‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Live
On Tuesday Weird Al Yankovic Delivers Polka Face was a top story. Here is the recap: The wait is over for ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic fans as he has at last debuted his new video for the song – ‘Polka Face.’
In the song and video, Al performs a polka medley sending up the likes of Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber, and Jamie Foxx.
This Saturday, his new special, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Live! The Alpocalypse Tour premieres on Comedy Central and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday, October 4th.
'Weird Al' Yankovic.
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic presents his first televised comedy special since 1999. “‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Live! – The Alpocalypse Tour” (9 p.m. Saturday, Comedy Central) offers material old and new from the king of music and music video parody.
Actually, ‘king’ is a slight misnomer, implying that Yankovic actually has song parody subjects. He pretty much has the pop put-on market all to himself. That’s been good for Weird Al, but a bit of a shame for the rest of us. There was a time when the radio airwaves were filled with novelty songs, mostly one-hit wonders by unknown artists. But since MTV, the music business has grown ever more corporatized and homogenized. It seems there’s room only for Weird Al.
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Live!—The Alpocalypse Tour debuts tonight on Comedy Central at 9 p.m. Eastern.
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Live!—The Alpocalypse Tour is impressive. The special manages to fit 11 songs—including one polka—into 42 minutes, each requiring its own elaborate costume change not just for ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, but for his entire band, too. Yankovic digs into the archives, too, performing a career-spanning three-song closer of ‘Perform This Way,’ ‘White & Nerdy,’ and ‘Fat.’ Plus, of course, ‘Amish Paradise’ is thrown in the middle for good measure. It’s clear that Yankovic’s stop in Toronto was a hell of a show.
As a marketing tactic meant to entice future ticket sales, this Comedy Central special is a hit. As a standalone piece of television, though, I found it less than compelling.
There’s no denying something is lost in the translation between live and TV. There’s a danger to a live performance that doesn’t come across when viewing on a tiny screen. You’re sitting in comfort, not out watching people don peacock costumes and sing a song they’ve presumably memorized, surrounded by dancers performing impeccable choreography. A lot can go wrong, and even though there’s probably no part of you that thinks the worst, there’s always the possibility that something will be different—something will feel special and raw—and you’ll be there to witness it. That’s why I love live performance – There’s always a little something to take home that’s just for you and the rest of the audience—a little pop-culture treasure.
Of course, comedy needs TV to get the word out, and TV is here to stay. And with the right foresight, a televised concert or stand-up special can be great in and of itself. The major problem with The Alpocalypse Tour, though, is that the medium bumps right up against something that presumably helped the show be a success – Anticipation. It’s satisfying to wait in the darkness for Yankovic to emerge, wondering what he’ll be wearing and performing, then feel a rush of recognition when those first few notes of ‘Amish Paradise’ come over the loudspeaker. In an attempt to cram as much of the concert as possible into 42 minutes, the special cuts out every extraneous bit, joke, or moment of lag time, and we cut from song-to-song with barely a moment to breathe. Even the teasers before the commercial breaks spell out way too much of what’s about to happen. Nothing is left to surprise, and the thrill of anticipation is entirely lost.