QLS Classic: "Weird" Al Yankovic

Of Course.

Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. Hey, Hey, what's up. This is QLs classic April fourth, twenty eighteen with the Great Matthew Alfred.

Yankovin that's right, y'all.

Weird Al Yankee Vic.

Joins us and he talks about hilarious songs that Prince would never clear, why he turned down the opening slot on Michael Jackson's nineteen eighty eight bad Tour, and how he got away with poking fun at Kurt Copaine, Cooglio and Azalea and many more.

Not to mention.

I gotta say this roll call intro is.

One for the record books. Hope you enjoyed QLs with Weird Al Yandy Vick. All Right, yah ready, yeah, you yelling already like you. Let's go.

Sub cram well sun Subpremo. Oh called Suprema Son, So supreme role called Supreme Son Son, Supremo role called Suprema Son, Suprema Roll call, rewind select the three right, come back again select Yeah, I want to do.

We are in the greatness of of of of greatness right now, gentlemen, Yes, we are in the greatest of greatness. We are we are in the yo. We are remixing this role call. Thank you very much.

Supremo Supremo, Ro Supreme, Supreme roll call, Supreme Supreme, roll call, Supreme Supreme.

Yes to all of y'all. Yeah, I just had the remix. Yeah the brand.

Carrio Suprema roll call, Supremo Supremo roll so Premoth sock Supremo call Suprema southing Suprema.

My name is Fante. Yeah, this is my home.

Even Ezekiel thinks my mind is gone.

Supreme Supremo, roll call, Supremouth, Suprema Ro Suprema spriva ro call Suprema.

My name is Sugar.

Yeah, I got the Sugars, I got Sciattica, and now I'm living with a herd.

Supremo Ro Supremo suthing something Suprema roll Supremoth sucks up Primo roll Supreme up from southing Sason.

Sure of all the concerts, Boss Bill has been yeah weird.

Yeah, in the top two.

Roll call, So pray my South suck Suprema roll call, Supremo supping sup It's a Prema roll call, so pretty much sucking suck.

It's a prima roll.

So pre u s pre roll call.

Yeah, far from emerging.

Yeah, weird Al's here.

Yeah, like a sober day so.

Pretty much shopping shut up Prema roll Supreme up sucking sup sup pre roll call so pretty much southing suck so pra my roll call Supreme sun pre roll call.

I know, free style, I am the worst. Yeah, it wouldn't be better if this won't reheart.

Pray, pray pray sho. That was He was like, they're going to beat your ass. Is that you all playing? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah that was last minute, like zero o'clock in the morning. That was shout out to the school.

Yes, the first time we've done that out.

We've never changed the music up before.

First pokemonsh up, Yeah, we had to.

We're in the greatness of greatness, ladies and gentlemen. What more can I say? We have one of the greatest. I mean, he shut down his own category. He is a one of one. There.

The job is taken.

It's just like, you know, you are the greatest parody satire, right, satirist, Yes, satirist. Yeah, you are the goat.

Thank you man, you are the goat. You're the goat.

As well, thank you. I feel goadus pleasy, gentleman. Please welcome Alfred Matthew yank wow go, I have to use it.

My social Security numbers five six, n.

Man one. I'm grateful that you did this. I'm thankful because you know, we've all been fan of yours. But I mean, it's to the point that you're not even a proper nown. You're a verb.

You're i mean, like a weird out of the song. Yeah, oh, you're weird about that song exactly exactly.

How are you though, place for asking?

Doing very well? I just just got back from uh, Hawaii last night.

We were there.

We lived there part time, and I'm just kind of getting used to uh uh not seeing the ocean and flowers and beautiful things all the time.

Thanks.

We live in the east side. Hey, we live out in the jungle. We're about another half a mile down the road and we there's like no internet, no nothing. We're in the jungle, baby really yeah, why because it's a whole different kind of Hawaii. Mean, you can go to the west side and there's like, you know, you can have your drinks by the pool and it's very res already and very nice. But but the East Side is like old Hawaii and it just feels like, you know, you can really kind of it's a place where you

So you needed to uh sort of recharge and and yeah.

Yeah, it's a it's a whole. It's kind of like the opposite of l A. So a couple of times a year my family goes out there and just kind of unplugs and you know, talk, talk to the cows, you know, hang out.

No, you just scared me with no Internet. Yeah, get you away from Instagram? Why would you ever want to do that? But I understand it's necessary.

Where are you from from Linwood? Straight o Linwood? Yeah. In fact, Shiat Knight went to my high school.

What wow wait wait wait wait, sarcasm detectors right.

Now, that's absolutely true.

Wow Okay.

Fred Winn from The Monsters, Mark Spitz, I believe, and Kevin Costner also went to the same time.

Wow wow. Uh So, first of all, what were you like as a kid? And I asked that very slowly because I don't think people are yeah accurate in describing themselves.

But I mean, well, this might come as a huge shock to you, but I was a little nerdy really, No, No, I was. I was definitely well, I was sort of a you know, sort of a weird kid, I was. But I was always a good student. I was always a straight a student, the kind of guy that you try to copy off of during math class and then beat up at recess.

But you know, because you try to, you gave the wrong answers anywhere.

Just mess with them. But no, I was always a good kid, but I was always a little strange. I kind of kept to myself and and ate with the other nerdy kids during lunchtime, that kind of thing.

Okay, basically yeah, yeah, this room read backstory. So your your gift of music? How did that start?

Like, well, I guess it started when my parents decided I should take accordion lessons.

Uh why, well they could.

Well, I think you know, the joke answer is that they realized that according music was going to take over Western civilization. But really I think they honestly thought that it would make me more popular, because you know, when you play the accordion, you're a one man band, you're the life of any party.

Yeah, you know something though, they were right.

In their own weird way.

I mean, there's no one in this world that does not know who you are.

So it's like it was actually kind of a stroke of luck that they decided on such a dorky instrument. Because Doctor Demento the Distract really started my career. He says that. You know, when he got my first tape in the mail, he said, if it was some teenage kid playing the guitar and doing those same songs, he wouldn't have given it a second thought. But because there was this teenage kid playing the accordion and somehow thinking

So can you write down for us how the accordion works, like as an instrument, like how like physically? Weeks Yeah, how physically works and how you read the music? Does it is like a piano or the right hand.

Part is like a piano. It's talking about piano acordions. They're different kind of accordions, but that's the one I use. So the right hand part is exactly like a piano and the left hand part is buttons. Their accordions have different numbers of buttons. One twenty is like the standard one. The top two rows are basses and all the rest are chords. Like the next row of chords is major chords, then minor chords and seventh chords and then diminished chords.

You know.

So it's just, you know, looking back on it, it's kind of a hard instrument to learn. And I figured out because I gave my daughter accordion lessons a few years ago. She out of the blues, decided she wanted to play the accordion, which you know, I have to say that so they don't send me to send it to child Protective Services.

She actually asked.

And we got her a little accordion, and I taught her some Christmas songs and she lost interests after couple of months. But but she actually, you know, can play a few songs.

This is there a left handed according for those that whose lead hand is their left.

You mean to play like the keys on the left hand. That's a really good question. I don't know. I mean, and maybe you could play it upside down. I've never seen that done though. That's I have no idea. I don't know.

