59 Fun Facts About Weird Al

Yankovic's grammar lesson 'Word Crimes' is a parody of which 2013 hit?

Blurred Lines. With thousands of spoofs already online, Yankovic steered clear of the song's sexual politics and wrote about grammar instead, planting a split infinitive in the last line to see who would complain.

In a 1984 parody single, Yankovic is a losing contestant on which TV game show?

Jeopardy! The video for "I Lost on Jeopardy" brought back the quiz's original host, Art Fleming, and announcer Don Pardo, and ends with Yankovic thrown into a convertible driven by Greg Kihn, whose hit it spoofs.

What subject did Yankovic earn his bachelor's degree in at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo?

Architecture. He decided on graduating that it was not for him: by then his comedy songs already had a cult following on national radio.

'Belvedere Cruising', the first Yankovic song Dr. Demento aired, in 1976, was about what?

His family's car, a Plymouth Belvedere. Demento has said it was hardly the best song he had ever heard, but its clever lines told him the teenager had talent.

Yankovic's 1979 single 'My Bologna' is a parody of which hit song?

My Sharona. The Knack's own singer, Doug Fieger, liked the spoof so much that he urged Capitol Records to release it, which gave Yankovic his first record deal.

Where did Yankovic record the original 1979 version of 'My Bologna'?

A tiled men's restroom across the hall from campus station KCPR served as his studio because he liked how the tile made the sound echo.

At Cal Poly, who first gave a teenage Yankovic the nickname 'Weird Al'?

Students in his dorm meant it as an insult for the shy 16-year-old down the hall, but he reclaimed it as his on-air name at the campus radio station.

'Another One Rides the Bus' (1980) parodies a hit by which band?

Queen guitarist Brian May has said he was amused by it, and the song gave Yankovic his first TV appearance on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder in 1981.

Which 1970s rock star produced Yankovic's first six albums?

Rick Derringer, of 'Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo' fame, also played the 'Eat It' solo himself, standing in for Eddie Van Halen's part on 'Beat It'.

In which country did 'Eat It' reach No. 1 on the singles chart?

Australia sent 'Eat It' to No. 1 for a week in May 1984, higher than it ever climbed at home, where the single stalled at No. 12.

Yankovic's 1984 specials, with their fake celebrity interviews, first aired on which network?

MTV gave him four hours on April Fools' Day 1984 for 'Al TV', and the running joke was that he had hijacked the channel with a transmitter of his own.

Which star reportedly came up with the title 'Like a Surgeon' for 'Weird Al' Yankovic?

Madonna is said to have wondered aloud to a friend when he would write it; the friend knew his manager, and it became the rare parody idea he took from another musician.

Michael Jackson lent Yankovic his own subway set for the video of 'Fat', a parody of which Jackson song?

Bad was the second Jackson hit he was allowed to spoof, and he later went backstage at a Jackson concert to present the star with a gold record of his own album.

Which Yankovic release won a packaging Grammy?

Squeeze Box won for the box, not the music: the Grammy went to Yankovic as one of its art directors, for a set of all 14 studio albums and a rarities disc.

'Dare to Be Stupid' is a style parody of which band?

Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh later called it the most beautiful thing he had ever heard, high praise for a song built to mimic his own band.

Who played janitor-turned-children's-TV-host Stanley Spadowski in UHF?

Michael Richards was his first choice and the part was written with him in mind, though Christopher Lloyd was briefly considered.

UHF was filmed in which city, where The Outsiders was also shot?

Tulsa, Oklahoma had a shopping mall that had gone out of business, which became the film's soundstage.

Which word completes UHF's overseas release title, 'The ___ from UHF'?

Vidiot went into the overseas title, and Yankovic says the studio insisted on keeping UHF in it to tie the film to its North American release; he thinks 'The Vidiot' alone was the better name.

Which snack, created on screen in UHF, became Yankovic's signature food?

The Twinkie Wiener Sandwich is a hot dog in a split Twinkie with squirt cheese, dunked in milk; after turning vegetarian he switched the filling to a tofu dog.

Yankovic got Kurt Cobain's OK for 'Smells Like Nirvana' by phoning him on the set of which show?

