into "Chicken Pot Pie" is one you'd expect from him (he's a staunch vegetarian). Yankovic took that one in stride. He did the same thing when Daniel Powter balked at turning "Bad Day" into "Bad Date," and although Powter ultimately changed his mind, it was too late. As Yankovic told the Toronto Sun, "I had to inform him that the train had left the station."

Ultimately, though, the artist who's gained the most notoriety for refusing Yankovic's overtures is Prince, who famously turned down every single pitch sent his way. And there were a lot. "I had a parody of 'Let's Go Crazy' that was about 'The Beverly Hillbillies,'" Yankovic told People. "And I wanted to do something funny with 'When Doves Cry,' and 'Kiss.' For '1999,' I wanted to do an infomercial where you could get anything you wanted by dialing 1-800-something-1999." Clearly, the two had different ideas of what was funny, to say the very least.

When "Weird Al" Yankovic released his parody of The Greg Kihn Band's "Jeopardy," the eponymous game show had been absent from the airwaves for half a decade. The series was created by Merv Griffin, and after Yankovic performed "I Lost on Jeopardy" on Griffin's long-running talk show, Griffin gushed, "Al, Al, what you've done for me, I can't tell you ... with the great success of that record, 'Jeopardy!' is coming back in September ... all because of Al Yankovic!" (via YouTube from Reelin' In The Years). Not bad for a complete loser.

Now, those remarks probably don't ring true — it's doubtful that even the great and powerful Griffin could have set up the requisite syndication deal for the series revival quite as quickly as his remarks would seem to indicate — but it's such a great story, most people tend to accept it at face value. Plus, the song certainly didn't hurt matters.

Written and recorded while Brian Wilson was under the care of Dr. Eugene Landy, a period detailed in the 2015 film "Love & Mercy," the "Sweet Insanity" album abruptly disappeared from Warner Brothers' 1991 release schedule when the master tapes were stolen. Among the material lost in the theft was "Let's Stay Together" featuring "Weird Al" Yankovic on accordion. Obviously, he was beyond honored to play with the Beach Boy, because who wouldn't be?

If you're wondering why Wilson didn't just re-record the songs, he explained as much to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015: "We thought that maybe people wouldn't like it, so we junked it." Yes. Brian Freakin' Wilson and "Weird Al" Freakin' Yankovic collaborating on something. Who would want something like that? Sign us up.

Given how much it costs to insure actors nowadays, it's unlikely that we'll see a new "Circus of the Stars" anytime soon, but the former prime-time staple used to be a thrilling bit of fun for viewers, particularly when the acts involved some danger. "Weird Al" Yankovic's act certainly qualified: He sat, and occasionally even stood, atop a sway pole 55 feet in the air, with no safety net below him. "That was not trick photography," Yankovic confirmed in his website's reader Q&A feature, "Ask Al." "My manager says if he gets any more offers for me to be on 'Circus of the Stars,' he's not going to tell me about them."

"Weird Al" Yankovic has had a longer and more illustrious career than a good many of the artists he's parodied, but it's likely that none of it ever would have happened without Barry Hansen, also known as Dr. Demento. Hansen's syndicated radio show was one of the only places to hear comedy and novelty records in the '70s, and his first submission from a 16-year-old high school senior named Alfred Yankovic arrived on his desk in early 1976. The song was too weird to resist. Accompanying himself on accordion (of course), the teen extolled the virtues of his family's Plymouth Belvedere while badmouthing other family cars. "When he sang the line, 'There's something about a Comet that makes me want to vomit,'" Hansen told The Washington Post, "that kind of perked up my ears."

The tune was a big hit with fans of "The Dr. Demento Show," but it wasn't until Yankovic got to college that he found his signature — wacky parodies. He kept Dr. Demento's fans supplied with them, and they kept asking for more. Long before Yankovic stormed the national scene with "Eat It," he was already — and remains to this day — the most requested artist in the history of "The Dr. Demento Show. He doesn't have the most requested song, however — that would be "Fish Heads" by Barnes and Barnes, the video for which was directed by a young Bill Paxton. We think Yankovic's probably okay with that. After all, fish heads are yum.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's first big parody success was "My Bologna," a sendup of a song called "My Sharona," which was extremely popular at the time. The song went straight to No. 1 ... on "The Dr. Demento Show" countdown, which is still pretty cool, and gained just the tiniest bit of national attention. Not bad for Yankovic's first hit, which was recorded in an odd location.

By this time, Yankovic was working as a DJ at his college radio station — while they had plenty of microphones, they didn't have a sound booth. So, Yankovic picked the next most acoustically appropriate setting — the bathroom — and let 'er rip, once again with nothing but his own accordion accompaniment. While a more fleshed-out version with a full rhythm section would make its way onto his self-titled debut album, Dr. Demento's listeners were treated to an early glimpse of what one musical genius and his accordion could do. We're not sure if this is the origin of referring to a finished recording as being "in the can," but if it's not, it should be.

