Speaker 1: Callaroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack with your
Speaker 1: daily comedy Deus holiday weekend. Here been sitting on this
Speaker 1: article from Vulture, Weird Al on the best and most
Speaker 1: obsessive music of his career. I haven't actually looked at
Speaker 1: this song that legitimized Al's career. Al says, eat It.
Speaker 1: Al says, my first album did well enough to merit
Speaker 1: the record company rolling the dice on album number two.
Speaker 1: At a couple of minor hits like Ricky I Own
Speaker 1: That on forty five and I Love Rocky Road. They
Speaker 1: appeal to I suppose hardcore comedy nerds, but when you
Speaker 1: add Michael Jackson to the equation, all of a sudden
Speaker 1: becomes a much bigger fan base. Eat It was an
Speaker 1: international hit and completely change my life overnight. Now, as
Speaker 1: we dive in on Weird Al, here and I have
Speaker 1: other things today, this isn't a Weird Al episode. I've
Speaker 1: appreciated the evolution of Al's musicality over the years, so
Speaker 1: I'll just point out right now, when he sings eat It,
Speaker 1: he does it's very stylized eat It kind of delivery
Speaker 1: on the chorus, Whereas if you listen to the more
Speaker 1: modern stuff he's using. I assume his natural voice, and
Speaker 1: Al's a pretty good singer. Song parody, Al was most
Speaker 1: nervous to pitch. The saga begins his parody of American
Speaker 1: Pie about Star Wars. Al, it's old vulture. Everybody was
Speaker 1: telling me there's no way Don McLean's gonna prove that
Speaker 1: he gets approached all the time. He turns everybody down.
Speaker 1: I'll figure it. It never hurts to ask weird at song,
Speaker 1: even for you weird, Al, Al says Jackson Park Express,
Speaker 1: which is one of my favorites. That's at one of
Speaker 1: Al's favorites, not one of my favorites. Was the last
Speaker 1: song on the Mandatory Fun album. It's about a bus ride,
Speaker 1: which I thought was a fitting bookend because one of
Speaker 1: my very first songs was another one rides the bus.
Speaker 1: Here's the last song on what was probably my last album,
Speaker 1: and it's like the dark side of James Blunts You're Beautiful.
Speaker 1: It's this whole conversation a guy has in his head
Speaker 1: after sing a woman on the bus gets into some
Speaker 1: really weird and dark areas. Yeah, I'm sad Al doesn't
Speaker 1: make albums anymore. He puts out the occasional single, but
Speaker 1: he just kind of stopped and that last album was fantastic.
Speaker 1: Most surprising response to a parody, Al says, White and Nerdy,
Speaker 1: which arguably is Al's masterpiece. I have a weird Al
Speaker 1: playlist I just made in my phone. Let me pull
Speaker 1: that up and I kept this tight on purpose. My playlist,
Speaker 1: weird Al twenty five has Jurassic Park, which is just amazing.
Speaker 1: And I've been watching the Jurassic Park movie, so it's
Speaker 1: been in my head. But that is a great parody
Speaker 1: of a song called MacArthur Park that I think has
Speaker 1: gotten largely forgotten. Smells like Nirvana, awesome, great video I
Speaker 1: lost on Jeopardy on point fat, Amish Paradise, White and
Speaker 1: Nerdy and Dog Eat Dog. Those are highly puts up.
Speaker 1: And now you know, I was also listening to Van Halen.
Speaker 1: Got a little clip of run around there from what
Speaker 1: is that? From Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. I hate the
Speaker 1: title of that album. Anyway, back to weird Al, can
Speaker 1: you tell it's on holiday weekend? Weird Al said my
Speaker 1: favorite was Camillionaire, who aided my parody of a song
Speaker 1: Ride and Dirty. He came up to me on the
Speaker 1: Red carpet the Grammys shortly after winning Best Rap Song.
Speaker 1: He said I was partly responsible for him winning the
Speaker 1: Grammy because my parody made it undeniable that his was
Speaker 1: the Rap Song of the Year. Song with the highest stakes,
Speaker 1: Al says, smells like Nirvana. It was my first comeback,
Speaker 1: as it were, because my movie UAHF came out in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine and bombed. I almost did another Michael
Speaker 1: Jackson parody because I was reaching that point of desperation,
Speaker 1: and then Nirvana came along. I was back on MTV
Speaker 1: and touring again. That was the point when I realized
Speaker 1: a good, long career has peaks and valleys, and you
Speaker 1: can't get too depressed when you're in a valley or
Speaker 1: too full of yourself when you're at the peak. Music
Speaker 1: video that elevated the medium. Weird Else says Amish Paradise.
