Albums: "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983) | "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3D | Dare to Be Stupid | Polka Party! | Even Worse | UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff | Off the Deep End | Alapalooza | Bad Hair Day | Running with Scissors | Poodle Hat | Straight Outta Lynwood | Alpocalypse | Mandatory Fun
Films: UHF | Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
- Epic Riff: "Eat It" has a riff that's so epic the guitar explodes. It's played by Al's producer and famed guitarist Rick Derringer.
- Harsher in Hindsight: "Midnight Star" spoofs the concept of obviously fake tabloid news stories and baseless conspiracy theories, some of which were really published (Al himself still has the article about "the incredible frog boy"). In an age where the term "fake news" is part of the public vernacular and fact-checkers are constantly scrambling to invalidate baseless or poorly-researched articles, lest the people who believe them (or, more likely, choose to believe them) use them to validate their own harmful biases, being fascinated by obviously fabricated "news" doesn't feel as funny.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: "Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser)" ended up being this when Rocky Balboa revealed that Rocky really did become a restaurant owner after he'd retired from boxing. (Albeit an Italian restaurant instead of the deli in the song.)
- Surprisingly Improved Sequel: While not viewed as outright bad, Al's debut album is considered fairly unremarkable apart from "My Bologna" and "Another One Rides the Bus". Al himself regretted its slipshod approach. In 3D, meanwhile, is widely viewed as Al's first truly great album, featuring beefed-up production values that allowed Al to more effectively parody the biggest hits of the day and better establish his own thumbprint as a songwriter.
- Unintentional Period Piece:
- "I Lost on Jeopardy" parodied the original 1964-1975 version of the show hosted by Art Fleming and announced by Don Pardo, a mere three months before the current version originally hosted by Alex Trebek with Johnny Gilbert as his announcer began. Also, younger audiences are now more familiar with Pardo as the longtime announcer for Saturday Night Live, announcing for every season from its 1975 premiere until his death in 2014 (excluding the show's 7th season from 1981-82, when Mel Brandt temporarily replaced him), than for Jeopardy!.
- "King of Suede" has a line referencing "collars ripped off like in that Flashdance flick", placing the song in the same period as the fashion and the movie that inspired it.
