World of Weird Al Yankovic

anthontherun wrote:This post reminds me of the time I boarded a spaceship with the lead singer of the Cranberries!

*insert "Here we are / boarding a spaceship" to the tune of the first two lines of "Dreams" here*

Wow, that pop culture reference was almost as unrelated to what we are talking about as the time I ran into _____ at a ______.


*______ happens. Peter Griffen says something. ______ happens.*

Griffin.

weirdojace wrote:Family Guy sucks.


That's not exactly what Family Guy humor is based off. It's based more on using pop culture references (references, not JOKES about those things) to get a laugh based on an audience's ability to recognize something popular. It's the exact same thing Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer do. Also, the "jokes" (if you can even call them that) are interchangeable and have nothing to do with what's going on in the show.

Well put. A series of passing references to something that's completely unrelated or irrelevant to the loose fitting plot of whatever episode they have on doesn't make a well written episode. Hard to write a great episode when you utilize idea balls while swimming in a tank.

I am a huuuuuuge Family Guy fan, and a huuuuuge Al fan. Having said that, I just don't see it. Al stays very family friendly, and, lets face it, Family Guy is NOT family friendly.

StinkyCheese wrote:Al stays very family friendly, and, lets face it, Family Guy is NOT family friendly.

Totally family-friendly.

Why the picture of Victoria Jackson?

Mystik Tomato wrote:

weird one wrote:ok i agree but you have to think family guy really has random weirdness and so does WEIRD AL

Al's comedy isn't based entirely off of "DURR HURR RANDOM IS TEH FUNNY LOL".

In fact, there's very little to none of that "random weirdness" in any of Al's songs.

Everything you know is wrong

Stuck in a closet with Vanna White

albuquerque

dare to be stupid

Yes, most of these are style parodies, but if you listen to the lyrics, you'll find they're full of "Random weirdness"

Yeah, a whopping four songs out of something close to 150 songs. That's why I said "Very little to none", mate.

Not only that, but...

lookatthenumbersinIandlaugh wrote:Everything you know is wrong

They Might Be Giants who are... somewhat notorious for having vague, obtuse lyrics that mean something. It's not clear about what they mean, but they obviously mean something. Everything You Know Is Wrong parodies this by having odd, obtuse lyrics that clearly don't mean anything beyond "Well, that's odd."

lookatthenumbersinIandlaugh wrote:Stuck in a closet with Vanna White

Again, it's something that's parodying things that usually mean something - In this case, dreams. Look around and you'll see there's heaps of websites that give meaning to objects in a dream that you had in an attempt to explain it and give it meaning beyond "Your subconscious is one smurfed up place. Remember, the main plot of the song is that Al is explaining to his psychiatrist/therapist about the dream he had; He's looking for meaning in it, when there clearly is none.

lookatthenumbersinIandlaugh wrote:albuquerque

It's someone's life story. But it's an unrealistic and bizarre recollection of someone's life story, which gets side-tracked and on tangents. It's only "random" because the person telling isn't entirely with it and is pretty much saying anything that comes to mind.

lookatthenumbersinIandlaugh wrote:dare to be stupid

Devo's main mythology revolves around how humanity is getting stupider and dumber and is basically devolving. Dare To Be Stupid is the inverse of this -- It's celebrating the fact that people are doing dumb things and it's telling you to go and "Dare to be stupid".

In effect, it's completely different to Family Guy, who mostly relies on "jokes" that either make no sense in the context of the current point of conversation ("Wow! This is like the time that I saw the Nostalgia Critic dancing the can-can with Hitler!" [cut to the Nostalgia Critic dancing the cac-can with Hitler] "Look everyone! He's dancing the can-can with Hitler!"), overly long gags that seem to have no other point than to stretch out the length of the episode. (See: Stewie beating up Brian for not paying back money, Peter's fights with the chicken, et al), mere references to popular culture in a sad attempt to make people say "Hey, I remember that!" (See: Peter's rendition of Rock Lobster, Brian dressing as a banana and dancing to Peanut Butter Jelly Time) or a really stupid combination of all three. (Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty)

Sir, I agree with your statements, and concede.

lookatthenumbersinIandlaugh wrote:Sir, I agree with your statements, and concede.

Wow, not exactly the world's most formidable opponent...