"Weird Al" Yankovic sought permission for his parodies even in those early days, and it's a good thing because the practice made him some important connections. The songwriters of "I Love Rock and Roll," whom Yankovic approached about his ice cream-based parody, were totally down with the idea, and their manager also happened to manage Rick Derringer, whom they thought might have some interest in working with Yankovic.

They turned out to be right. Derringer, who performed as a member of the McCoys on the oldie standard "Hang on Sloopy" and had had a solo hit with the ridiculously titled "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo," hit it off with Yankovic, and would go on to produce his first six albums. According to longtime engineer Tony Papa, Yankovic began taking on production duties when Derringer couldn't sufficiently do the job due to drugs or alcohol (although Derringer predictably disputes this.) Yankovic took over production duties permanently beginning with 1992's "Off the Deep End." Derringer should always have a place in our hearts for guiding the young artist through his early years ... but not for attempting to popularize the phrase "hoochie koo." For that, he deserves a brisk slap.

Since "Weird Al" Yankovic somewhat resembles a living cartoon, he's been asked to guest as himself on actual cartoons many times over the years. He's appeared as himself on the likes of "Johnny Bravo" and "Robot Chicken." Of all the weird things you never knew about "The Simpsons," Yankovic being on the show wasn't one of them. He's also gained a respectable body of work voicing other characters.

As if he needs to be any more awesome than he already is, he's voiced a ton of DC Comics villains. He's appeared as the Riddler, Mr. Star, Dollmaker, and Darkseid in various animated series and shorts, and he's also been a Transformer in the 2007 animated series. He voiced the outwardly-sunny-yet-pitch-black-inside Captain Peanutbutter on the excellent Netflix series "Bojack Horseman" and was the lead on the Disney XD series "Milo Murphy's Law." We make up silly alternate lyrics to songs we like all the time — when's Disney gonna call us?

One of "Weird Al" Yankovic's biggest hits during his Dr. Demento days was "Another One Rides the Bus," featuring Yankovic and his squeezebox with a guy banging on the accordion's case for rhythm accompaniment. That guy was Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, and he is Yankovic's drummer to this day, having played on every single one of his records. Yankovic picked up the rest of his band right around the same time, including guitarist Jim West and bassist Steve Jay, who have played with him since 1982. He's also had the same keyboardist for over two decades, and everybody calls him "the new guy."

These guys are the unsung heroes of both music and comedy. Whatever they're called upon to do, they execute it perfectly, and they're called upon to do a lot. From parodies of everything from Michael Jackson to Nirvana to Pharrell Williams to all of Yankovic's original songs and insane polka medleys, there's simply nothing they can't handle. They've even been known to pull out and ace straight covers, being particularly fond of Elvis Costello's classic "Radio, Radio."

Fittingly, they received their most extensive face time in the video for the song that may be Yankovic's crowning achievement, if we were forced to name just one with a gun to our heads. That would be, by the way ...

We could take or leave "The Phantom Menace" if not for one thing: it inspired "Weird Al" Yankovic to write "The Saga Begins," indisputably one of the most awesome songs ever. It somehow manages to stick precisely to the complex structure and rhyme schemes of Don McLean's "American Pie," while offering a complete and accurate synopsis of the first film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. This would be ridiculously impressive on its own, but Yankovic wrote the song relying on nothing but internet spoilers — he hadn't even seen the film yet. For that matter, no one had, as the song was released before the movie.

One might expect George Lucas to have flipped his helmet over this, but he was actually cool with it and felt it would help build anticipation for the film. As for McLean, he said he liked the song so much that he had to watch himself to keep from slipping into Yankovic's lyrics while performing "American Pie." If you ask us, he should have gone with it and just started performing "The Saga Begins" instead.

It feels like "Weird Al" Yankovic has been wildly popular for as long as music has, and you might expect him to own a string of Top 10 hits longer than a ... really, really long string. Not only is this untrue, but some of his most beloved songs have peaked at shockingly low positions on the charts. "Amish Paradise?" No. 53. "Smells Like Nirvana?" No. 35, for crying out loud. Even the more recent "Word Crimes," helped along by a viral video, only reached No. 39. Before 2006, "Eat It" was still his greatest chart success, peaking at No. 12 ... and then came "White & Nerdy."

Yankovic finally managed a No. 9 hit, while stunning all of us with his ability to rap even better than the guy he was parodying. Billboard records that the charting world made up for the delay to him in 2014, when he achieved his first No. 1 album with "Mandatory Fun" — the first comedy album to reach that spot in over 40 years, with ridiculous sales of over 100,000 in its first week. This makes sense — listening to the album was mandatory, after all.

