{"id":797413,"date":"2026-07-12T16:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/797413\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T16:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:54:13","slug":"ever-clever-weird-al-returns-to-just-for-laughs-with-bigger-free-outdoor-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/797413\/","title":{"rendered":"Ever-clever Weird Al returns to Just for Laughs with bigger free outdoor show"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s weird these days is that \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic can no longer be considered to be \u2026 well \u2026 weird \u2014 in spite of the fact that his current world tour that brings him to Just for Laughs<\/a> here July 25 is called\u00a0Bigger & Weirder.<\/p>\n

The world is weird.\u00a0 But the singer who has been giving us giggles over the last four decades by belting out parodies of the biggest pop stars in the business is not.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name has been ironic for quite some time now I think,\u201d concedes Yankovic in a Zoom interview. \u201cBut I believe I am getting weirder every year I\u2019m on this planet and the show is quite literally bigger, because we have doubled the size of our band: four new players to go along with our core band from the \u201980s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of note, Yankovic is likely on the same socio-economic plateau as those he parodies. Let the record(s) show that the five-time Grammy award-winner is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist in history, with more than 12 million albums sold as of 2025. Which is saying something when names like Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Steve Martin are factored into this equation.<\/p>\n

For many Montrealers, the highlight of this summer\u2019s JFL fest is that he is performing a free outdoor concert on July 25 at 9 p.m. at Place des Festivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell Jerry Seinfeld you said that,\u201d cracks the ever-self-deprecating Yankovic.<\/p>\n

Of course, the operative word here is \u201cfree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Not even the rain could dampen the spirits of spectators as \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic performed a free outdoor concert at the 2015 JFL fest. John Kenney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

Hopefully the skies won\u2019t open up on him this time as they did when he performed a free outdoor concert at the 2015 JFL fest \u2014 although not even the rain could dampen the spirits of the thousands who caught the entire show.<\/p>\n

His shtick never seems to get old or tired. Try not convulsing listening to Eat It or Smells like Nirvana or Like a Surgeon or Amish Paradise or \u2014 the platinum-selling \u2014 White & Nerdy. Audiences still crack up listening to him parody everyone from Madonna to Michael Jackson, Queen to U2. Not even Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga are immune from his touch.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the kicker: Most pop royalty considers it a badge of honour to be parodied by Yankovic. And he never parodies without getting permission ahead of time from the targeted singers, which explains how he avoids lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Ever-clever that \u201cWeird Al.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I have a pretty good track record of people being happy with what I put out there. It\u2019s done with a great deal of respect. I think that\u2019s one of the reasons I have been able to hang around in this industry as long as I have.\u201d<\/p>\n

I somehow managed to buck the odds the last four decades.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic<\/p>\n

He notes that in most cases he\u2019s doing straight parody as opposed to satire. Regardless, not all the fans of the parodied artists are amused.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are always going to be some fans who don\u2019t understand that the original artists approved it. When I did Eat It or Smells Like Nirvana, some people asked how I could make fun of Michael Jackson or how dare you do that to Kurt Cobain.\u201d But each artist \u201cloved the song\u201d parodying them. \u201cSo I say if they can take the joke, you can, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though there would appear to be an abundance of up-and-coming artists he could have fun with these days, he acknowledges that he has put a pause on new parodies for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t given up doing them. The last time I did any one-to-one straight parody songs was on my last album (his 14th\u00a0studio album, Mandatory Fun), which came out in 2014. And my act is not all parodies, either. We also sit around like regular musicians and do plenty of other music as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also more to Yankovic than just the music. He wrote and starred in the film UHF (1989) and the TV series The Weird Al Show (1997). And he did turn to satire in producing two films in that genre about his own life: The Compleat Al (1985) and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022), the Emmy-winner which he also co-wrote, and which starred Daniel Radcliffe in the title role. He\u2019s currently developing a \u201cWeird Al\u201d jukebox musical for Broadway. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But even he is amazed how long he has been on the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea I\u2019d have a career lasting this long. When I first started out, no one wanted to sign me to a record deal. \u2018Comedy music?\u2019 they would ask. \u2018That\u2019s the domain of one-hit wonders. You\u2019ll be lucky to have one hit single. Then you\u2019ll be a footnote.\u2019 I guess I somehow managed to buck the odds the last four decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

By today\u2019s pop-music longevity standards, Yankovic at 66 could probably keep it going a few more decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll continue taking my vitamins and will see what happens,\u201d he muses. \u201cIt\u2019s just worked out so far \u2026 I\u2019m like comfort food.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s weird these days is that \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic can no longer be considered to be \u2026 well…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75,129638],"class_list":["post-797413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-just-for-laughs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}