‘Alpocalypse’ will be Weird
Anight of riotous laughter and musical parody comes to Texarkana when topselling comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic performs Oct. 17 at the Perot Theatre.
Texarkana is one of the final stops on Yankovic’s “Alpocalypse Tour,” which started a little more than two years ago. The tour is named for his most recent album, which includes humorous ditties like “Perform This Way” and “Polka Face.”
Since the 1980s, Yankovic has been known for parodies like “Eat It,” “Like a Surgeon,” “Amish Paradise” and “White & Nerdy,” plus the accompanying videos that helped him secure mainstream success.
He promises a full-blast fun time in the Perot that night with “never a dull moment” and describes his show as “two hours-plus insanity.”
“It’s a high-energy rock show with me and the same band I’ve had since my first album,” Yankovic said.
The stage show will include film clips and lots more happening visually on stage, Yankovic saying he and his band try to give people their money’s worth in entertainment.
And when it comes to performing live in concert, Yankovic is a true pro, having done so for more than 1,000 shows.
While the multiple Grammy Award-winning comedian enjoys working in the studio, the gratification he receives while being on stage and sensing the reaction from a crowd remains special to him.
In some ways, Yankovic was a forerunner of the contemporary bent for satirizing pop culture. He got his own start decades ago when he sent his homemade tapes to Dr. Demento.
Now, so many years later, the comedy landscape has certainly changed but Yankovic is still popular and responding to contemporary culture and music, parodying a massive Lady Gaga hit, for example, in his song “Perform This Way.”
He says in a 24-hour news cycle world where there’s plenty of fodder for parody, material can feel dated sooner.
“It’s harder to be perceived as current because the cycles are getting smaller and smaller,” Yankovic said.
With so many entertainers working on their own parodies and similar sorts of humor, it’s hard to distinguish yourself as unique in the market.
“I’ll keep doing what I do, but I’m not the only game in town certainly,” said Yankovic, who counts himself as a fan of musical comedy groups like Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords.
He thinks he’s improved as an artist through the years. “I don’t know how much of that is taste changing and how much is just maturing as an artist,” he said.
Yankovic says his sensibility as a comedian, though, has remained constant.
“I like to think I’m just as immature now as I ever was,” said the California-born Yankovic, who says he’s halffinished working on material for his next album.
He’s never too calculated about reaching his audience, he explains. He shares his humor and hopes people are just as twisted and warped as he is.
Asked about his song parody that still makes him laugh the most, Yankovic says he feels close to all of his material, but if forced to come up with one he’d peg “White & Nerdy,” his biggest hit and also, he points out, the most autobiographical.
In addition to his songs, Yankovic has also worked in film with his 1989 release, “UHF.” He had a Saturday morning TV program, “The Weird Al Show.”
Also in that same comedic vein, Yankovic branched out into writing children’s books. His latest is “My New Teacher and Me!” In this follow up to “When I Grow Up,” Yankovic spins a tale about an imaginative boy named Billy who must confront a new school year and new teacher.
Yankovic the writer says his books may not be as edgy as some of the lyrics, but they’re still an extension of who he is.
“It’s just a different outlet,” he says.
(Tickets: $47, $42, $37. VIP tickets for $125 are available through weirdal.com. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. More info and tickets: 903-792-4992 or PerotTheatre.com.)