It’s finally here, a collection of every Weird Al music video ever made up to “Poodle Hat,” (as far as I’m aware at any rate). I’m sure I don’t even need to recommend this to the serious Al fans, but you may be curious as to what all you get in the package. Be patient for a moment; in the spirit of drawing new Al-coholics into the fold allow me to state some obvious information.

 

For any readers that are not familiar with Weird Al (though most people half-way familiar with American culture have heard of him) he’s a comedian that’s most famous for his parodies of popular songs and styles associated with particular bands. His humor ranges from witty to silly, and everyone wonders what he’s going to do next. Bands have been known to say they felt like they have “made it” in the industry when Al has parodied their song. His talented band plays the music so well it’s sometimes better than the original, and the artists themselves sometimes take part. He has done themes for 3 movies (including his own) and loves to sing about food and entertainment (such as singing the plots to Star Wars, Forest Gump, and others).

 

His videos follow that trend. The video parodies are often as close to the originals as the songs are. In fact, he quite often uses the same locations and/or people as the original videos. I’ll give you a brief description of each video shortly, but you will appreciate that more if you have heard some of the music already. Check out some samples on line somewhere if your interest has been piqued. It should go without saying that if the songs get on your nerves you’re going to get, at best, minimal enjoyment out of the videos.

 

Here’s the track listing. The arrangement seems random with the exceptions of a couple that tie in such as “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” following “Smells Like Nirvana.”

 

Fat (Bad – Michael Jackson) a great recreation of the original with a fairly impressive fat suit on Al. One of his funniest.

 

Amish Paradise (Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio) some great Amish gags dealing with barn raisings, porn, and anger. See Al singing in reverse… reversed! Florence Henderson makes an appearance.

 

It’s All About The Pentiums (It’s All About The Benjamins – Puff Daddy) Flashy and colorful, but with fewer clever gags than I’d hoped for. This is my favorite Al song on this set, but not my favorite video. Emo Philips and Drew Carey make appearances.

 

Smells Like Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana) Incredibly and insanely funny. This is possibly his most highly acclaimed video and for good reason. On top of being a great song the video is a non-stop laugh riot. Dick Van Patten makes a side-splitting appearance as does the janitor from the Nirvana video.

 

You Don’t Love Me Anymore - though the songs are not related other than being on the same album, the video is kind of a sequel to "Smells Like Nirvana." The intro picks up with the band taking off wigs and such, and the janitor is still around. Though the images have nothing to do with the words in the song, there’s some funny if sometimes gruesome stuff. Robert Goulet plays the piano and gets maimed.

 

Bedrock Anthem (Under The Bridge and Give It Away – Red Hot Chili Peppers) Crazy funny. Lots of Flintstones images and gags related to the show and the original Chili Peppers video. Dick Van Patten makes another cameo.

 

Gump (Lump – Presidents Of The United States Of America) Funny Forest Gump recreations with Andy Comeau in the lead role and Pat Boone as the greedy guy on the bench. It’s a mix of parodies of the movie and the original Lump video. Loads of fun, more so than the movie he sings about.

 

Jurassic Park (MacArthur Park – Richard Harris) a claymation video putting Al in the middle of the movie. It’s especially funny if you love Jurassic Park the movie and hate Barney the dinosaur. The animation is pretty impressive.

 

Headline News (Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm – Crash Test Dummies) I haven’t seen the original video, but I figure the concept is based on it. The song tells about 3 people: the guy who got caned in Singapore, Tonya Harding, and John Bobbit the castrated. Al recreates the incidents to mach the lyrics, and a crowd watches as if it’s a play being performed on stage. Even if you’re not much of an Al fan, this one is great for its social commentary. The camera focuses on several guys in the audience after Bobbitt’s predicament is revealed and their facial expressions are just about the funniest thing on the whole DVD. Judy Tenuta plays Lorena Bobbitt. I can’t confirm this officially, but I’m sure I also saw Musical Mike Kieffer, the hand musician, and Dr. Demento in his trademark top hat.

 

Dare To Be Stupid is every bit as silly as the song. There are some funny gags, but you really have to like the ridiculous side of Al to appreciate this one.

 

Eat It (Beat It – Michael Jackson) It’s pretty well done corny fun even if it’s not as funny as some of the others. Jackson fans will appreciate it the most.

 

Like A Surgeon (Like A Virgin – Madonna) Al as Madonna traipses around a hospital. Lots of great medical gags and Madonna related silliness.

 

UHF parodies more bands in a single video than any other plus clips from the movie by the same name. Guns N Roses, Randy Newman, the Beatles, INXS, Billy Idol, Prince, and several others are portrayed. This is also included on the UHF movie DVD.

 

Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies (Dire Straits plus whoever sang the Hillbillies theme song) Combines the original music video with Beverly Hillbillies clips and animation of Al and Jed. It includes a lead in from the UHF movie in which the video is shown in its entirety.

 

One More Minute is a funny song but a slow video. There are too few gags compared to most of the others.

 

I Lost On Jeopardy (Jeopardy – Greg Kihn) It’s like watching a game show! No, seriously! Art Fleming, the original host, and Don Pardo, the original announcer open the video as if a real game of Jeopardy is about to be played. The music kicks in and Al sings from his podium as the game progresses. Greg Kihn also makes a cameo. I like the video more than the song even if it’s dated.

 

This Is The Life is the theme for Johnny Dangerously. Clips from the movie, most featuring Michael Keaton, are interspersed with Al acting out the part of a rich snob. Another video I like more than the song.

 

Living With A Hernia (Living In America – James Brown) Very much in keeping with the style of James. Probably the funniest of Al’s early videos mixed with plenty of Vegas style flash.

 

Spy Hard is the opening theme for Spy Hard. The video doesn’t feature any of the titles used in the movie version; it’s just Al against the background of swimming female silhouettes, James Bond style. There’s still some funny stuff, but it’s not his best.

 

Ricky (Mickey – Toni Basil) Funny if dated. Said to be the first comedy video shown on MTV. Al plays Ricky with Tress MacNeille (voice actress for Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Simpsons, and Futurama) as Lucy. They are thrown into the I Love Lucy world while they sing. Dr. Demento makes a cameo.

 

Christmas At Ground Zero is mostly Cold War-era stock footage. It’s funny in concept, but the result is my least favorite video. I usually skip this one on the CD and the DVD.

 

I Love Rocky Road (I Love Rock & Roll – Joan Jett And The Blackhearts) obviously low budget, but fun nonetheless. There are some pretty good gags here and there. Musical Mike Kieffer plays his hands on screen.

 

Bob is the only video from the new album, “Poodle Hat.” It’s simple and low budget but parodies Bob Dylan as much as the song itself does. Al holds cue cards that he drops in time with the lyrics writing out each palindrome for you to read.

 

The Saga Begins (American Pie – Don McLean) Having never seen the original video I don’t know how much of Al’s is a direct parody. Mostly it has to do with Star Wars, but whereas “Bedrock Anthem” and “MFN/Beverly Hillbillies” used images from the shows, the closest thing we get to a true Star Wars image is a wallet-sized head-shot of Jake Lloyd. The video is surprisingly slow with few gags, disappointing to a Star Wars geek like myself. If the aliens had looked more like authentic Star Wars aliens, or if more Force-related gags had been used I would probably think more highly of it. There is a pretty decent clone gag at the end, though.