Why You Haven't Heard From Weird Al Yankovic In A While

In an alternate reality, one could crack open a music dictionary, look for the word "parody," and find an entry consisting of nothing more than a photograph of a mustachioed man with a mischievous smile and a massive afro. 

After decades of prolific parodying and lyrical lampooning, "Weird Al" Yankovic's name has become synonymous with spoof songs. It has even reached the point where one's work becoming the source material for a "Weird Al" song is a sign that an artist has "made it." As musician Greg Kihn once told The Washington Post: "If you're not well-enough known to be parodied, well, you're just not well-enough known." And with over 150 parody and original songs under his belt, the typically Hawaiian-shirted musical icon has outlasted many of the acts and artists that inspired his songs.

Yankovic's enduring popularity has been less like a tidal wave and more like the ebb and flow of the sea. Then again, this isn't entirely surprising for a parody artist's career. For anyone who feels that it's been a while since Yankovic reared his curly head, here's a primer on the pop music parodist: how he got his start, some of the biggest milestones in his career, and what he's been up to lately.

Years before becoming "Weird Al," it was clear that Alfred Matthew Yankovic didn't quite fit the mold. In an interview with The Guardian, Yankovic described himself as a "straight-A nerdy kid" who took delight in comedians, TV shows, and magazines that showcased an absurd sense of humor. He also had an accordion that his parents bought for him from a traveling salesman. At first, though, he didn't think he'd eventually make a living creating comedic content. Instead, Yankovic took up architecture at the California Polytechnic State University, a pursuit he lost interest in after three years.

According to The New York Times, "Weird Al" was initially a derogatory nickname his fellow dorm residents gave him. Yankovic had a hard time fitting in with his peers and was bullied at first. Fortunately, this led to him meeting and starting a lifelong friendship with his dormmate Joel Miller.

Yankovic also showed a knack for comedic songwriting. He wrote a song about their family car that Dr. Demento, the DJ whom Yankovic idolized as a teen, immediately played on his show. However, it was "My Bologna," a parody of The Knack's 1979 hit "My Sharona" that he recorded inside a restroom, that kick-started his career. Aside from being the biggest hit of the year on Dr. Demento's show, it also led to Yankovic signing his first-ever music contract with Capitol Records.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's early hits, particularly 1984's "Eat It" (after Michael Jackson's "Beat It"), propelled his rise to stardom as a song parodist specializing in wholesome and food-related themes. This also paved the way for him to co-write and star in "UHF," a comedy film lampooning local cable-access TV, in 1989. Unfortunately, a combination of mixed critical reception and strong competition in the form of movies like "Batman" and "Ghostbusters II" turned it into a commercial failure.

This resulted in an early-'90s career slump for Yankovic. In an attempt to bounce back, he thought of writing a food-based parody of Michael Jackson's "Black or White." The pop superstar refused to grant Yankovic permission, and while this felt like a setback at first, it ironically became the catalyst for Yankovic's career revival.

At the time, the alternative rock scene was set to explode with the arrival of Nirvana — and Yankovic, a fan of the band, thought of parodying their hit song "Smells Like Teen Spirit." When he called frontman Kurt Cobain to ask permission, Cobain, who was familiar with Yankovic's work, asked what it would be about. When Yankovic told him he'd poke fun at their unintelligible lyrics, Cobain thought it would be funny and gave the go signal. Yankovic's "Smells Like Nirvana" ended up earning him a spot in the Top 40, Gold certification for his album, and even a Grammy nomination.

One notable thing about "Weird Al" Yankovic is that he secures permission from the artist before he goes ahead with writing or commercially releasing parodies of their songs. Despite the fact that parody songs fall under fair use, Yankovic prefers to have his parody inspirations "in on the joke" instead of giving them the impression that he's making fun of them. Unsurprisingly, Yankovic has established a reputation as being "one of the nicest men in the business," according to The Guardian.

Think the real "Weird Al" is as loud and rambunctious as his onscreen persona? Think again. In an article in The New York Times, Yankovic's wife, Suzanne Krajewski, with whom he has a daughter named Nina, shared how they almost didn't meet. Krajewski, then a high-ranking film executive, mistakenly believed that Yankovic didn't have an "off" switch. As it turned out, the introverted Yankovic was (and still is) quiet, reserved, and incredibly courteous. Yankovic also has a knack for math, and no one has ever seen him lose his temper.