When you've done as many videos as "Weird Al" Yankovic has, it makes sense you'd learn a few things about the directorial process, which may be why he decided to step behind the camera in 1986 and helm the video for his song "Christmas at Ground Zero" himself. Since then, Yankovic has directed 14 further videos for himself, including "Amish Paradise," "White & Nerdy," and "Tacky," but his confidence level clearly hit an all-time high in the mid-1990s. That's when he started directing videos for other people, too. Among his credits: Jeff Foxworthy's "Redneck Stomp," Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Wail," Hanson's "River," the Black Crowes' "Only a Fool," and Ben Folds' "Rockin' the Suburbs."

Speaking of Folds, he and Yankovic clearly found a kinship while working together, as they wound up collaborating in the studio as well. First, Yankovic contributed backing vocals to Folds' 2001 song "Time," and then Folds chimed in on vocals and piano for the 2003 Yankovic track "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?" What's been even more fun, though, is seeing them turn up together when you least expect it. In 2001, Folds invited Yankovic onstage to take lead vocals on "Song for the Dumped," and when Folds did "The Tonight Show" in 2005, Yankovic was there to play tambourine on "Landed." In 2014, they were both part of College Humor's "Star Wars Cantina Band Auditions." Clearly, whatever bromance is going on between the two, it's one for the ages.

Much of the world has forgotten that "Weird Al" Yankovic once made a movie, and this — at the risk of hyperbole — is a crime against humanity. 1989's "UHF" is the story of a loser who inherits a failing local TV station and makes it over in his own zany image, and it plays like a complete distillation of Yankovic's comic sensibility.

With appearances from Michael Richards, Victoria Jackson, Fran Drescher, Kevin McCarthy, and Gedde Watanabe, "UHF" combined slapstick, sketch comedy, music parody, and sheer lunacy in a way that contemporary audiences perhaps weren't ready for. It was received terribly upon its theatrical release, sending Yankovic into a three-year creative slump that wouldn't end until he laid eyes on the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It's since become a cult comedy classic, but we're of the firm opinion that the "cult" part of that description needs to go. It's freaking hilarious, and you should go watch it right now, before we make you drink from The Fire Hose.

Since his career began in earnest in the '80s, "Weird Al" Yankovic has had a habit of incorporating the number "27" into his lyrics, his videos, and even his album covers. Want a few examples? We live to serve. In 1985's "Cable TV," he references having seen the film "Porky's" 27 times. In 1989's "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota," he mentions a group of kids who sang "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" 27 times in one day. In 1996's "Callin' in Sick," he sings of hitting the snooze button 27 times, and in 2003's "Hardware Store," every 27th customer gets a free ball-peen hammer.

On the cover of 1999's "Running with Scissors," Yankovic's tank top is emblazoned with a "27," and on the cover of 2006's "Straight Outta Lynwood," he's standing in front of a car with the license plate "027 NLY." And, yes, it's still going on even now: for 2014's "Mandatory Fun," his video for "Foil," a parody of Lorde's "Royals" centered around conspiracy theorists, features a faked moon landing with a clapboard reading "Take 27."

There are plenty more 27s out there, but if you're wondering why Yankovic latched onto the number in the first place, here's as best an explanation as you'll get: in a 2001 interview (via "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"), a reporter asked about the significance of the number, and he replied, "I thought it was fairly obvious, but if you need me to explain it ... It's the cube root of 19,683!" Well, duh.

Stories don't get much sadder than the one about the death of "Weird Al" Yankovic's parents. On April 9, 2004, Nick and Mary Yankovic — aged 86 and 81, respectively — were found dead in their home, having accidentally succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning after starting a fire in the fireplace with the flue closed. Yankovic's parents were well familiar to his fans, having appeared in his mockumentary, "The Compleat Al," as well as in his episode of VH-1's "Behind the Music," so the news of their death was startling and saddening. No one, however, was more shocked and devastated than Yankovic himself, who learned of his parents' passing by phone from his wife. (He was on tour at the time.)

After taking some time to deal with his grief, Yankovic issued a formal, thoughtful, and thankful statement (via Blog Critics) about his parents' death, inspiring more than a few tears in the process.

With 2022's Daniel Radcliffe-starring "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," some fans may think that Yankovic finally got the biopic treatment he deserved — which is to say, one that is totally irreverent, wildly over-dramatized, and completely inaccurate. But in fact, Yankovic has sort of been down this road before, and not just with the 2013 Funny or Die trailer for "Weird" (in which Yankovic was portrayed by Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad" fame), which eventually inspired the actual movie.