Are you related to now? There was a clip when you first came to the Tonight Show to sit in with us, and we did this extended polka jam and it was based on a Yankovic.

Who was Franky Yankovic.

Yeah, are you related to him? Not?

Not as far as I can figure. I mean, maybe several generations ago. I'm sure we're all We're ALLTD somehow, but no direct relation. But that might have been another reason why my parents decided I should take take according lessons, because there was already America's polka King, Frankie Yankovic, and they thought, oh, there should be at least one more

So, growing up or at least being a teenager in the seventies and on the dawning of disco, how are you able to have a high school existence sort of like you know, with band practice and that sort of thing with the accordion? Like were you starting bands and those things?

I tried, and for some reason, none of my friends that had bands felt the need for an accordion player. I don't know why. I just I found out early on that if I really wanted to to play the accordion, I could either you know, play for bar Mitza's and Italian weddings, or it could go my own way. And I was always drawn toward the bizarre and comedy, and and when I was exposed to Doctor Demento, that really kind of opened the door for me because I thought, oh, well, these are my people.

I see so with well, I want to know, like right before Doctor Demento, like were you could you play any other instrument or not?

Not?

Really? I mean, you know, when when you played the accordion, that means you can also play the piano, of course, but so so technically I could, but my right hand is very used to keys and my left hand is not so to this day, if I'm playing piano, I'm you know, my left hand is just either I'm playing some very rudimentary lines or I'm waving to the crowd.

That is weird. Okay, So explain me the Doctor Demento connection in seventy six with you given him.

When I when I actually gave him a tape. Doctor Demento came my high school oddly enough and was doing an assembly sometimes he was on a show where he does, you know, does an educational assembly of comedy and demented music, and he happened to be at Lynwood High School and I at the same time, he was doing a contest called a contest for Peko and Supulvita, which is his theme song, and people were sending in their own versions of the Peako and Supulvia Pico and Supulvita Pico and Sapulvita.

Were these originals or did you even start the world of parody then, like I sort of thing.

It was a little bit of both. I mean, Peoples

Okay, So the first time I've heard of you was I think another One Rides the Bus and I think it was like eighty one, like someone Wall.

It was the actual date that we did that was September fourteenth, nineteen eighty, which was it was live performance because we never re recorded that. I just played it live on the Doctor Demento Show and he had that was it. It was live on the show and he just happened to turn the tape recorder on for it for an air check. And that air check of that live recording that is the master tape to this day,

Is he still Doctor Minio is still alive?

He is, Yeah, he he's not on terrestrial radio anymore, but he is still doing a weekly show at Doctor Demento dot com. So he's still doing it, same, same same show.

Wow. Okay, see your initial rhythm section kind of had this fart noisy thing that I used to always be obsessed with. Like that started. You know, every kid has an obsession with farting, uh huh. But it was when I heard another one rise the bus. Then I started like like trying to do fart right. First of all, who's making that noise? And then who's how do.

You that that is? Musical Mike Keefer. Mike Keefer has been part of the Doctor Meno show for many years and he is the technical term is manualist, a person that makes those flatulent noises with his hands. And I used him a lot. I used him a lot for the first few albums, not so much in later albums. But it was quite a process because he would have to make a it was a whole process to record

Yeah yeah, no, don't yeah right now. Uh so how did you well, I know that, uh was my BALLOONA on the B side? I'm not certain, but how did you how did you get to the next level from just like making this stuff for Dotor Demento and then like there's labels out there, I want to.

My balloon was the year before that was recorded literally in a bathroom. Uh, and it wasn't the northern wris of the bus. And then and that was still while I was in college. I was getting my degree in architecture at the time, uh the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. And uh so and after I graduated, Uh, basically I knew that I didn't want to be an architect.

Yeah, but even even then, what was the selling point that you know, like this is were you trying to say, look as a comedian, Were you trying to be billed as a comedian or you know, well shatteririst.

Or just I you know, I wasn't so much into labels, but uh uh, you know I I I was going for grins. It was obviously a comedy act. It was meant to be meant to be novelty, and that that was the reason why it was hard for me to get signed to a record deal, because we you know, we know, we approached basically every record store in a record company in town and uh record stores too, but record company in town, and they all said, oh, this is really funny stuff, this is brilliant work. Yeah, we're

Yeah, So with in three D, did you think like, Okay, this is gonna be my one and only album, And.

Well, I mean it was sort of a you know, you never know because when I was signed, it was I was signed to a ten album deal. And that does that doesn't mean, oh, I'm going to do ten albums. That means on the extremely off chance that I'm successful enough to have ten albums, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, anytime, right, So you never know, you never know. And my first album, like I said, it did okay but not great. And you know, every album could about my last, so you

Can you explain to us just, uh, I guess the legal way that you're able to do the parody? What's the line between parody and you know, right in friends?

Yeah, Like, how do you how do you navigate that?

I always try to go a little above and beyond because, according to the Supreme Court rulings, UH, fair use would imply that I could get away with a lot more than I do. Uh, you know, in terms of parody and satire, I don't necessarily have to ask permission but I always do because part of my logic is that I want to have long term relationships with all the artists that I'm parodying, and I want, I really honestly want them to feel like there and I'm the joke.

So then with the parody works that you make, how is the publishing split between is it you or is it all the old artists?

It's I'll tell you it's It's literally a different case every time, every single one is negotiated. I would say, by and large, the standard deal is the original artist keeps all the publishing, and well you get the writer. Well we split the writer. I mean, I'd love to get some of the publishing, but people are very loath through give that up.

Well damn, we already rushed to your nose versus your yeses. And I guess your most famous no was Prince. But yeah, first of all, I want to know what song did you try to parody of? Prints? And then what's the what's the asking process? Uh?

Well, but a half a dozen songs that I approached Prince for. One of them was going to be in my movie U a Chef like, which was let's Let's go Crazy, but with the lyrics of the Beverly Hill Believes theme song. Oh wow, it would have been fun. Uh they're at nineteen ninety nine. I wanted to do that about like a mister ron Pope peel kind of like add for like you can buy this for nineteen you know, and they were like a half it doesn't like that that I wanted to try.

But uh, no you can now you said no, no, oh they welcome it now you no, No.

The Prince isn't going to change his mind. Now that's the thing, you know. But you know, I respect the artist wishes, you know, even if it doesn't matter what the state says. No, I mean, you know you would know that he were not their wishes. I'm concerned about his Prince's wishes.

And you know, good man, good man, but please demo it.

Do There's no need to do a demo for parody because you know how it goes, right.

I mean, you didn't do a full scale nineteen ninety nine, I did.

Not, you know, for a lot of songs. I don't even write any lyrics until I get permission because it's really a bummerdoo hard like yeah, because I spend some times, like weeks on a single song and to go through all that effort and then to go, yeah, I don't really like parodies, and that's a heartbreak.

So how far did you get to the point of asking can I do a parody? Or asking can I do a parody of?

This? Is what?

No, we always we always picture a specific ideas, so we always say we want to do parody of this song, and here's the general idea.

I don't know where I heard from. I think someone that asked him a question about it, and he he said something like it actually I like him or whatever. But it wasn't. It wasn't an eye roll or like a no, my song is.

