Why ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, the nicest man in music, blew up the rock biopic

After 40 years, Weird Al Yankovic is still on the road. Figuratively, in the sense that he is doing just what he always has, which is give his legions of fans an unapologetic good time with his catalogue of eccentric comic songs, many of them parodies. But also literally, in the sense that he pops up on video call from his tour bus, which he says is parked up “somewhere in Virginia.” He is on the final stretch of a six-month, 133-date tour of the US. These days his bandmates, the same guys who have been playing with him since 1982, prefer a hotel, but Al is a bus guy. It is more covid secure and it provides a convenient place to store his Hawaiian shirts, a bright green example of which he is sporting for the call. 

“I don’t have to worry about my toothpaste,” he says with a grin, his signature long curly hair visible either side of his face. “I’ve got the internet, I’ve got everything I need.” 

If there is a dark and seedy underside to Weird Al, he has kept it well hidden. At 63, Yankovic has a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in show business, and conversation does little to dispel that reputation. Al is charming, self-effacing, polite, about as unlike a rockstar as you can imagine. His parodic work - like Amish Paradise (a version of Gangsta’s Paradise), I Love Rocky Road (I Letove Rock N Roll) and Like A Surgeon (Like A Virgin) - has sometimes obscured the seriousness of his mission to entertain, not to mention his musicianship. 

But there is nothing frivolous about a career that has lasted nearly half a century, since he first had a song played on southern Californian radio, by Dr Demento, the eccentric DJ who would become his mentor. Yankovic has sold more than 12 million albums and won five Grammy awards: a career the envy of all but a handful of more “serious” musicians. 

Now Al has been honoured with the ultimate accolade: a rock biopic, Weird. Or rather, a kind of rock biopic. True to Yankovic’s modus operandi, it is as far from a straight retelling of his life as you can imagine. Instead, it takes the tropes of the traditional rock film and gleefully mucks around with them. 

Without giving too much away, suffice to say that the early stages of the film, where Al is an accordion-loving slacker student, are just-about plausible, even if Yankovic’s parents, supportive and loving in real life, are recast as textbook monsters. The latter scenes, after Yankovic begins a sordid and destructive affair with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), are not. 

The idea began life in 2010 as a short clip for the American sketch show Funny or Die. “The director, Eric Appel, wanted to do a take-off of biopic trailers,” says Yankovic. “He was struck by how much biopics played fast and loose with the facts. He wanted to do a spoof trailer for someone who doesn’t have a lot of drama in their life, and the first person he thought of was me. I hadn’t had a downward spiral, or anything like that, I’m a pretty straight-laced kind of guy.” 

He always has been. Yankovic is Christian. He doesn’t smoke, drink, take drugs or swear. He is vegetarian, mostly vegan, but will occasionally treat himself to a slice of cheesy pizza. He is happily married to Suzanne, a marketing executive, and they have a daughter, Nina, born in 2003. Led Zeppelin this is not. The trailer was a viral hit. Fans clamoured for a full-length version. In 2019, Al decided the time was right. 

“Bohemian Rhapsody had been very successful and Rocketman was about to come out, so I figured that it would be a great time to spring the Weird Al biopic on the world,” Yankovic says. “I was upset by the way they randomly changed things in those films. Like, in Rocketman, they strongly imply Elton John took his last name from John Lennon. As a fan, I know he took his name from Long John Baldry. Little things like that drove me crazy. I thought if I ever do one I’m going to throw all the facts out the window. What’s the point?”

Yankovic is played by Daniel Radcliffe, who clearly relishes the chance to commit to something so silly. Was it surprising to Yankovic to find himself played by a somewhat nerdy English actor? “Eric and I were both big Radcliffe fans, and thought this project might be up his alley because he had been doing a lot of strange projects post-Potter. We knew he could pull it off, because he’s got amazing comedic chops as well as dramatic chops. I had seen him sing Tom Lehrer’s The Elements Song on Graham Norton, and thought he and I probably had quite a lot in common.” 

He didn’t expect Radcliffe to be so dedicated to the accordion. “We explained we could cut around it to make it look like he was playing,” Yankovic says, “but it was a point of pride for him to learn how to play. I’m grateful. It helps sell the joke that much more.” 

For Yankovic, Weird, which has had excellent reviews, is something of a redemption after a 1985 mockumentary about him, The Compleat Al, was a critical and commercial flop. “That was a kind of devastating experience for me,” he says. “I had a successful recording career in the 80s. I was told the film was going to make me a movie star. Then when it did not perform I was a ghost. People at the studio didn’t want to establish eye contact with me. It took me a couple of years to get back on my feet.” 

For all the gleeful silliness of Weird, Yankovic’s actual life has had its share of tragedy. He grew up in Los Angeles, the only child of Nick, who had served as a medic in the Second World War, and Mary, a stenographer. The young Alfred started playing the accordion when he was six, and grew up on a diet of Elton John, Mad Magazine and Monty Python, which perhaps helps explain the zaniness of the humour. He was a bright child, and was studying architecture at university before his music career took off. In April 2004, Yankovic was due to perform a concert in Wisconsin when he heard that his parents had died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning at home in California. He decided to go ahead with the gig. 

“I’m very much a show-must-go-on kind of guy,” he says. “I’ve performed when I was very sick, with a 104 degree temperature. The hardest was after my parents passed. It wouldn’t have been my choice to perform then, but the shows were booked, people were already in their seats, I didn’t want to let anybody down. Having said that, it was therapeutic for me not to crawl up in a ball. It was good to get out and feel the love from the fans. That was cathartic. It got me through a rough time.” 

This dedication is reciprocated by an adoring fanbase. Despite his clean living and easy nature, Yankovic has had a remarkably controversy-free career, partly because he has studiously avoided contentious or political humour. 

“I tend to stay away from political humour,” he says. “It dates poorly. And things are so divided right now and people get very heated. I don’t want to divide my fanbase, or start ill-mannered discussions. I’m not an apolitical person, I just don’t find I need to include that in what I put out to the world. It’s escapism. If you want an oasis, away from the cares and politics of the real world you can listen to some Weird Al music for a while. 

“I still care,” he says. “I’m not one of those jaded people who says I never read reviews. I care what everybody has to think. A bad review will still upset me and I’m still flattered to get favourable reviews. It’s unhip to say so, but I search for my own name. I want to know what people think! I want to know how people react to my material. I want to make sure I’m not offending people. Some comics say they don’t care about being offensive, but I want to make sure what I put out is not. Some people have accused me of being toothless, but I think you can be funny without hurting people’s feelings.” 

Ironically, it’s possible that a spoof biopic might be the thing to make those who only know Yankovic as a novelty act take him more seriously as an artist. “It’s a big deal to have your own biopic,” he says. “Hopefully it will inspire people to search out my actual story – and discography.” 

Yankovic’s recording career has taken a back seat in recent years as he focuses on other projects, but the concerts are still sold out, and he is still putting in the dates long after he could have retired to hang out with his family. What keeps him going? 

“It’s still fun,” he says. As long as Weird Al’s enjoying himself, the show will go on. 

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is available on The Roku Channel – available to stream for free on all Roku, NOW TV and Sky Q devices – now. Weird Al will be touring the UK in early 2023