Roku called Al Yankovic “the greatest musician of our time” in the promotion for the upcoming release of WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story.
While the compliment might be a slight exaggeration, “Weird” Al is definitely the musician with the best sense of humor. Decades of song parodies have helped him build a reputation for comedy in its most original and clever form, even if his most popular songs aren’t even original melodies.
Yankovic has reconfigured the hits of classic rock giants like Aerosmith, the Beatles, Billy Joel, and Queen over his illustrious music career.
With recent dramatic biopics like Rocket Man and Bohemian Rhapsody capturing the attention of the music world, “Weird” Al just couldn’t stop himself from playfully mocking the new trend. Daniel Radcliffe, former star of the Harry Potter series, is cast as Yankovic in Roku’s film, which debuts on Friday.
After some listeners compose themselves and stop laughing hysterically after hearing “Weird” Al’s covers, they might wrap their heads around a harsh reality. The parodies can be too funny.
Some of “Weird” Al’s biggest hits become way worse than your average earworm. The incredible comedy sticks when the original version of a “Weird” Al parody is playing!
However, even the original musicians have been good sports about “Weird” Al’s parody music.
According to Yankovic’s official website: “Al does get permission from the original writers of the songs that he parodies. While the law supports his ability to parody without permission, he feels it’s important to maintain the relationships that he’s built with artists and writers over the years. Plus, Al wants to make sure that he gets his songwriter credit (as writer of new lyrics) as well as his rightful share of the royalties.”
Whether the replacement lyrics ruin the appreciation you have for some popular hits or you can’t get enough of “Weird” Al’s comedy, his music touches (almost) everybody’s sense of humor.
