"Weird Al" fans

[MrTorso]

Been a fan for 24 years!!!  I've had backstage passes a couple of times and even after performing for 2 hours he is nice and funny and willing to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

[doggans]

I had been a casual appreciator of Weird Al in my middle school/early high school years. Not a fanatic, but I liked what stuff of his I heard.

And then I borrowed the DVD of "UHF" from a friend. And my casual appreciation bloomed into all-out fanboyish obsession.

I've been to two Al concerts so far, one for the Poodle Hat tour and one for the Straight Outta Lynwood tour. After the latter, my brother and I went around to the tour buses and met both Al and Jim West. Didn't get to meet the other band members, sadly, but hey, I'll take what I can get. Both Al and Jim were extremely friendly.

[MrTorso]

Bermuda is a cool guy. They played a small club on the Off the Deep End tour in Miami and my boss got them on a morning talk show before the show and Bermuda gave us press passes so we could take pictures. I'll have to dig them up and scan some.

[RoninFox]

The first tape Al sent in was a version of Pico and Sepulvada (or how ever it's spelt) for a competition, be Dr D can't find it.

He'd been sending in tape for awhile yeah, but My Bologna was the one that got him noticed and eventually got him paid.   

I got the biggest kick out of hearing Al interviewed awhile back on Alice Cooper's radio show.  Apparently Alice is a huge Weird Al fan, has hired him to play at some of his parties and everything.  When asked who in the music business reminds him more of himself, Rob Zombie or Marilyn Manson, Alice replies, "No man, it's Weird Al, he's got just as many costume changes as me and he keeps it funny."

[Insert Coin(s) to Continue]

I'm a huge Weird Al fan. 3rd top poster on the World of "Weird Al" Yankovic, baby! (Weird Al's official, biggest web forum on the internet).

He's my hero in life. I have plenty of stories about Weird Al experiences I've had, but I wouldn't want to bore anyone with those

[valeyard]

I've been a fan of Weird Al ever since he sent in a home made tape of "My Balogna" to Dr. Demento 

You were there right from the real start then.  That's what launched Weird Al's career.  I heard an interview with one of The Knack (Doug Fieger I think, but I'm not sure) who said that he heard Weird Al's version and immediately called his record label, convincing them to sign Al.

When you make fun of someone's song, and that someone tries to get you a contract because of it, you know you did something right.

Yeah, I taped that right off the air, when it was played.  Wish I still had that tape.  The "My balogna" you hear on his CDs isn't the same one.  This one was just him and his accordian.  It was great. 

[gbeenie]

Eventually, I'm gonna use my video capture thingy to record my LaserDisc of The Compleat Al to my hard drive (it will never be issued on DVD). Whenever I finally do that, anyone who wants a copy is welcome.

[RoninFox]

Sweet.  Though what's keeping it from DVD?

[Insert Coin(s) to Continue]

I've been a fan of Weird Al ever since he sent in a home made tape of "My Balogna" to Dr. Demento 

You were there right from the real start then.  That's what launched Weird Al's career.  I heard an interview with one of The Knack (Doug Fieger I think, but I'm not sure) who said that he heard Weird Al's version and immediately called his record label, convincing them to sign Al.

When you make fun of someone's song, and that someone tries to get you a contract because of it, you know you did something right.

Yeah, I taped that right off the air, when it was played.  Wish I still had that tape.  The "My balogna" you hear on his CDs isn't the same one.  This one was just him and his accordian.  It was great. 

You can get that version on Permanent Record: Al in the Box.

[Hank_Peters]

I'm a huge Weird Al fan. 3rd top poster on the World of "Weird Al" Yankovic, baby! (Weird Al's official, biggest web forum on the internet).

He's my hero in life. I have plenty of stories about Weird Al experiences I've had, but I wouldn't want to bore anyone with those

Please, bore us!

[Tyrant]

I'm a huge Weird Al fan. 3rd top poster on the World of "Weird Al" Yankovic, baby! (Weird Al's official, biggest web forum on the internet).

He's my hero in life. I have plenty of stories about Weird Al experiences I've had, but I wouldn't want to bore anyone with those

Please, bore us!

  Aye. No such thing as a boring Weird Al story.

