Where’s the parody at? Weird Al Yankovic known for spoofing pop hits playing his original material on new tour By: Erin Lebar Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Jun. 4, 2018 Last Modified: 2:28 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 5, 2018 Updates

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American satirical songwriter Al Yankovic isn’t often described as relaxed, but for the first time in his 40-year career, the man more commonly known as “Weird Al” is taking a more intimate, toned-down approach to his tour experience.

Yankovic is currently on The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour — which stops at the Burton Cummings Theatre on Tuesday — on which there are no costumes, no in-your-face production, no characters. It’s just Yankovic, 58, and his band of 30 years rolling through some of his original (non-parody) work, as well as some deep cuts from his 14-album catalogue (although there will be a small part of the show dedicated to some of his most popular parodies, which include such Billboard hits as Amish Paradise, a take on Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise, and Like a Surgeon, a parody of Like a Virgin by Madonna).

As its name suggests, this tour is something the four-time Grammy Award winner has been wanting to try for a while, not knowing if his fans would jump on board. But, as he explained to the Free Press over the phone last month, it’s been smooth sailing so far.

“It’s been honestly the most fun we’ve ever had on the road. It’s relaxed, it’s stress-free — we just feel like we’re hanging out in people’s living rooms and jamming. And we’re selling out almost everywhere, which is also a surprise because I didn’t know if this kind of a tour would have enough appeal to fill the theatres, and apparently it did,” says Yankovic, who’s the bestselling comedy artist of all time.

But for all the candid explanations of what this tour is, all the openness about the setlist and the vibe of the show, inevitably there are still a few fans who show up expecting a more typical Weird Al experience. To them, Yankovic quotes his opening act, comedian and actor Emo Philips.

“As Emo Philips would say, they did not assiduously research their entertainment options,” Yankovic says with a chuckle.

Free Press: In the past you’ve spoken about being a pretty introverted guy, and now you’re just onstage as you — no props or costumes or massive production elements. How have you adapted to this type of show?

Al Yankovic: Very well. Any time you try something new and different, it’s a little scary at first but we all adapted pretty quickly to it. It’s just a nice relaxed energy. I should point out that this is not a whole new direction — I’m not going to be doing these tours going forward indefinitely — this was just a nice little change of pace. The next time we go out will be the big show, but it’s very pleasant to be able to relax and focus on just the music instead of putting on some kind of multimedia extravaganza.

FP: Any surprising reactions to some of the super-deep cuts you’re dusting off for this tour?

AY: I’m just surprised people remember them. We’ll announce some very obscure deep cut on some album and there will be screams in the audience; they can’t believe we’re playing that song. And it’s not particularly good or popular song (laughs), but it’s somebody’s favourite song. No matter how random or obscure I get, somebody is tickled to death that we’re playing it.

FP: I think many of your fans would agree that the things you’re known best for — parody songwriting and playing the accordion — are under-appreciated art forms.

AY: Well, it’s true that anybody can change the words to songs — a four-year-old could do that — but to do it well and cleverly and consistently isn’t something that a lot of people can do. It’s one of those art forms that doesn’t get a lot of respect, but I’d like to think that I’ve been doing this long enough that I’ve become sort of the brand name of parody.

In fact, I get blamed for a lot of other people’s parodies. Back in the days of Napster, my name was attached to every single horrible parody that existed because they thought, ‘Oh it must be Weird Al.’

Accordion music, it also kind of got a bad rap. I don’t want to bad-mouth The Lawrence Welk Show, but I don’t think it did a lot of favours for the image of the accordion — that was the show your grandmother watched.

I was a big Myron Floren fan, who was the keyboardist for The Lawrence Welk Show, but again, it wasn’t considered sexy. Back in the ’50s, oddly enough, it sort of was. Dick Contino, if you look at some of his oldest albums, you see him with like beautiful women draped on his legs and he’s holding the accordion. And it’s not ironic. It’s like, ‘This guy plays the accordion, he must be a sex god.’

FP: Guitar players will often sit down and noodle on their guitar; do you sit down and noodle on your accordion?

AY: A bit. I mean, I don’t practise eight hours a day or anything like that. I mostly play when we’re onstage and when we’re rehearsing, so I don’t generally just have it around and noodle for fun, but y’know, my wife likes it when I’m home so I’ll do it for her benefit. Mostly in my free time I’m just obsessively surfing the internet.

FP: Oh really? Where do you spend most of your online time?

AY: Twitter is probably the biggest one… I don’t respond to fans so much online, just because that’s a slippery slope, but I tend to read what people are saying about me online and I follow a lot of people on Twitter and I like to hear their opinions on the news of the day. It’s fascinating to me, and I like to get the perspectives of a lot of different people… I try not to get too sucked into it because it can take over your whole life, but it’s a fun diversion if I get some free time.

FP: I am shocked that you read people’s comments on your work; a lot of people who have been in the industry for as long as you have avoid engaging in anything like that.

AY: Well, there’s something to be said for that as well, but I like feedback. I like to know how people are reacting to stuff. If I do something they like, that’s good to know and if I do something they don’t like, that’s good to know as well. So it’s sort of like getting a performance review at work: it’s like, what do you people think? That’s important information to have.

FP: Do you ever feel pressure to be ‘on’ all the time? I feel like with professionally funny people, that expectation is always looming.

AY: I don’t. That would be exhausting. I don’t know if I’ve ever really tried to do that or felt like I’ve needed to do that. I think that some people may be have expectations of me and when they meet me in the supermarket, they’re let down that I’m not bouncing off the walls (laughs). But no, I mean, some people have made the comment that I’m one of the least weird people in Hollywood, which may or may not be true. When I’m onstage, that’s when the weirdness comes out, and on this tour quite frankly, not so much. It’s a very low-key, not-all-that-weird, tour. We’re just being musicians on this one.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel

Erin Lebar
Manager of audience engagement for news

Erin Lebar spends her time thinking of, and implementing, ways to improve the interaction and connection between the Free Press newsroom and its readership.

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