“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC

The crazily embellished life story of the popmusic parodist comes to the screen in the satirical musical biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Nov. 4 on the Roku Channel). Yankovic, 63, was a co-writer on the movie, which stars Daniel Radcliffe, 33, as a young man with an accordion—and dreams of changing the world.

This isn’t a legit biopic; how would you describe it? Well, part of me wants people to walk in and watch the movie not really knowing, thinking they might actually be seeing a real biopic, and at some point they go, “Wait a minute. This doesn’t seem quite right.”

Daniel Radcliffe doesn’t exactly “fit” you appearance-wise, but he seems to “get” you. Yeah. Because when Daniel was cast, a bunch of people online were like, “Why didn’t you get . . . ?” Fill in the actor’s name with somebody who has long, curly hair. And I’d be like, “You know, a wig takes care of that very easily.”

In the movie Al says, “Live the life you want to live.” Is that the heart of the story?

It’s a comedy movie first and foremost, but that’s the subtext of it and of my whole career. I didn’t necessarily mean this when I dubbed myself “Weird Al” back in college, but I’ve heard from so many people that the fact that I own my weirdness was inspirational to [anyone] who felt like they didn’t belong, or they were outcasts. I’ve made them feel like it’s OK to be different.

When you look back at your career, is there one thing you’re most proud of?

The thing that still boggles my mind is that in 2014, I had the

No. 1 album in the country. I never thought that was even remotely possible, because comedy albums just didn’t do that. My Mandatory Fun album was the first comedy album to hit No. 1 since 1963. The fact that it made history is something that I still smile about.

How does pop superstar Madonna fit into the movie? Go to Parade.com/weirdal to find out.