But the only thing I've I've heard I've heard audio of him talking about my fat video. I was going to maybe he said something else. Best I've heard any like that at the time, So what.

Do you say?

He it was it's a rehearsal tape and he's basically asking the band if they saw the video for fat and he's like talking about him in the fat suit, and he's just like cracking up the entire time he saw him.

The story, it's pretty great. That would have been encouraging. Yeah, that would have been damn man, Now you would have killed nineteen. Do you think of the other print songs that you us?

Those are my favorites. I think I think there was something with when Dove's Cry, Like I think like a fast fruit, a fast food guy, when Spud's fry or something like that. Another food song, another food song.

How do how do ideas come to you? Like? Do you have these dictaphones on standby or you know, like just when moments.

Like well, in the in the very beginning, it was just like whatever stupid idea came to I had to go, oh, I'll go with that. But after I started getting some success and realizing people actually, you know, care about what I do and a lot of people will obsess over but I think, well, I should put some more effort into the So now, whenever I find a song that I think has potential for parody, I'll think of like a hundred ideas for it. I'll think of every variation

So are you obsessively reading Billboard and listening to music?

And I certainly used to. I haven't been that obsessive in the last couple of years. I'm kind of kind of slowing down a little bit. I'm looking at other projects, but in the thick of it, when I'm actively trying to figure out what are the parodies, Yeah, I'm listening to a top forty radio and definitely studying Billboard.

Well, I was going to say, like, you know, there's there's always as a musician and as a music fan, there's a point in life where you're actually gave aged in contemporary music culture, and then there's a point where you're like, you feel like, uh, I hate music now or not I hate music.

But it's well, I'll tell you you know, I like Top forty music. I like that, but uh, you know it's not my first choice. I mean, if I could listen to any radio station, I wouldn't automatically listen to the top twenty hits.

You know.

So whenever I was it wasn't that I was not enjoying it, but I kind of felt like I was on the clock, you know, I was working.

Yeah. I was going to say, does it make it harder for you? Now? Like if you hear something as insanely popular as bad and Boogie or Bowdak Yellow and you're like, Okay, I know this is this can be an instant viral moment for me, But am I really emotionally invested to it?

Would be interesting, though, Bodak that would be interesting weird out parody.

Yeah, well I'll consider all that.

They both wait, they both would be I think you said they both are parodies.

Well, I mean, what's what's your actual favorite type of music, like when you're just at home, Mostly like Viking songs and whaling music, you know, thank you, like thirteenth century stuff.

Wow, it's like Game of thro Oh no, that's contemporary.

That stuff's still better than pop music.

So that's while music was good?

Yeah, Like I don't particularly engage in the music that I make a living in. But you know, I mean, if I'm driving a car, I'm rather listening to jazz and something completely opposite, or at least to get inspired.

So I find I listened a lot to the music that I was listening to in high school and college. That's sort of like my comfort food of music. It's like, oh, remember, that's what I'm asking you. What what kind of stuff is that?

You know?

It's a lot of British invasion stuff, a lot of singer songwriter stuff from the seventies, like a lot of you know, the kind of the garage bands from the nineties kind of thing, the grunge movement, a lot of artists that are not necessarily comedy your novelty, but have a sense of humor and you know, alternative stuff.

What about your record collection? You still have your record collection from when you're a teenager?

You know that.

You know, I should have held onto all my vinyls. My my wife talked me into a you we got the c D like but I but I, but I want to stay married, so.

Damn yeah, they take up space.

It is.

The wife was coming. Sorry, So on the I guess the opposite side of the fence. Oh wait, before I get to even get to Michael Jackson, how important is it to you to sort of nurture relationships because I find that oftentimes if you go the traditional business route, Okay, I'm gonna parody, I'm gonna do something on Rod Stewart. Yeah, and then your manager calls their manager, the label calls it a label. Then usually it's like some red tape

Know, that sort of thing that happens a lot, you know, because sometimes it's just hard to get through to another artist. So if I ever have a direct connection, and I've used that several times, I mean that was I did that with Kurt Cobain, like, you know, you know, my manager couldn't get through to his, you know, their manager.

Wait that easy?

Well basically, and then I told my manager and I said, Kurt's fine with it. And then then his manager could call back their managers say, Kurt fine with that.

How did you pitch Kurt Cobain?

Well, this is a famous story. I talked him on the phone and this is their first time on Saturday Night Live. I'm not sure if he was in his right mind, but I was talking about the phone and I said, hey, curtis a word all Yankovic and I wanted to do. I want to do a parody of your song that smells like teen Spirit. And he goes, oh, that's cool. And then there's a kind of a pause and he goes, is it going to be about food?

He's a fan, yeah, yea.

And I said, well, no, that's actually about how nobody can understand your lyrics. And he goes, oh, yeah, sure, that's funny.

Wow.

He was a very cool guy. He actually wrote some very nice things about me and his journals. Remember when they published the journals, he wrote, ah, well, a humble bragger, but he wrote weird Al Yankovic is a modern rock genius.

You are I mean no, no, you are so you doing eat it in the at the height of Michael mania. I would think that it was actually easier to uh get permission from Prince at that time dude, than Michael Jackson. That was then Michael's like one of your most accommodating.

That was a real shot in the dark because you know, at the at that time, I certainly wasn't any you know, kind of household name. I was just this weird kid from LA that was making these stupid records and we thought, oh, maybe Michael Jackson will sign off on those, like ha ha ha. But mantra was you know, it never hurts to ask, you know, what's going to do?

Say no.

Uh So we put it out there and uh, I forgot forget how long it took.

But was it a thing or no? No, no.

I got to meet Michael after the pack a couple of times, but at the time it was sort of it was just sort of like, uh, okay, Michael signed off on it, and there is a contract I've I've got a copy of it with my signature next to Michael Jackson's signature saying that we are the co writers of Eat It.

Wow, that is cool, which, by the way, was one of the first records I ever owned.

Oh yeah, so uh, Scottie Brothers, were they seeing Dallas signs as in like let's do the video full scale or you know, how did you convince them to?

Well they had either Tiger money by this point, did they not survivor Yeah, so they had that, didn't you do?

I think you did?

Uh yeah, very yeah you did that on the second album as well. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, they're happy about that.

Yeah.

I think that was probably the same studio the Originals recorded in.

So that was nice. Oh wow.

Yeah.

And they also had James Brown.

Yeah, they had the it was the Unreal album. They had Gravity Yeah.

Yeah, gotta support those Scotti Brothers artists.

You know, Dan Harmon was happy.

Yeah.

So uh.

Who's what was the brain child?

Uh?

Kind of genesis of the edit video to go full scale on it?

Well? That was you know, that was that was in the days when people were obsessed with m t V. Were you know, if if a video is on heavy rotation, like Michael Jackson obviously was, you knew every minute detail of the video and it was very get a parody because all you had to do was recreate it and just tweak things just a little bit and it would be funny. And at the time it was my most you know, expensive video because my first video costs like

But how did you find the jacket? And how did you get Cheryl's in the video to buy a jacket?

And then you store At the time it was nineteen eighty four. Man, I was like, there were the Michael.

