Weird Al Yankovic’s Tiny Desk Concert
Holy moly, NPR’s Tiny Desk has been going for a long time. Weird Al Yankovic first stopped by the desk in 2010, so early that they didn’t even have it on YouTube until more recently. And the other day, they had him back for a second session!
Yankovic focused on originals the first time around, but for this show he brought parodies of Don McLean’s “American Pie” (“The Saga Begins,” from 1999’s Running with Scissors) and Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” (“eBay,” from 2003’s Poodle Hat), as well as the Weezer pastiche “Skipper Dan,” from 2011’s Alpocalypse. And, for fans of the breathtakingly factual 2022 biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, he performs the film’s Emmy-losing closing-credits blues-rock jam “Now You Know.”
We only get so many gifts in this life, so let’s set an intention here and now to return “Weird Al” Yankovic to the Tiny Desk in the summer of 2042. But if he’s gonna come back and see us (or whoever’s buried us and moved on) at a sprightly 82, we’ll have to ask him to bring a string section, just to keep things fresh.
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I've watched Weird Al in live shows many, many times over the years. And as a certifiably atypical human named "Al", I have been called "weird" frequently, and I take it as a compliment. "Foil" is an underrated Weird Al parody track.
What a goddamn treat.
Is it just me or does the guitarist on his right absolutely steal the show?
That sure looks like the same bassist and guitarist in both videos…15 years apart.
Beyond same 15 years apart, the band is the same as at the beginning. Drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz was first 46 years ago. In 1982 Steve Jay joined on bass and Jim West on guitar. Rubén Valtierra didn't join until 1991.
Ah I see keyboards for this was Chad Thomas.
Been listening to Al since that demo track on Dr. Demento with Bermuda banging on the accordion case. Heard it on big headphones with a long spiral cord plugged into the family stereo, sitting with my homework books on the end of the pool table and one finger on the pause key for recording tracks off the radio onto cassette. I am THAT nerd.
You had to keep that pause/record key close at hand.
I was lucky enough to catch Weird Al’s European debut show in 2010, at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival in Somerset.
He was headlining a line-up curated by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Being the band that they are, Godspeed tapped up a super esoteric roster: post-rock, of course, but also art-rock, experimental electronica, Balkan folk, plus some of the heaviest metal bands around, all capped off by Weird Al on the main stage on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It was surreal brilliance.
He’d caught a cold on the way over, and had almost lost his voice, but somehow that made the show even better… he turned the choruses into singalongs, and poured everything he had into an incredible 19-song set. Everyone was losing it by the end.
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