“Weird Al” Yankovic is famous for his parodies of well-known songs by various big-name music stars. Most artists “Weird Al” has approached have given him permission to satirize their music, but not everyone.
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In a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Yankovic revealed that there was one star he was most disappointed about not agreeing to allow him to do a parody tune.
“Prince is like the one guy that was never into it,” “Weird Al” lamented. “And he’s got a good sense of humor.”
Yankovic then brought up a bootleg recording he’d heard of Prince talking in the studio about how funny he thought the video for “Weird Al”’s Michael Jackson parody tune “Fat” was. The song poked fun at Jackson’s 1987 chart-topper “Bad.”
He continued, “But when it came to, like, parodying one of his songs, not so much.”
Yankovic explained to Fallon that he pitched about a half-dozen ideas for satirizing Prince songs, “but none of ’em got accepted.” He said he was particularly frustrated his idea for a sendup of one of Prince’s big hits from 1982 was shot down.
“[T]his killed me, ’cause I thought it was gonna be really funny—it was a parody of ‘1999’ called ‘$19.99,’” “Weird Al” recalled. “Except it was like one of those … Ron Popeil late-night infomercials. ‘You can get all this for $19.99! But wait, there’s more!’”
Fallon then asked Yankovic if he ever considered doing a parody without Prince’s approval.
“No, I mean, because … I try to respect the wishes of the artists,” Yankovic explained. “And [Prince] … made his wishes very, very clear while he was with us.”
More About Yankovic and Prince
Perhaps Prince didn’t agree to Yankovic’s request to do a parody out of some kind of grudge. In 1986, “Weird Al” put together a mock interview with the Purple One that showed him asking him ridiculous questions edited together with a 1985 Prince gave to MTV News.
Then, in 1989, Prince’s music video for his song “Partyman” from the Batman soundtrack featured the music star dressed in a partial Joker outfit giving an exploding cigar to a character that bore more than a little resemblance to Yankovic.
Yankovic’s 2025 Tour Plans
“Weird Al” Yankovic will soon be launching a lengthy North American trek dubbed the Bigger & Weirder tour this week. The outing kicks off with June 13 concert in Las Vegas and is plotted out through a September 25 show in Clearwater, Florida. The Vegas performance is part of a six-date residency at The Venetian Theatre. “Weird Al” also will be playing at the venue on June 14, 15, 18, 20, and 21.
(Photo by Rosalind O’Connor/NBC)
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