Speaker 1: I'm very proud of the backwards sequence at the end.
Speaker 1: I'm certainly not the first person to think of recording
Speaker 1: something backward for music video, but it was something that
Speaker 1: took a lot of work and effort to get the
Speaker 1: logistics figured out. Weird Al's pitched to the Rock and
Speaker 1: Roll Hall of Fame to do the right thing and
Speaker 1: induct him. I agree, he says. I think if they're
Speaker 1: ever going to pick a comedic entry, I'd like to
Speaker 1: think i'd be considered for that. If they pick another
Speaker 1: accordion playing parody writer ahead of me, I'd be upset.
Speaker 1: Colin Quinn is up in Saratoga, New York. Today. He'll
Speaker 1: be doing a benefit for or the Tunnel to Towers Foundation,
Speaker 1: a nonprofit that helps nine to eleven families, first responders,
Speaker 1: and military veterans with housing. Speaking of nine to eleven,
Speaker 1: I was, so, I'm a New Yorker, and I was
Speaker 1: in New York City in Manhattan on nine to eleven,
Speaker 1: looking out the window from WR Radio at the towers
Speaker 1: burning with my own eyes. And I was on Fortieth Street.
Speaker 1: So if you're a hip to New York City, I
Speaker 1: don't want to make it sound like Fortieth Street was
Speaker 1: across the street from the Twin Towers. And I tried
Speaker 1: to explain to my kids, you know, you'll see stuff
Speaker 1: on the news where like they'll describe things as like
Speaker 1: near Times Square, and it might be half a mile
Speaker 1: from Times Square, which technically is near Times Square, but
Speaker 1: distances in New York City or Great like if you're
Speaker 1: like seven blocks from Times Square, not very far if
Speaker 1: you're a bird, But in terms of like New York
Speaker 1: City ness, that's a long way away anyway. So I
Speaker 1: was in New York. I was looking at the towers
Speaker 1: tell the story for another day. I was a little
Speaker 1: not taken aback. But I was just like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: watching kill. It's only the other night when they just
Speaker 1: dropped some nine to eleven jokes, like it was nothing
Speaker 1: at Madison Square Garden. But again, there are people who
Speaker 1: are now. I mean, you know, if you were born
Speaker 1: in twenty and one, you're twenty four years old, so
Speaker 1: you might be thirty and really not have any memory
Speaker 1: of nine to eleven or a little less than thirty,
Speaker 1: I guess. But you know what I'm saying. Just time
Speaker 1: moves on, Like I don't cringe when you hear a
Speaker 1: Pearl Harbor joke or a Kennedy joke. So I get it.
Speaker 1: But it was just like, oh, all right, it's twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five now. Anyway. Colin Quinn is doing a benefit
Speaker 1: for the families, he told Saratoga Living. I've done tennels
Speaker 1: of towers, things a lot. It's a great cause. Everybody
Speaker 1: from the city knew a few people that died on
Speaker 1: nine to eleven. That is true. It's amazing everybody knew somebody,
Speaker 1: and also everybody seemed to know someone with a story like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I was on my way to work, but you know,
Speaker 1: I stopped at CVS or I normally would have been
Speaker 1: on that train, but my kid had a back to
Speaker 1: school thing at eight thirty in the morning. You heard
Speaker 1: a lot of stories like that. Colin. Do you get
Speaker 1: in a politic and a set like this? Colin Quinn said,
Speaker 1: I do. Everything is politics now. There's no area that
Speaker 1: politics doesn't enter the national conversation because the national conversation
Speaker 1: is everybody running their mouth online at all times. So
Speaker 1: whatever you say there is people having an opinion on
Speaker 1: a lot of my stuff is how we think now
Speaker 1: because of social media and how insane we all really are.
Speaker 1: A lot of it is about the space program and
Speaker 1: AI and stuff like that. Where we're going as people.
Speaker 1: Most people come to see me know I'm not doing
Speaker 1: a lot of sex jokes or stuff like that. They
Speaker 1: don't expect to be in a party atmosphere. I'm not
Speaker 1: the kind of guy that's fun for people that are drunk.
Speaker 1: I've never been, and I'm less and less that guy,
Speaker 1: the older I get. If you want to sit in
Speaker 1: a very uncomfortable chair with a hardback, laughing intermittently based
Speaker 1: on your hearing, then I'm one to see. Do you
Speaker 1: like Saturday Night Live? We'll get this one on your radar.