Way back in 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and produced "The Compleat Al," directed by future "UHF" helmer Jay Levey, a mockumentary that freely intermingled fact and fiction while serving as a showcase for some of Yankovic's excellent early videos. Peppered with hilarious testimonials from people who may or may not be Al's friends and family, "The Compleat Al" (a play on the title of a straight-faced 1982 Beatles documentary) is a great snapshot of Yankovic very early in his career, and a testament to the fact that his cornball sense of humor has changed very little over the years, which, of course, is a good thing.

With his near-shot-for-shot video parodies, it's no surprise that "Weird Al" Yankovic got the attention of MTV's early viewers. But fortunately for us, some suit was also smart enough to capitalize on the fact that Yankovic was hilarious even without an accordion in his hands. On April Fool's Day 1984, right around the time "Eat It" was getting serious traction on MTV, "Al TV" premiered on the network — a sendup of the very concept of Music Television itself.

The show's concept: That Yankovic had pirated MTV's broadcast, hijacking it for several hours in order to play his videos, read fan mail, and conduct hilariously edited mock interviews with celebrities. This became a regular occurrence, with new editions popping up every few years or so until 2006. In the intervening years, many of those interviews — like the ones featuring Kevin Federline, Jessica Simpson, Avril Lavigne, and Eminem — have become practically legendary, racking up millions of views on YouTube, and we're here to tell you that this is only right, because every last one of them is hysterical.

Longtime fans know that "Weird Al" Yankovic's humor is generally very wholesome, if sometimes a little barbed, so it stands to reason that he would at some point venture into children's literature. That point came in 2011, with the release of "When I Grow Up," which introduced young protagonist Billy and was illustrated by veteran artist Wes Hargis.

In an interview that year with Wired, Yankovic described how he hoped the book could entertain youngsters while also opening them up to the "universe of options" of adulthood. He also revealed that his process for writing the book wasn't a heck of a lot different from his songwriting method. "It's amazingly similar," he said. "I tried not to make it too geared toward kids. I always try to just write what I think is funny and hope that other people will also think it's funny. So, when I wrote the book, I picked a subject matter that I thought would be appealing to kids, but once I was locked into that I basically wrote it like I write anything else. I just try to make it whimsical and funny and something that I would enjoy reading as an adult." The strategy apparently paid off; according to Al's website, the book spent six weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and led to a follow-up titled "My New Teacher and Me" in 2013.

Speaking of "Weird Al" Yankovic's writing process: If it appears easy or even lazy to simply graft silly lyrics onto existing songs, we can assure you it is neither. Setting aside his considerable body of original material and "style parodies" (in which he sends up a specific artist's steez without parodying one particular song), it's no small feat to expertly mimic the structure, rhyme schemes, and meter of another artist's lyrics — particularly when that artist is s pretty good rapper like, say, Chamillionaire.

In a 2020 New York Times piece, Yankovic used his 2006 classic "White and Nerdy" as an example to illustrate just how he gets down with writing his straight parodies, and it is intensive, to say the least. Using a computer filing system that is apparently deeper than Lake Michigan, he composes multiple variants of practically every line in every song, juggling them to see what sounds right, in a process that can take weeks or months to complete. For instance, the line "M.C. Escher, that's my favorite M.C." was selected from no fewer than eight possible versions, and it constitutes a sliver of the lyrics. The dumbstruck Times author noted that Yankovic easily could have created an entirely different song out of all of the alternate lines that were ultimately scrapped, and obviously, it would have been just as hilarious.

In a New York Times retrospective, "Weird Al" Yankovic recounted the night that he knew he was destined for stardom: at an open mic night at Cal Poly in 1977, in a room filled with hippies holding guitars, none of whom were in any way ready for what they were about to see. With his college buddy Joel Miller providing percussion by way of a pair of bongos, Yankovic and his accordion opened by ripping through "Wipeout" before moving on to "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (you know, the theme from the Stanley Kubrick classic "2001: A Space Odyssey"), then launching into a 10-minute medley which Yankovic insisted contained the entirety of the history of music to that point.

You may be picturing flying bottles and perhaps chairs, but amazingly, Yankovic's musical stylings — along with his spastic, barely contained livewire energy — drove the crowd absolutely bananas. Miller remembered Yankovic's face positively glowing from the reception — "like Chernobyl melting down" — and Yankovic agreed that it was a formative moment, saying, "I think it was the first time I'd ever had that kind of positive reinforcement. It probably did flip a switch somewhere in my head."

It's interesting to note that "Weird Al" Yankovic's habit of asking for permission to do parody tunes might also have a definitive beginning. After "My Bologna" blew up on "The Dr. Demento Show," Yankovic had an experience with the original artist — The Knack lead singer and rhythm guitarist Doug Fieger — that could only be described as "overwhelmingly positive." As described by Dr. Demento himself in the liner notes to Yankovic's box set "Permanent Record," the budding parodist "weaseled his way" backstage when The Knack came to town for a show, bumped into Fieger, and was shocked when the dude actually knew who he was.

