Thread by @shamblanderson, Weird Al Twitter: I see you, I celebrate you, I honor you. [...]

Weird Al Twitter: I see you, I celebrate you, I honor you. Thank you for your passion.

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Here is one last thread about my profile of @alyankovic — some of my favorite bits that I couldn& #39;t squeeze into the published article.

The first time I spoke to Al& #39;s manager, Jay Levey, about doing a profile, he got very serious & said: "The thing you need to understand about Al is that...HE IS 100% DEVOTED TO HIS ART AT EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY." And I was like: yes, thank you universe for this precious gift.

I asked Weird Al my all-time favorite interview question: What is your very first memory?

He said it was probably his 2nd birthday, when his whole family surprised him by dressing up as clowns. He was terrified & burst into tears. A perfect Weird Al first memory.

Here& #39;s a pic I took of Weird Al at his house looking amazing in the original "Eat It" jacket. (That& #39;s his wife Suzanne in the background.)

Here& #39;s a pic (taken by Suzanne moments later) of me wearing the original "Eat It" jacket, looking like an absolute goober.

Matt Groening told me that 1) Weird Al was the only thing he liked about early MTV and 2) to this day, Weird Al is the only celebrity who makes him feel starstruck. (Their kids go to school together, so they see each other at functions.)

I had to cut lots of great quotes, including 2 from @pattonoswalt:

1) "Weird Al reminds me of the Ramones. They came along in the 70s when rock n roll had gotten very important, very bloated & bombastic. It was really crawling up its own ass. And the Ramones were like: No ......

"No, it’s just this: 3 chords — fast, easy, fun. And it kinda reset things. Then in the 80s, the MTV generation came along & stuff started to get important again. Weird Al was there to go: No, it’s supposed to be fun and goofy. Calm down. He was the Ramones but for all genres.”

@pattonoswalt 2) “The & #39;Eat It& #39; video was seismic for me & my friends. Weird Al made fun of absolutely every element of ‘Beat It’—every single prop, every single camera angle, every single move. We would watch the videos back to back. He did not *not* use a single element of it...

"I think that attention to detail influenced a lot comedians, a lot of satire & parody. You see it in stuff like the SNL digital shorts, or Tim and Eric. They’re like: Can we literally make every single element of this funny? Can everything you see on screen be part of the joke?”

Al& #39;s wonderful drummer @TheGreatBermuda let me listen to many rare recordings, including "Chicken Pot Pie" — Weird Al& #39;s legendary unreleased parody of "Live & Let Die." (LOLOL) McCartney denied permission because he& #39;s a vegetarian — a stain on his otherwise proud legacy.

Speaking of McCartney — I listened to a live Weird Al performance from the early 1980s that ended with a very long accordion-based "Food Medley": "Take Me to the Liver," "Give a Little Bit (of Your Lunch to Me)" etc. The kicker was an epic parody of "Hey Jude" called "Hey Food."

Weird Al& #39;s old friend Joel Miller told me that Al can get extremely competitive — one time they were pounding at each other on opposite sides of an adjoining wall (they were neighbors), louder & louder, until suddenly Al& #39;s whole leg came bursting into Joel& #39;s living room.

OK that& #39;s all I can think of now and this thread is probably too long anyway — here are some stormtroopers at the Minnesota State Fair posing with a tiny replica of the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota goodbye

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