Jackson jiano tea you had on and all that.

That was the piano t We had to have an art director cookout for us. But then yeah, the jack was just off the rack, Like if you want to, you know, pay whatever. It was six hundred dollars to get a leather Michael Jackson jacket that could be had.

Who directed? Who do you know who directed the video?

I do that was my manager, Jay Levy, Hey is everywhere. Yeah, he was making his directorial debut. I mean I story boarded it out and figured out the shots and then I said, here, Jay, you deal with this.

I was impressed that you had Cheryl's song in the video, the the long haired Asian woman from Soul Train. Oh yeah, who heard her hair head comes off? Whatever? Wait? Was that wasn't? Uh? It was Michael wasn't actual head?

No?

No, no, I'm trying to figure if you got Michael Peters.

Yeah, is that his name?

No? No, Michael Peters was the choreographer, well, the one of.

The choreographersons and what was gosh, I'm going a blankht his name was? It sounds like Peterson?

Must he was the original white jacket.

Yeah, he was the original guy.

Yeah that Michael, Michael Peter, Michael Peters. It was the white jacket.

Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's him.

That was him.

How we asked him, he said, Okay, damn, how much is.

The original beat it video? Callt y'all think?

I think? Well, I know Billy Jean was sixty five. It was still under one hundred thousan was it really?

Wow?

Yeah? It was under Yeah, I mean Thriller it was a million, but I know Billy Jean was sixty five and and beat it was like eighty five half the price under yeah, like slightly under hundred. Yeah.

We had to recreate the barroom scene and if you have the thing, we looked for the original locations, but it was all uh they all had the pool. Yeah, that was just a set on stage.

Wow, man, great, congrats on the details.

Man.

Actually, my favorite thing about your repertoire is your polka methleys. And I'll say that the first time that I saw you, not on Solid Gold or or MTV the Tonight Show, I don't know if you did you did poke yeah, yeah, ye dog. That was the most jaw dropping. That's when I started buying your albums, like you were just the weird out guy and like, oh, the eaty guy whatever, you know. But when I saw that, it that was fun.

I remember that we had to have the actual Tonight Show band playing the horn section behind if they had all the charts.

Yeah. So that's the thing, like you're not just the parody guy, like you're these arrangements and and just the clever nuances of like how you do on a lonely heart with the clarinet arra stuff. Are you notating this stuff on on scoring it or oh?

Yeah, absolutely? I mean now I use notation software, but at the back, back then in the day, I just would print out, uh you know, I wouldn't even print out to go. I'd use the uh you know, the staffs and just write it with with pencils right on there.

Okay, you can help me and Steve out on this because I'm so okay, uh when you do uh the bang your head man, Yeah, okay. The what is the the hornhunk? That's what is that called. We we were looking for it for least a half hour. It's a.

That's called the bulb horn. So it has a rubber the rubber thing squeezed.

I was going through every like every time I couldn't google, like I was. I was, oh god, I was looking for her right for the longest.

And but that sounds pretty good.

I mean that was really sounds like a horn that actually sounded. And there's small there's different sized ones too. Yeah, obviously big one, really big one.

One. Yeah, Because I was going to go full scale with the theme and do the sound effects. But I wasted almost a half hour. It was four in the morning. It's like going through every horn. Man.

Yeah, you know, I have a question before you move on. You're moving on from eat It, so on eat It.

Even though it's a parody song, it seemed like you were taking the acting and the choreography and everything real seriously. And I was wonderfing. I was wondering how long it took you to to, you know, put on all that weight, to do that, to do the part that was a different video. I'll get back to when we're talking about fat.

Yes, all right, let's go to Derby. I was trying to make a joke.

That you actually gained the weight but ship.

Salads and I, you know, hit the ball.

No, I'm not hitting the bullhorn, but I am some wizo.

That's supposed to be when I say something.

Actually, was there to be stupid? Your first national tour?

I think I think that there. We did a national tour in eighty four, which is kind of funny because

Wait was this so syndicated? It was?

He was nationally syndicated.

Yeah. Really.

He did a live show at Kamie Tea in Los Angeles, and then he did a separate show syndicated out of Westward One, which went to I forget how many markets, but but all over the country.

Okay, so was there? I mean after just talk about the pressure of life after eat it? Well, you became known as the eat It guy? Right, how did one? How did life change? I think I saw a raw footage of you even at the Purple Rain premiere?

Right?

Was that? Was that a star moment for you? It's like Eddie Murphy came in, then Mars Day, then Weird Al Yankovic and you have this whole like, I'm just happy to be here.

I think you said, Yeah, everybody knew Prince could act, but who knew he could sing?

So?

How how different was life after? Because you you captured lightning in the bottle, like even you know your video made Soul Train. Oh yeah, that was my favorite introduction darker news is And now this is the closest that we will ever get to Michael Jackson. This is weird Al yank and eat it. Oh man, I was like, Wow, weird Al is on Soul Train. That's amazing.

Well, I mean, the biggest change was that it was really, in the true sense of the word overnight fame. I mean, you hear about overnight things like that, and uh, it really was overnight. I mean that the day that uh ed, it went into heavy rotation on MTV, which is several times a day. You know, people were recognizing me on the streets. I'd be in the line at a fast food or restaurant and people be staring at me like

Would you look like weird Al Yankovic even off duty? Like were you always in Hawaiian shirts?

I've always liked Hawaiian shirts, but certainly, certainly after I've gained some notoriety, I kind of dressed down a bit more in public. I tryed it to be too loud or.

Garish, started wearing hats, and I never, I never.

You know, went into the big disguises because then people are like, oh, what's weird I'll do when we're like a dark hat and dark glasses.

Wow? Uh So, how how our heart was it adjusting to a follow up record?

Like?

Was it? Is there such a thing as writer's black for you know, for doing parody records?

Or oh? Yeah, I mean every every album I started out with writer's block because like, oh, what I'm gonna do now? Like, because like, you know, you don't want to keep repeating yourself, and you know you want to still be funny, and but you don't want to like kind of rely on the same tropes and memes and devices that you use before. You want to try to find different ways to be funny.

But how is it that you don't want to be pigeonholed as the comedian parody guy when you're the comedian parody guy.

Well, I'm not saying I didn't want to be the comedian parody guy. I mean I knew that parodies were bread and butter, and I enjoyed doing them, and it was I was wasn't trying to get away from that. I just didn't want to, like, you know, it kind of horrified me when my record label put out a compilation called the Food Album. Here's all else about food? Maybe I should write so many songs about food?

You know, I was going to say, were they coming to you like, okay, like you know, do more you know food songs?

Well? No, they were basically you know the thing about Scotti brothers. They were wonderful to me, but every fourth quarter they'd go, you know, we could really use some money for a bottom line. We're gonna put out a compilation album like really another one, like here's all of Al's songs. They begin with the letter are.

That already so soon? There's like two records in you already held?

But I'll tell you after two records, I don't think they weren't talking about the greatest pits after two records, but they were saying, like, how about a Christmas album?

Like really, I don't think so.

No, you know, they're looking for any way to quickly cash in because they didn't know that I'd still be around, you know, you know, thirty years later they were thinking like, okay, you know, here's our cash car. Let's milk it.

