Local WEIRD AL enthusiasts pay homage to a cult parody classic!

Finding yourself in an existential quandary full loathing and self doubt and racked with a pain and isolation of your pitiful, meaningless existence?

No?

Oh....well......You STILL can't miss a night of comedy, song and Twinkie Wiener Sandwiches!

That's right ImprovBoston's Sgt. Culpepper's Comedy Jamboree and Dennis Hurley (The Albino Code) are teaming up for a "Weird Al" Yankovic tribute to mark the 20th Anniversary of UHF's theatrical release..

***THIS IS NOT A SCREENING OF THE FILM***

The night shall include:

* Cover songs of Weird Al songs and parodies with www.atomstrikesagain.com and other musicians

* The U62 Players will perform sketch comedy inspired by the warped mind of George Newman from UHF!

* Improvisation based on U62 shows

* Twinkie Wiener Sandwiches and "virgin" blueberry daiquiris

(ImprovBoston's cash bar is open before and after the show)

Tell all your friends to call or order online, early! Seating is limited.

Come dress as your favorite UHF character!

Hope to see you there!

WHERE: ImprovBoston. 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA

WHEN: Sunday, July 19 @ 7.00pm

8:00 pm - 12:00 am

Tickets $10 / $7 for students and seniors

Contact: ImprovBoston Box Office 617-576-1253

or on our website: www.improvboston.com

ABOUT ImprovBoston's Sgt. Culpepper's Comedy Jamboree -

Named for a military officer who staged improvisational plays to entertain troops during WWI, the Sgt. Culpepper's Comedy Jamboree is a weekly event that showcases improv troupes, stand-up comedians, brave audience members and comedy acts of all kinds in a show that’s hilarious and different every time.

Sgt. Culpepper's Comedy Jamboree is hosted by TheatreSports’s John Serpico and the Family Show’s Lindsay Gonzales.

ABOUT IMPROVBOSTON

Since 1982, ImprovBoston has entertained audiences in New England and around the country with an innovative, fresh approach to improvisational theater, showcasing the best performers working today and training the future stars of tomorrow. We have produced thousands of shows, provided a home for hundreds of performers, and trained countless students in the art of improvisation. With a critically acclaimed mainstage show, groundbreaking showcase productions, and a nationally known education program, ImprovBoston continues to be more than just a great comedy club: It's a recognized center for the development, performance and promotion of the evolving art of improvisation.

ABOUT DENNIS HURLEY

* Wrote/Produced/Co-Starred in "The Albino Code", the internationally acclaimed parody of "The DaVinci Code", featured on CNN, MSNBC, INSIDE EDITION, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, FOX NEWS, featured articles in PEOPLE MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORK POST, THE BOSTON HERALD, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, and reviewed by top film critic, Ty Burr, in THE BOSTON GLOBE. www.7fluidoz.com/albinocode

* Director Of Film at the award winning comedy theater, ImprovBoston, where his comic viral video, "Hurley Brothers Home Furniture" has almost reached 4,000 hits! www.youtube.com/improvboston

* Founder and Co-Owner of both Down Cellar Films, his film production company (www.myspace.com/downcellar) and Sawyer And Hurley, his two man sketch comedy show (www.sawyerandhurley.com)

Please visit www.improvboston.com for more information.

"This is important....This means something..." - George Newman

Al just released an interesting and informative blog on his official MySpace page that hints at things to come. Check it out below!

From Myspace.com/WeirdAl:

"S.O.L. Tour Wraps Up

Well, I'm finally back home – the Straight Outta Lynwood Tour is officially over. We traveled over 100,000 miles and did 166 shows in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Wow, what a great time. Huge thanks go out to the band, the crew, the drivers, the promoters, the cheerleaders, the members of the 501st Legion - and most importantly all the wonderful fans who came out to see us. I don't know when we'll be touring again, but I'm afraid it won't be any time soon. And I promise the next time we play live, it will be with a substantially different show.

