The Weird Al Show facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Weird Al Show |
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The Weird Al Show: The Complete Series DVD cover
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| Created by | "Weird Al" Yankovic |
| Presented by | "Weird Al" Yankovic |
| Starring | Brian Haley Gary LeRoi Gray Judy Tenuta Paula Jai Parker Danielle Weeks |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Dick Clark "Weird Al" Yankovic Jay Levey |
| Production location(s) | NBC Studios Stage 11, Burbank, CA |
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Ear Booker Productions Dick Clark Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | 480i (4:3 SDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | September 13 – December 6, 1997 |
The Weird Al Show was an American television show hosted by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Produced in association with Dick Clark Productions and taped at NBC Studios, it aired on Saturday mornings on the CBS TV network. The show ran for one season, from September to December 1997. The show was released on DVD on August 15, 2006.
The show is framed as a "show-within-a-show", with Yankovic, starring as himself, living in an underground home while working as a television show host. It uses a combination of live-action skits with numerous guests, animated shorts, and musical performances by Yankovic and other guest bands. CBS had greenlit the show from Yankovic, seeking content for its required Educational/Informative programming block and framed similarly to Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Because of this, Yankovic and his writers struggled with developing content appropriate for children's programming that met CBS's expectations while still within Yankovic's form of visual and adult humor.
Synopsis
Each episode starts with a narrator (Billy West) introducing today's lesson to the viewers. Then, Al is in a common situation in his mancave that he addresses to the viewers. Afterward, he watches a TV displaying parody shows and commercials that are related to the day's show. Most of the time, Al's friend Bobby the Inquisitive Boy stops by and asks him a question. In turn, Al plays him an old-fashioned educational film to help answer his question. Sometimes, the show features an animated cartoon called "Fatman", which is about Weird Al as a fat superhero. At the end of the show, there is a commercial parody being shown followed by a band performing a song. Sometimes, Al reviews today's lesson before closing out the show.
Music
Theme song
The theme song can be found on Yankovic's album Running with Scissors (1999) as "The Weird Al Show Theme".
It tells the story of how Al came to live in a tree and get a television show, including references to the fabricated life story in The Compleat Al, such as having worked in a nasal decongestant factory. Also referenced is playing on the company bowling team, which may be a reference to "Generic Blues".
The visuals for the show's theme are done in three different styles - traditional animation, 3D computer animation, and claymation. The claymation portion was done by Mark Osborne and Scott Nordlund, who had previously done Yankovic's "Jurassic Park" music video.
Bite Me
After the end credits of each case, when the "Ear Booker Productions" logo flashes on the screen repeatedly, a three-second version of the "Bite Me" track can be heard. "Bite Me" originally appeared as a six second long hidden track on the CD version of Weird Al" Yankovic's 1992 album Off the Deep End. The track appeared after 10 minutes of the final track ("You Don't Love Me Anymore"). The track was included as a parody of Nirvana's hidden track on the album Nevermind, but also to scare listeners into turning off the CD.
Cast
- "Weird Al" Yankovic as himself, Fred Huggins, Tony Malone, Fatman, various other characters
- Eddie Deezen as The Guy Boarded in the Wall
- Donavan Freberg as Baby Boolie
- Stan Freberg as Papa Boolie, J. B. Toppersmith
- Gary LeRoi Gray as Bobby the Inquisitive Boy
- Brian Haley as The Hooded Avenger
- Harvey the Wonder Hamster as himself
- Ed Marques as Varna the Squirmese Cook
- Paula Jai Parker as Val Brentwood, Gal Spy
- Patricia Place as Mrs. Fesenmeyer
- Jack Plotnick as Uncle Ralphie
- Judy Tenuta as Madame Judy the Psychic
- Danielle Weeks as Cousin Corky
- Billy West as the show's narrator/announcer, voice of Harvey the Wonder Hamster in "Fatman" shorts
- Mary Yankovic as Mom (herself)
- Nick Yankovic as Dad (himself)
Gedde Watanabe's character, Kuni, also appeared in Yankovic's film, UHF. David Bowe, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, and Emo Philips also starred in the film.
Episodes
Episodes are listed in airing order, with the production code indicating the order they were intended to air in.
| # | Title | Guest stars | Plot | Original airdate | Code |
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| 1 | Bad Influence |
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Al meets a new friend named Spike who has a "way-moby (cool) club," and Spike tells Al that he has to rip off one pant-leg, stick his arms in chocolate syrup, and shave-off his right eyebrow to be able to join the club. He eventually finds out it was all made up, and kicks him out of the house. | September 13, 1997 | 3603 |
| 2 | Promises, Promises |
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Al lies to his friends about being buddies with John Tesh, so in order to raise the $82,000 appearance fee Tesh charges he does infomercials to sell worthless junk. Eventually all his customers want a refund, including Tesh himself. | September 20, 1997 | 3604 |
| 3 | Mining Accident |
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Some coal miners break through Al's house and he has to learn to make friends with them. | September 27, 1997 | 3602 |
| 4 | Back to School |
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Al decides he wants to become smarter, and soon regrets it. | October 4, 1997 | 3605 |
| 5 | Time Machine |
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Al forgot to get Harvey the Wonder Hamster a present on his birthday, so he uses his new invention to go back in time and get Harvey a present. | October 11, 1997 | 3609 |
| 6 | One for the Record Books |
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Harvey the Wonder Hamster gets radioactive and grows to four times the size of Al, becoming the world's biggest hamster on Earth and getting put in the Guinness Book of World Records. Al becomes jealous and tries to make himself a world record. | October 18, 1997 | 3606 |
| 7 | Because I Said So |
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Al has to babysit Huey, Al's television producer's greedy nephew. | October 25, 1997 | 3607 |
| 8 | Talent Show |
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Today is the day of the annual "Weird Al talent show", but Cousin Corky gets stage fright. | November 1, 1997 | 3612 |
| 9 | Al Plays Hooky |
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Al decides to take a vacation, leaving Cousin Corky stuck hosting the show. | November 8, 1997 | 3611 |
| 10 | He Ain't Heavy, He's My Hamster |
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Al bullies Harvey about doing a death-defying stunt, and must make amends. According to the DVD commentary, this was originally intended to be the debut, hence containing exposition for characters and segments that seem out of place on what turned out to be the tenth aired episode. | November 15, 1997 | 3601 |
| 11 | The Competition |
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Al competes against Fred Huggins and Uncle Ralphie to see who is the best TV show host. | November 22, 1997 | 3608 |
| 12 | The Obligatory Holiday Episode |
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Al celebrates the holidays with his friends. This was the last episode recorded and was intended to run last, however it ended up being the second-to-last episode aired. | November 29, 1997 | 3613 |
| 13 | Al Gets Robbed |
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Al returns to the cave from a trip and finds that all of his stuff has been stolen. | December 6, 1997 | 3610 |
In the "Al Gets Robbed" episode, the Hooded Avenger walks over to Al delivering him his tabloid papers. The paper is called "Midnight Star", referring to the same-titled song about the tabloid off "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D. The main headline, "Incredible Frog Boy on the Loose", refers to a lyric in the song.