Speaker 1: For the middle of September, u T Austin's Harry Ransom
Speaker 1: Center is hosting live from New York, The Lorne Michaels Connection,
Speaker 1: a deep dive into fifty years of comedy, satire, and
Speaker 1: pop culture shaped by Lorne Michaels based on Gary Krueger's
Speaker 1: comments the other day, more like forty five years. We'll
Speaker 1: see if there's a Gary Krueger exhibit. This collection is
Speaker 1: from Lauren Michael's Stuff and it features annotated scripts, production notes,
Speaker 1: rare photos, famous props like the cow bell, the Five
Speaker 1: Timers Club jacket, Sinead O'Connor's Ripped Pope photo, and costumes
Speaker 1: from Matt Foley and The Church Lady. It's free. It
Speaker 1: runs through March twentieth of next year. It kicks off
Speaker 1: with a student faculty preview on September nineteenth. Coffee and
Speaker 1: snacks included for those guys not for you. You can't
Speaker 1: get in till September twentieth. Well, unless you're a student
Speaker 1: you're listening to me, in which case Hi. Conan O'Brien
Speaker 1: was on the back to the Best podcast. I'm not
Speaker 1: familiar with that one. He was asked about the first
Speaker 1: major celebrity party he attended. Conan said it was the
Speaker 1: SNL fifteenth anniversary, which happened when Conan was in his twenties.
Speaker 1: We are all getting old, he said, that was my
Speaker 1: first time seeing an insane number of celebrities in one
Speaker 1: small space. Prince was there and he'd just done the
Speaker 1: Batman soundtrack. I remember being in a crowded hallway and
Speaker 1: he was standing right next to me, the most perfect
Speaker 1: looking person he'd ever seen in your life. Conan also
Speaker 1: remembered John bon Jovi came to an SNL party when
Speaker 1: he was the biggest thing in the world. It was
Speaker 1: like nineteen eighty eight and he came and I remember
Speaker 1: he's wearing like a Buckskin cool outfit, just so cool.
Speaker 1: Brad Williams is going to be working on a special
Speaker 1: He wants people to come out and help him try
Speaker 1: out his new material. As for inspiration for bits, he said,
Speaker 1: I never know what's going to strike me. My years
Speaker 1: are always open, he said. Each show is different. If
Speaker 1: you saw me a year ago, it's a different show.
Speaker 1: But he won't talk politics. I don't like half the
Speaker 1: audience to hate me based on who I voted for.
Speaker 1: So I want to make sure everyone, no matter who
Speaker 1: you voted for it can come out and have a
Speaker 1: good time and kind of escape that after trying out material.
Speaker 1: He said, that's the beautiful part of stand up crowds.
Speaker 1: You don't know if it works until you try it out.
Speaker 1: Mighty bomb, it definitely happens. I have friends who are like,
Speaker 1: what if you bomb, You're going to bomb. I've been
Speaker 1: doing it long enough. I look at as a math
Speaker 1: problem two plus two to equal fortnite. I don't get mad.
Speaker 1: I just kind of go back to the lab and
Speaker 1: figure it out. Sabashion Maniscalco is gonna get off of
Speaker 1: the road, and what's he gonna do? He said, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get back into golf. He told bill Board. I
Speaker 1: went golfing. I did it in Las Vegas and I
Speaker 1: was performing there. I want to do some golfing, and
Speaker 1: then I'm taking my mother to Italy for her eightieth birthday.
Speaker 1: She always wanted to go to the Amalfi Coast, so
Speaker 1: we're taking you there. Then. I definitely want I start
Speaker 1: cooking again because it's very relaxing for me. I've got
Speaker 1: so many recipes that I've saved on Instagram that I
Speaker 1: want to try out. Everybody likes. When I make steak,
Speaker 1: people go, well, how hard is it to make steak?
Speaker 1: You just cook it? But I put it in the
Speaker 1: oven for write this down everybody, forty five minutes. At
Speaker 1: two seventy five, I let it rest for fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: I do a see er two minutes on each side,
Speaker 1: just a good helping of pepper and salt on it.
Speaker 1: No sauce, no nothing. I just started making mashed potatoes,
Speaker 1: which turned out fantastic when I had a little garlic,
Speaker 1: which wasn't on the recipe. Nothing where it'd be like,
Speaker 1: oh I do this thing where it takes the eight
Speaker 1: hours to prepare. I'll do a pasta dish with oil
Speaker 1: and some garlic and a little parsley on top, cheese,
Speaker 1: maybe a little Bronzino salt, pepper stick in the oven,
Speaker 1: squeeze little lemon or oil on it. Simple. That's your
Speaker 1: comedy news for Today, normal episode tomorrow. You know, the
Speaker 1: foot's not all the way on the gas on a
Speaker 1: holiday weekend, you know what I'm saying, And especially it's
Speaker 1: a slow news week type of year. But this was fun.
Speaker 1: See tomorrow