Quotes By Al Yankovic

As much as people are griping about the Internet taking sales away from artists, it's been a huge promotional tool for me.

I like the guitar-driven music of Nirvana at its peak. At that point, I thought there was a lot of really exciting music coming out.

There are a lot of songs that would ostensibly be a good candidate for parody, yet I can't think of a clever enough idea.

I was a huge fan of 'Mad' magazine when I was 11, 12, 13 years old. I'd scour used bookstores trying to find back issues, and I'd wait at the newsstand for a new issue to come out. My life revolved around it.

It becomes more important to me as time goes on to make every album the best thing I've ever done, so it's a lot of self-imposed pressure that also kind of slows me down a bit.

I think that nerds, if you want to call them that, have only gotten more hip and assimilated into the culture.

As it turns out, there is a thing called the Internet, and stuff does go out there whether the suits like it or not.

I've learned how to use my spam filter pretty effectively.

As my father used to tell me, the only true sign of success in life is being able to do for a living that which makes you happy.

So that's why one of my rules of parody writing is that it's gotta be funny regardless of whether you know the source material. It has to work on its own merit.

As a kid, I certainly never thought I would get to spend my life doing something fun.

I've done a movie and a TV series, and someday I'd like to do a successful movie and a successful TV series. That would be nice.

I did have a child, and I was reading a lot of picture books to her, but at the same time writing a children's book was something that I'd been wanting to do for many years, pretty much since the start of my career.

I mean, I don't write for kids.

Probably 90 percent of my albums have polka medleys.

If something is good enough, it can be out there and people will see it.

At this point I've got a bit of a track record. So people realize that when 'Weird Al' wants to go parody, it's not meant to make them look bad... it's meant to be a tribute.

You still have Top 40 radio now, but it's 40 different stations. There aren't many hits that everybody knows, and there aren't many real superstars.

Whenever I do a parody it's not meant to make you hate anybody's music really.

Like, I have had moments, which I think most people have, where you'll be watching TV, and it'll be interrupted by some tragic event, and you'll actually find yourself thinking, 'I don't want to hear about this train being derailed! What happened to 'The Flintstones?''

When I was a kid, I thought I was going to be an architect, because when I was 12 years old I had a guidance counselor that convinced me that that was the best career choice for me.

Somebody will come up to me after a show and have me sign their arm, and the next time I see them my autograph has been permanently inscribed on their arm.

I don't think there are any new media I'd like to cover.

I suppose I had my rock star fantasies while I was singing into my hairbrush in the bathroom mirror, but I never really consciously said, 'OK, this is what I'm going to do for a living and I'm going to be Weird Al.'

A lot of rap songs don't usually have a lot of melody per se.

If I could find the right kind of property, get tied in with the right movie, I'd love to be involved, but I just find it hard to be motivated to do another screenplay right now.

I have a long-standing history of respecting artists' wishes.

There aren't that many superstars around anymore.

The irony is of course that my career has lasted a whole lot longer than some of the people I've parodied over the years.

I know now that everything I write, I'm going to put out, and I'll have to live with it for the rest of my life.