[APPLAUSE]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Check.
[APPLAUSE]
All right, everyone.
We're thrilled to have our special guest
with us at the Google LA office today.
He is the biggest selling comedy recording artist in history,
with over 12 million albums sold.
Now in his fourth career decade, he has won three Grammys
and as of Tuesday released his 14th studio
album, "Mandatory Fun."
Please join me in welcoming to Google, "Weird Al" Yankovic.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: [? Yeah. ?] Thank you.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
FEMALE SPEAKER: So Al, you've had a busy week.
You're releasing eight videos in eight days, the first of which
was "Tacky."
And with all those cameos and shot in one continuous shot
and having Jack Black twerk, that had to have been chaotic.
So can you walk us through how everything came together?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, I knew
that I wanted to do one of those one-take continuous-take
videos, like Pharrell had done for his "24 Hours of Happy."
And I thought it would be kind of fun
to include some of my own celebrity friends in it.
And Jack Black was the first person I thought about.
I thought, he would kill it.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Absolutely.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: His energy is just insane.
So I contacted him.
And he was shooting a movie in Atlanta, but he said,
I can come in for one day.
I can do June 14.
So I was like, OK, that's the day we're doing the video.
And everybody else if they weren't available on June 14
they couldn't do it.
So I went through and I also got Aisha Tyler, Margaret Cho,
Eric Stonestreet from "Modern Family," Kristen Schaal.
I got them all together at the Palace Theater in downtown LA.
And I just kind of figured it out so
that we could use the whole building.
It's a beautiful old building with an old elevator
and beautiful windows.
Logistically, it was tough because I
start the video on the fifth floor fire escape,
and I end the video on street level
in completely different clothes.
FEMALE SPEAKER: It's impressive.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: There's no edits.
It's all in one continuous take.
So basically every shot, every take,
as soon as the camera was off me,
I had to run as fast as I can down five flights of stairs
while changing my clothes.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Oh my gosh.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Just so I can hit my mark
and be ready for the end of the video.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Wow.
So you got your workout in.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I did.
Absolutely.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Needless to say.
Why eight videos in eight days?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I wanted it to be like Hanukkah
in July. [INAUDIBLE]
[LAUGHTER]
I just thought that that was the best
way to advertise the album because I wanted release week
to be an event.
I wanted people talking about the video everyday
for the entire week.
And things burn quickly on the internet.
People consume, they gobble up things.
And then tomorrow, like oh that's old news.
My friend saw that yesterday.
Everything's so immediate.
I wanted things to go viral for a day
and have each video have its moment.
FEMALE SPEAKER: And the latest one, "Sports Song,"
came out today.
So everyone needs to make sure to check that out as well.
The second video, "Word Crimes," was a take
on Robin Thicke's now infamous "Blurred Lines."
And between the video along with the famous Miley Cyrus VMA
performance, it garnered a lot of media attention.
When writing the song did you consider
drawing from all that controversy?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, I specifically
did not want to draw from that controversy
because "Blurred Lines" was almost a year
old by the time this album came out.
And I was aware that there were already
10,000 parodies of the song on YouTube.
And a lot of them had to do with how misogynistic
and/or rapey the original song was.
So I didn't want to tread that ground because it
had been covered over and over and over again.
And that's one of the things with YouTube.
I'm not going to be the only person doing parodies.
So I have to not take the most obvious tact.
I have to do something a little left of center.
And I figured, well, I bet nobody's
done a parody of that song based on the proper usage of grammar.
FEMALE SPEAKER: It's very true, yes.
Well, that brings up a good point
because with the advent of YouTube
you mentioned that it's forced you to become more creative.
Are there other ways that the evolution of the web
has caused you to really challenge yourself
in your career?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, the web
has just become the way that I market my music now.
I mean, I don't market through MTV anymore.
That's not even a factor.
I don't think of them, and they don't think of me.
[LAUGHTER]
Well, MTV used to stand for Music Television.
And now it's not so much.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Yeah, very different programming
these days.
Yeah.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: So for all intents and purposes
the internet for me at least has become the new MTV.
So everything that I do is geared toward that.
And now for this album I was able to do my videos
with internet partners, like Nerdist, and College
Humor, and Funny or Die, and places
that were looking for content the same way
that I was looking for a free music video.
