Daniel Radcliffe, Al Yankovic earned Emmy nods for ‘Weird: The Weird Al Story’

BY STEVE BRYAN

AAfter watching and reviewing movies for several years, the last thing I expected to see was Al Yankovic praising “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe’s performance in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” a biographical film released by Roku.

Radcliffe played the title role, a musician with a talent for making creative and engaging song parodies. When the 75th Emmy Award nominations were recently announced, Yankovic and Radcliffe were honored with their first Emmy nominations. Yankovic also earned honors for outstanding writing for an original movie as well as the credit for the original music and lyrics to the song “Now You Know.”

In “Weird,” Radcliffe played Yankovic, a teenager whose comedy and parody songs caught the attention of Barret Eugene Hansen, a Southern California radio personality better known as Dr. Demento. After Hansen played one of Al’s parody creations on the air, Yankovic’s career took off. While still in high school, he used his musical skills to twist the Knack’s “My Sharona” into the tasty parody “My Bologna.” After Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” hit the airwaves in 1980, Yankovic released his take on the song: “Another One Rides the Bus.”

The 1980’s seemed to inspire Al Yankovic’s creative side, which led to the top 40 parody hit “I Love Rocky Road. That was Yankovic’s comedic twist on the Joan Jett & the Blackhearts song “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” After Toni Basil’s song “Mickey” hit the charts, Yankovic released “Ricky,” a song and video that paid homage to the popular 1950’s television series “I Love Lucy.” Weird Al’s second album featured “Eat It,” his take on Michael Jackson’s immensely popular “Beat It.” Yankovic wasn’t sure how the pop star would react, but Jackson was reportedly amused by the parody.

Al’s success with videos and parodies helped make his 1989 film “UHF” a reality. An underappreciated, low-budget film, “UHF” focused on a struggling UHF television station. Yankovic played George

Newman, a young man who landed a position at a station that played reruns of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Mister Ed” and other classic shows. In “UHF,” “Seinfeld’s” Michael Richards played Stanley Spadowski, a janitor who inadvertently became the perfect host for the children’s show at the station. “UHF” even contained a brilliant, eye-popping parody of the Dire Straits hit “Money for Nothing” that definitely was worth a look.

Al Yankovic has a great sense of humor and a talent for parodies. During his concerts, for instance, Yankovic would show the trailer for a proposed biographical film about his life. That footage prompted audiences to ask when the actual film about his life would actually be made. After the finished version of “Weird” was released, it received accolades from the British Academy Television Awards, Critics’ Choice Television Awards and others. Here’s hoping that the Emmy Awards Committee honor Al Yankovic for decades of fun, laughter and, of course, parodies.