It turned out that Fieger was familiar with and a fan of "My Bologna," and fortuitously enough, the president of his band's label, Rupert Perry, also happened to be at the show. Being the incredibly cool guy that he was, Fieger convinced Perry on the spot to press up and distribute "My Bologna" on Capitol (likely reasoning that, hey, there was even more money to be made from "My Sharona"). The 20-year old Yankovic scored $500, a six-month contract, and was over the moon about the whole thing. Of course, the relationship with Capitol ended up not working out — and if you happen across a 45 of "My Bologna" on the label, you're looking at a collectors' item.

For his first, self-titled album, "Weird Al" Yankovic hooked up with now-defunct label Scotti Brothers, which would release all of his albums through 1996's "Bad Hair Day." According to Dr. Demento, the album was deemed to be short a couple of tracks as it was nearing completion, and one of the new tunes Yankovic came up with to make up the difference was his classic "Ricky," an "I Love Lucy"-themed sendup of Toni Basil's hit 1982 single "Mickey." For the song, Yankovic performed in character as Ricky Ricardo, but "Ricky" was missing an element when Yankovic went to record it — namely, a Lucy.

To find a vocalist, Yankovic placed an ad in Daily Variety, which was answered by a young actress named Tress MacNeille, whose name you might recognize if you're a fan of animation. She performed as Lucy on the song and in the video, and she would go on to a career of some note in the voice-acting field. Stretching from 1979 to the present day, her mountain of credits includes "Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers," "Darkwing Duck," "Tiny Toon Adventures," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Animaniacs," "Futurama," and some show called "The Simpsons," on which she voices Agnes Skinner and about a hundred additional characters.

"Weird Al" Yankovic might have been ready for the world following his first major-ish label release, but that doesn't mean the world was necessarily ready for him yet. His schtick and his persona were still a bit narrow; that debut album is the only of his LPs to feature the accordion on every song, and his goofy parodies of contemporary hits weren't yet a known commodity. Scotti Brothers weren't even exactly sure how to market him — which is probably how he and his newly formed band, who did not yet have a defined audience, wound up opening for popular new wave act Missing Persons, who decidedly did, in Santa Monica in 1981.

It did not go well. Speaking to Dr. Demento, Yankovic described it thusly: "We got pelted for 45 minutes. Everything they could possibly find to throw. I've never seen any opening act treated that badly. After the first song, nobody even applauded, they just screamed 'Get off the stage!' Later that night, after suffering that humiliating defeat, I was walking to my car in the parking lot, and this 12-year-old boy comes up to me and says 'Are you Weird Al?' I said yes, and he said 'YOU SUCK!'" A nightmare, for sure, but there was a silver lining. The polka medley the band played that night would evolve into "Polkas on 45," the first such medley on any of Yankovic's albums.

When it comes to humorous lyricists, or lyrical humorists, Lin-Manuel Miranda has few peers. The ace playwright, composer, filmmaker, and songwriter responsible for Broadway smash hits "In the Heights" and "Hamilton," not to mention the chart-busting tunes from Disney's instant classic animated feature "Encanto," writes with a crackling wit that is immediately engaging. It sort of reminds us of ... well, you see where we're going with this, and it may not surprise you to learn that Miranda is close friends with "Weird Al" Yankovic, whom he grew up idolizing.

In a joint interview with Rolling Stone, Miranda claimed that his literal first memory was of hearing Yankovic's classic Michael Jackson parody "Fat," and Yankovic described "Hamilton" as "maybe the greatest piece of art [he'd] ever seen." So great, in fact, that when Miranda "hesitantly" asked Yankovic to do a polka medley based on the play, he readily agreed. Hey, most of us have been asked to condense a buddy's 90-minute musical production into a 5-minute polka and know that it can be a real pain, but Yankovic is just that nice of a guy. Released in March 2018, "The Hamilton Polka" debuted atop Billboard's Digital Comedy Sales chart, and in the No. 23 spot on the overall Digital chart.

"Weird Al" Yankovic is inextricably linked with food, and it's nobody's fault but his own. Throughout all of his many, many early food-based song parodies, he must have name-dropped virtually everything on the planet that is edible at some point — so it's a little surprising to learn that for decades, he's been described at various points as being either vegan or vegetarian.

In a 2014 interview with Bon Appetit, Al explained, "I don't eat meat. Sometimes I stray from the vegan thing and do dairy products, so I'm somewhere between a vegan and a vegetarian right now. I try to eat vegan, but I've slipped too many times to be a card-carrying vegan." It's not due to his lifestyle that he cooled off on all of those food songs after his early career, however. "I wrote a lot of songs about food in the '80s. I've tried to get away from food parodies in the last few decades. I think people thought they were funny because there just weren't a lot of pop songs about food then," he explained. "It was a novelty to hear it on the radio ... Now that I'm competing with thousands of people on YouTube, I've been trying not to take the easy, obvious route anymore, because a lot of other people are taking it."