So what will I be doing now that I'm not living in a bus? Well, first and foremost I'll be enjoying some quality time with my family – but I've also got some interesting projects on my plate. Some deals are still being hammered out, so I can't really discuss them… but I can briefly talk about "Al's Brain." That's the name of the short (9 or 10 minutes) 3-D movie which I'll be shooting in November. I wrote it and I'll be directing and starring in it as well. It's an educational (but hopefully also funny and entertaining) film about the workings of the human brain. It will make its debut in July 2009 at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California, and ideally it will travel to various science centers and similar venues at some point after that. This is a very exciting project for me – I'm working with the top 3-D and CGI people in the business.

Of course, as promised, I'll also start writing my next album very soon. I think this time I'm going to try something different – instead of waiting for the whole album to be done before I release it, I'm going to start putting out a track at a time on iTunes – pretty much as soon as I'm done recording each one. That way you won't have to wait so long to hear new material, and my songs hopefully won't ever feel too "dated." Anyway, let's see if that works – I'll obviously let you know when I start making any new songs available.

And I just finished going through a bunch of tour pictures with Bermuda - so if you weren't able to make it out to any of our shows, you'll be able to see a small sample of what you missed in the photo gallery at weirdal.com any day now.

Thanks again for making the Straight Outta Lynwood Tour our most successful tour ever! Looking forward to the next one!

Al"

According to WeirdAl.com, Al's single for "White & Nerdy" has officially gone platinum. Also, the ringtone for "White & Nerdy" was certified gold by the RIAA (I had no clue the RIAA certified ringtones at all, but this is very cool indeed). Both are career first for Al! Congratulations!

Looking for a great way to celebrate Weird Al Day (a.k.a the 27th)? According to WeirdAl.com, Al will be making a 2nd appearance on this Sunday's episode of The Simpsons. The episode will be entitled "That 90's Show" and, going by the image, it'll be retro, 90's style Al! Check your local listings for times and channel.

Mark down October 11 on your calender. Why? Well, at 10 PM EST on A&E The Biography Channel (thanks for the update on the channel change, Chris!), the Weird Al Biography will be premiering! Wow, I don't know about you, but this one kind of came outta left field. This should be a very cool special and I look forward to seeing (and recording) it! Stay tuned to BNZ for more information as it becomes available.

Edit (4/3): Hopefully you all got the joke! (Actually, I'm hoping atleast someone saw the joke!) BNZ's first April Fools prank was to annouce the release of Al's newest video Canadian Idiot. It also provided proof, via a link to "WeirdAl.com"...... or what actually turned out to be a well-crafted clone of WeirdAl.com here at BNZ (click HERE to see the page). The thing that should have given it away was that the video was supposed to premiere on April 27 right here on BNZ! It was all done in good fun, of course. If you read it (and fell for it!), drop me a line. You can read the fake news posting below.

Right off the heels of the "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" video, WeirdAl.com is reporting that production on a live-action music video for Canadian Idiot has begun. Since the US Tour doesn't begin for another month, Al has decided it will be enough time to film the video. Go to WeirdAl.com for the official statement and announcement of the premiere!

So you were thinking that having a video for almost every song on Straight Outta Lynwood was not enough!? Well we're one step closer to having a video for every song with the news that Doug Bresler (of DoogToons.com) has made a video for Trapped in the Drive Thru! According to WeirdAl.com, the video will premiere on March 19 at MySpace.com.

As many of you already know, Al is going on tour starting March 10 through March 24 in various locations in Australia. Sorry, mate, but that doesn't do us State-side fans any good (unless you're planning a trip down under!). Anyway, according to WeirdAl.com, Al hasn't forgotten about us! On May 3rd, Al will be playing a concert in Verona, NY at the Turning Stone Casino. Other states Al will be visiting are New Jersey, Florida, California and Minnesota, just to name a few. For a complete breakdown of the US tour dates, visit WeirdAl.com!

Hey, wait a minute, where's the love for Arizona? Al, what about me?!?! (Don't worry, if you're in the same boat as me, I'm sure there will be more dates to be announced in the future. So hold your horses!)