Right. So on the opposite side of the fence were there artists now giving you elevator pitches on how to turn their songs into weirdolse songs.

By this point, I won't mention any names. It happened. No, no, no, no, I don't mean, but well, I've had people more often more than giving me pitch, they would say like, when you're gonna get rounded doing one of my songs?

Wow, this is almost like a sign like you made it when yeah, yeah, if he covers his stuff like yeah, you've officially arrived.

Yeah.

I think when I met Paul McCarney for the first I mean he off handedly said that. I think he was kind of joking, but still, you know, it kind of blew my mind.

Did he tell you the scrambled eggs story? No, but I didn't know that one. Okay, I was.

I was the first original for Yesterday. Yeah, that was his original lyrics.

Right, yeah, scrambled eggs.

Baby, hell, I love your legs whatever.

Yeah. So I know that the Dare to be Stupid tour for anyone that I know that, and to you that was I really truly wish I'd seen this tour.

That's the one Jimmy always talked for.

Yeah yeah, but no, I know, like ten other people they're like, you know, the there to be stupid to like what exactly happened on this tour that just changed these people's lives. Not sure.

I mean every every tour got bigger and better up until event I kind of felt kind of green, and I think it kind of all clicked into place on there to be stupid, because I've some YouTube videos of me and concert in nineteen eighty four versus nineteen eighty five, and there's definitely something that happened to like happened to my confidence between those two years, because eighty four I just seem a little manic and desperate, and in eighty five I kind of, you know, feel like, Okay, I

Here I go.

So there's probably something to that that the performances just felt a little bit more, you know on point.

Okay, I want to go to Poka party and break down your harmony game on Here's Johnny. Oh wow, yeah, no, it's it's it's some serious shit, like you, I know, you think that like these small minuscule things are like over people's heads or whatever. No, but it's really art to.

It, like all about the minuscule things.

How But you're you're self produced, correct? Yeah?

I am now with the first six albums or Rick Derricter, so he was officially producing.

At that time. Okay, do you I mean what was the give and go relationship on that? Was he just like do what you do out and I'll just well he wasn't that. It's like when you and the movies, like you know that sort of thing.

Yeah, I mean, I mean he was in charge of the sound. I was walking in with all the arrangements and things like that, and you know, Rick wasn't saying we should have clarinet's here. It is sort of like you know, that was that was my gig and he would just make sure that that he he was sort of like the director. He made sure that everything that I did sounded as good as possible in the studio.

And matching, like for matching the patches and stuff like is that you are you sizers? Yeah? Are you actively going after these like same keyboards and the same drums and those sort of things.

And within reason?

Yeah? I mean you know.

Oftentimes, if we have access to the original band or the original band members will contact them and say, what were the pickups on that guitar or what did you you know, use for this particular thing.

Uh.

Sometimes, especially if it's an odd sample, we'll try to figure out where that came from and see if we can license that as well. So that's not all the time. Sometimes we just wing it, but whenever we can, we like to be as uh, you know, as official as possible.

Have you have you ever not blacked out but had a great idea that you just couldn't make funny? You you know, like you had a great title for line of Richies all night long, but you couldn't.

I'm a pretty good judge of knowing if an idea has potential, So if it might be some ideas might be funny for like a throwaway gag, but they won't be you know, funny for three minutes. So that and sometimes in concert I would do a medley of those kind of songs where like there's basically just one gag to it, like oh here she comes, she's a spam eater, Thank you good night, you know, and and that's sort of like there's really not a whole lot more to

How many were these the Grammys that you won? Were they for comedy recordings or for polka or.

They were comedy? They were different ones though, the first one was for Comedy Recording, and that was an odd category because it was singles competing against albums, which it seemed like apple and orgous to me. But that's how they did it back they how really yeah, because they eat it one. They eat it single and one against like Rodney Dangerfield album and Eddie Murphy's album like how do how do you really?

I think I might have Sorry, it depends. How could it be? How could it be? The singing album? Yeah? That was a comedy record?

Was uh?

Then eighty The next one was eighty eight, and that was for Better Concept Music Video, which was a category that I think only lasted a few years. But I won that for fat for Best Concept Music Video, which I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I got to win the Grammy. Then I won for Best Comedy Album for Poodle Hat in two thousand and three and for Mandatory Fun.

A couple of years ago. We year did UHF come out eighty nine? Okay, so that's after even worse. Yeah. Yeah, I was about to say by this point, where other avenues calling you to do certain things as far as like television.

Well, since you brought that up, you know, I had to make a very hard call talking about a UHF. The summer of nineteen eighty eight is when we were scheduled to shoot my movie UHF. And that was also when Michael Jackson wanted me to open Foreman as the European tour.

Wait what what? Yeah? We got? I got He was really a fan of yours. Yeah, yeah, he liked it.

He liked the whole thing.

I mean past like I'm really flat about my music. I mean like, did he buy your records? And did he laugh at he?

He tells me he used to show UHF at the Neverland Ranch to his guests. He told me, well, when we did the fat video, that was actually Michael Jackson's set. He actually let us use his set to shoot that video.

Off that you went to Hoyt and skimmer Horn Inland.

Now, that's because it was great because that that set was built in Culver City and it was for the kids. Remember he did like the baby bad when he did the Moon video. So the set was like at nine tenth scale to make the kids look a little bigger. But also great for the fat video because I made the fat Yeah, sooth that set? Yep, yeah, wait a minute, because we knew the set was still there and they're about to tear it down and we're like, no, no, no,

Old boy from House Party made me some dig great. Ludy Washington, Yeah, yeah, ding dong Man.

Yeah, Ludy was great. He was also in the in UHF in the movie he played the cameraman of that really yeah, oh man, so funny.

Loudy Washington.

Yeah, you don't remember from like the Robert Towns in Speciality.

Yeah, but I didn't. You guys. You two are the we read credits and we read the line of notes that sort of thing. Were you hesitant to revisit Michael Jackson a second time around? Or was it just too irresistible a little bit.

I mean it was sort of low hanging fruit. But at the same time, it's sort of like Michael Jackson was, so you know, I'm the president in the eighties, it was sort of like, you know, how could you not do Michael? If I didn't do you know, a parody on Bad, people were like, how can we're not doing that bad?

Or I'm bad.

It's sort of like and and that was one of those cases where, uh, you know, like I said, usually I think like a hundred different variations on a theme and I like analyze it to death. But I remember the first time I saw the the Bad video, saw the World premiere, and before the video is even over, I said, I'm doing fat It's gotta be fatting. Yeah, Like you're gonna have these huge people trying to get through a turnstyle only quite get through.

It's gonna be great. Nothing.

I must have been watching You must have been watching world premiere videos back then.

Oh yeah, Like you had to stay on top of the zeitgeist.

So as far as Turnaround is concerned, like it's the same that the Internet wasn't around back in the eighties for you to turn things over in record times, So for you, was there sort of an expiration date on ideas like I have to have this out within the next four months.

Or yeah, I mean, I mean cause it's like a two month turnaround between like having the master done and having a record in stores. And they sometimes they can, if they really want to, they can bump it a couple of weeks, but it's still like, certainly more than a month.