So we--
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: It's a win-win situation.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: We kind of partnered up.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Everyone comes out on top.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Yeah.
Right.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Was there a song that you
wanted to use on the album but felt that it was too overdone
on YouTube or in other people's parodies?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, "Blurred Lines"
was certainly overdone.
And there are a few videos that I was not treading new ground,
but I figured that if I didn't do those songs
it would be a glaring omission.
People would be like, why didn't you
do a "Blurred Lines" parody?
So I just try to do what I do.
And even though I know a lot of other people
are doing it as well, I try to give it my best shot,
and hopefully I'll rise above.
FEMALE SPEAKER: And it's always such a unique take.
I mean, it's a completely different topic
from the original song.
So how does that process work for you?
What is the process of picking a song
and then writing the lyrics?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, I pick songs usually
based on how big of a hit they are.
Hopefully, my parodies are funny even if you're not
familiar with the original source material,
but it's all obviously funnier if you are.
So I'll pick songs that are number one on the Billboard
chart, getting a lot of online attention and radio play.
And I'll make a list, a target list of songs that I think
are good candidates, good targets for parody.
And then for each of those songs,
I will come up with as many ideas as I possibly can.
Just generate puns and variations
on a theme and different directions
I can go with the parody.
And most of those are really bad ideas.
[LAUGHTER]
I mean, it's really horrible--
FEMALE SPEAKER: You have to get them all out and then--
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Yeah, but it's part of the process.
You got to just let your brain seep out onto the laptop
and just list everything you can think of.
And afterwards I'll go down the list and go, no.
Stupid.
No.
Bad.
No.
And hopefully there's one idea there [INAUDIBLE]
I go, yeah, I can do something with that.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Maybe something's there.
A lot of people always ask you about your choice
to get the artist's permission before you actually
do the song.
And I know when dealing with a team of people
it's a little more difficult than actually dealing
with the artist himself usually.
Is there something really memorable
from a time that you tried to get somebody's blessing?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, there's a number of occasions,
and I've spoken of them a lot.
But I mean, usually it's my manager
talking to their manager.
And it's all done behind the scenes.
But on occasion my manager will say,
they're not returning my phone calls.
And if you want to get this approved
you'll have to do it yourself.
So then I have to seek out the original artist
and contact them and hope they have a good sense of humor.
And that's happened a small handful of times.
The most famous example probably being Kurt Cobain.
I called him on the set of "Saturday Night Live"
back when he was doing it for the first time.
And I said, hi, it's "Weird Al" Yankovic,
and I would like to do a parody of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
And his immediate response was, oh,
is it going to be a song about food?
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Because a lot of your songs are about food.
Yeah.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Yeah.
Right, right, right.
And I had to explain, well, no, it's
going to be a song about how nobody
can understand your lyrics.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: And what was his reaction?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: He said, yeah, OK, that's funny.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Now I wanted to clarify something
because I heard a story one time about you
and Prince at the American Music Awards.
And it was that you received a letter from Prince's lawyer
saying you cannot make eye contact with him at the Awards.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Yes.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Is that true?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: That sounds like a joke,
but that's absolutely true.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Oh my gosh.
So did you oblige them?
Or did you try to--
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, first thing I'll tell you,
I immediately sent back a telegram to them saying,
yes, Prince can't look at me either.
[LAUGHTER]
It goes both ways.
FEMALE SPEAKER: That was good.
That was good.
Yeah.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: And I'll tell you
I actually did sneak a few peeks at him during the show.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Good.
Did you actually make eye contact or no?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: No!
FEMALE SPEAKER: No.
Heaven forbid.
You don't want the wrath of Prince.
That's for sure.
This is a big month because not only did you
release your album, but we're also
coming up on the 25th anniversary of the cult classic
that you wrote and starred in "UHF."
And there were a lot of--
[LAUGHTER]
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Oh, please, sit down.
Sit down.
Please.
FEMALE SPEAKER: There were a lot of expectations
around the success of the film at the time.
Is there anything that you learned
from that experience that has stuck
with you throughout your career?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Yeah, I learned
don't make a big flop movie.
It didn't do well at the box office when it came out,
and the critics didn't really champion it at the time,
but it's gone on to become a nice little cult film.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Absolutely.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I mean, the fans
have become obsessive about it.
