Weird Al Trivia
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59 free Weird Al trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
52 free Weird Al trivia questions with answers. "Weird Al" Yankovic has outlasted most of the artists he has parodied, and this quiz covers the whole four-decade run. Fifty questions take you from the accordion lessons in Lynwood and the bathroom recording of My Bologna to Dr. Demento's radio show, the Michael Jackson parodies, the UHF flop that became a cult classic, the Nirvana comeback, the polka medleys, and the 2014 album that finally hit No. 1. The easy questions ask what he studied at Cal Poly and who plays him in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. The hard ones want the backmasked message in Nature Trail to Hell, the company whose mail room he quit, and why the Grammys ignored him for fifteen years. Along the way you get the permission stories: Coolio, Prince, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga's manager and the Cobain phone call. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Yankovic, his albums, singles and films, and each question links to the page and quotes the line that backs it up. Lyrics are never quoted; the questions are about the songs, not in them.
30 of 59 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Yankovic's grammar lesson 'Word Crimes' is a parody of which 2013 hit?
Blurred Lines
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.
Q 02In a 1984 parody single, Yankovic is a losing contestant on which TV game show?
Jeopardy
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.
Q 03What subject did Yankovic earn his bachelor's degree in at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo?
Architecture
Architecture. He decided on graduating that it was not for him: by then his comedy songs already had a cult following on national radio.
Q 04'Belvedere Cruising', the first Yankovic song Dr. Demento aired, in 1976, was about what?
His family's car
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.
Q 05Yankovic's 1979 single 'My Bologna' is a parody of which hit song?
My Sharona
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.
Q 06Where did Yankovic record the original 1979 version of 'My Bologna'?
A tiled men's restroom
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.
Q 07At Cal Poly, who first gave a teenage Yankovic the nickname 'Weird Al'?
Students in his dorm
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.
Q 08'Another One Rides the Bus' (1980) parodies a hit by which band?
Queen
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.
Q 09Which 1970s rock star produced Yankovic's first six albums?
Rick Derringer
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'.
Q 10In which country did 'Eat It' reach No. 1 on the singles chart?
Australia
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.
Q 11Yankovic's 1984 specials, with their fake celebrity interviews, first aired on which network?
MTV
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.
Q 12Which star reportedly came up with the title 'Like a Surgeon' for 'Weird Al' Yankovic?
Madonna
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.
Q 13Michael Jackson lent Yankovic his own subway set for the video of 'Fat', a parody of which Jackson song?
Bad
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.
Q 21Michael Jackson refused to let Yankovic parody which song as 'Snack All Night'?
Black or White
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.
Q 22Which rapper publicly denied approving Yankovic's parody 'Amish Paradise'?
Coolio
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.
Q 23Yankovic got free laser eye surgery in 1998 by agreeing to what?
Let a TV news show broadcast it live
Q 14Which Yankovic release won a packaging Grammy?
Squeeze Box
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.
Q 15'Dare to Be Stupid' is a style parody of which band?
Devo
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.
Q 16Who played janitor-turned-children's-TV-host Stanley Spadowski in UHF?
Michael Richards
Michael Richards was his first choice and the part was written with him in mind, though Christopher Lloyd was briefly considered.
Q 17UHF was filmed in which city, where The Outsiders was also shot?
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma had a shopping mall that had gone out of business, which became the film's soundstage.
Q 18Which word completes UHF's overseas release title, 'The ___ from UHF'?
Vidiot
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.
Q 19Which snack, created on screen in UHF, became Yankovic's signature food?
Twinkie Wiener Sandwich
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.
Q 20Yankovic got Kurt Cobain's OK for 'Smells Like Nirvana' by phoning him on the set of which show?
Saturday Night Live
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.
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.
Q 24Which artist repeatedly refused Weird Al's parody requests and had management tell him not to make eye contact?
Prince
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.
Q 25Which famously vegetarian star refused to let Yankovic record a parody called 'Chicken Pot Pie'?
Paul McCartney
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.
Q 26Who raised the money to nominate Yankovic for his Hollywood Walk of Fame star?
His fans
His fans did it: a fan-run campaign applied 12 years in a row before the star was finally unveiled in 2018.
Q 27Which album became Yankovic's first to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200?
Mandatory Fun
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.
Q 28Yankovic flew to Denver to personally ask which artist for permission to parody 'Fancy'?
Iggy Azalea
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.
Q 29Whose manager initially rejected 'Perform This Way' without ever forwarding it to the artist?
Lady Gaga
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.
Q 30At over 11 minutes, which track is the longest song Yankovic has ever recorded?
Albuquerque
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.