"Weird Al" Yankovic

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2022

⏱️ ? minutes

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Summary

"Weird Al" Yankovic is the undisputed king of parody music. He's been recording music for over 40 years and sold millions of records. He's got an iconic voice, the chops for pop and a sense of humor that's both distinct and approachable. After all this time, Weird Al is getting the biopic treatment. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story was co-written by Al himself and debuts on the Roku channel on Friday, November 4th. He joins Bullseye to talk about Weird and the creation process behind the film. He also talks about how he got into making music and learning to play the accordion at a young age. Plus, he tells us about the time he decided he could make a living out of recording parody songs about food.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:21.3	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn. Aside from, I don't know, maybe Dolly Parton, is there
0:28.3	any American musician more beloved than Weird Al Yankovic?
0:32.3	40 years of recording, millions of records sold. He's got an iconic voice, the chops for
0:39.3	pop and a sense of humor that's both distinct and approachable. And now after all this time,
0:46.3	Weird Al is finally getting the biopic treatment. Weird, the Al Yankovic story was co-written
0:52.3	by Al himself. It debuts on the Roku channel this week. And true to the biopic genre, Weird
1:00.3	Chronicles Al's life from childhood to present day. But unlike most biopics, it is not probing,
1:07.3	emotional and dark, nor is it grounded or realistic. There are no facades here to be lifted.
1:14.3	If you're looking for that kind of thing, go watch, I don't know, I'm not there or something.
1:20.3	What Weird Al does to popular music, he does here to biopics. It's a very funny joke-a-minute
1:27.3	parody. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al and Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, Al's
1:34.3	main love interest. As I said, not necessarily entirely bound by fact or grounding.
1:41.3	Before we get into my interview with Al, let's hear a clip from Weird. This comes from
1:45.3	early on in the movie Al's father has just learned that his son has been secretly playing
1:50.3	the accordion, which is in the Yankovic household, a forbidden instrument. His dad smashes it to
1:56.3	pieces, a wounded, enraged Al replies.
2:00.3	You think you're going to stop me for playing? You'll see. One now I'm going to be the best.
2:06.3	Perhaps not technically the best, but arguably. Most famous accordion player in an extremely
2:13.3	specific genre of music. I'll show you. I'll show everybody. Get out. Good read.
2:26.3	Weird Al Yankovic, welcome back to Bullseye. It's nice to talk to you again.
2:29.3	You too, Jesse. What was your actual real-life relationship like with your dad?
	...

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