World of Weird Al Yankovic

It looks like Al's label is finally stepping up and doing their job correctly publicizing this album. I don't remember ANY of this stuff for Poodle Hat.

MarlinsGirl @ Oct 13 2006, 02:29 PM wrote: I just got the new MAD today #471 and there's a lovely full page ad for SOL in it. Pick up a copy today.

Terri M.

Is this a real ad for SOL or one of their fake ads? Either way, I might just have to buy a copy...twould make a lovely poster...

~*Cat*~

SmileyGirl87 @ Oct 13 2006, 08:24 PM wrote: Is this a real ad for SOL or one of their fake ads? Either way, I might just have to buy a copy...twould make a lovely poster...

~*Cat*~

it's a REAL ad. It would make a nice poster.

Terri M.

There have been some great MAD Magazine references through the years. Admittedly I haven't read the magazine much over the last 5 years or so, but there were some classic ones in the past. I'm sure Al was happy to see himself in the mag since he was an avid MAD reader like so many of us here on the forum were in our demented heydays. :^) :bloem:

Yeah, it's an awesome ad, glad too see Al get the publicity.

One of my friends surprised me with it in 1st Period a couple days ago. Love it.....

Yeah, Al and MAD go back a long way....

First, the "Unckle Nutzie's Clubhouse" scene in UHF was inspired by a MAD article from the 60's with the same title.

Second, the lyrics to Al's "Jarassic Park" song were printed in a issue of MAD.

Third, Al wrote the introduction of the MAD book "MAD about TV".

And Fourth, MAD and Al make reffrences to each other too numerous to count. Seiriously, anyone who likes Al will probably like MAD... As most of us do.

Some more specifics on Al's MAD appearances:

(1) "MAD's Pro Wrestling Predictions" (#266, July '86) - Legendary MAD artist Angelo Torres depicted Al in an "EAT IT" muscle shirt, preparing him for a tag-team match spurred on by the uproar over a (fictional) parody. The exact prediction: "Captain Lou Albano, Cyndi Lauper and a member of the Jewish Defence League take on 'Weird Al' Yankovic, the Fabulous Moolah and a member of the KKK after Yankovic releases a parody entitled 'Goys Just Wanna Have Fun.'"

(2) "Cable TV Roulette" (#268, October '86): First panel (Shot of Congress in action): "I believe this bill will receive the approval of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and..." (CLICK) Second panel (MTV VJ posed in front of an image of WAY): "...'Weird Al' Yankovic. What a nutty guy! Up next, a World Video Premiere from..." (CLICK) Third panel (Jimmy Swaggart): "...The Lord God Almighty!!!"

(3) "Celebrities In Space" (#273, September '87): MAD uber-caricaturist Mort Drucker gives us a floating-in-zero-gravity Al, chomping on a pizza and singing the following spoof of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" (written by MAD veteran Frank Jacobs):

Never volunteer - for a week up here
Wish I'd stayed behind - Let me tell ya
All I know 'bout outer space is
Where my feet were, now my face is
Ain't nobody needs this crazy world!

Someone beam me down...back to my home town
Must have lost my mind - Let me tell ya
"Star Trek" never had this trouble
Get me back and on the double
Ain't nobody needs this crazy world

All the food that they've supplied me
Comes in tubes that they provide me
But the food won't stay inside me

There's a gagging in my throat here
From those crazy blobs that float here
Ain't nobody needs this crazy world!

NOTE: His surname was misspelled "Yancovic" in the original printing, but a correction appeared when the article resurfaced in an early-'90s MAD reprint issue.

(4) "Jurassic Park" (#324, January '94): Al's complete parody lyrics for the 1993 "MacArthur Park" spoof appeared alongside a collection of the stop-motion animation figures from the accompanying video. Earlier in the issue, a letter and photo from Al appeared, thanking MAD for "spoofing the cover of my new album Alapalooza on the cover of your last issue" (ie. #323, Dec. '93) - since both covers had Jurassic Park themes - to which MAD's editors replied, "Gee, Al, we thought YOU were parodying OUR cover!"

(5) "Entertain Me Weakly" (#368, April '98): An entire page of this Entertainment Weekly parody was devoted to reviews of fictional Hindenburg-themed movies (an obvious slam of the Titanic craze) including "Airship!", a Zucker brothers sight-gag fiesta featuring "several C-list actors and 'Weird Al' Yankovic mugging for the camera." (NOTE: Al was not actually pictured here.)

(6) "How Various People Will React To The Next Random Act Of Senseless Violence" (#390, February '00): Here's where all the trouble started with regards to Al's foreword for the MAD About TV paperback. The original gag in this piece had a smiling Al waving from inside a coffin (art: Drew Friedman), as he prepared to write a "sensitive tribute ballad" entitled "Pretty Fly For A Dead Guy." The art was recycled for the television-themed MAD paperback, leading several confused Al fans to wonder what the hell was going on. WAY actually wound up addressing this in the "Ask Al" portion of his main website, www.weirdal.com.

(7) "A MAD Investigative Report On Doomsday Cults In America Today" (#401, January '01): One of the fictional "cults" claimed to receive deep spiritual messages by "playing 'Weird Al' Yankovic records over and over again." (Interestingly enough, this was written by Jeff Kruse, who also wrote the "American Idol Also-Rans" piece quoted earlier in this thread. Once again, Al was not actually pictured in this "Cults" article.)

Al's other MAD appearances - a reference in "The Untold History of MAD Magazine" (#400, Dec. '00), his cameo on the "50 Worst Things About Music" cover (#420, Aug. '02) and his mention in the "Harry Plodder and the Pre-Teen Nerds Are Actin' Bad" satire (#443, July '04) - have already been mentioned here, so I won't go into further detail in this regard.

Hey, C-Head! Nice of you to drop by! You might better remember me as maxkorn321 from the MAD boards.

I love reading MAD, and because of the SOL ad in the current issue, I need to get it MAD ASAP. (Although because my family is in the middle of a big move, it might be a little hard.)

The house my family and I are renting for the next few months is about an eight minute walk from the nearest Sav-On CVS Pharmacy. I just walked there to pick up the issue (in the chaos of the move) and they didn't have it in stock yet. Oh well, I'll be checking like crazy until they get the issue in stock.