‘Weird Al’ Yankovic
Opener: Emo Phillips.
When: 8 p.m. March 25.
Where: Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre, 1511 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
Tickets: $69.50 to $271.25.
Info: 216-241-6000 or PlayhouseSquare.org.
“Weird Al” Yankovic is already ahead of you.
The king of parody songs knows just how absurd a stripped-down performance of his catalog material sounds on the surface.
That’s why he’s called his latest outing “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour,” which comes through Northeast Ohio for a show March 25 at Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre.
Basically, after 40 years, the Grammy Award-winning funnyman, who also is a successful director, author and live-action and voice actor, wanted to challenge himself and fans to a bare-bones show — a show sans costumes, props and video screens. The concert features original deep cuts and obscure tracks from Yankovic’s 14 studio albums.
The News-Herald talked to Yankovic about the unique tour, his future and his nickname, which no longer seems apropos.
Q Wow, “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour.” How long has this been on your radar?
A It came to me at the end of the last tour. I think when I was putting on my fat suit for the 1,500th time, it occurred to me it might be kind of fun to do a really stripped-down version of the show and not even do all of the hits. Just do songs that are geared towards hardcore fans that want to hear songs they’ve never heard live before.
Q How daunting was it to perform not only deeper cuts but also without special effects?
A It definitely is a bit outside of the comfort zone. It’s a much different tour (from what) we’ve ever done before, but I kind of felt like we just needed a bit of a power plunger because we’ve been doing the same kind of show for decades. And it’s fun — people really love it. But every single time we’ve been trying to top ourselves to make it bigger and better. I thought, “Just for a change of pace, let’s go the opposite direction, shake it up and kind of challenge ourselves.”
Q What was it like delving into the catalog?
A I picked 50 or so originals. It’s over four hours of material. It was a bit of a learning curve. There was a lot of homework involved in this particular tour, much more than normal. We’re learning songs maybe we played in the studio 30 years ago, but we haven’t played since. And every night is a different set. That’s part of the selling point. We learned so much material. I need to stress some people said, “He’s doing serious songs.” They’re not serious at all. They’re still comedy songs. They’re just based on another song. Some of them are pastiches meant to sound like another artist or be a specific genre, they’re just not direct parodies.
Q Your latest single is the “Hamilton Polka.” How did that song come about?
A Lin-Manuel Miranda was the one who approached me. He’s doings these “Hamilton” drops — every single month this year he’s releasing a ‘Hamilton’-related song, and he actually kind of took my temperature about a year ago now if I wanted to do a “Hamilton Polka.” I was like, “Yes, absolutely.” And then the first week of January he said, “We’re doing this. Give us a ‘Hamilton Polka.’” So that’s what I did.
Q So is the “Hamilton Polka” in your current set?
Q It’s not because when I arranged and produced it, on purpose I made it too complex to play live. It’s very fast, and there’s a lot going on. It would be extremely difficult to pull it off in any reasonable way live.
Q Over the last four decades, you’ve accomplished so much. What’s next for “Weird Al?”
A There are a few things I’d like to give a shot at. One of the reasons I started hanging out with Lin-Manuel was I thinking about the possibility of being involved in writing a Broadway musical. That’s something that still may be somewhere down the line. It’s not in the immediate future. I’ve done TV shows, and I’ve done movies, but I’d certainly like to do more. I’ll continue to put myself outside of my own comfort zone.
Q Finally, considering the comic-con world we live in today, isn’t it safe to say you’re no longer weird? You’re just kind of normal.
A (Laughs.) It’s just an ironic nickname now like when they call a really big person tiny.
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic
Opener: Emo Phillips.
When: 8 p.m. March 25.
Where: Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre, 1511 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
Tickets: $69.50 to $271.25.
Info: 216-241-6000 or PlayhouseSquare.org.
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