Wow, what a week! Al's recent album, "Straight Outta Lynwood," has already become one of his most successful albums. According to Al's MySpace page and WeirdAl.com, SOL debuted at number 10 on the Billboard charts! That's not a typo, "Straight Outta Lynwood" debuted at number 10!!! Gee, not too shabby.

Also, "White and Nerdy" debuted at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart (Al's highest in over 22 years, since "Eat It"). Darn, and so close to number 27!

Finally, Al's video for W&N debuted at number 5 on VH-1's 'Top 20 Countdown' last week. Congrats Al, you definitely deserve it! Way past due, I'd say.

Oh, and on Al's MySpace page, he says he has been asked to perform "White and Nerdy" on The Tonight Show. Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available. And check out Al's MySpace page for his full post.

Sadly, AOL.com has decided to cancell the world premiere of Al's latest video, White and Nerdy. The reason: the video was somehow leaked onto the internet earlier today, thus making the "world premiere," well, not exactly a premiere. So, Al has decided to put the video up over at his MySpace page.

After watching the video, I must say it's one of his best. Personally, it's my favorite video of Al's. Seriously, I'm not just saying that because it's his latest, I truly think it's the best Al's ever done. It's been what, 7 years since his last real video? (Hey, no offense to "Don't Download This Song.") It's a shame we had to wait this long, but it was definitely worth it! So if you haven't seen it.... GO CHECK IT OUT NOW!!!

According to WeirdAl.com, Al's video for White and Nerdy will premiere this Monday (September 18) on AOL.com at 9:00PM Pacific Time. Also, VH1 will start airing the video on Wednesday (September 20). Check out WeirdAl.com for more details. Also, don't forget to check out Al's MySpace to listen to the song.

I'm still trying to get everything Al related straightened out since the time BNZ went to until now. If you haven't noticed, I've posted the unofficial track listings for Straight Outta Lynwood. These have not been officially confirmed, but I believe that it is indeed the real deal. Check it out HERE.

Oh yeah, the header says "White and Nerdy First Listen." In regards to that, I was searching Google for Al stuff when I noticed that you can here Al's new song, White and Nerdy, (a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'"), over on Chamillionaire's MySpace page. I don't know if he's even allowed to do this or not, so if you'd like to here the song, which, believe me, you do because it's great, CLICK HERE! You may want to check it out soon because it may be pulled soon, though I cannot confirm this.

While I try to get back on track, I ask you that if you come across any newsworthy Al stuff that I may be unaware of, please drop me a line and let me know. If I post it on here, I'll give you the credit!

Gee, timing is everything and BNZ chose to have problems at a bad time. I'm sure you're well aware that a lot of news regarding Al and his new album has been released recently. Normally I would have posted it as soon as it was made official, but due to site downtime, I'll be posting it all now in one giant news update. So here we go...

-First of all, The Weird Al Show on DVD was finally released way back on August 15. If you don't have it yet, GO GET IT!!!

-Don't forget that Straight Outta Lynwood, Al's 12th studio album, will be released on September 26. How long exactly do you have to wait, you ask? Check out BNZ's front page for an up-to-the-second countdown.

-Literally the day after BNZ went down, Bermuda released this bit of info on the Official site:
"Featuring parodies of Chamillionaire, Green Day, Usher, R. Kelly and Taylor Hicks! DualDisc includes PCM Stereo, 5.1 Surround and instrumental mixes of the entire album (with on-screen lyrics option), plus a 9-minute behind-the-scenes documentary and 6 BRAND NEW MUSIC VIDEOS."

-On Monday, August 21, at Al's MySpace page, he had the World Premiere of his first single from SOL. Not only that, but he made that single, which ironically was entitled "Don't Download This Songs," a, well, FREE DOWNLOAD! Do don't do as Al says and go and download that songs! (Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.)

-Right off the heels of the announcement and premiere of Don't Download This Song, the video for the song was set to debut the next night (Tuesday, August 22) at Yahoo! Music Videos. The video was animated and directed by renowned director Bill Plympton. Haven't seen it yet? CLICK HERE to view it now!

