'Weird Al' Yankovic talks NZ tour and that Royals spoof

NZ Herald

28 Sep, 2015 09:00 AM2 mins to read

"Weird Al" Yankovic.

Comedian "Weird Al" Yankovic, who has famously parodied generations of pop hits ranging from Michael Jackson to Lorde, is headed back to New Zealand.

Yankovic's The Mandatory World Tour has shows at Auckland's Powerstation on January 5 and Christchurch's Isaac Theatre Royal on January 6.

Tour publicity claims him as the biggest selling comedy recording artist of all time.

The shows follow the release of his 14th album,

, which Yankovic declared to be his last long-player and arrived after he created a viral wave by releasing online eight song videos in eight days.

The album contained reinterpretations of hits including Royals (Foil), Blurred Lines (Word Crimes) and Happy (Tacky)

Debuting at No. 1 in the United States, Mandatory Fun was the first comedy album to top the Billboard charts in more than 50 years and won Yankovic his fourth best comedy album Grammy.

Yankovic first came to international attention in the mid 80s with his Michael Jackson parodies of Beat It (Eat it) and Bad (Fat).

Despite being legally entitled to record any parody, Yankovic still makes a point of asking an artist for their blessing before releasing his version of a song - and they very rarely refuse, especially after Michael Jackson lent his support back in the 80s.

"These days it's extremely rare for me to actually get a turn-down," he tells TimeOut this week.

"When I first started out in the early 80s it was a lot more common because nobody knew who this Weird Al was and what I was about. Nowadays artists usually look at it as a badge of honour or a rite of passage to get a Weird Al parody."

Yankovic didn't talk to Lorde directly about Royals: "It was like my people talking to her people, but she did approve it and I did read an interview that she did a while ago where she said she liked the parody and she was honoured by it, so that was very gratifying."