"Weird Al" Yankovic: King Of Nerds
Friday September 28, 2007 @ 04:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

By Evan Dickson

The equation is simple: if you don't like "Weird Al" you've got no soul. We here at ChartAttack are full of soul, so it only made sense that we interviewed the true King Of Pop.

"Weird Al" Yankovic

ChartAttack: Were you a nerd when you were a kid? Do you think of yourself as a nerd now?
"Weird Al" Yankovic: Now I'm king of the nerds. I've always been a nerd. I think that should be pretty obvious. It's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, a lot of people have been taking my song "White And Nerdy" as a positive anthem and an ode to nerd empowerment. People are taking pride in being nerds, and they should, because nerds rule the world now.

I read that you're going to be doing a voice in an upcoming Transformers cartoon?
That's making the rounds. I didn't think at the time that it was that big of a deal. I don't know if it's a recurring thing or not. They just brought me up for one session for one show. I don't even remember off the top of my head what the character's name was.

I know it. It's Wreck-Gar, the character from the animated movie who was originally voiced by Eric Idle.
It was fun, I had a great time and if they wanted me back I'd be more than happy to do it. Other than that, I don't know what I could really tell you about it.

Are you a fan of any cartoons?
I'm a big animation fan. I'm a big fan of Adult Swim, all the stuff on that block. Everything from the golden age of animation, all the Warner Brothers stuff. Also, I like to keep abreast of the rising talent. That's how I hooked up with Thomas Lee [who animated the "I'll Sue You" video].

I was impressed that you got Bill Plympton for "Don't Download This Song."
My mind was kind of boggled by the talent I could get to work with me on this. John Kricfalusi, the Robot Chicken guys, all those people. We had a very limited budget in terms of what we could spend on animation. We were looking to flesh out the DVD portion of the dual disc and have video content. I said, "Well I'd love to do some animated videos, but we don't have much to work with. Maybe I'll wind up with some kid out of CalArts who wants to make a name for himself."
   But I always start at the top. We put out feelers for Kricfalusi and Bill Plympton, expecting that they'd just go, "Thanks a lot, but no thanks." Instead they came back and said, "Yeah, we'd love to do it." I could not believe it.

You've directed a couple music videos, any more of that on the horizon?
Actually, I turned down a couple of videos that I really wanted to do. I was asked to direct a video for The Dresden Dolls recently, which I would have loved to have done, but the timing didn't work out. Hanson came back recently and were interested in me doing a video, which again I would have loved to have done, but I'm on tour now. That's always the case. I go through periods where I'm at home for months at a time and I'm just hanging out with not a lot to do, and as soon as I get busy everyone else wants me as well. I have to turn down stuff right and left.

What's the secret to writing a good parody?
Well, if I told you it wouldn't be a secret, would it? A couple things: like a parody should be funny even if you're not familiar with the original source material. You should be able to listen to a song and laugh and think it's a good song without being able to go, "Oh, that's a parody of such-and-such." Also, it's got to be able to sustain for three minutes or however long a pop song is. A lot of parodies that I hear, like morning radio shows do, it's all a build-up to a punchline or the first chorus and after that it goes nowhere. It's got to be able to sustain for a song without feeling like you're losing steam after 30 seconds. And then humour is subjective, so it's hard to say what's funny, what's not funny. You just have to write what you think is amusing and hope that other people will share your opinion.