Building up to a bigger, weirder comeback

‘Weird Al’ Yankovic ramps up the silliness in a new tour that revisits old songs, bits.

- By Stuart MILLER

"ALMOST every night is something different," says Yankovic of his latest tour.

A decade ago, “Weird Al” Yankovic launched his 12th concert tour, which covered 200 shows over two years. Somewhere along the line, the pop world’s foremost parodist was backstage putting ona fat suit “for literally the 1,000th time” when he was suddenly struck by the desire to “go out on stage and doa show like a regular musician.”

Soon after, he launched his “Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour,” playing small venues with no video screens, no costume changes, no props or choreography, and none of the song parodies that made him famous. The songs were still comedic — “Everything I write winds up a little warped,” he says — but were original tunes that were pastiches of, say, Frank Zappa or They Might Be Giants’ style. He enjoyed it so much he revived the concept acouple of years ago.

Yankovic, 65, has also not released a parody song for more than a decade, in part, he says, because there’s no longer a “monoculture where it’s more obvious what the hits are,” but also because he enjoys the challenges of those original pastiches, some of which take months for him to develop.

“I wanted to prove that 1’m more than just the parody guy,” says Yankovic, who also co-wrote the 2022 TV film “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” The loopy biopic satire starred Daniel Radcliffe and earned Yankovic an Emmy nomination for his writing. (Recently, he also had a self-parodying cameo in “The Naked Gun.”)

Now, having proved he was more than the parody guy, Yankovic has re-embraced the full-throated “Weird Al” parody thing. His Bigger & Weirder tour, which came to the Forum in Inglewood on Saturday, features plenty ofvideo screens, lots of costume changes and props, and twice as many band members.