It's a Weird Al celebration!

Tuesday was "Weird Al" Yankovic's 48th birthday, so we thought that we'd fozz it up a bit and celebrate! "Weird Al" has always been one of my favorite comedians (behind George Carlin and Bill Hicks), and he's probably the most successful musical satirist that's ever tweaked our cultural idiocy (sorry, Tom Lehrer). For almost 30 years now, Yankovic has tickled our funnybone and made us think. Although his original songs are usually pretty funny and touch upon the human condition with no little amount of insight, others are cutting-edge topical – "Don't Download This Song," for instance, is a typically astute "Weird Al" commentary on the Internet piracy, the joke being, of course, that you had to download the song from Al's web site to hear it.

"Weird Al" has always been at his best, however, when he parodies other artist's songs. With his finger on the pulse of popular music and an eye on the Billboard charts, Yankovic has lampooned some of the biggest stars of the day, including Madonna ("Like A Surgeon"), Michael Jackson ("Eat It"), Joan Jett ("I Love Rocky Road"), James Brown ("Living With A Hernia"), Queen, the Knack, Green Day and many others, as well as other flotsam and jetsam of pop culture like the Star Wars films and television. Straight Outta Lynwood, Yankovic's latest album, offers the usual mix of comedy and satire, including the musical mimicry of "White And Nerdy," "Canadian Idiot," "Don't Download This Song" and the title track.

In celebration of the birthday of Mr. Alfred Matthew Yankovic, here is a hand-picked batch of six of the Reverend's favorite "Weird Al" music videos:

"Dare To Be Stupid" (an homage to Devo)


"Don't Download This Song"


"Amish Paradise" (Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise")


"Smells Like Nirvana" (Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit")


"It's All About The Pentiums" (Puff Daddy's "It's All About The Benjamins")


"White & Nerdy"


(Click on the CD cover to buy Straight Outta Lynwood from Amazon.com)