-September 2nd, Al released a new Ask Al that detailed many interesting things. Instead of writing it here, you should check it out by clicking HERE. Basically, Al talks about his 8, yes, 8 new music videos for the upcoming album and some other good info.

-If you didn't click the Ask Al link above, you don't know that on September 24 you can catch a new Al video on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim show Robot Chicken.

-Finally, today, September 5, Al anounced (on his MySpace page) that the video for White and Nerdy is finally done! CLICK HERE to read about it.

Whew, that was a lot of typing. I guess that's what happnens when your site goes down for FOUR WEEKS! Hopefully this never, ever happens again and you will always be able to check out the BNZ News page for all your current Weird Al news updates!

That's it, it's official!

Al next studio album, his 12th, is scheduled to be released on September 26 and will be called, "Straight Outta Lynwood."

While no official tracklist can be found, there are many known facts about the upcoming album. First, "You're Pitiful," a parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful," will not be included. Second, the disc will be a DualDisc, as reported earlier at BNZ. The disc will include an animated music video to accompany one of the songs on the album. The video was done with the help and talents of John Kricfalusi, best known for his work on Ren & Stimpy. Also, it is believed that the debut track from the album will be a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" entitled, "White & Nerdy." Apparently Al has already filmed the music video for the song and it should be released soon.

Like I said, except for what has been made official, the rest is still just speculation at this point. But when it's made official, or more information is released, it'll be here.

If you're confused, you're not alone. Check out WeirdAl.com and you'll find a special splash page that shows the number 27. Then, the number 6 replaces the 7. The title of the page reads, "27 is 26."

Since we all know by now that Al's new album was originally scheduled to be released on June 27, (as hinted at by the previous "27" splash page and mentioned on Ask Al), this most likely points to the album being released on Septemter 26. How do I come up with that??? Simple; new albums almost always are released on a Tuesday and the next Tuesday to be the 26th is in September.

Nothing is official as of yet, so take it for what it's worth, but as soon as this mystery is resolved, I'll post it here (and I'm sure it'll be at WeirdAl.com).

Update: Well, the original "27 is 26" splash page is gone and a new one is up. Head on over to WeirdAl.com to see a new splash page that features Al with a goatee and wearing a hat, which then fades to 9.26.06. No "official" word on what those numbers, (er, um, DATE!), mean, yet, but I think it's pretty obvious.

Another Update: Well, folks, here's a real ***SPOILER***, assuming it's true. CLICK HERE for a partial track list for Al's upcoming album. Yes, that's right, a TRACK LIST!

So you say you need your Weird Al fix before the next Al-bum is released? Why not head on over to WeirdAl.com to listen to a brand new, never before heard, Weird Al song?! Yes, you heard me right. If you go to WeirdAl.com you can download a free, yes FREE!!!, new Weird Al song entitled "You're Pitiful," a parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful."

While there's sadly no news yet on the official release date of Al's next album, I can tell you that the new song, "You're Pitiful" (hey, did I mention you can download it free at WeirdAl.com RIGHT NOW!?!), will *NOT* be included on the CD. So, if you haven't heard, you can grab your copy of Al's new song over at, um, uh ... oh yeah, WEIRDAL.COM ... for FREE!

I just received an interesting news alert regarding Al and a possible spoiler for his next album. The article is about DualDiscs, a hybrid CD/DVD. The story basically says the one year anniversary of the DualDisc is coming up and, well, the product isn't doing as good as originally planned. Then I came upon this tidbit, "Among the acts with DualDisc titles in the first half of this year are Pink, Dixie Chicks, Barry Manilow, Teddy Geiger, Miranda Lambert, Clay Aiken, Weird Al Yankovic, the Fray, the Jonas Brothers and London Pigg." This brings up some intriguing possibilities for the next album and provides more info on a possible release date. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

According to WeirdAl.com, Shout! Factory will be releasing all 13 episodes of Al's '97 - '98 CBS Saturday morning show. The DVD, set to be released later this year, will also contain extras including commentary.

