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"Weird Al" Yankovic (1959)

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Background[]

Biography[]

Personal Life[]

Filmography[]

Trivia[]

  • There was once a bi-monthly Al fanzine called "The Midnight Star". This title is taken from the second song on Yankovic's album "...In 3-D".
  • Gives a special thanks to Dr. Demento on each of his albums, since the radio disc jockey was the first to play his songs on the air.
  • Graduated valedictorian from Lynwood High School...at the tender age of 16. Moreover, Yankovic was one of the most popular kids in his class. He also claims to have started a club called "The Volcano Worshipers", so he could get his picture onto even more pages in the school yearbook.
  • Parents Nick Yankovic and Mary Yankovic were killed on April 9, 2004, when a closed fireplace-flue caused their home to fill with carbon monoxide.
  • Has been a vegetarian ever since 1992. A girlfriend at the time gave him the book "Diet for a New America", and Yankovic said he felt it made some compelling arguments to be vegetarian. He currently eats no meat and tries also to avoid dairy and egg products.
  • Said he knew he had made it as a famous musician when he went to a party, saw Paul McCartney and before he could introduce himself to the former Beatle, McCartney recognized him and said, "Hey! It's Weird Al!".
  • When he asked Nirvana for permission to parody "Smells Like Teen Spirit", their first question was, "Will it be about food?". When Yankovic explained that "Smells Like Nirvana" would be about how nobody could understand their singing, they agreed that it sounded funny and granted permission.
  • While he uses the original music in his parodies, it is not the original master track. He and his band take the original and transpose it by ear into a new key.
  • Inducted into the International Mustache Hall of Fame in 2016 in the category Music & Arts.
  • Was the first guest editor of MAD Magazine.
  • Born on the same date as Sam Raimi.

Quotes[]

  • I'm still a geek on the inside, that's the important thing.
  • I don't really look at myself as the kind of person who craves attention, but I've never been to therapy so there's probably a lot of stuff about myself that I don't know.
  • By the time I'm in the studio recording my parody, 10,000 parodies of that song are on YouTube.
  • A lot of rap songs don't usually have a lot of melody per se.
  • I have a long-standing history of respecting artists' wishes.
  • I can't get too offended when somebody parodies me.
  • I mean, I hate to gloat, but I'm extremely satisfied with my position in life and the way things have worked out for me.
  • I've learned how to use my spam filter pretty effectively.
  • I've done a movie and a TV series, and someday I'd like to do a successful movie and a successful TV series. That would be nice.
  • My personal taste doesn't enter into it a lot when I make my decisions as to what to parody.
  • It's hard to force creativity and humor. Pop culture has gotten much more disposable.
  • The irony is of course that my career has lasted a whole lot longer than some of the people I've parodied over the years.
  • I was a huge fan of 'Mad' magazine when I was 11, 12, 13 years old. I'd scour used bookstores trying to find back issues, and I'd wait at the newsstand for a new issue to come out. My life revolved around it.
  • At this point, I've got a bit of a track record. So people realize that when 'Weird Al' wants to go parody, it's not meant to make them look bad... it's meant to be a tribute.
  • One of my pet peeves is that sometimes the talents of my band get overlooked because, and it was the same problem that Frank Zappa had, with a lot of groups that use humor, people don't realize there's a lot of craft behind the comedy.
  • When fans ask me for advice, here's what I tell them: "Try not to set yourself on fire."
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