Say what you will about the Grammy Awards; you could say, for example, that the institution has a questionable history of ignoring game-changing, groundbreaking artists while doling out trophies to gazillion-selling pop fluff sensations that are in no way deserving. Go ahead, say it, we won't stop you. You certainly can't say that they get it wrong all the time, however; in 1985, when "Weird Al" Yankovic was still considered to be a lovable yet disposable novelty act, he was collecting his first Grammy for Best Comedy Recording, for "Eat It."

Throughout his career, Yankovic would go on to be nominated 16 more times in a number of categories including those for short-form video, comedy album, and recordings for children, according to the Grammys' website. Of those nominations, he took home four more trophies: for Best Concept Music Video in 1989 ("Fat"), Best Comedy Album in 2004 and 2015 ("Poodle Hat" and "Mandatory Fun," respectively), and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package in 2019 ("Squeeze Box").

While Aaron Paul's unhinged portrayal of "Weird Al" Yankovic in that old Funny or Die bit was hilarious, one must admit that Daniel Radcliffe stepping into the role for the actual "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" feature is ingenious casting on its face. This, of course, is because Yankovic hand-picked Radcliffe to play him — and in a conversation with Jimmy Fallon on his late-night talk show, Radcliffe revealed why. "When I talked to Al for the first time, I was like, 'I'm immensely flattered at the idea you picked me, but like, why me?'" he remembered. Yankovic's answer: He had seen Radcliffe, over a decade earlier, rattling off an impromptu performance of humorist Tom Lehrer's tongue-twisting novelty song "The Elements" on the BBC's "The Graham Norton Show" and made a mental note.

After Radcliffe's appearance, Yankovic took to Instagram to post a clip of the Radcliffe's performance in question, along with the caption: "There are MANY reasons why I wanted to cast Daniel Radcliffe in my movie, but this is what really clinched the deal for me. (He's going to absolutely kill this.)" 

Indeed, he did. The movie was honored with a flurry of nominations and awards. Radcliffe earned a Critics Choice Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie Made for Television for his performance. Plus, Yankovic won his first Emmy in the category of Outstanding Television Movie along with the Critics Choice Award for Best Movie Made for Television. A second Emmy went to the film's composers Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special. 

One day before his seventh birthday in 1966, the future musical superstar then known as Alfred Yankovic, had his very first lesson on the accordion, purchased from a door-to-door salesman. By the time he graduated high school at age 16, Yankovic had become exceptionally skilled at the instrument because he didn't have much to do at his home in Lynwood, California, other than practice. Living under the watchful eye of exceptionally protective and sheltering parents, he was only allowed to ride his bike only a few houses down to his aunt's home, and he wasn't allowed to have sleepovers or to go over to other kids' houses.

When adolescence hit, Yankovic remained stuck at home, by himself. He told the New York Times that the only sexual education he received from his father was when he told him: "Stay away from women. They have diseases and stuff." Yankovic didn't date during his teenage years and never attended any school dances or parties. His childhood home sat across the street from Lynwood High School, and his mother would spy on him during the school day, particularly during P.E. class, just to ensure that bullies weren't bothering him.

Because "Weird Al" Yankovic gets the blessing of musicians before he parodies them, the satirized singers and bands must not take themselves too seriously if those songs are released. Some acts seem to downright enjoy getting mocked by Yankovic, so honored by the parody that they pridefully add it to their own musical oeuvre. Take Taylor Hicks, for example, the blues-rock singer who won "American Idol" in 2006 and took his finale coronation song "Do I Make You Proud" to the top of the charts. Yankovic made short work of the ballad, turning out "Do I Creep You Out" the same year. "Taylor actually sings 'Do I Creep You Out' at his own sound checks," Yankovic proudly told Entertainment Weekly at the 2007 Grammy Awards red carpet.

Yankovic's 1996 album "Bad Hair Day" included "Gump," a "Forrest Gump"-based parody of The Presidents of the United States of America song "Lump." When performing the song live, The Presidents took to dropping the last line ("is this lump out of my head?") and instead using the final bit from Yankovic's song based on the "Forrest Gump" movie: "And that's all I have to say about that."

It's not often that the butt of the joke in a "Weird Al" Yankovic song is the original artist of the music being parodied. He usually picks another topic to discuss, like food, a trend, or something from pop culture. Regardless of topic, Yankovic's songs are also far from savage — that's by design, and it's an approach he landed on early in his career.