He famously stays away from drugs and alcohol and never swears. In 2011, Yankovic told OnMilwaukee that since 1992, he had been sticking to a mostly vegetarian diet, with the occasional cheat meal here and there. In many ways, he's a regular, down-to-Earth fellow ... for someone who dresses up like Isaac Newton to take on Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson lookalikes in a science rap battle, that is.

Whether it's his Queen-inspired "Another One Rides the Bus" or his summary of the first "Spider-Man" film set to the tune of Billy Joel's "Piano Man," one thing that "Weird Al" Yankovic's parodies have in common is that they're witty and funny but never mean-spirited. As Yankovic shared with The Guardian in 2014, almost everyone he has ever asked for permission to parody a song has said yes — they even consider it a badge of honor.

Unfortunately, the rising number of parody musicians in the last couple of decades, paired with the practice of downloading and sharing often-miscredited mp3s online, resulted in a unique headache for Yankovic. Nowadays, there are tons of parody songs online that are incorrectly attributed to him — and many of them contain profane language or vulgar messages that Yankovic believes could tarnish his reputation. There's even a Not Al page with a very long list of songs that he didn't actually write, and a note from Yankovic on his website advises fans to check his online catalog to verify that a song was indeed recorded by him. 

Pro tip: If the parody song contains swear words, violence, or gratuitous sexual references, it's unlikely to be a "Weird Al" song.

A major personal tragedy hit Al Yankovic on April 9, 2004, as he was touring for a newly released album: His parents, Nick and Mary Yankovic, died due to carbon monoxide poisoning inside their California home.

In an official statement for his fans, Yankovic wrote that it resulted from accidentally leaving the flue closed while using their fireplace. He also shared that he'd learned the news from his wife before any news agencies could pick up the story. Despite this, he decided to continue the tour but canceled all of his interview commitments and meet-and-greets with fans. He felt that since his music had brought so much joy to his fans, continuing to perform could help him get through this as well. He did, however, pay tribute to them during a performance shortly after their deaths.

In a 2014 interview with former broadcaster Dan Rather, Yankovic admitted that he had certainly expected that he'd outlive his parents but didn't think that they would pass away at the same time.

Among the handful of artists who have refused "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody requests, the most infamous was perhaps the late Prince. On "The Howard Stern Show," Yankovic said that despite multiple attempts to secure permission, the artist always refused, without giving him any reason. Yankovic even recalled when Prince's office wrote to him, telling him not to make eye contact with the performer during an awards night where they'd be seated near each other.

Another noteworthy instance of an artist refusing to be parodied (or so everyone initially thought) was Lady Gaga. In a 2011 blog post, Yankovic shared the story of how he'd reached out to Gaga's camp with an idea for a "Born This Way" parody, the profits of which would be donated to the Human Rights Campaign. At first, Gaga's manager said that she didn't grant her permission; Yankovic decided to simply upload the song to YouTube, so that everyone could enjoy it for free.

However, in a follow-up post on the same day, Yankovic revealed that Gaga's manager had lied: He didn't even bother showing the parody lyrics to Gaga. In fact, she actually liked the song — and quickly gave Yankovic the thumbs-up to release a video for it — after assessing it herself.

Part of the reason why "Weird Al" Yankovic may seem inactive is because he actually hasn't released a new album since 2014. In an interview with The Guardian, he talked about how he received no funding from his record label to make the videos for what would turn out to be his last album, "Mandatory Fun." Instead, Yankovic had to try a different approach: He partnered up with Yahoo, YouTube, Vevo, and other "internet portals," releasing one platform-exclusive song and video per day for eight days in exchange for funding. "I'm just interested in following along with the zeitgeist and not getting left behind because I'm using some antiquated business model," he told The Guardian.

"Mandatory Fun" turned out to be an unprecedented success. It was Yankovic's first LP to reach the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, and the first comedy album to top the chart since 1963. Interestingly, it was also the first comedy album to enter the chart immediately at No. 1, selling 104,000 copies within just one week.

In 2018, a personal request from a good friend became the catalyst for a "Weird Al" Yankovic smash hit.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Yankovic and actor-playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda talked about how the latter pitched the idea to the former. A fan of Yankovic since he was a child, Miranda thought it would be awesome to compress the events of his broadway hit "Hamilton" into one of Yankovic's signature polka songs. Having seen and enjoyed "Hamilton" multiple times, Yankovic decided to go for it, churning out a compilation of the play's greatest moments in his distinctive musical style.