Speaking of Al and DVDs, the episode of The Simpsons Al appears in will be included on the single disk compilation entitled, "Kiss and Tell." The DVD will be released on February 7th.

I normally like to prove all news as fact before I post it, but I thought this was quite interesting nonetheless, so take it for what it's worth.

Every now and then I like to search the web for news articles about Al and even have them sent to me automatically. I received this one today that seemed to be about Kanye West. I had no idea how Al and Kanye West could possibly be linked. Reading the article, it discusses Kanye hiring a new director for one of his videos. The director, Bill Plympton, is said to also be in the process of directing a video for Al. The video is for a song called "Don't Download This Song", supposedly a parody of "We Are The World." Could this be a new song on Al's latest album? Like I said, take it for what it's worth. If you'd like to read the article for yourself, the link is provided below under source.

Edit: Since I posted this, I've been trying to do further research. While researching, I came upon THIS. It's not new (it was posted on November 1st), but this is the first I've seen of it. Basically, it discusses an animated video for Al about girls that will be directed by John Kricfalusi. Check it out if you're like me and haven't seen it before.

Look at that. I actually updated the News page! What is the world coming to? I know, I really should keep up to date with Al news. I guess I just assume everyone gets their news elsewhere. If you're actually reading this and believe I should update the News page more frequently (like more than once a year!!), let me know. Either way, I'll try to do it more often.

Now, to what's really important.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AL!

You're 46 years young, but don't look a day over 27. Have a great birthday, Al!

From WeirdAl.Com, here is Al's message to his fans:

On April 9, my mom and dad, Nick and Mary Yankovic, passed away in their home in Fallbrook, California. It was the result of a terrible accident – that morning they had started a fire in the fireplace with the flue closed, and were asphyxiated by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Suzanne called me that afternoon on the bus to give me the news, so that I would hear about it before the wire services picked it up.

Needless to say, I feel pretty much the way you would expect me to feel – shocked and devastated beyond words. I loved my parents so much, and this all still seems like a horrible nightmare that I can’t wake up from.

I want to thank my family, friends and fans for the incredible outpouring of love and support that they’ve shown me. It’s wonderful to know that there are so many people around the world who truly loved my parents, and also nice to know that I am not alone in my grief.

I take some small measure of comfort in knowing that they died peacefully, and that they never had to suffer through the pain and loneliness of living without each other. I'm also grateful that they both lived long enough to see me happily married to Suzanne, and particularly happy that they got to meet our beautiful baby daughter Nina. She filled their lives with so much joy this last year. Nina may be too young to remember playing with her grandparents when she gets older, but don’t worry, we’ll have some great videotape to show her.

Many people have wondered what’s going to happen with the tour. I briefly considered canceling some shows, but I ultimately decided that it would be better for me personally to continue working. Plus, I’ve heard from so many people over the years that my music has cheered them up in times of tragedy… well, I thought maybe my music would help me too.

So far, it has. Going up on stage in front of thousands of supportive fans is a cathartic and somewhat therapeutic experience for me right now. I don’t know if I can say that the concerts really take my mind off of the tragedy, but at least they give me a break from sobbing all the time.

Anyway, I have decided not to cancel any shows – the tour will continue as planned. However, I have decided to put a moratorium on all interviews and meet-and-greets for the time being – I just feel like I need some time alone right now.

The funeral will be a very small, intimate service with only the immediate family attending, so please, I ask that you respect our privacy. Just knowing that your thoughts are with us at this time is more than enough, but if you care to contribute anything, in lieu of flowers, Suzanne and I suggest a donation to the Natural Resources Defense Council in my parents’ name.

One thing I would like to ask everybody to do, though… please, go out and get carbon monoxide detectors for yourself and your loved ones. If my parents had had one in their home, there’s a very good chance that they would still be with us today.

In fairness to the memory of my mother, I should point out some errors that appeared in the press. Although she was starting to have a problem with short-term memory loss (she was taking medication for it), my mother was never diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

As long as I’m pointing out errors that the press has made, it was my Aunt Dot who found my parents when she was bringing them lunch that day, as she routinely did (and not a group of relatives concerned that they “hadn’t heard from them in a while” – the family was close and caring and saw each other several times a day). Also, my aunts and uncles all live in separate houses (not together, as some articles implied), and for what it’s worth, I am not represented by the William Morris Agency either.

