Original Air Date: August 1992 Original Air Location: Cutting Edge Chicago- Local Access cable show Interview Locaton: Rialto Square Theatre, Joliet (just before a concert) Original Interviewer: Mike Hoffman videot@tezcat.com Host: Matt Alban Transcribed by: Marty Lick martyl@emsphone.com Matt: Our next guest has recorded songs by Michael Jackson, Madonna, Huey Lewis, Hammer, New Kids on the Block, Gerardo, Cyndi Lauper, Dire Straits, Robert Palmer, Greg Kihn, and even Nirvana. He written and starred in his own movie, and he's even done a video with Robert Goulet. Well, sort of. He's the king of Rock and Roll parody. He's "Weird Al" Yankovic, and we managed to tear him away from his busy schedule, tie him to a chair, and force his entire life story out of him. Starting, with how he got the name "Weird Al". Al: I don't know. I don't know why people call me...Al. I don't really think it fits that well. [Portion of "Like a Surgeon" video shown] Al: You want a life story in a nutshell. Oh, okay let's see. I started out as an embryo, and then I became a fetus, and not too long after that I was born. I grew up as an only child somewhere near Los Angeles, California. I got a degree in architecture which, of course, I use every single day of my life. And actually sometime before then, I became a big fan of the Dr. Demento radio show, and I would send him tapes in the mail that I recorded in my bedroom on a cheesy little twenty dollar cassette tape recorder, and they were horrible songs and terrible recordings, but somehow the good Doctor saw fit to play them on his nationally syndicated radio show, and managed to get a cult following through the show, and after several years of sending tapes and being encouraged to send in more, I managed to land a record deal, and I've been "Weird Al" ever since. [He first looks puzzled, then reflective, then hangs his head and starts to cry. During this secion, the following scrolls on the bottom of the screen: "INTERVIEW TIP: If someone asks you to tell them your life story, start at the interesting part. This isn't a PBS special!" [Portion of "Eat It" video shown] Mike: What does it take to get permission to record some of the parodies that you do? Al: Basically, just call up the original artists or the writers if the artist didn't write it, and basically see if they have a sense of humor about it. Most of them do. Most of them realize it's all done in good fun. In some cases we go through their publishers or their agents or managers or lawyer's secretary's answering machine. I mean it's a different case every time, but it always does get back to the original writer, and as I said in most cases they really get the joke and have a good time with it. [Portion of "Smells Like Nirvana" video shown while "Oh, Yeah? What about Nirvana?" is shown on the bottom of the screen] Al: I have to give extra credit points to Nirvana because that was- I was a little leary about giving them the lyrics becuase- ya know, not like it's a harsh song, but it's the first time when I really kinda poke fun at the band itself as opposed to like writing a song about food or television or something semi-generic. And they thought it was really funny. They had a great time with it and they didn't take offense at all, and certainly I didn't intend any. It just shows what a great sense of humor those guys have. [Portion of "Living with a Hernia" video shown while "What does "Weird Al" listen to when he isn't being weird?" is shown on the bottom of the screen] Al: What do I listen to? I enjoy anybody or any group that's a little slightly left of center. I know you just had "They Might Be Giants" in here and they're certainly one of my favorite new groups. Who else? Too Much Joy. I like R.E.M. A lot of the older British Invasion like the Beatles, the Stones, and the Kinks, and the Who, and stuff like that. Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, Oingo Boingo, B-52s, Devo. The list goes on. [Portion of "One More Minute" performed live at the Rialto theatre shown]. [Disolve to portion of "UHF" shown where Al is being followed by a big boulder while "Al comes to the BIG SCREEN! in UHF" is displayed] Al: [Holding a laserdisc copy of "UHF"] Wow! I've seen this. One of my favorites. Very nice. What was that like? To make the movie? It was quite an experience. It was- it almost seems like a dream now. It's very time consuming. It took several years out of my life between writing it and trying to sell it, then shooting it, the I think we were in the editing room for like eight months piecing it together. It's a slow time consuming process that I'd love to do again sometime. I had a great time and I'd love to go through it all again. [Small portion of "UHF" played: "Lesbian Nazi hookers abducted by UFOs and forced into weight loss programs, all this week on Town Talk."] Al: And now here's my new video. Oh boy, I can't wait. [very sarcastically] [Video for "You Don't Love Me Anymore" shown]