Uh.

And that's if you have an album done, Like if I have a if I want to do a parody, and the album's like not even close to being finished, it's like, well, this isn't gonna come out for several months, which is why I generally, you know, the way I usually do it is I record an entire album except for one track, and I wait for what I perceived to be like, yeah, the big one, like here's a big single, here's a big video, but and the rest of the album just sort of like in the can waiting to go.

Oh, so all the other non parody ideas get.

Right right, uh, and and hopefully those those are all songs that you know, uh, people will still remember and they'll still be funny. But but back then the things have changed nowadays, but back then it really was all about here's a single driving the album because you know, uh, regardless of whether radio got behind it, MTV would would play it. And you know, if you had a big hit on MTV, you had a big hit album, what.

In your concert? What is your unlikely? Uh, I'm gonna see this. You're you're a free bird, Like, what's the what's the the non single? There was one song that we actually did on the show that I was shocked at Jimmy because I wanted to do uh hooked on Poker. But then thankfully I realized that song was way too complex for a Stephen to even conquer it. But I forgot the It's a slow song that's on either someone drowns Now, got to look it up.

But is a ballad?

Yeah, it's a ballad?

Is it you Don't Love Me Anymore? No?

No, it hang it's hang on. It's definitely on Drey to be stupid song, but as a sort of twisted not is it a parody?

No?

No, no, no, no it isn't. It's Oh god, I hate this moment. I'm having a brain for it because we rehearsed it in the we did it as an Internet extra song.

Oh you mean good old Days? Yes, oh that was off of even worse.

Okay, yeah, good old Like what is what is your your free bird? When people are yelling like what's a fan favorite?

There's not just like one song. I mean there's not like one song everybody's into. There's like a half a dozen parodies that that are sort of like the big hits that that people basically come to expect. In terms of original songs. I think probably the biggest fan favorite is there to be Stupid, and that's maybe partly because he was used in the original Transformers movie and people have affection for that.

Yeah, yeah, so for you, I guess as well. I want to get to the Coolio's scenario. I was gonna say, besides Coolil, was there anyone that had indifference to the to a cover that they previously approved but then they didn't like or not really?

I mean, I've never after somebody who's approved the parody. I've never heard back afterwards that they were disappointed.

I think.

Well that I heard on behind the music. I think Flea was like not that thrilled with a red hot Chili Peppers. Praider is like, yeah, it was okay.

Yeah, wait which song it was about? The Flintstones. Yeah, I love that.

He he didn't dislike it was sort of like a math.

Yeah, but you know, I mean, once you're covered, then you're you know, you're immortalized. You're super immortalized. So for you, what is what's the the daily preparation of your band and your tour and that sort of.

Thing, like, well, there's no like, you know, typical day, you know, my my life at home and my life on the road or completely different realities. And uh uh when I'm on tour, I basically try not to use my voice up I can help it, because I've gotten learyingitis. I totally lost my voice on tour before, and that's not pleasant because if you lose your voice, I mean really, the only cure is not talking for a week, and you can't do that if you have to do a

So do you turn off the air conditioning on stage? No? No, no, no, no, that's that's a Marintha frame.

People. Now, I don't want to make the whole world uncomfortable. I just you know, just the back of the bus.

Oh okay, I see, as far as your h the ritual of I'm having a brain fart moment right.

Now, can you make that fart sound with you?

No?

The uh damn. The as far as your your your your sets are concerned, and because I know now it's you do these elaborate changes and all those things like how full scale is are your concert performances?

Well, they have been very full scale. I mean I could love to get you out to a show sometime, but it was you know, it becomes sort of like almost like a like a Broadway show in that there's costumes and props and uh, everything was timed out to the second. Like you know, I do a big song with full costumes, and then we play a video on a big screen on stage, which is just long enough for us to write backstage and do a costume change

So when you're saying no hits, so you won't be doing teen Spirit or eat It or do you, we still do eat it in concert.

Yeah, yeah, not the whole song, but part of a medley.

Yeah, okay, so it's just strictly the non parody things or.

Yeah, we might throw in a couple of surprises, but you you should definitely not come to the tour expecting to hear the hits because it's really all about the stuff that nobody wants to hear. I want to do an audience displeasing show.

Okay, well, I mean, well, I'm not saying Costello did that, but he did the.

Wheel. Yeah, yeah, that was very cool.

Yeah, my friend just told me to do a cover of a radio radio.

You know, we do that whenever something screws up, which didn't happen hardly at all in the last tour, but there were some tours where we were having problems with the computer server. And the computer server you know, does the video and it does whatever click tracks we're using, and it's an integral part of the show, and if there's a hiccup or if something goes wrong, you know,

I get it. You don't change the words to computer, just a straight version.

How extensive will the tour be?

Uh, We're we're doing like seventy five seventy six dates. The show Emo Phillips is opening for us, which is Woo. So he's doing half an hour. My band was doing like ninety minutes, and Uh, it's gonna be. I'm really looking forward to it and I'll get to it. We want to really intimate vibe. It's gonna be. I want it to be kind of like a hanging out in your living room vibe, you know, like like everybody in the in the audience just sort of in your living room.

You're trying to challenge yourself a little bit. Is that arable your tours? Is it just national for the United States or.

It's a world tour? Playing Canada too, I've.

Ever done other Like how do you fare in other countries?

Canada very well?

All right, Saskatchewan? Yeah, yeah, Yeah.

Australia is a good market for US. We played there three or four times. Uh, And and pockets of Europe. We did a couple of small European tours and I definitely have some fans over there, But North America is really the main market.

When was the moment that you knew since you you dive into so many genres, like at this point, you're a treasure to all kinds of communities, all kinds of music. Was there a moment when you knew it and you felt it like, oh, I'm not like the other kids.

I can do this, I can do that.

I can go here like before my career, like during your career.

Yeah, because you I mean from hip hop to country to good to pop to rock to grunge. Yeah, and nobody says no, you don't belong here. Everybody is like he's ours.

It's hard to say. I mean I first kind of felt the fame during the you know, the N three D and edit days. But I don't think I really kind of felt like the mass acceptance until about ten years ago, because people kept waiting for me to go away, like, oh, weird All was still hanging around. What's he doing here? I checked up because everybody thought, you know, that I was just some kind of phase that you know, people

Nah, seriously, no, this is like a direct You're a direct link to my childhood, like straight up, like just everything. When you did the Amish Paradise, First off, where did that idea come from?

Dude?

Well, it's funny. I I was trying to think of an idea for for for Gangster's Paradise and uh and uh. When I as soon as the thought Amish Paradise came into my mind, I thought the idea was so good it made me depressed. I thought that was perfect because like the Amish lifestyle is the is diametrically opposed the

Come on, whose idea was it? I don't know who directed it.

The scene where all the sweat is pouring off your.

Head I directed the video?

Oh god, yeah, because that was.

Something that I always noticed in the original Singer l V where he was sweating.

Yeah, and then to see I was like, yo, he caught it too.

Her conditioning and Florence Henderson, yes, yes, was she like your first? Just what was the approach to her and.