Saturday Night Live was where Cobain took the call; he asked if the song would be about food, and called it funny when told it was about nobody understanding his lyrics.

Michael Jackson refused to let Yankovic parody which song as 'Snack All Night'?

Black or White carried a message Jackson thought too important to spoof, and Yankovic calls the refusal a favour: it sent him looking elsewhere, to Nirvana and his comeback hit.

Which rapper publicly denied approving Yankovic's parody 'Amish Paradise'?

Coolio said he had never agreed; Yankovic, who had been told the rapper was on board, called it a misunderstanding and wrote him a letter of apology.

Yankovic got free laser eye surgery in 1998 by agreeing to what?

He agreed to let a TV news show broadcast it live, then dropped his other trademark as well, shaving off his moustache around the same time.

Which artist repeatedly refused Weird Al's parody requests and had management tell him not to make eye contact?

Prince was the one artist who turned him down every time, yet he did let his 'When Doves Cry' video be spoofed in the clip for Yankovic's 'UHF' theme.

Which famously vegetarian star refused to let Yankovic record a parody called 'Chicken Pot Pie'?

Paul McCartney vetoed the 'Live and Let Die' spoof and suggested 'Tofu Pot Pie' instead; Yankovic passed because his chorus was built on chicken clucks.

Who raised the money to nominate Yankovic for his Hollywood Walk of Fame star?

His fans did it: a fan-run campaign applied 12 years in a row before the star was finally unveiled in 2018.

Which album became Yankovic's first to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200?

Mandatory Fun arrived with eight music videos in eight days instead of a lead single, and became the first comedy album to top the chart since 1963.

Yankovic flew to Denver to personally ask which artist for permission to parody 'Fancy'?

Iggy Azalea was stopped as she walked offstage: he pulled the lyrics from his pocket, she glanced at them for a few seconds and said they looked fine.

Whose manager initially rejected 'Perform This Way' without ever forwarding it to the artist?

Lady Gaga learned of the refusal only after he posted the song online; she loved it, and he gave his proceeds to the Human Rights Campaign.

At over 11 minutes, which track is the longest song Yankovic has ever recorded?

Albuquerque was meant to be heard once: he closed the album with a rambling story so long that reaching the end would feel like surviving an odyssey.

'Trapped in the Drive-Thru' parodies a serial 'hip-hopera' by which artist?

R. Kelly could have charged two or three times the usual royalty for so long a song; he asked for the single-song rate, which saved other tracks from being cut.

'The Saga Begins' recounts The Phantom Menace to the tune of which song?

American Pie's writer Don McLean approved, and told Yankovic his children played the parody so much that its lyrics crept into his head on stage.

Which number is a running joke in 'Weird Al' Yankovic's lyrics and album covers?

27 was just a number he had used a few times without thinking; when fans decided it must mean something, he began planting it in lyrics, videos and album art on purpose.

'Bob', a Bob Dylan style parody on Poodle Hat, has lyrics composed entirely of what?

Palindromes make up every line, a joke on how cryptic Bob Dylan's lyrics can sound, and even the title reads the same in both directions.

Why could no Yankovic album win the Grammys' comedy award from 1994 to 2003?

It was limited to spoken-word acts after P.D.Q. Bach albums had won four years running; music was let back in for 2004, and Poodle Hat won at once.

Which network, once home to Pee-wee's Playhouse, aired The Weird Al Show in 1997?

CBS was buying only educational shows, so he promised to make his sketch comedy educational, then spent the season compromising with censors and advisors.

Who plays Yankovic in the 2022 film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story?

Daniel Radcliffe inherited the role from Aaron Paul, who played Yankovic in the 2010 Funny or Die joke trailer that the feature film grew out of.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story was released on which streaming service?

The Roku Channel released it in November 2022; Yankovic co-wrote the 'biopic' himself, and it is a send-up only loosely based on his real life.

In a 2003 Simpsons episode, Yankovic serenaded Homer with a parody of which John Mellencamp song?

Jack & Diane became a ballad of Homer and Marge: in the episode Marge brings Yankovic along to sing it and win her husband back.

Yankovic directed the music video for 'Rockin' the Suburbs' by which artist?

Ben Folds returned the favour two years later, playing piano on 'Why Does This Always Happen to Me?', Yankovic's pastiche of Folds's own style.

