Photo: Kristine Slipson / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
I consider Weird Al one of pop music's great secret historians. To parody a song you must understand it completely — its production, its phrasing, its cultural moment — and he has done that with scholarly precision for over four decades. The accordion and the loud shirts disguise a fiercely disciplined craftsman: no scandals, no burnout, just relentless output that artists feel honored to be skewered by. The Grammy wins and the 2023 Emmy felt like the establishment finally admitting what fans always knew. In an industry built on self-importance, a man who built a career on silliness without a drop of cynicism strikes me as quietly heroic.
Overview
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing comedy songs that often parody specific songs by contemporary musicians. He also performs original songs that are style pastiches of the work of other acts, as well as polka medleys of popular songs, most of which feature his trademark accordion.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- "Weird Al" Yankovic
- Name (Japanese)
- アル・ヤンコビック
- Reading
- ある・やんこびっく
- Born
- October 23, 1959 (age 66)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Boar
- Origin
- Downey, California, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 183 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- singer-songwriter / comedian / screenwriter / children's writer / film actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Lynwood High School
- University
- California Polytechnic State University
Awards & achievements
- 1988 Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video
- 2003 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
- 2023 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie
- 1984 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album
- 2014 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album
- 2018 Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
- 2023 Astra TV Awards
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Singer-songwriter — see all → · Comedian — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.