The thing re Weird Al that I think is worth recognizing is illustrated by the Spike Jones Jr quote “One of the things that people don’t realize about Dad’s kind of music is, when you replace a C-sharp with a gunshot, it has to be a C-sharp gunshot or it sounds awful.“ It’s like really good parody has to do it all backwards and in heels, and Weird Al gets in there and counts the syllables and pours over the phrasing and word choices so that it all sounds precisely like the original, and then re-records the song, acknowledging the tiniest details of the recording, and also makes it a highly detailed spoof of an adjacent and absurdly unrelated piece of popular culture. I think really good parody has a love for the source materiel that’s impossible to fake. It takes real musicianship (or craft) to do and it usually gets tossed aside as “novelty” recording.
You gotta be fuckin’ good if you want to fuck it up.
Al will also try to reuse the original music video sets if they’re available, and bring back the same background actors.
I assure you, in the music industry, Weird Al is highly respected. If he makes a parody of your song it’s acknowledged that it means you have ‘made it’ as an artist. Rappers have commented on how ‘scary good’ at rapping he is. His range is right up there with Danny Elfman in terms of how incredibly huge it is. Accordion players have commented that he’sinsane on the accordion, and does it while jumping around on stage, I may add. He learns from his mistakes and to top it all off he’s a really kind man (I’ve met him).
In this house we salute Weird Al.
Something something All About the Pentiums?
And Les Dawson was an accomplished pianist, so when he played badly on purpose, it was a testament to his musicianship.
But yeah, aside from Pentiums, We cool with Weird Al.
[Video is a set of two interviews cut together, one with Weird Al Yankovic and one with Mark Mothersbaugh of the band DEVO.
Transcript:
Weird Al Yankovic: “It’s- it’s an original that’s very much in the style of a particular artist or group.”
A clip of Weird Al’s “Dare To Be Stupid” plays.
Weird Al: “And- and i played the tape for mark mothersbaugh, back when it came out, and uh, he seemed to enjoy it! he was like, ’wow, that’s a really cool synth sound, i wish we could get that!’”
Mark Mothersbaugh: “I was in shock. uh… it was the most beautiful thing i’d ever heard.”
Weird Al: “And he was- he seemed to enjoy it! He could’ve been lying, but I don’t know.”
Mark Mothersbaugh: “He sort of re-sculpted that song into something else, and um… I hate him for it, basically.”
We’ve raided the old WorkJuice Vaults to bring a you a “new” podcast today. But more exciting is the information that comes with it! This Thursday, May the Fourth, you can watch our entire STAR WARS-THEMED BOOK RELEASE VARIETY SHOW-SLASH-BENEFIT FOR PUBLIC COUNSEL! It’s an amazing show that stars Workjuice Player Busy Philipps, our pals “Weird” Al Yankovic, Matt Gourley, Mark McConville,Janina Gavankar, Open Mike Eagle, Sara Watkins, Gaby Moreno, and MORE. It was an incredible night of music, comedy, and fun. Get the video, audio, and mp3s of the songs on Thursday at our website!
Today’s “lost” podcast is a studio recording we did back in 2006. It’s a version of the first and third episodes of Beyond Belief that we originally performed at M Bar in 2005.
As always, starring Paul F. TompkinsandPaget Brewster as those married mediums Frank and Sadie Doyle. Also starring Hal Lublin as the Spooky Narrator; Marc Evan Jackson as the President; Crissy Guerero as the President’s daughter; Mark Gagliardi as another president; Craig Cackowski as Agent Garvey; and Toby Huss as Buddy Holly. Written by Ben Acker & Ben Blacker Directed by Toby Wilkins Produced by Dave Gruber Allen Engineered by Tommy Chan with assistance from Jillinda Palmer Music produced and composed by Andy Paley. “Here’s To Us” by Andy Paley & Acker & Blacker
Some thoughts about this episode from co-writer/co-creator Ben Acker:
In the early days of the Thrilling Adventure Hour, back when it was The Thrilling Adventure and Supernatural Suspense Hour, it was a stage show and not a podcast. This episode of Beyond Belief was our very first one. It was the first one we wrote, the one we dropped on Paget’s doorstep, the one we sent Paul, that first time. It was the first one we staged, it only made sense that it be the first one we record, in our first attempt to record the show. Why did we make this recording? To what purpose, you might ask? It was for the same reason as we did the show - we did not know, but it seemed like fun. The opportunity arose due to generosity from friend of the show Tommy Chan, whose studio we used and who engineered the recording and from the generosity of founding WorkJuice player Dave (Gruber) Allen who produced the thing. As you can hear, Beyond Belief at its inception was a different animal. Frank and Sadie were con artists. They had an enemy in the form of a secret service man named Garvey, with whom they had a history. They also had history with famous ghosts. The idea of famous ghosts, while fun initially, wasn’t something we ended up with, in that it planted the Doyles in time, which didn’t turn out to feel right. We found better outlets in the show for celebrity impressions and America stuff. You can also hear in this recording the things that were there at the start of the Doyles, the things that lasted all the way through. Not just their love for each other and booze and their banter and their clink, but the chemistry that Paul and Paget had at the core of those characters. It got richer over the years, but it was there before we were writing it. We hope you enjoy listening to the early days of it.
Jenny Slate(Obvious Child; Bob’s Burgers) and composer Michael Giacchino(Rogue One; Inside Out) #JoinTheResistance on March 8 in a benefit for Public Counsel, providing pro bono law services to LA’s underserved communities.
Buckle up, because the podcast gets “white and nerdy” when Weird Al Yankovic visits the studio. Everyone knows that the Almighty Weird One is a legendary songwriter and pop culture satirist, but did you know that he’s an animation geek who has done voices on The Simpsons, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Adventure Time, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, Teen Titans Go!, Gravity Falls, Wallykazam!,andMilo Murphy’s Law? Weird Al talks with Hector about his craft, his upcoming projects, and getting the white-glove thumbs up from none other than Michael Jackson.
Keep up with our intrepid host Hector on his own TwitterandInstagrampages. And stay tuned to NickAnimation25 for next week’s episode featuring Avatar: the Last AirbenderandThe Legend of Korra composer Jeremy Zuckerman and co-creator/executive producer Bryan Konietzko!