Which Leslie Nielsen comedy features a cameo by Yankovic as himself?

The Naked Gun cameo was followed by one in each sequel; in the second film he plays a gunman who gets a door slammed in his face, a stunt he says took over 20 takes.

What is the title of Yankovic's 2011 children's picture book?

When I Grow Up follows 8-year-old Billy imagining his future jobs; the idea came from his father's advice that success means doing for a living whatever makes you happy.

Which Broadway creator, a lifelong fan, gave Yankovic his hit musical's score and got a 2018 polka medley back?

Lin-Manuel Miranda grew up on Yankovic's albums and asked for the medley himself, releasing 'The Hamilton Polka' in his monthly Hamildrop series.

Which Star Wars character is the subject of Yankovic's parody of the Kinks' 'Lola'?

Yoda was written in 1980 but waited five years for release: the Kinks' camp had said no, until Yankovic met Ray Davies, who said nobody had ever asked him.

What backmasked message is hidden in 'Nature Trail to Hell'?

Satan Eats Cheez Whiz plays when the track is spun backwards; a later song, 'I Remember Larry', hides a message teasing listeners for having so much free time.

Yankovic quit which day job at the radio network Westwood One once his single 'Ricky' charted in 1983?

Mailroom clerk was his job after college until 'Ricky', his I Love Lucy send-up, cracked the top 100 and made him confident enough to quit.

'Canadian Idiot' parodies a 2004 punk anthem by which band?

Green Day's 'American Idiot' became the rant of a clueless American about Canada; he has since played it in Montreal, in a maple-leaf blazer, to tens of thousands of fans.

Which Lost in Space star set Yankovic up with his future wife?

Bill Mumy, later half of the novelty duo Barnes & Barnes, made the introduction; the pair talked by phone for weeks before their first date and married in 2001.

The title of Yankovic's 2006 album, a nod to his hometown, spoofs a record by which hip hop group?

N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton lent the title because Lynwood, where he grew up, sits right beside Compton; it became his first album to reach the top ten.

Which 2006 parody became Yankovic's first US top-10 single, peaking at No. 9?

White & Nerdy's video cast Donny Osmond as the obvious cameo, and he flew in with the whole song memorized and his dance moves worked out.

Which rapper credited a Yankovic parody of his hit with helping him win a Grammy?

Chamillionaire thanked him on a Grammys red carpet, saying the parody had made his hit undeniable as the rap song of the year.

Which instrument did Yankovic's parents turn down when a door-to-door salesman offered them a choice of two?

Guitar lost out because, he says, his parents liked the idea of one more Yankovic playing the other instrument, like the famous but unrelated Frankie Yankovic.

Which Dire Straits hit did Yankovic rewrite with the words of the Beverly Hillbillies theme?

Money for Nothing came with a condition from Mark Knopfler: he insisted on playing his famous part on the parody himself.

Hours after learning in 2004 that his parents had died, what did Yankovic do?

He played his concert that night, kept the tour going, and later said that working through the grief was good for him.

Whose record label blocked 'You're Pitiful' from release, even though the singer himself had approved the parody?

James Blunt had said yes to the 'You're Beautiful' spoof, but his label feared it would paint him as a one-hit wonder, so Yankovic gave it away as a free download.

Which singer turned down Yankovic's parody 'Schmoozer', then said he regretted it?

Beck was being dismissed as a novelty act and a one-hit wonder when 'Loser' broke, so he feared what a spoof would do to his image.

What did Yankovic add to every show of his 2019 Strings Attached Tour?

A full orchestra of 41 players backed him each night, a swerve from his 2018 tour of small theaters, which had dropped the costumes, props and famous parodies.

Which Led Zeppelin member, a Yankovic fan, was 'less than thrilled' by his idea for a Zeppelin polka medley?

Jimmy Page had once phoned Yankovic's office for copies of his videos, yet balked at the medley; a snatch of 'Black Dog' was later cleared for 'Trapped in the Drive-Thru'.

Which Elton John album did a teenage Yankovic learn to play by ear from start to finish?

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, the whole double album, was his practice piece; at college he won over a sceptical classmate by playing 'Funeral for a Friend' note for note on request.