Ravinia 2019, Issue 4, Week 7

Though it’s not a legal requirement, Yankovic always seeks permission from the original artist before doing a parody as a personal rule. After an apparent misunderstanding with “Amish Paradise,” his parody of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” (itself a version of Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise”)—reportedly the label approved, but at the time Coolio did not—Yankovic now gets permission directly from the artist whenever possible. (The tale has a happy ending: Coolio now embraces and enjoys the parody.) What can Ravinia-goers expect from your Strings Attached show? is is our biggest show ever, and probably a once-in-a-lifetime event. I’ll be on stage with the same band that I’ve had since the very beginning, and we’ll be doing our normal high-production show with a giant video wall, costumes, and props. But for the rst time we’re traveling with female background singers, and we’ll be backed by a full symphony orchestra. I got the idea a few years ago when I played a couple of shows with the Hollywood Bowl Orches- tra. e sound coming from the stage was so unbelievable that I wanted to do a full tour like that. Usually, artists with extensive catalogs are expected to stick to the hits. But last year, you did your Ridiculously Self-In- dulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, which focused on your original material, and the fans came out and supported you. at kind of bond doesn’t just happen overnight. Could you comment about this wholly unique fellowship? I’m always so amazed and grati ed by the support of my fans—it’s overwhelming sometimes. I’ve been around long enough that I always have several generations of fans out in the audience. Some follow me around the country like I’m the Grate- ful Dead. I’ve met dozens of people with “Weird Al” tattoos. It blows my mind. As much as they love me, I love them right back. Did you grow up in a musical household? My dad once bought an old guitar for at a garage sale even though he had no idea how to play it. He would sometimes strum it tunelessly and sing at the top of his lungs. So I don’t think I got my musicality from him, but that’s perhaps where I got my shamelessness. e story goes that your parents bought you an accordion from a door-to-door salesperson when you were six. I’m sure I wasn’t begging my parents for ac- cordion lessons, but I probably also didn’t realize how patently uncool the accordion was at the time. I assume I just went with the ow. Of course, that decision wound up being a good thing for me, because it made me stand out from the crowd. How did you come across the Dr. Demento radio show? A junior-high-school friend of mine told me, ‘Hey, you have to check out this weird radio show on Sunday nights.’ A er I heard it, I was hooked. I had found my people . at radio show changed my entire life in a very dramatic way. What other comedy in uences did you have growing up? Did MAD magazine loom large in the Yankovic household? My comedy in uences were the people I was exposed to on the Dr. Demento show: Allan Sherman, Tom Lehrer, Spike Jones, Stan Freberg, Monty Python, Frank Zappa. When I was very young, I loved watching all the dopey prime-time sitcoms—all the Sherwood Schwartz stu [ Gilligan’s Island ]. And Laugh-In ; any comedy show, real- ly. And I can’t overstate the in uence that MAD magazine had on me. It altered the DNA in my brain. I started collecting as many back-issues as I could. is is in the pre-internet days, so I had to beg my mom to drive me around town from used book- store to used bookstore to see if they had any in their storage rooms. When I was on the cover (and guest editor!) of MAD for one of their issues a couple years ago, that was de nitely a high point of my life. You’ve called yourself a prototypical nerd growing up. So the late ’ s passed with no teenage rebellion? I wasn’t the “lashing out” kind of teenager. I was more the ‘quietly withdrawing into my- self ’ kind of teenager. [I am an only child and] my parents loved me dearly, but I was probably slightly resentful at times because they were so overprotective. I graduated from high school and started college at age , so I guess my rebellion was just getting out of the house and living on my own at a very early age. Can you listen to the radio just for plea- sure, or is there a part of your brain that is always seeking new material? What are the key elements that a song needs to get on your radar? Do we dare hope for a “Weird Al” parody of “Old Town Road”? No, I’m not constantly trying to gure out how I can mess with things! I love music, and I can certainly shut o my brain and enjoy songs on their own merits. It’s hard to articulate what makes a song a good candi- date for parody, but ideally, it’s got to have a recognizable musical or lyrical hook, some innate quality that makes it jump out when you hear it on the radio. When I determine that a song is a good target for parody, I’ll try to think of a few dozen ideas based on 28 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 15 – JULY 28, 2019