[Insert Coin(s) to Continue]

Alright, well, I'll make you sorry you asked

Last year, I managed to get out of school for three days to fly down to California for the release of Straight Outta Lynwood. I still don't know how I pulled it off, but I convinced my parents that it'd be cool (I'm still in high school, if I haven't already mentioned). So my father and I went down to Hollywood and stayed in a hotel just a minute or two walk away from the Virgin Records Al would be at. When we got there the night before, there was a line wrapped around the building standing out front with lawn chairs and boom boxes and whatnot. We were a bit worried that the masses beat us there, but upon talking to them, we found that they were instead waiting for Clay Aiken, who would be at the store the next morning.

So I headed to the store in the morning to pick up a copy of Straight Outta Lynwood and I ran into someone from WOWAY (the official Weird Al forum). She ran over to me and said, "You're Ryan!", which was kind of funny. Almost like celebrity status. When we got back that night (three hours early), I was about the 10th person in line. There was quite a number of people that recognized me, or at least knew who I was when they spotted my WOWAY nametag. Wild.

When I finally got to go up to Al to get my CD signed, I was in for an even more pleasant surprise. We shook hands and I introduced myself, since it was the first time we had met, and he said "Oh yeah, I recognized your screen name." We had a nice little chat after that, but the highlight of my evening was that Al knew who I was before I even told him. Amazing.

So, anyways, that's my favorite Weird Al story. The highlights, at least.

So if we have so many Weird Al fans here at RiffTrax, why hasn't Al been featured as a guest riffer yet? I know he came in second place last time you held a "Vote for the Next Guest Riffer" poll, but you'd think Al would be a shoe in for any occasion. Al's no stranger to doing stuff for the internet. He's always popping up doing voices in webtoons and YouTube videos that I'd assume don't pay especially well. He's also a local, living just outside of LA, so it'd be easy to get him down to the RiffTrax studio. He'd be the perfect man for the job. He's a very funny "thinking-on-his-feet" type guy, and he has experience riffing on music videos from his old AlMusic specials. And the best part, he's that down-to-Earth kind of guy that really relates to those he speaks to and makes his audiences feel comfortable. He'd be great! Maybe if Mike ever does Purple Rain

[gbeenie]

Sweet.  Though what's keeping it from DVD?

It's weird. His old label owns the video itself (for the uninitiated, The Compleat Al forgoes the typical video compilation format and presents a faked-up biopic of Al, with videos interspersed), while Al got back the rights to all his music and music videos, so the only way it could be released would be without any of Weird Al's music on it. I'm betting CBS Video isn't exactly chomping at the bit to go forward with that one.

p.s. The Compleat Al also features the funniest fake FBI anti-copying warning ever.

[FordPrefect]

So if we have so many Weird Al fans here at RiffTrax, why hasn't Al been featured as a guest riffer yet? I know he came in second place last time you held a "Vote for the Next Guest Riffer" poll, but you'd think Al would be a shoe in for any occasion. Al's no stranger to doing stuff for the internet. He's always popping up doing voices in webtoons and YouTube videos that I'd assume don't pay especially well. He's also a local, living just outside of LA, so it'd be easy to get him down to the RiffTrax studio. He'd be the perfect man for the job. He's a very funny "thinking-on-his-feet" type guy, and he has experience riffing on music videos from his old Al Music specials. And the best part, he's that down-to-Earth kind of guy that really relates to those he speaks to and makes his audiences feel comfortable. He'd be great! Maybe if Mike ever does Purple Rain

I figured he'd be a great riffer for Purple Rain too. I guess Al/Rifftrax fans think alike. I've been a fan of his since my friend made audio cassette copies of Dare to be Stupid and Even Worse for me to listen to back when we were in elementary school. Since then I've bought all his CDs and DVDs and (finally) got to see him in concert this year. His concert was even better than I thought it would be, and I assumed going in that I'd enjoy it. He truly set up the best and most satisfying concert I've ever been to. I wish I didn't have to wait till 2010 to see him in concert again, but that seems to be his pattern. You should provide a youtube link of one of his music video riffs from the 80's. I know I saw at least one of them on youtube.

[doggans]

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Low-quality copy of Al's riff on REM's "Man on the Moon". The part with the truck two minutes in always cracks me up for some reason.

As for why Al hasn't been featured as a guest riffer yet...well, even if he had been approached, he was on tour during a lot of RiffTrax's existence so far.