Ravinia 2019, Issue 4, Week 7

”Word Crimes,” the ɶrst single off Mandatory Fun , made Yankovic one of three artists—with Michael Jackson and Madonna, both fans of his parodies—to have a top-40 song in each of the last four decades. The song spoofs Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” with lyrics about English grammar and usage. [ The editor is a fan .] the station and hand a record to the DJ, and sometimes they’d play it right then and there! I believe the Insane Darrell Wayne would play “Another One Rides the Bus” or the deservedly unreleased “It’s Still Billy Joel to Me” on occasion. Where were you when you learned Man- datory Fun had hit number one? I was backstage at the Comedy Central show @midnight . ey had put together a small surprise party in the green room to break the news. My wife, my daughter, and my in-laws were all there. It was very emo- tional for me. Something I never dreamed would happen in a million years. Was this always Plan A for you? At what point did you know that—to quote Hy- man Roth in e Godfather Part II —this was the business you’ve chosen? I always thought I’d have an “adult” job. When I was , I decided I was going to be an architect. I went to college and got a de- gree in architecture. But I never really loved it; I loved comedy and music. So a er grad- uating, I took minimum-wage jobs while trying to nd out if I could make anything of myself in the recording industry. I guess you could say I got serious about it when I nally quit my day job. It was the same day that my single “Ricky” debuted on the Billboard Hot chart. A er HBO’s Michael Jackson documen- tary, do you still perform “Eat It” and “Fat”? at’s a decision we’ve been grappling with for awhile. We certainly don’t want anyone uncomfortable during the show. I don’t know if this is a permanent thing, but currently we’re leaning towards removing those songs, at least for this summer’s tour. I don’t know what dreams of stardom you had when you were recording songs in your bedroom, but from Rock and e Naked Gun to the Weezer “Africa” video, what “Weird Al” cameo request was the most surprising to you? Which one most delighted you? e Halloween cameo was the most out- of-le - eld. e director Rob Zombie had to nd the most random celebrity cameo he could for a TV talk show scene, and I’m about as random as they come! e cameo I was most excited to do was Naked Gun . My favorite TV show was the short-lived Police Squad , and when I heard that they were going to be making a movie based on it, I begged the producer (my friend Bob Weiss) to get me literally anything in the movie. en they wound up writing that whole wonderful scene at the airport just for me—“ ey’re not here for you, Frank. ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is on the plane!” Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull once sang of being too old to rock and roll but too young to die. You’re turning this year. Can you imagine yourself still touring like Tony Bennett, who played Ravinia this year at the age of ? I don’t know if I’ll still be doing a high-en- ergy show into my s, but I love perform- ing, and hope to be doing some version of it until I’m dead, and if I’m lucky, even a er that! Donald Liebenson is a Chicago-based entertainment writer. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune , Chicago Sun-Times , Los Angeles Times , and on Roger- Ebert.com. The ɶrst Ravinia concert he attended without his parents was Procol Harum in 1970. JULY 15 – JULY 28, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 31