I mean, it found its audience on cable TV and VHS and DVD.
And when it came out on DVD, it was
a top 10 best-selling title, which
blew away everybody's minds at the time
because like, well, this was a flop movie.
Why is it selling so well?
But it found its audience.
FEMALE SPEAKER: That's amazing.
Would you ever revisit the project in some capacity?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: People ask if I'm going to do a "UHF 2."
And I don't think that's really in the cards.
But I could do another movie with that kind of sensibility,
but I just don't think I'd want to do a direct sequel.
FEMALE SPEAKER: OK.
Interesting.
Good to know.
Something to look forward to maybe.
You also wrote two children's books,
which some people might be surprised to hear about.
What brought that project about?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I was approached
by an editor from HarperCollins, Anne Hoppe.
She was a big fan of my music and the wordplay in my lyrics.
And she approached me after one of my shows
at the Beacon in New York City and said,
I work for HarperCollins, and if you ever
want to write a children's book, I
think you'd be pretty good at it.
And she gave me her card.
And I said, thank you very much.
I'm kind of busy at the moment, but I'll let you know.
And about a year and a half later, I took out that card,
and I emailed her and I said, you
know what, I think I want to give this a shot.
FEMALE SPEAKER: A year and a half later, wow.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I pitched her
a couple of ideas and the one that she responded to was,
"When I Grow Up."
So we worked together on that.
And it worked out very well.
It became a "New York Times" Best Seller.
So now I can say, the "New York Times" best-selling author,
Al Yankovic.
FEMALE SPEAKER: I'm going to have
to write that into the introduction next time.
So speaking of growing up, you played the accordion
growing up, which it seems like you've always
been someone who has stood out from the crowd.
Was your originality always encouraged,
or were you ever pressured to fit
in when you were growing up?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, when you play the accordion,
you don't fit in by definition.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Exactly, right?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Right.
I mean, I tried to join my friend's rock band.
And they were like, you play an accordion.
So yeah, I found out pretty early on
that I had to follow my own path in life.
FEMALE SPEAKER: And was it hard sticking to that?
Was there ever pressure to go another way?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, here's the thing.
If I did the conventional thing, if I
had taken guitar lessons instead of accordion lessons,
I probably wouldn't have been discovered by Dr. Demento
because when I sent him tapes that I recorded in my bedroom
as a teenager, the thing that really stood out
to him was here's a kid playing the accordion
and thinking he's cool.
[LAUGHTER]
And that was the reason why he played my stuff on the radio
because he thought that was such a novelty.
If I was playing the guitar, he wouldn't
have given it a second listen.
And if I hadn't gotten the initial exposure
from Dr. Demento, chances are I would not
have any kind of career in the music business
because that was my whole start.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Did he serve as a mentor to you?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: He was my de-mentor.
Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Your de-mentor.
Was there any piece of knowledge that he gave you
that you've really adhered to?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I don't remember anything specific,
but he was certainly a guiding force early on.
I cut my teeth on the Dr. Demento show with all
my early-- I mean, I had several songs on the Dr. Demento show
before anything actually made it onto vinyl at the time.
"My Bologna" was the first big hit.
But prior to that I had a lot of parodies and originals
that were of substandard quality.
But I was learning.
It was a learning curve.
And Dr. Demento guided me through all that.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Your guiding force.
Of all the artists that you've covered,
is there someone that you were particularly close to
and maintained a relationship with?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I've become friends
with a lot of the artists that I've done parodies of.
Chris Ballew from the The Presidents of the United States
of America.
I did "Gump" to his "Lump."
And we've been friends over the years.
And I'm still friends with the guys in Hanson.
I'm friends with Ben Folds.
So every now and then an actual relationship
will come out of this parody thing.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Oh, wow, that's perfect.
And I read before that Madonna actually
suggested "Like A Surgeon."
Is that true?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: That is true.
Madonna was talking to a friend of hers
when she was walking down the street in New York City
and just offhandedly said, I wonder
when "Weird Al" is going to do "Like A Surgeon."
And her friend knew a friend of my manager
and it got back to me, and I thought,
well, good idea, Madonna.
I think I will.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Thanks, Madonna.
All right.
And I remember hearing that after "White and Nerdy"
came out that Chamillionaire, the rapper from his original
song "Ridin'," came up to you at the Grammys and credited you
for his success of that song.
