Another fun detail of “Al TV” were Yankovic’s fake interviews. He would find B-roll of famous musicians giving interviews and cut himself into the interview, asking absurd questions. Yankovic liked the interviews so much that he later played them during concerts.
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There have, to date, been 10 “Al TV” specials. There were two in 1984 followed by additional episodes in ’85, ’87, ’88, ’92, ’96, ’99, ’03, and ’06. They all coincided with Yankovic having a new album coming out, giving him a chance to debut his own videos and hype any tours he was about to go on. By the 1990s, however, the MTV format was codified, musical trends had changed, and “Al TV,” while sharper and funnier than ever, didn’t have the same scrappy “pioneering” effect as in 1984 and 1985. By the 1990s, “Al TV” was an anticipated event (unlike his 1989 film “UHF,” which tanked horribly).
But for a spell, it appeared that “Al TV” fulfilled a more fascinating media function. Yankovic was a vital part of those early MTV year, showing that music videos were okay to be satirized and that comedy was an essential part of the musical landscape. Indeed, Al’s punk humor was vital for establishing that MTV was a force unto itself, establishing that deconstruction was the network’s lifeblood. MTV may have been killing the radio star, but “Weird Al” gave them an arsenal of weapons to do so.
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As of this writing, Yankovic has more or less retired from cutting new albums. His last record, “Mandatory Fun,” was released in 2014, and he has only recorded a few singles since then. Also, the state of MTV changed dramatically in the 2000s, focusing less on music and more on reality shows. As such, neither “Mandatory Fun” nor his record prior to that, “Alpocalypse,” had “Al TV” specials. The time for them had passed.
