When “Weird Al” Yankovic sings one of his countless sidesplitting songs or dons one of his crazy costumes at the Arlington Theatre on Tuesday, August 2, you will just have to laugh — yes, you really will have to. It’s mandatory.
Coming to town on tour for his hugely successful Mandatory Fun — the first chart-topping comedy album in 50 years since Allan Sherman's My Son, the Nut in 1963 — fans will have no choice but to laugh uproariously, giggle profusely, and sing along with great gusto. Yankovic's career has spanned many decades and touched on so many cultural references with a comic twist, and the world can’t help but continue to love the perennially parodic pop of the great accordionist, who launched his career as a 16-year-old 40 years ago with a debut on Dr. Demento's radio show.
“I’ve been doing it at a long time, and by the Malcolm Gladwell rule, I'm much better now than when I started out,” Yankovic said in a recent phone interview. But nowadays, the comedy music game’s a lot different. “These days I’m competing with the whole YouTube generation; there are a million people also doing comedy videos. I am not threatened by it, but it is a challenge — it's sort of like I need to step up my game a little bit. I can't go for low-hanging fruit. If there's an idea that’s obvious, someone’s already done it.”