3:07
It takes a special type of genius to
hear the word Chirona and make it
Bologona and go on to become one of the most beloved Americans of all time.
You
can see him live starting next month on the Bigger and Weirder Tour.
Please
welcome Weird Al Yankovic.
That that was a weird thing to do.
>> Thank you.
I didn't disappoint you.
>> You never disappoint.
How are you?
It's good to see you.
Good to see you.
You
remember the last time I saw you >>
in an elevator somewhere?
>> We're in an elevator at my orthodontist office.
>> Yeah, we always seem to meet there.
And we started talking to each other and
there was one other guy in there who
I could just tell by the look on
his face
felt he must have been high or some
something was happening because he
wandered into our conversation.
>> He probably he probably just got an anesthetized >> perhaps.
Oh, maybe that's what was going
on there.
Yeah.
Uh you are you the word weird.
I was thinking about weirdowl the
name today and you probably didn't know this
would stick with you for your whole
life.
>> I did not.
No.
And I was trying to think of other
weirds and I thought like weird Harold
and like weird Barbie or whatever, but that's
none of them compare.
>> I I own the weird better than anybody else.
Yeah.
>> Like we've got so many >> I
mean there are uh there are littles
and there are uh bigs and there are >> intermediates.
>> Yeah.
Youngs and kids and you know but there's only one weird Al and you are.
Yeah.
Um, you are you started in in college radio, which is where I started
my like broadcasting.
>> Well, that's where the name Weird Alowl
came from because everybody needed some
kind of wacky air name and I thought,
"Oh, Weird Al seems to fit."
>> What were the other names of the other guys?
You're amazing.
>> I mean, it was like Macho Mike
and the Sheriff and you know, all these
crazy
names and >> and that's where you recorded
my Bologona, right?
>> Yeah.
In fact, there's a plaque there right now.
Um, we ran some lines from
the uh KCPR, that's our campus radio station,
from the production uh office
into the bathroom right across the hall because
of course everything sounds
better in a bathroom with a nice reverb
from the wall.
>> Even better than the recording studio >> pretty much.
Well, we use 24 track
bathrooms now.
It's professional.
>> Uh, but yeah, in fact, so so
to this day, there's a plaque on the
side of
that bathroom saying this is where we recorded my balona.
>> That's funny.
Yeah.
And at that time you didn't get like clearance from the knack
to to write that song, did you?
>> Well, at at the time, no, cuz
I was just like literally a teenager like
just
sending in tapes to the Dr.
Dante radio show.
>> Oh, Dr.
Deo, right.
Yeah.
Right.
Okay, that makes sense.
>> And and you know, and never thinking,
oh, this is going to be a record
or
whatever, but I I ran into the knack uh at a at a concert at CalPoly.
came to
play and I weasled my way backstage and
I I met Doug Figer, the lead singer
of
the band and and I said, "Hey, Doug,
it's Al Yanker." And he goes, "Oh,
you're the my Balona guy." And he turned
to the guy next to him who's the
vice
president of Capital Records and said, "You should
put this guy's record out."
Really?
AND HE DID.
That's fantastic.
And by the by the middle of the
80s, you'd become so popular that artists,
big artists were asking you to parody their songs.
Like, didn't Madonna come
up, I've heard, with like a surgeon or
is that her story?
>> It's it's it's uh it's uh there's truth in that.
It's a little blown out of out
of proportion.
And I didn't help matters with my biopic where we really expounded
on it.
>> Uh but but basically the story is
that she was talking to a friend of
hers in
New York one day just and just off-handedly
said, "Oh, I wonder what
weird's going to do." like a surgeon and
her friend happened to know a friend of
my manager and telephone game got back to
me and I thought oh not a bad
idea.
>> Did you ever have um big artists
pitch you ideas that you're like no that's
not
good I'm not going to do it.
>> Every every now and then I'll be
in a party and somebody will come up
to me
when are you going to get around to
doing one of my songs really offended
that I haven't gotten around >> but they
don't have the idea for you.
>> Oh they they might have I think
I ran into Fred Durst at a party
and he had
some kind of great idea for I did it all for the Nookie.
I forget what it was.
I
thought that was a parody song.
>> Good.
Good.
>> Um, when did you finally feel like like, okay, I've made it.
I'm now, you know,
I'm not just uh >> when your producers
called to invite me on this show.
>> Was that it?
Really?
That was the time.
>> That was what I knew.
>> Coming together.
>> Funny cuz it still hasn't hit me yet.
I'm here every night.
Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> Was there a moment or no?
>> Not.
Well, I mean, the I I knew that I was going to be weirded out full-time
when uh my first single hit the Billboard charts.