So is there an artist on the radio today that has actively
requested you to do a parody of their song?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, I run into people all the time
at parties and awards shows that they say, when are you
going to do one of my songs?
And I think they're just trying to make conversation and be
nice.
But I mean, a lot of artists really
look forward to the "Weird Al" parody.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Yeah.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: There's a song on the new album called
"Mission Statement," which is a pastiche of Crosby, Stills
and Nash using corporate buzzwords
and jargon but in their '60s vibe.
And I just finished recording it.
And I was doing a radio tour in New York.
And Graham Nash was in the next room.
And I thought, oh, this is great.
I'll play him the song.
And I walk over to the next room and before he can even
say hi, he says, so when are you going
to do a parody of one of my songs?
[LAUGHTER]
So I got my phone and said, oh, here you go.
FEMALE SPEAKER: It just so happens.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Instant request.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Very nice.
I wanted to ask too is there anything
that really is a total faux pas in your opinion
on social media?
Because "Tacky" and "Word Crime" both
allude to a lot of things that just
can be so annoying in Twitter and everyone's posts.
Is there anything that really bugs you about social media?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I'm making some of my own faux pas.
I'm trying not to over tweet.
I'm trying not to retweet people that are complimenting me.
That's a little tacky.
I do a little bit of that.
And I want to promote the album.
But there's so many people saying wonderful things
about the album, I just want to retweet everybody.
But then it's like, oh, stop.
Just stop.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Now reflecting back,
we were talking a little bit about this.
MTV.
You had your show "Al TV" back then.
What do you think of the programming on MTV
and other shows with reality television and everything?
What is your take on [? it ?] these days?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I have not watched MTV in years.
I have no idea what they're doing right now.
Last I checked it was basically a reality show channel.
I'm not into reality shows.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Not into reality.
Is there anything on TV that you're on top of right
now that you're just in love with?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: There's a lot of shows that I like.
I was a big fan of "Breaking Bad."
I love "Mad Men." "Comedy Bang Bang"
was one of my favorite shows.
"Key & Peele."
I love "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live."
And there's some event programming
that I definitely have to watch.
But it's a fairly small group of shows.
FEMALE SPEAKER: And it was funny you mentioned "Key & Peele"
because Reddit did an AMA with you.
And somebody brought up that Key and Peele were actually
in the "White & Nerdy" video.
Is that right?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Right.
Yeah, they're the gangsters at the beginning of the video.
They're cruising along, and they see me.
And I'm mowing my lawn and waving to them.
FEMALE SPEAKER: And you had no idea though.
That user actually jogged your memory of that?
Or did you know that they were in the video?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Oh, no, I was
well aware they were in my video.
FEMALE SPEAKER: You were well aware?
It seemed like you were surprised.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: They'd been on "Mad TV,"
but they didn't have their Comedy Central show, which
is really funny because every now and then I'll still
get people tweeting me going, Key and Peele were
in your video.
Like, yeah, I know.
I know.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Another thing that's really interesting
is your shows draw in an audience with a huge age range.
And even in this room we have kids and Googlers and--
[LAUGHTER]
Do you feel like you have to ever censor yourself
because you have such a wide audience?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I'm aware of
the multi-generational nature of my audience.
And I know that a lot of young kids listen to it.
And so there's a fine line.
I mean, my music is an extension of my personality.
And I don't use profanity in everyday life,
so I don't use it in the music.
Some of my stuff gets a little bit sick and twisted.
I wouldn't say that all of my music
is suitable for a six-year-old.
I'm not like Raffi or the Wiggles.
There's a little bit of edge to it.
But I think it falls under the general umbrella of family
friendly.
So I like to think of myself like "The Simpsons"
in that way.
There's a bit of an edge to it, but your grandma's
not going to soil her panties over it.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Well, at this time
I want to invite anyone that has a question for Al to go
ahead and line up at the mic.
And we'll just ask a few more questions in the meantime
before we turn to the audience here.
But I want to ask you about what's next.
So your record contract is coming to a close,
and there has been a lot of speculation on
if this will be your last traditional album or not.
Obviously there's a lot of benefits
towards digital distribution with relevancy.
But is there anything that you learned from this week around
how excited people were and the buildup of the release that
has weighed on that decision at all?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I have to wait for the dust to settle.