In 1980, Billy Joel scored a hit with "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," a New Wave song about how New Wave wasn't really a passing fad, but rather good, old-fashioned rock music presented in a modern guise. In response, Yankovic wrote "It's Still Billy Joel to Me," a song about Joel not being very good, no matter the genre. "It was kind of mean-spirited about Billy Joel because he had just put out 'Glass Houses' and everybody was making fun of him for jumping on the New Wave bandwagon," Yankovic recalled to the "Hangin' & Bangin'" podcast. A bootleg made its way to the comedy music radio program "The Dr. Demento Show," and Joel heard it. The parody artist sensed the original artist wasn't pleased and was at least vaguely insulted, and it made him feel lousy. "That was the point where I thought, 'I don't want to be mean to people,'" Yankovic said. "You can be funny without tearing people down."

Two of "Weird Al" Yankovic's best-known songs are parodies of Michael Jackson hits: "Eat It" and "Fat," which are takes on "Beat It" and "Bad," respectively. Because of their enduring success, Yankovic frequently included one or both songs in his concert setlists up until 2019. Public tolerance for Jackson, accused of sexual abuse on multiple occasions over the course of two decades, hit a low point with the release and fallout of the HBO documentary series "Leaving Neverland," which included graphic accounts from some of Jackson's accusers. That's when Yankovic decided it was time to stop celebrating Jackson — he cut "Eat It" and "Fat" from his summer tour. "I don't know if that's going to be permanent or not, but we just felt that with what's happened recently with the HBO documentaries, we didn't want anybody to feel uncomfortable," Yankovic told Billboard.

Cutting that material followed another Yankovic change. Some of his older songs included an M-word used to refer to people with a genetic condition that manifested in short stature. "It was not a kind word, but it was not a slur," Yankovic told Vulture. "These days, I do not say that word." Instead, when performing one of those songs on tour, he would stop the music where the unacceptable term appeared and deliver a humorous monologue about how language can, should, and does change.

Defying the stereotypes associated with rock stars and pop musicians, "Weird Al" Yankovic hasn't lived his romantic life out loud. He's been largely private about the women he's been involved with, and he quietly maintained relationships with a string of famous celebrities that could have otherwise made for some high-profile tabloid fodder. Yankovic only confirmed the finer points of his dating history when directly asked about it in an "Ask Al" column on his official website in 1999. According to Yankovic, in the late 1980s, he dated Nicolette Larson, a singer and songwriter best known for her '70s soft rock smash "Lotta Love." He moved on from that relationship and connected with another musician, Berlin lead singer Terri Nunn. Yankovic also said that he dated original "Saturday Night Live" cast member Laraine Newman and the show's '80s-era cast member Victoria Jackson, who was his "UHF" co-star, in the period between her marriages.

In February 2001, Yankovic married the former Suzanne Krajewski, an entertainment industry marketing executive. They were set up by a mutual friend: childhood "Lost in Space" star Bill Mumy.

"Weird Al" Yankovic hasn't released an album since "Mandatory Fun" in 2014 and has had only a few pieces of music since, most recently the "Polkamania" medley in 2024. This is the new model for Yankovic. "'Mandatory Fun' is most likely going to be the last traditional album that I ever release," Yankovic told Spin. "I haven't retired from making music. My output in the last 10 years has not been terribly prolific but I'm still putting things out here and there."

Putting out a full-length LP every couple of years was the industry standard for a long time, and Yankovic abided by it. But if he doesn't have to make his music that way anymore, he won't. "There were so many limitations for me, one being that a lot of my humor is topical. And if I get a great idea for a song and it's topical, I then need to come up with 11 more songs to release the whole album. So, releasing singles seems to be a better way for me to go." But that may be in the past, too — he's more interested in medleys and original material in the 2020s. It's feasible that he never makes another song parody. "I'm not so focused on that," he told Rolling Stone. "If a brilliant idea pops in my head, I guess I'd do it. But I'm leaving that to other people for the time being."

To consistently and prolifically parody music the way that "Weird Al" Yankovic has, it requires a strong appetite for, and knowledge of, popular music. Yankovic has absorbed a lot of music over the years, and while he most often synthesizes what he hears into parodies, he sometimes adapts songs into polka medleys in which he doesn't change any of the lyrics. On rarer occasions, Yankovic will perform or release a completely serious, respectful, and faithful cover of a song he enjoys — no mockery or altered lyrics or instrumentation whatsoever. The 2018 "Dr. Demento Covered in Punk" compilation album featured Yankovic's take on the Ramones' "Beat on the Brat."

At the 2014 George Fest, a tribute concert honoring George Harrison, Yankovic performed the ex-Beatle's deliriously happy 1971 hit "What is Life." Ten years later, Yankovic took the stage at the charitable Thundergong! festival with "Saturday Night Live" cast member Will Forte for a duet of Chappell Roan's "Hot to Go."