I was literally
working in the mail room uh I think
for minimum wage at the time and uh
and I
picked up the mail and Billboard magazine was
sticking out of the bag and
I opened it up to the charts and
there I was and I thought I should
give notice.
I should >> What was your biggest biggest hit?
Was it um was it uh Eat It or was it Amish
Paradise?
>> It was Eat It for a long
time, but uh White and Nerdy actually was
my biggest
hit.
>> Nerdy was the biggest hit.
Wow.
It's >> my only It's my It's my only platinum
single.
I think it sold over a million.
It was my only top 10 single.
So, I'm no longer the eat it guy.
I'm officially
the white nerdy guy.
>> Do you feel like Yeah, it's more appropriate.
I think if you gain 100
pounds, you could be the eat it guy.
Yeah, true.
Um, >> it fluctuates.
>> Do you feel like the younger people
know you from the Amish Paradise song mostly
or >> It's It's really There's like a
half a dozen hits that, you know, I
think
people really respond to.
I mean, if you go to my live shows, some people
cosplay, they'll dress up like like Amish people
or or like, you know, or
Jedi Knights or whatever.
>> I'm sure they're just dressed as Amish people.
Maybe there are actual Amish
people.
>> There could be few on rum springa.
You know, >> did you ever get a reaction from the
Amish community on that song?
>> You know, they're not big MTV watchers apparently or I've heard.
Uh but I I do,
you know, I do run into them from time to time.
And uh I I actually saw
something online >> pulls over and uh >>
I saw online there was an Amish person
that that heard Kulio's uh Gangsters Paradise for
the first time and he was
like, "This is not Amish Paradise." But it's like really offended.
like this.
It's not funny at all.
What are you doing?
>> I do want to ask you about
a photograph because this is a one of
the great ' 80s
photographs.
Uh there's you, Lil Steven, and Pee Herman at Are you just Was this
an celebrity event?
>> It was I I think it was
a rock and bowl.
It was uh maybe for the TJ Martell Foundation.
It was a charity event, and
a bunch of people got up and uh
and bowled for charity.
>> Who was the best bowler in the group?
>> It's been a several decades, but I'm
going to say me.
>> Yeah, you.
Yeah.
Well, you know what?
I I found a parallel between guys who can
play accordion and guys who bowl.
There seems to be a >> the ven diagrams.
Two circles just
round.
>> Yeah.
Yeah.
Two bowling balls.
>> Yeah.
Two bowling balls.
>> Yeah.
When how old were you when you started playing the accordion?
>> I took my very first lesson the
day before my seventh birthday and I took
three years of lessons and by the end
of that I thought, well, they're not
teaching me less up.
What am I doing here?
>> And I basically kind of learned on my own after that.
Learned how to play by
ear, played along with rock songs on the radio and just took it from there.
And
and all through my teenage years, like nobody
wanted to start a rock band with
me for some crazy reason.
>> Right.
Yeah.
I can imagine being a kid with an accord.
I've never seen a kid
with an accordion.
>> I I heard you you played the clarinet.
>> I played the clarinet.
Yes.
When I was >> What was that like being a chick magnet?
>> It was like that.
>> Oh, there.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
>> Yeah.
That for some reason that always seems to be at the ready.
>> Yeah.
>> Right.
I mean, half the other stuff we can never get to that picture is just
permanently in the hard drive.
Um anyway, uh you the tour is called Bigger
and Weirder.
Is it Bigger and Weirder or is that just the name?
>> It's It's uh was both.
It is the name, but it is in fact it's bigger.
The
biggest tour we've been in to date.
>> Okay.
>> Uh and I would like say I
I'll say I'll say weirder as well.
>> It's weirder.
>> Yeah.
>> What What do you look forward to seeing?
>> Part of the weirdness, the live weirdness.
You have an opening act.
Do
you have >> Oh, yeah.
Puddles Pity Party.
>> Oh, yeah.
I know who that is.
Puddles.
Seven foot clown is a amazing singer.
I hate to describe it beyond that because
it's kind of an indescribable act.
You just have to see it.
>> Okay.
Amazing.
Uh and as far as the tour, if you saw the 2025 Bigger and Rur
Tour, >> it's the same tour.
>> Okay.
>> So, but if you if you haven't seen it, it's me and the band.
It's sort of a I
guess a greatest hits tour.
We're doing uh all the the the big fan favorites, a
few deep cuts.
As with all our big tours, there's costume changes and and
film clips and and uh computer servers and it's just a it's it's madness.
It's
great.
>> All right.
Well, here there you go.
Go see Weird Al on a tour.
It's called The
Bigger and Weirder Tour.
You can get tickets at weirdowl.com.
Weird Al Yankovic.
Everybody, we'll be back with Melanie Martinez.