I mean, this has been an extraordinary week.
And the album's doing extremely well.
But having said that, I still hold firm
to the idea that digital distribution
and maybe releasing singles instead of albums
is the way to go moving forward.
I hate to make any big decisions or draw a line in the sand
because things change.
And they do.
But it's still looking that way for me that going forward I'm
probably going to be more focused
on being a singles artist.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Interesting.
And then what about "Mandatory Fun" tour?
Do we have that to look forward to?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: There will be
a "Mandatory" tour by all means.
FEMALE SPEAKER: OK.
Do we have any other--
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Next year.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Next year.
OK.
Something to look forward to.
Awesome.
Well, we have some questions.
We'll go ahead and turn to the audience.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: OK.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
A big fan of yours from the early days of Dr. Demento.
I'm a child of the '80s.
Congratulations on your success.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: And I was just wondering
when you do these parodies are you re-recording
the music behind it?
Or are you doing the vocals over the existing music
because for some songs it sounds dead on and I can't tell.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
Well, that comes from working with extremely talented people.
I've had the same band, the exact same guys,
since the early '80s.
They're the same guys on all the records.
They're the same guys that are with me out on tour.
And they're just amazing musicians.
They do everything from gangsta rap to polka music.
They're phenomenal.
And thank you for that.
I sometimes don't feel like they get
the credit they deserve because they do comedy music.
And some people think because it's
comedy it can't necessarily have that much craft behind it,
but they are some of the best musicians
that you're likely to find.
AUDIENCE: That's truly amazing.
Thank you.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Hello.
AUDIENCE: I just want to tell you
I'm literally a lifelong fan.
My mom was-- when I was-- yeah.
A lot of "Weird Al" at my house.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Got it.
AUDIENCE: A lot of "Weird Al."
My question was, you did talk a little bit
about the multi-generational audience you have
which is phenomenal because now I'm a mom
and my son now only loves your book but loves your music.
"Yoda" is his favorite song.
It's like a whole thing at our house.
But I was wondering about the educational--
you have a lot of educational value to a lot of your music.
And, in fact, you've taught me that the corpus callosum
is totally awesome-- things that I didn't even
know about the human body.
But I was wondering if that's something
that you intended to do from the beginning,
or just because you're this really brilliant smart guy,
it just comes out in your music?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: It's not part of my mission statement
to make my songs educational.
They're meant to just be funny and entertaining.
But every now and then you get a little bit of a lesson
in there. "Word Crimes" is full a lot
of things for people that need to be tutored on grammar.
And my song "Foil" talks about the many uses of aluminum foil.
FEMALE SPEAKER: And the Illuminati.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Yes, yes, so it's
more of a byproduct than something
I'm directly going for, but I always appreciate it
when people can glean something from my lyrics.
AUDIENCE: Yup.
A lot of educational value.
But thank you so much.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
Big fan.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: I just want to know out
of all the albums you've released, what song was
the most fun to write and record?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Oh gosh.
It's hard to say.
I mean, my default answer is "White and Nerdy"
just because that's the most autobiographical.
[LAUGHTER]
I didn't have to do a whole lot of research for that one.
I lived the life.
AUDIENCE: And, by the way, Shatner's better than Picard.
AUDIENCE: Hey, how's it going?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Hey.
AUDIENCE: So I like to read a lot of rock autobiographies.
And especially one from the '80s involving
backstage hijinks and whatnot.
I noticed there's no "Weird Al" autobiography to my knowledge.
There isn't, right?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, there's
a book that came out a couple years ago called, "Weird Al:
The Book."
It was written by Nathan Rabin.
So it's not really an autobiography.
But he interviewed me for it.
I didn't really want to write an autobiography because I pretty
much told every anecdote and story about myself that I ever
wanted to.
There's no hidden secrets or skeletons in the closet.
And I just wanted him to do the heavy lifting.
So that's basically the definitive life story to date.
But Nathan actually wrote it.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
The reason I was asking is because I just
want to know is there like one story that could really get you
in trouble.
Some backstage like crazy story.
[LAUGHTER]
Do you want to share it with--
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: All the people
that know about that story are dead now.
So I think-- sorry.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
We're just a bunch of kids that control the world's
information, so you could tell us.
[LAUGHTER]
No?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thanks.