Synonymous with song parodies for more than four decades, "Weird Al" Yankovic must be consistently beset and burdened by people giving him ideas for funny songs that send up other songs. It's such a professional annoyance that Yankovic adopted a policy to not entertain or respond to any sort of outside submissions or ideas. However, he broke his rule once because the parody suggestion came from the musician who recorded the targeted song.

In 1985, Yankovic released "Like a Surgeon," a parody of Madonna's hit "Like a Virgin." The concept was all Madonna's idea. "She was talking to a friend of hers in New York one day, and she didn't ask me to do it, but she just kind of wondered aloud, 'I wonder when 'Weird Al' is gonna do 'Like a Surgeon,'" Yankovic told "Access Hollywood." "And her friend happened to know my manager, and my manager, of course, told me, and I thought, 'Not a bad idea! Maybe I will.'"

After the song "Eat It" hit the Top 20 in 1984, "Weird Al" Yankovic's label, Scotti Bros., wanted to cash in on the act's popularity with a Christmas album. Yankovic was reluctant to make one, but after putting off Scotti Bros. for two years, he relented with a compromise: He wrote and recorded one faux-festive song. With a sound evocative of 1960s Christmas pop singles, "Christmas at Ground Zero" was a product of its time, the height of the Cold War, and it imagined what holiday celebrations would be like during and after a nuclear holocaust.

It was much darker than anything Yankovic had recorded to that point. "I think this song is a little different from what they were expecting," Yankovic wrote in the liner notes for his box set, "Permanent Record." "Some radio stations actually banned the record, somehow reasoning that most people didn't want to hear about nuclear annihilation during the holiday season." Scotti Bros. so hated the song that it wouldn't pay for a music video, leading Yankovic to make one himself, utilizing primarily stock footage from 1950s nuclear safety videos. "Christmas at Ground Zero" wasn't a hit single, but it did well among the Yankovic faithful — it was the most requested holiday song ever on the funny record-spinning "The Dr. Demento Show," trailing only "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer."

Iconic rock stars get their stage names from all kinds of places, and for "Weird Al" Yankovic, that one word addition to his given, legal moniker set him apart, letting audiences know what they were in for before they heard a single note of his comedy rock. "Weird" can mean a lot of things, and it can be lobbed as an insult, which is exactly how it came to a young adult Alfred Yankovic's attention, before he decided to own it and celebrate it as a part of his personality and public persona.

"I was given that nickname I think my freshman year in college in the dorms. I don't think it was an affectionate nickname. People would see me in the halls and go, 'Oh yeah, there goes 'Weird Al,'" Yankovic explained on "Jay Leno's Garage." He wasn't really that offended. "I'm gonna use that as an empowered name. I'm gonna take it on, and I'm gonna be 'Weird Al,'" he said.

"Weird Al" Yankovic is a successful American recording artist. He's had an active career for more than 45 years, and he's sold more than 10 million albums. Yet he hasn't been afforded the same music industry accolades afforded by acts that perform non-comedic music. To that end, some devoted Yankovic fans have pushed for the musician to be recognized with two of the most prestigious lifetime achievement awards in entertainment. In 2003, Yankovic mega-fan Dave Rossi — who has multiple Yankovic-themed tattoos — created the Weird Al Star Fund, which sold merchandise to raise awareness of and pay for the musician to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2018, his efforts paid off, when Yankovic's star was installed on a Los Angeles sidewalk near the famous TCL Chinese Theatre.

Yankovic remains un-inducted into the historically controversial Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Acts may enter 26 years after their first recording, so Yankovic could have been enshrined as early as 2005, but he's still not in, despite online petitions and insider advocacy and pre-ballot consideration. "I think last time I checked, they have a touchscreen at the museum where fans can say, 'Who do you think should get into the Rock Hall?' And I'm consistently around No. 10, I think. So, it's not out of the question," Yankovic told Lyndsanity in 2024.

As of 2025, the last time "Weird Al" Yankovic landed a Top 40 hit was with the 2014 single "Word Crimes," a parody of "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. It's a dense and lyrically agile song detailing and mocking the sins against the English language most commonly committed on the internet and in real life. Yankovic found common ground with equally frustrated listeners, addressing that one issue while completely side-stepping the problematic and heavily criticized nature of the tune he satirized. "I've taken a song that people had a problem with because it was slightly misogynistic, and I made it into a song about grammar, so now it could ostensibly be part of a school curriculum," Yankovic told CNN.

Yankovic was particularly inspired to create "Word Crimes" because he was so frustrated by the publicity department at his record company, RCA. Staffers would send Yankovic press releases that he needed to sign off on; the documents were evidently full of mistakes. "Spell my name right first," he commented in "Weird Al: Seriously (via Songfacts). "And this is written by professional people. It's their job to do these releases. And still, they were doing typos, syntax errors. I mean, I would have to go through like I'm an English teacher and, say, red-line it."