How did you get her to In all truth, we did ask Michelle fire for first, because she was okay, and then I obviously Florence Henderson gets all the work that Michelle Fifer turns down. So we went to her second, and she was amazing. She was like, you know, she really was into it. She was like sucking in her cheeks, like Michelle, just really really going for it.

What was the what was the issue and what was Coolio's problem with the song?

And how did that even get to be a thing, because did you have to approve it from him first or did you have to approach him first to put the song?

Yeah?

I mean, like I said, I always get permission. And unfortunately I'll never to this day know really what happened because it's it's very he said she said kind of thing. My record label at the time told me that they talked to Coolio and that he okayd uh. And then after the fact, uh, you know, Coolia made a public statements saying that he never approved it and that he

I fell some type of way. But t I he was cool.

Yeah, no, he was great.

Yeah, tell me about the the t F hitch. And I'm sure he was over the roof because he probably is like us. He's a child, he was a child and fan of viewers.

But I'm not sure about that. I mean, I don't have a really personal story about that. That was one of those kind of things where like I told my manager why wanted to do, and he contacted t I S people and it came back that he was cool with it.

Damn, I wonder what your percentage rate is of that.

I will say that was part of my pitch to uh familiona no no, no A fancy.

H yourself fancy Uh, I can't remember.

I'm blanking yes no no, no no, no, Ziggy, I'm so big sorry, I'm so sorry.

So we forgot it.

But but that was that was one where I couldn't I couldn't get permission through their management. Uh, we weren't getting through and and the I was like one song away from finishing mandatory fun and I wanted to do uh my period of fantasy because fantasy was sort of like the song of the Summer, like I just you know we have a release date. I want to record this, but we don't have permission, and nobody was getting through.

Do a pretty good Does she know who you were?

I think so. I think it's hard to say, but I think so.

And she said, well, just so loose to me that I wouldn't imagine that I wouldn't.

She said, you know, i'd have to see the lyrics first, and I said, well, actually happened to happen. And I put them in front of her, and while she was reading it, I said, you know, t I was cool with it. That was because you know.

That the most extreme that you had to travel to get it might be.

I mean, yeah, I don't think I've ever gotten on a plane to get permission them from somebody before.

But wait, but wait, because as I'm looking at this video for Tacky, I'm like, so and the other people that you had My man from Modern Family and Eric.

Stones Street and Jack Black and Kristin Shaw and Margaret Show.

When you asked them, I'm sure they were like, hell fucking yeah, I'm sorry, but right like, tell me what was there?

Yeah, I mean I was kind of went through my address book and I picked some of my friends and and everybody that was available on that day. We're happy to do it. That was the most fun I've ever had doing a video. It was just such a blouch. I mean, that was what we got done so quickly. I was almost sad. It was like, I wish you could do this all night long. This was so fun.

That's dope.

How did you approach doing the r Kelly Trapped in the Man? Because that was I mean, that was one of the moments I'll say, like you've been Because I'm a person, I work. I do a lot of work like in TV, and I do like musical parodies and stuff for shoor whatever. And the thing that I think listen to your music has taught me is that in order for something to be funny, it has to be good. Like so if you're gonna parody something, you've gotta really be singing it, and like you really gotta go. You's

Trapp drive through. That's what.

Trapped in the Closet is a song that is probably a parody in itself.

So for you to do it, like what what is it?

Well, yeah, that was a tough one to do because that was one of those things. Trapped in the Closet was just such a monumental composition. It was sort of like, you know, it was such a thing that again it was sort of like, you know, if Riddell doesn't do anything with this, like what what's he thinking? But at the same time, it's it was so weird anyway, like

Man, Nah, you you definitely you know that that shit was hilarious.

I haven't quite figured out how this idea but would work. But have you ever considered doing a duet's album? I was gonna ask, have you ever did any collaborations?

Not as such, I mean that my first single was sort of a duet with because I did a song called Ricky, which was me being Ricky Ricardo. I thought, no, no, no, that was Tress McNeil, who now is like one of the most famous voiceover artists in the world. I mean she's on Animaniac, she's on Simpsons, I mean she's like

Trusts getting backstage paper and yeah.

It was one of those kind of things. And she came in. She was great, and she played Lucy in the video as well. That's the same person that does it on the record, And unfortunately she couldn't tour with us, so whenever, you know, it was kind of weird because during that first tour, our big single, we couldn't do live, so we basically just played the video. I think back then it was like on a sixteen millimeter projector like

That's the costume change time. Yeah, said Terry Bozio did it with friend Zappa.

Anything that happen you ever think of doing other not that I would assume to have known that you haven't, but other genres. There any other genres that you would like to dip into?

Like, is there a reggae weird there is? I mean I've covered most of the there's I'm sure there's something I haven't yet, but yeah, I did a reggae song called buy Me a Condo. It's sort of like a Bob Marley ish kind of like a like a like a Jamaican yuppie song.

And some of the new genres I was about to say, you wrapped you have you wrapped your head around trap music yet? And mumble culture?

So some some genres are a little bit harder to uh to parody because there there's not enough uh words. Raw materiy, Yeah, like eight m would be fun to do, but you know, you can't be too repetitive, or.

Maybe you could just do poka covers of them that's true to what I do, Like you know depasito you know, yes, yes, yes, yeah, I would like to on according.

And like no payoff when you get to the top, no dry Yeah, I would love that. Have you ever have there been any pitches for you to do uh like kids shows or children's show? Yeah.

I did a children's show in the late nineties called The Weird Al Show on CBS. It was like ninety ninety seven, ninety eight something like that. But yeah, it was on for one season, thirteen shows.

I was also twenty six years old.

Yeah, show you weren't the chord?

Yeah, I'll tell you what TV show I would like to see back, come back, and that's ALTV.

Oh thank you.

Yeah, I used to love those specials. It used to be like almost one Like whenever you put put out a.

New album, it was a people some people, I used to watch your old series like it wasn't a series or like a special that I would be like every year, every whatever, I had an album to promote. Really, uh, but MTV would play play them a lot.

Yeah, those are brilliant. To interviews, the fake interviews, Yeah, I used to those.

Take levels of interviews out of context and play as sorts of random, weird videos. I mean that was back in the day, you know, when MTV would, uh, first of all, they play videos like this, Yeah.

I'm proud he interviewed Prince where you know Prince did someone? Oh yeah, yeah, hey could you do your like this? Prince?

What do you think about this beach ball? It's multi colored and it's very fun. It's just just stuff like that. But yeah, I mean that was in the days when MTV kind of you know, was free formed. They're very gorilla and to some extent they didn't care. They're like, oh, well, you've got this four hours just do whatever you want. I would I did whatever I wanted for four hours.

And I would watch all four hours.

They gave me no money, but they said do whatever you want and and and UH kind of went nuts.

It was like, I said, I love those questions. How come you didn't pursue more movies after Uh?

I would have liked to have done more movies, but the crushing failure of my first movie kind of dampened every.

But it's almost why do you think it failed? I mean it was funny, I mean, why do you think it didn't?

Yeah, it's hard to say. I mean, critics, you know, generally hated it. Ciskel and Ebra thought I was the anti christ I think, and it came out. You know, this is sort of an excuse, but it's it's also true. It came out in the middle of one of the biggest blockbuster summers ever. So it came out while you know, Batman and Lethal Weapon and honeyt Shrunk the Kids and Do the Right Thing, and you know, a bunch of stuff was out at the same time. So it would have done a lot better if it had come out

No, it definitely has that.