AUDIENCE: All right.
MALE SPEAKER: So we have some questions coming in
from the live stream as well.
From Google offices and the internets worldwide.
So Tom Russ is wondering, what is the secret to sustaining
an entertainment career over such a long time?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, I attribute it
to working with very talented people.
I surround myself with people that are very skilled
and know what they're doing.
And I mentioned my band.
I've been with them since the beginning.
I work with talented engineers.
I've got talented management.
I've got people that make me look good.
On top of that I like to think that I've
got a pretty strong work ethic.
I put a lot of attention to detail in everything that I do.
A lot of sheer tenacity.
And a whole lot of luck as well.
MALE SPEAKER: Cool.
And do you still have 100 gigabytes of RAM?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Oh.
Yes.
Yeah, sure I do.
MALE SPEAKER: All right.
[LAUGHTER]
Thanks.
AUDIENCE: Hey.
Just a quick question.
I was curious what you thought of some of the other parody
bands that are popular recently today.
Like Lonely Island.
Tenacious D. Bands like that.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I love those guys.
I mean, I'm good friends with both.
I'd add to that list.
Lonely Island, Tenacious D, Flight of the Conchords,
Garfunkel and Oates, Bo Burnham, Reggie Watts, Tim Minchin,
Hard 'n Phirm.
I mean, there's a lot of people doing great, great comedy
music out there.
And I don't look at them as competition.
I look at them as my friends.
And we're all carrying the banner for comedy music.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Would you ever do a big collaboration
with all of them you think?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Sure.
Yeah.
We can do a big "We Are The World"--
FEMALE SPEAKER: Let's start it.
Let's start it.
[APPLAUSE]
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Hey, I'm back.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Round two.
OK.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Oh.
AUDIENCE: So I'm just a very curious guy about you.
So you talked about "UHF" earlier.
I mean do you ever take credit for discovering
Michael Richards?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Nope.
AUDIENCE: No?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, I mean,
that he was already on the show "Fridays."
It was ABC's version of "Saturday Night Live."
And he was popular from that show.
And he was a very popular entertainer
on the LA stand-up scene.
So it wasn't like that was his first exposure.
He was definitely a rising star.
And I couldn't imagine anybody else
pulling off the Stanley Spadowski character.
I mean, he had a great sense of physical comedy.
He was Stanley Spadowski.
AUDIENCE: He was.
All right.
Good stuff.
AUDIENCE: Hi, I'm also a very long time fan.
"The Food Album" was one of the first albums I was ever given.
And a number of the songs on that I had no idea there was
a non-"Weird Al" version for years.
[LAUGHTER]
Like the first time I heard "My Sharona" on the radio,
I'm like, this sounds like "Weird Al."
That's weird.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I want to stop you.
I know you got a question, but I got
to stop you just because I've heard
that story from a lot of people.
And it tickles me because I had a parody of "American Pie"
about "Star Wars" which was a big hit on Radio Disney.
And all the kids on Radio Disney didn't
realize it was a parody of a 1970s song by Don McLean.
They thought it was just a funny "Star Wars" song by "Weird Al."
So the year after my parody came out, for some reason
Madonna decides to do a disco version of "American Pie."
And all these kids are going, how
come Madonna's doing an unfunny version of a "Weird Al" song?
[LAUGHTER]
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I'm sorry.
Go ahead.
AUDIENCE: No, that's fantastic.
So my question is, you've been doing this for so long now.
And a lot of the people that you parody are coming up-- Lorde
is like 17.
Do you ever run into or you go to talk to somebody
about a parody, and they're like, "Weird Al," who's that?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Not my knowledge.
I mean--
[LAUGHTER]
I did meet Iggy Azalea to get her permission in person.
And in fact, DMZ documented that.
AUDIENCE: I saw that actually.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: And people were
wondering like, well, did she know who you were?
And I was like, well, I don't know.
I don't start off with the conversation with,
do you know who I am?
[LAUGHTER]
So I mean, it was all very cordial and polite.
And she approved it.
I don't assume anything.
But I think probably most people in the music business
have some working knowledge of what I do.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
Thank you.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
FEMALE SPEAKER: And when you went to see Iggy
you actually flew to Denver to her show.
Is that right?
Is that the longest length that you've
gone to get somebody's blessing or?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: It might be.
