Weird Al Yankovic brings Bigger & Weirder tour to Montreal's Place des Festivals this week
The 66-year-old accordion-wielding parody king sits down on the eve of his Montreal stop to discuss his decades-long commitment to novelty and permission-asking.
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Weird Al Yankovic, the undisputed master of music parody and accordion virtuoso, is bringing his Bigger & Weirder tour to Montreal's Place des Festivals this week. The 66-year-old icon remains unapologetically committed to the goofy spirit that earned him his nickname at California Polytechnic State University in the late 1970s.
"I hope I've become a better musician over the years, but my sense of humour has stayed pretty much the same as when I was a teenager," Yankovic said in a recent phone interview from Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he performed Friday.
His first parody, "My Bologna" — a send-up of The Knack's "My Sharona" — was recorded in a college radio station bathroom in 1979 and earned him both the blessing of the original artist and a record deal. More than forty-five years later, he remains the most celebrated parodist in American music history, preserving an art form rooted in joyful satire.
What hasn't changed is Yankovic's meticulous approach to writing. "My songs are ostensibly silly, and I'm aware of that, but they require a lot of work — probably more than people imagine," he explained. "For every line that makes the final version, I have at least a dozen other possibilities, because I want to ensure everything flows and every joke lands as hard as possible."
Yankovic famously asks permission from the artists he parodies — a gentleman's code that also ensures fair copyright distribution. One artist has consistently declined: Prince, who never granted Yankovic permission to mock his catalogue. "He never gave an official reason," Yankovic said. "I think Prince did have a sense of humour, but he was very protective of his material."