When was Ala Palooza, uh.

Nineteen ninety three?

I have an autographed copy of that CD? Somehow cool?

Somehow? So do you often meet I mean the way that like cats come up to me like, yo, man, God's been if you bars well? You know, like people are always trying to I'm certain that every night there's someone that when you're doing in stores and autographs and of the like, that someone saying like, hey, the new you or that sort of thing.

Like they they always try to give me ideas like you know, what you should do? And it's always some awful parody idea that they thought of in the third grade. But they were just waiting for their chance to meet me. You know, tell them this a great idea, how do you parody from the eighties that it'll see great?

How do you laugh?

And moretfully, Oh yeah, that's not answers. I'll get right to work on that.

They want to do that. No, No, no, I member people that meet you and say that you know, I too want to be in the same because the thing is is like there's one weird out and you've literally shut you shut it down for anyone trying to come. I mean there's some like morning shows that do you know things on radio.

But the thing is, nowadays there's YouTube, there's avenues for people to get their stuff out there. When when I started, it was sort of a mystery, like how do you penetrate this black box of you know of on TV? And then it was, you know a little bit harder to navigate.

You have like high humor and your level of humor and your pinning game is past just you know, twisting a verb, a nown and a verb. Yeah. So it's it's like, are you have you thought about like, is there anyone out there like that you like to produce that's the next weird hour?

Gosh, why the next word?

You know?

Coming up? I mean there's a lot of people that do funny music. I love Lonely Island, Tenacious, Deep of the Concord, and there's a lot of people doing great, great comedy stuff. As far as coming up, you know, I don't know, there's a lot of funny people, uh on YouTube. Brandy Rainbow is really funny. You know, I I don't know about producing other other acts. I mean i'd be I'd entertained that idea, I guess, but I don't know. Well we'll see on that one.

America. Can you tell the story or why don't you tell the story about the Dyla sample with the.

Oh no, no, no, no, with no it's yeah, you're thinking of accordion, Yeah exactly.

I don't even know what I'm.

Asking, but yeah, yeah, no, one of my favorite momes. Do you ever wash you? It actually made pitchwork, which is weird. It's like the nicest thing Pitchwork said about me twenty thirteen. No you you you playing uh uh accords accordion, which you know that that was brilliant.

No, but you're not telling the like for the listeners like me who don't really know.

But wasn't no, no, no, it wasn't a weird ol song. It's just that when Weird Out came on the Tonight Show, he has an Accordian. I was like, yo, we have to do Uh what was the project Mall Villain? The Mad Villain cover of Accordion, which is basically a song that's looped over in according Actually what I found that loop. Yeah, it's it is wow.

Do you know what they're talking about?

I do, absolutely.

He was there with me.

I kind of jammed on that for all. I gotta tell you, man that some of my favorite times of my life are just hanging backstage with the roots and playing you guys, didn't.

I see you one year like a roots jam? Like when it the Grammy thing? I swear I saw him one year in l A at a roots jam.

You came inside of a roots.

Jam every year month.

You Oh wow, Yeah, a couple of years.

So I have a question, So did you end up doing ten records for Scotti Brothers or or what actually happened to Scotty?

But I feel like they're tied up in the river.

Scotty Brothers also owned I think All American and Broadcasting, which owned Baywatch, so they they're sitting on a pile of money somewhere. I don't think they're a record label anymore.

Or No No.

But in just thirty two short years I was able to fulfill my contracts.

You're still quote on the label no No.

I fulfilled it when I when I delivered the last album and that was it. They wanted to uh to reassign me, which is very nice, and they made a very generous offer. But after being under contract for so long, I just really kind of wanted to be a free agent, not beholden to anybody. I hate the idea of just owing people stuff. You know, I just I don't you know, I just just want don't want to have that kind of pressure hanging over me.

Do you know who Richard Cheese is?

Sure? Yes, Mark Davis, have you?

That's I mean, I'm starting to figure out, like who's the then who's the closest person that could that has a following?

Yeah, mar Mark does sort of like with lounge music what I do with polgar music. He does like, you know, the hits of the day, like in his kind of like small too Biggest Lounge.

What is the Latter day tupac to your Latter Day Biggie.

He's an old friend.

I went to school with Sugar Dite. Yeah. Wow.

What what other labels did you end up being on a BMG or something?

Yeah, BMG and some version of CBS and EPIC and RCA and Volcano Records, and you know, and you know they're even even one of.

Those sounding labels.

Yeah, even when it was on the same label, sometimes they change their name or they'd add some subsidiary, and you know, I've probably been on a dozen different label imprints over my career.

How how how did it feel because your last album actually went to number one? Correct? How surreal was that that you're you had the number one pop album?

It blew my mind, it really did, because you know, it was basically unprecedented that the UH never before had a comedy album debut a number one military fund right, yeah, Midlistry fund and and and the last time a comedy album even reached number one was in nineteen sixty three. That was Alan Sherman. But back in the early sixty I mean, you know, comedy albums go to number one all the time. Alan Truman had three number one albums and Bob Newhart won like the Album of the Year

That's weird.

So you have to do a parody of one of your songs, that's possible the world the section, that's crazy.

Oh h thank you for doing this for us.

It's such a pleasure, man.

They're such fans of yours. Congratulation, thank you on a tour, Yes.

All those things, Yes, I also have to come back into my roll call. I wasn't lying when I said that was one of the top ten shows I've ever seen in my entire life. How were you when you see I was in my twenties, it was I was in college at the time, and it was like maybe ninety nine, two thousands or something like.

That, and running with a Scissors store made Yeah, I think it was.

Yeah, yeah, And like I considered myself a fan, but I didn't really realize how many of your songs I knew until I saw you before them all back to back to back to even sitting.

Here just talking. I was like, damn, he did do that one. Yeah. It was like, yeah, it's like, oh man, I forgot about that one.

I forgot And then I started realizing, yeah, I remember the lyrics too, and so I'm just like, I'm a bigger weird, weird out fan than I thought I was, you know. And so like after that, I started really going back deeper and deeper into the catalog and it was just yeah.

Well, you know, I'm still going through my raid all phase.

Damn.

Now you know my first show is going to be the you should go Like I saw this man was hopping around on one leg with the other leg behind his head.

It was amazing. It was amazing. Yes, can I still do that? You still got it?

Wow?

Be careful, that is ship done.

Wow an old man.

Wow.

The one of the most bones removed, you know.

Wow.

Yeah.

One of the most entertaining shows I've ever seen the entire life. Wow, that's amazing. Anyway, how do you describe that what we just seen?

Got? We got photo? We'll post it up on contortionist Alan Convic Yeah, so on behalf of Sugar Steve and Boss Bill and fan Tickelo and it's like, yeah, we thank you very much for coming on the show.

Pleasure.

I can't wait to finally see you in concert the deep cuts. Maybe we'll just do one of the hits for the encore, just for me. This course, Love of the Quest, Love Supreme, and we will see you over the next go around. Thank you. Course.

Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.