Yeah.
The reason I did that was because I
had 11 songs in the can.
And I was waiting for the twelfth one
to be a parody of whatever the song of the summer was.
And when I heard "Fancy" and saw it going up the charts,
I thought, OK, this is it.
So I wrote the song.
I arranged for the recording dates and the mastering date.
And we had the whole release planned for the album.
But then we weren't hearing back from her manager.
And the calls weren't getting returned.
And the clock was ticking.
And finally I said, well, I gotta just talk to Iggy.
So I got on a plane, and I flew to Denver on Friday.
And we were scheduled to record the song the next morning
in Los Angeles.
So it was like if I didn't get her permission
the whole album would have been put on indefinite hold.
And thankfully it worked out.
I mean, I got her as she was walking offstage.
And I said, oh, Iggy, hi.
I'm "Weird Al" Yankovic.
And I would love to do a parody of your song "Fancy."
And are you OK with that?
And she said, well, I need to have a little bit
more information.
I said, I happen to have the lyrics right here.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: And she looked at me
and she's like, yeah, looks fine.
And that was it.
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: I always liked your song "Jurassic Park."
And the video was so great with the claymation.
And I've had a fascination all my life with the original song,
Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park."
And I wondered if while you were working on that if you came up
with interpretations about what the original meant.
The cake and the rain and all of that.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I didn't think too much about that.
I mean, I'm sure Jimmy Webb had his-- I mean, people have
theorized about that for decades.
And I became friends with Jimmy Webb.
In fact, he gave me a dinosaur head to commemorate the parody.
And I got to perform-- oh, yeah, I remember that.
Jimmy Webb had a show at The Roxy.
And at the end of the show he started
playing "MacArthur Park."
And he played the first couple lines
then he pretended like he forgot the words.
He does, can anybody else sing the song for me?
And I come out from the wings and I do "Jurassic Park."
[LAUGHTER]
But Jimmy was a great fan.
But he never sat me down and told me
what "MacArthur Park" was all about.
AUDIENCE: Mystery.
OK.
AUDIENCE: I have a second question here.
Going back to the stair climbing and the costume changing,
what's the "Weird Al" exercise routine?
How do you stay in shape and make that happen?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, I had my skeleton removed,
so I can just flop all over the place.
My exercise is basically when I'm on the road it's the show.
That's my aerobic workout.
And when I try to lose weight or try to get in shape
or get my cardio up--
I'm not a gym guy.
I just can't go to the gym.
It's not fun or appealing to me.
But I like walking.
So I'll walk from my house in the hills five miles down
to Wilshire Boulevard and back up again with my headphones
on and just rocking out down the street.
So that's my favorite kind of exercise.
AUDIENCE: Thanks.
AUDIENCE: Hey.
First, I just wanted to thank you
for basically being the soundtrack to my teenage years.
[LAUGHTER]
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: My pleasure.
AUDIENCE: I remember buying "Alapalooza" back
when they still worried about selling CDs in stores.
And there was the sticker on it reminding people no, this
is not in fact the "Jurassic Park" soundtrack for--
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Right.
It was an afterthought from the legal department,
like, there are a lot of stupid people.
You better put that on there.
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: But my questions is just,
you've been doing this for so long.
What's the biggest difference between doing
it now and when you were getting started in the '80s?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Mostly it's all about distribution.
I mean, you pointed out or alluded to the fact
that record stores by and large don't exist anymore.
There's just a few remaining people keeping the faith.
But it's all done online, whether it's
Amazon or other digital portals like iTunes.
So it's just a matter of the way that music is marketed
and the way that it's distributed.
But music is music.
And that changes as well, of course.
Pop culture is always changing.
But I think the most radical changes have just
been in the way that the music itself is consumed.
AUDIENCE: So the difference is in how people consume it,
not necessarily how you produce it.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, a little of both.
I mean, when I started out-- I grew up in the analog days.
So I used to record stuff on a 24 track analog tape.
And nowadays it's all digital.
So I can play around with things indefinitely,
like moving waveforms around and making things a little bit more
perfect than I would have been able to do back
when I was starting out.
So I spend the same amount of time
working on things as I used to.
But now I get into the really nitty-gritty details.
I'm pretty OCD that way.
So I can spend a lot of time working on things.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
Like everybody else, I grew up listening to your music.