When Yankovic released the final product, titled "The Hamilton Polka," it sold 17,000 downloads, racked up 1.2 million streams in the U.S. alone, and immediately grabbed the top spot on the Billboard Digital Comedy Track Sales chart. It also landed on the 23rd spot on the Digital Song Sales chart across genres, marking the first time a polka song ever entered the chart since its establishment.

In 2003, "Weird Al" Yankovic's fans started campaigning for the pop music parodist to get his own star on the storied Hollywood Walk of Fame. They formed the "Weird Al" Star Fund, with the aim of collecting enough money to pay for the creation and maintenance of Yankovic's star. When they started, a star only cost $15,000; by the time Yankovic was inducted, the price had already risen to $40,000.

Yankovic made it to the list of inductees in 2018, receiving the honor for his accomplishments as a recording artist. According to the official website of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Yankovic became the 2,643rd recipient of a Walk of Fame star. At his induction ceremony, Yankovic demonstrated his signature humor, referencing recent events. As Variety reported, he begged spectators not to destroy his star with a pickaxe, despite it being "all the rage these days." Earlier that year, U.S. President Donald Trump's star had been vandalized by a man carrying a pickaxe in a guitar case.

In classic "Weird Al" fashion, though, the comedian said all bets were off if he did "something unfathomably monstrous and evil" in the future and clarified that spitting and urinating on his star were fair game.

From June to September of 2019, "Weird Al" Yankovic and his band performed in different venues across North America as part of his "Strings Attached" concert tour. "Strings Attached" was Yankovic's 16th tour since 1983.

The musicians performed a total of 67 shows in 64 venues. Called their "biggest and most elaborate tour ever," it featured a live symphony orchestra coming from every location and made extensive use of the performer's countless costumes and props. Additionally, Yankovic performed his older, more well-known parody songs during "Strings Attached." In his previous tour, he stuck to playing his newer, less popular songs.

After having played over 1,000 live shows during his career, Yankovic decided that it was the right time for a touring hiatus. He wouldn't hit the road again for a major tour until 2022's "The Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour."

Though the general public may not have heard much from "Weird Al" Yankovic in recent years, there's a good chance that they've heard plenty about him.

Throughout the years, the pop music parodist has appeared on many podcast shows. More interesting, though, is the sheer number of podcasts dedicated entirely to discussing all things "Weird Al." There's a weekly podcast called "Dave & Ethan's 2000" Weird Al Podcast," which has released over 250 episodes' worth of interviews and discussions about Yankovic's life. There's also the "We're All Yankovics" podcast, which discusses every single "Weird Al" song, one episode at a time. "The 'Weird Al' Phabet," on the other hand, does the same thing, except in alphabetical order. Another podcast, "Beer'd Al Yankovic," is hosted by two millennial siblings who are passionate about two things: "Weird Al" songs and beer.

A year after Yankovic's "Strings Attached" tour, three books came out featuring him: Nathan Rabin's "The Weird Accordion to Al," Lily Hirsch's "Weird Al Seriously," and longtime Yankovic collaborator Jon "Bermuda” Schwartz's "Black & White & Weird All Over." Yankovic promoted all of them in an interview with Rolling Stone, in his signature dry wit: "I don't know how to describe it, but I just felt a real personal connection with all of them."

During "Weird Al" Yankovic's hiatus from touring, fans didn't get many chances to see him in the flesh. That's not to say, however, that he wasn't busy.

For starters, Yankovic narrated "Tiny Tim: King For a Day," a documentary about the famous American ukulele player that was released on April 23, 2021. Yankovic, who greatly admired the musician, read out his letters and passages from his diary for the documentary. Yankovic also appeared in "The Sparks Brothers," a music documentary from director Edgar Wright.

As for new parody songs, fans might have to wait a little longer. Talking to Billboard in 2019, Yankovic shared that his parody songwriting pace had become considerably slower. Then again, for someone with "Weird Al" Yankovic's staying power, that wouldn't be much of a problem. As Yankovic himself explained in a Forbes interview: "I just do what I do, and thankfully people haven't gotten completely sick of me yet."

