He’s the guy with more curls in his hair than there are quotation marks in his name. He’s the guy who went from playing the accordion in his bedroom to being the premiere parody musician on the planet. (And yes, that’s a good thing.) He is the incomparable ”Weird Al” Yankovic, and years of adamant anticipation for more of his pop-skewing masterpieces have paid off in spades with the arrival of his new video, “Tacky,” which not only pokes fun at Pharrell’s insanely popular hit “Happy,” but also the neverending stream of society’s most terrible trends. Crocs and Instagrammed food pictures will be mankind’s least remembered obsessions.
“Tacky” premiered on the Al-friendly website Nerdist, whose own Chris Hardwick co-produced the video. Shot on location in and around L.A.’s Palace Theater – which you may recognize from The Big Lebowski – “Tacky” doesn’t even focus on Yankovic for all that long, instead bringing in a handful of comedy stars to lip sync and flashdance their way through ginormous multicolored fashion faux pas. The lineup includes Aisha Tyler, Margaret Cho, Eric Stonestreet, Kristen Schaal and Jack Black, all of whom deliver energetic performances in the extended single-shot take. I kind of need Schaal's shirt in my life.
But I’ll leave Jack Black's backward sequined fanny packs to civilization’s most cultured specimen.
You wouldn’t think a song based on awfulness like wearing socks with sandals would be quite this catchy, but that’s what “Weird Al” and his band are best at. It’s no surprise that their writing process for the less-nuanced releases involves a good deal of culminating things – look at all of his glorious food songs – and they pulled out all the stops here, making fun of resumes printed in Comic Sans font, asking women if they’re pregnant or fat, and taking selfies at funerals. Wave of the present, people!
“Tacky” is only the first video to come from “Weird Al” this week, as he’s promoting the July 15 release of his new (and possibly final) album Mandatory Fun by putting out eight music videos over the next eight days. He’ll also be taking part in a Reddit AMA on July 15, giving fans the ultimate excuse to do nothing but experience “Weird Al” all day long! Beyond “Happy,”Mandatory Fun will send up songs like Lorde’s “Royals,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” and Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” while featuring non-specific parodies of the musical stylings of The Pixies, Foo Fighters and Cat Stevens. It’s never that fun for me (mandatory or otherwise) when I absolutely despise all of the songs “Weird Al” covers, but I’ll suck it up if they make me laugh like “Tacky” did.
Have you pre-ordered your copy of Mandatory Fun yet?