Listened to Dr. Demento over and over.
Just had one tape that my friend had.
Bootlegged.
Listened to it over and over.
But I recently went to Maui with my wife.
And we took the bus tour to Hana.
And we heard a story about you and the pedestrian
crossing signs.
[LAUGHTER]
Is it not true?
So all the pedestrian crossing signs, or a bunch of them,
had little hula hoops, like stickered on top of it.
And the guide said that was your doing.
Was that really you?
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: No.
No.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Imposter.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: No.
My vacation home is in Maui.
But I was not responsible for those stickers.
Maybe the story's getting confused.
I had a YouTube video where I drove around Maui
changing the road signs.
There was a sign that says, drive slow.
And I stopped the car and I get a little LY and put slowly.
But I'm not responsible for the hula hoops.
AUDIENCE: OK.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Was that the original "Word Crime"?
That whole incident?
Yeah.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Well, yeah.
My grammar nerd cred is firmly established already.
AUDIENCE: I have a short anecdote rather than
a question.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: OK.
AUDIENCE: So last year I got married.
And when we were trying to figure out
what music I cared about having at the wedding, of course,
I wanted to have "Weird Al."
So in talking with the DJ the directive
we gave was, OK any song that has a "Weird Al" parody,
play that instead of the original version.
And one of the highlights of the wedding
was people realizing halfway through "Eat It"
that it was "Weird Al" instead of Michael Jackson.
[LAUGHTER]
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Nice.
Very nice.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Hi again.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Hello.
AUDIENCE: So we were just talking about the media
distribution and how that's changed over the past 20
something-- five-- years.
So I noticed that with your videos
this week you've been picking different sites to host them
on.
Can you explain a little bit behind that decision?
And I guess a second part of that question
is are the videos eventually going to be all on YouTube?
Because that's where we go for videos.
[LAUGHTER]
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Yeah.
First of all, I put them all on different portals
because I wanted to spread the love.
I wanted everybody to feel ownership in it.
And they would each have their own video that they would
promote and hopefully promote all the other partners' videos
as well.
And they will all eventually be on YouTube.
They will revert back to the label.
And the label's VEVO channel will host them
at that point as well as the original partners.
But the original partners have an exclusivity window.
So that was part of the deal that the label
made when we first agreed to do it.
But yeah, that's the answer to your question.
Probably within two weeks they'll all revert to YouTube.
AUDIENCE: OK.
Thanks.
AUDIENCE: Well, first you made me
really jealous of my brother.
See, I thought I had it cool coming to work for Google
while my brother was stuck down here in Los Angeles working
for College Humor as a producer on "Foil."
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Is your brother Jon Wolf?
AUDIENCE: Jon Wolf.
Yes.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Oh, excellent.
And he's in the video, too.
He's the guy going, ahh.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I recognized him.
[LAUGHTER]
My question is what was it like the first time
you saw your face on someone else's shirt?
[LAUGHTER]
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Pretty odd.
The first time you see your face on somebody's else's
body it's always weird.
What's even weirder than that was the first
I saw my face on somebody's leg as a tattoo.
That's even weirder when you realize
that's permanent, right?
[LAUGHTER]
That doesn't wash off.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thanks.
AUDIENCE: Hello.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Hello.
AUDIENCE: I've been a long time admirer
of your beautiful, beautiful locks.
I was wondering what hair products you use.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: I asked the same thing.
Yeah, naturally curly hair.
It's beautiful.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: I wish I knew.
I mean, I do throw stuff on my hair when I'm washing it.
But I couldn't even tell-- it's in the purple bottle
in the shower.
Whatever my wife puts in there.
So I don't have a brand name for you.
Sorry.
FEMALE SPEAKER: You might have to brand something.
I think there's a lot of requests for that.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: OK.
[LAUGHTER]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Well, I think that was it then.
Thank you so much for coming.
This has been amazing.
And we're going to look forward to seeing
the rest of the videos and definitely information
on the Mandatory Fun tour.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thanks so much.
Appreciate that.
Thanks, guys.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Al Yankovic, everyone.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you very much.
[INAUDIBLE]
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
AUDIENCE: Ready?
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
AUDIENCE: Thanks. [? We appreciate it. ?]
Take care.
FEMALE SPEAKER: OK.
You're next, buddy.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]