The 2014 album "Mandatory Fun" fulfilled "Weird Al" Yankovic's multi-LP deal with RCA Records. That marks Yankovic's final full-length release, and it may be the last one he ever records. The years-long album production and rollout cycle just doesn't work for Yankovic's creation method. "I think the best way for me to move forward would be to just release things digitally as soon as I come up with them, and that'll keep me a little bit more current and contemporary," he told The Washington Times. Rather than save up material for an album, Yankovic can make music when he feels like it or gets inspired, which he can then release as soon as possible on online music outlets. "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," he told Spin. The only projects Yankovic has made available since his last album: "The Hamilton Polka" in 2018, a medley of songs from the rapped Broadway musical performed polka-style, and the more broadly pop-targeted "Polkamania!" in 2024.

Yankovic remains best known for his parodies of well-known songs, but he may be retiring that avenue. "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."

As "Weird Al" Yankovic has suggested that he's moving away from writing and recording spoofs of the pre-existing works of well-known musicians, he's demonstrated a move toward the straightforward with some of his recent recordings and performances. He's getting out in front of a microphone to earnestly and seriously show off his appreciation for the artists he enjoys via straightforward and faithful cover versions. The long-running Dr. Demento radio show broke out Yankovic to a national audience, and when the host released the "Dr. Demento Covered in Punk" compilation in 2018, the parody superstar recorded a version of the Ramones' "Beat on the Brat."

Staged in 2014, George Fest was a tribute show to honor the late George Harrison. Yankovic hit the stage to perform one of Harrison's best-known solo hits, 1971's "What Is Life." A decade later, Yankovic once again participated in a charity show, performing at the Thundergong! festival. With an assist from "Saturday Night Live" star Will Forte, Yankovic sang Chappell Roan's "Hot to Go."Yankovic appeared at the annual Coachella festival for the first time in 2025 to sing the Muppets song "Rainbow Connection" with the cast of the children's show "Yo Gabba Gabba!"

Although he hasn't generated much new material in the past couple of decades that he needs to promote with live shows, "Weird Al" Yankovic has remained a road warrior, playing his hits to appreciative crowds year in and year out. Following the conclusion of his 2019 "Strings Attached" tour, "Weird Al" Yankovic disappeared from the live concert circuit for nearly three years. In late April 2022, he set out on "The Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour." Over the next six months, Yankovic played and traveled exhaustively, performing 129 dates at packed theaters, playhouses, amphitheaters, and performing arts centers across the United States. The jaunt was so successful that Yankovic resumed the tour for another two months in early 2023.

After another break of about two years, Yankovic plans to return to the stage in 2025. Yankovic will perform 74 shows over summer and early fall on the "Bigger and Weirder 2025 Tour." Most of those dates sold out all tickets months before the tour even started, including the entirety of Yankovic's first Las Vegas residency, a six-concert series at The Venetian Theatre. The program is Yankovic's most extensive to date, with double the size of his usual backing band and a setlist promised to include deep cuts and songs that the musician has never done live before.

"Weird Al" Yankovic still regularly tours. As he hasn't recorded much new music in the past decade, his setlists have remained largely consistent, made up of his best-known songs, fan favorites, and minor hit singles. Two notable exceptions in the Yankovic live canon, however, went into effect in 2019. "Eat It" and "Fat," respective parodies of "Beat It" and "Bad" by Michael Jackson, were retired. Following the release of the HBO documentary series "Leaving Neverland," which contained vivid and harrowing first-hand accounts from multiple individuals who accused Jackson of sexual abuse during their childhoods, led to a widespread reconsideration of the King of Pop. Yankovic couldn't, in good conscience, continue to perform Jackson parodies and celebrate and amplify the musician. "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," he told Billboard.

Also in the name of sensitivity and changing public perceptions, Yankovic stopped singing lyrical inclusions of a certain M-word used in reference to those who are exceptionally short due to a medical or genetic condition. "It was not a kind word, but it was not a slur," Yankovic explained to Vulture. "These days, I do not say that word." He added that he once stopped a song mid-performance to deliver a monologue about the necessary evolution of language.

For most every major musician who created a significant body of best-selling, award-winning work over many decades, the next move is a biopic. These sweeping, epic movies tell the full life story of a musical artist, charting their inspirations and rise, and then inevitable fall and comeback, along with all the controversies and mistakes encountered along the way. By the 2020s, "Weird Al" Yankovic was entering the twilight of his career, and he certainly had the credentials to warrant a biopic, but he decided he wanted to make one of those trope-loaded movies his own way. "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" is a send-up of musician biopics in much the same way that Yankovic's output parodied the songs of others.