I don’t know how much else I can say about my parents that I haven’t already said in interviews over the years. Although I always found it a little uncomfortable, my dad talked a lot about death. He mentioned a few times that he was planning to go on a diet so that his “casket would be easier to carry.” I guess that’s where I got my sick sense of humor from. And he was always talking about how much he was looking forward to seeing his old army buddies again (in the next life). I sure hope they’re having a great reunion right now.

As unthinkable as this tragedy is to me, I just know that my mom and dad were very much at peace with the world and with their lives. And I guess I can take a small amount of comfort in that too.

Thank you all again for your overwhelming kindness and support. It means more to me than you can ever know.

Love,
Al

Al's last Grammy: Fat (Best Concept Music Video, 1988)

Al's most recent Grammy: Poodle Hat (Best Comedy Album, 2004)

Weird Al wins "Best Comedy Album" Grammy, CNN.com

Well here it is. BNZ has once again changed it's look. So before I begin, I'd just like to ask you one question: what do you think? Honestly. If you have a moment, please write me an email or leave a message in the guestbook telling me how you like the "new-look" BNZ. Actually, why not post in the New BNZ thread in the forums. I've always valued fan opinions, so please let me know what you think. Thanks!

BNZ, this is your life.

BNZ was created on October 25, 2000. Now that site didn't exactly look like the BNZ you know today. No, it was a much, much simpler site. In fact it wasn't really a website at all. It was just a simple webpage with some news, a picture and, um, that was about it. Hey,cut me some slack, I had never done this before. (Here's some BNZ trivia, BNZ was originally called Weird Joe's Al-oholic's. And yes, I'm glad I changed the name too.)

Like I said, I had never created a website before, so why did I decide to finally make one? Good question. I guess I don't really have a good answer. I have always had an interest in computers and the internet. I guess getting into something like that was just natural. Well, anyway, back to the point. I now had a "Weird Al" website. After taking a look at some of the other Al pages on the web, I decided I needed other pages on this website. So the first thing I needed to do was find another place to host the website. I found Freeservers. They provided me with a free, easy way to create a website with very little knowledge. Within a few days, I had moved the site and it was already looking better. It now had a home page, a news page, a picture page, links and a little page I called Question of the Week. Yes, QOTW has been around from the beginning.

The BNZ we know today was now taking shape. In time, I would learn HTML. HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. Basically it's what makes up the websites on the internet. Learning HTML (even just the basics) really helped me create the website. Each time a learned something new, I would try to implement it onto the site. Before I knew it, BNZ's one year anniversary was coming up. I couldn't believe it had already almost been a whole year. I decided to do away with the Freeservers website templates I had been using (see BNZ (2000-2001) below) and re-do the site with a totally new look and feel (see BNZ (2001-2003) below).

It was a daunting task, but I did it. On October 25, 2001, a new BNZ was unveiled. It had a new layout and a new URL (BargleNawdleZouss.com). By this time BNZ now included many of the pages that you know and love today such as Behind The Fans and Interactive. In the following months other pages such a Weird Snacks, Pug Parodies and FactuAL would come about. But BNZ would pretty much stay the same after that. Yes, there would be some new pages here and there and, of course, QOTW would be updated EVERY week, but that was it.

October 25, 2003. It's BNZ's three year anniversary. What can I do with the site. For a while I had been considering a new layout, but just didn't think I could do it. I had never created a website from top to bottom by myself. Yes, I had created all the content, but I had always used a ready-made template. I now had some skills in HTML and even was learning how to use web design programs such as Dreamweaver. So what happened? Just take a look around the site. After two months of work, BNZ has received a much needed face-lift.

And there you have it, a look back at BNZ. Check out the links below to see past versions of BNZ.

BNZ (2000-2001) — BNZ (2001-2003) — BNZ (2003-?)