Almost nothing in "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," which starred a hand-picked Daniel Radcliffe as Yankovic, is remotely truthful. For example, "Eat It" wasn't a massive hit that predated and inspired Michael Jackson's "Beat It," and didn't deal with cartoonishly unsporting parents; Yankovic didn't engage in a complicated affair with Madonna, take down drug lord Pablo Escobar, or get shot to death onstage in 1985.

Debuting on the Roku Channel in 2022, "Weird" won Yankovic, a producer and co-writer on the project, his first Primetime Emmy Award, for outstanding television movie.

Almost immediately after he emerged as a unique musical phenomenon in the early 1980s, "Weird Al" Yankovic took his talents to the small screen. Starting in 1984, he hosted a series of 10 autonomous "Al TV" specials for MTV, and in 1997 he hosted a short-lived zany Saturday morning variety show on CBS, "The Weird Al Show." In the 2010s, lifelong Los Angeles-area resident Yankovic became entrenched in that city's indie comedy scene, and he appeared in small and supporting roles in many edgy TV projects, including "Childrens Hospital," "Drunk History," "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp," and "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!"

The popular "Comedy Bang! Bang!" is a semi-narrative, partially improvised podcast that serves as a hub for LA comedy scenesters, and Yankovic is a recurring guest on the show. When the show was adapted into a scripted, bizarre parody of a talk show for IFC in 2012, it needed a bandleader with comedic instincts. After Reggie Watts and Kid Cudi filled the role, Yankovic took over the job in the show's fifth season. By that time, Yankovic had honed his talk show chops as the host of "Face to Face with 'Weird Al' Yankovic," an original interview series produced specially for YouTube.

In 1986, when his record label refused to pay for a clip to promote his extremely dark holiday song "Christmas at Ground Zero," "Weird Al" Yankovic directed the video himself. Since the early 1990s, he's helmed most of his videos, and after bringing to the screen his vision to match the music of "Amish Paradise," "Bedrock Anthem," "Gump," and more, he began to offer his filmmaking skills to other musicians. Yankovic directed the music videos for acts including Hanson ("River"), the Black Crowes ("Only a Fool"), and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ("Wail").

Around 2010, Yankovic nearly made his feature film directing debut. He signed a holding deal with Cartoon Network, and the outlet wanted him to make a live-action movie. He wrote a comedic script for the project, but cameras never rolled. "We had a deal and everything. We were getting ready to go into pre-production and the whole thing just fell apart," he recalled to Rolling Stone.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's clean, goofy, approachable, and nice style of comedy has always made his work appealing to children. In recent years, Yankovic directly targeted his younger fans when he branched out into making literature with a purpose. In 2011, he published "When I Grow Up," a storybook illustrated by Wes Hargis with an accompanying app. The story of a very imaginative kid named Billy, the book credited to just "Al Yankovic" posits all the future career options about which kids can dream. Two years later, Yankovic, and Billy, returned to the kids' section of the bookstore with "My New Teacher and Me," which concerns the main character learning how to manage personality differences.

Both books followed Yankovic's first entry into instructional content, a 2009 short film called "Al's Brain: A 3-D Journey Through the Human Brain." Premiering as an exhibit at the 2009 Orange County Fair in Southern California, the 11-minute short film, which was made on a bountiful $2.5 million budget and included 3-D animated sequences, took audiences on an educational trip through how the brain works, with Yankovic's as a hypothetical example.

To be a comedy musician, one must have an expressive voice, and "Weird Al" Yankovic does. That voice is also very familiar to millions of people after a 40-plus-year career, and it's helped Yankovic establish a sideline as a voice actor. While Yankovic has only occasionally performed in live-action narrative comedies — he starred in "UHF" and contributed cameos to "Spy Hard" and three "The Naked Gun" movies — he's been a very prolific performer in animated films and TV series in the 21st century.

In the kids entertainment realm, Yankovic popped up on such animated series as "Firebuds," "Hailey's On It," "Lego Star Wars Summer Vacation," "Pete the Cat," "Blaze and the Monster Machines," "Back at the Barnyard," "Adventure Time," and "Teen Titans Go!" And in addition to taking on roles in shows like "Velma" (as Dandruff Tuba) and "BoJack Horseman" (as the dog Captain Peanutbutter), he's much more likely to briefly appear as himself in animated form. He's done that on "Mulligan," "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off," "American Dad," and several times on "The Simpsons."