-Our first guests tonight are both pop culture icons who've teamed up for the film
"Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," which premieres Friday,
November 4th, on the Roku Channel. Let's take a look. [ Rock polka plays ] [ Laughter ] -I've heard enough. [ Laughter ] -And what did you think? -Do you know why they call it
the music business? -Uh, why? -Because it's a business! -It's a business! -Use your head, kid. Nobody wants to hear
a parody song, when they can hear the real
thing for the same price! Wh-What's the point? -Yeah, it makes no financial
sense, whatsoever. [ Laughter ]
-Please welcome back
to the show our friends Daniel Radcliffe
and Weird Al Yankovic. [ Cheering and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ I... am so happy you're both here. [ Cheering and applause
continue ] Now, I imagine, as -- [ Laughing ]
Please, please. Legends! I mentioned this
to you backstage and, hopefully, there's at least
one other person who made the mistake I did. When I watched that scene, I googled who was
the music executive and it's you.
-Yes. [ Laughter ]
Like your hair is so iconic that, when you have a wig on, you're literally un--
-I know. Me and the Sea Captain.
-Yeah, exactly, exactly. So, gentlemen, this is based -- This is a wonderful film. I laughed so hard. It's based on a short from 2010
that was on Funny or Die. -Yes.
-So explain the inspiration. -Well, Eric Appel,
who directed the movie, also directed the original
Funny or Die clip back then and I think he'd just seen
the Notorious B.I.G. biopic, which plays fast and loose
with the facts. And he thought, "You know,
it would be funny to do a fake biopic trailer
for somebody who not only is alive, currently,
but who, famously, you know, doesn't have
a lot of scandal in their life." And he thought of me.
Also because like how meta would it be
to do a parody of a guy that's famous
for parodies? -Yes. And I should note that
the biggest fear I had about this is
it's such a funny idea and that the execution wouldn't
be as funny as the idea and yet, it's so funny and there
are so many surprises in it. And when did you first become
aware of Weird Al as a person? -I think probably my first,
like hone-- the same way I became acquainted with almost all American culture
before a certain age. I think the first time I heard
of you was "The Simpsons." [ Laughter ] And, again, that's why I know
most of the things I know about America. [ Laughter ] -We're all yellow here.
-Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I knew a few songs
growing up when I was a teenager,
but it was really when I started dating
my girlfriend ten years ago. Her and her whole family
are devoted Al fans and so that was like the beginning
of my proper education. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah. You took this
very serious. Not full method,
but you did grow a mustache. [ Laughter ]
-Thanks. Yeah. No, no, no. There's method, and then there's
just growing some facial hair. -He made the sacrifice.
-Yeah, yeah. I also -- If anyone has ever -- If anyone ever offers you
fake facial hair to wear, try not to.
Try and grow your own.
[ Laughter ] -Just say no.
-Yes. -I think that's a very -- I had years where I,
many times, had to wear a fake mustache.
It's never believable and it almost -- you just --
It's like talking like -- You feel like your teeth are
about to fall out. -Everyone says, "Oh,
It doesn't affect how you talk," and then you put it on,
you're like, [ Muffled ]
"I think it does a little bit." [ Laughter ] -Now, did you have a wish list,
going into this, of who would play
sort of the Weird Al part? -Daniel was number one
on the list. -Alright.
I mean, honestly, Eric and I, we made a small list
because, you know, we wanted to consider
all the options, but we always went back
to Daniel's name because -- for a number of -- It's like looking into a mirror when I look at Daniel.
-Right, yeah. [ Laughter ]
Yeah, yeah. You can do a split screen
between us and you wouldn't even know.
-Yeah, yeah. No, but, you know,
Daniel's amazing at comedic acting
and dramatic acting and it's a comedy movie,
obviously, but we didn't want to play it
like a comedy movie. It's meant to be like a,
you know, like a Oscar bait Hollywood
biopic, very dramatic. -It is played very straight
and that is what makes it so deeply funny.
But there is -- You mentioned that it plays fast
and loose with the truth, which is apparent
incredibly early on, but there are some nuggets
of truth, which is you did get
your accordion because a traveling salesman
came to the house? -Yeah, that's the crazy thing
about this movie. Some of the things
that you would assume, oh, we made that up,
some of the things are true. Like, you know, yeah,
I took accordion lessons because there was, in fact,
a door-to-door salesmen that came around like selling
accordion lessons. My first single, "My Bologna," was recorded
in a public bathroom. [ Laughter ] I did singlehandedly fight
a Colombian death squad. -Yes.
-No. [ Laughter ] -Did you give Daniel
any accordion lessons? Did you have to?
-Yeah. -Yeah. Although I have recently
come clean to Al that he might've been
a tiny bit fast as he was giving me lessons
and so I was maybe doing a little bit of nodding along
and being like, "Can I film you?
And I will slow this down." [ Laughter ] But, yeah, but Al was
gracious enough to -- The first time we met in person,
we were sort of doing recording lessons
and me sort of showing what I had learned
up to that point. Again, no one asked me
to play accordion and, in fact, several times, people were like,
"It's not necessary. Please stop..."
[ Laughter ] But I did.
I just felt like, if I was playing Al in a movie,
it just feels lazy to not at least like try
to get a bit better at that. -But you haven't continued on
with your learning? -I've continued on in that
I still play the four things I learned
to play on our film.
[ Laughter ] And one day, you know,
maybe I'll have another lesson. -We've got an accordion
for you right here. [ Laughter ] -Just like that is my nightmare. [ Laughter ] There's a wonderful scene
at a pool where there are just
a million cameos. And we were talking backstage. Akiva Schaffer
and Jorma Taccone, who are two-thirds
of The Lonely Island, they are in it as Alice Cooper
and Pee-Wee Herman. [ Cheering ]
I know -- There you go.
-Can I just very quickly interrupt?
-Yeah. Jorma's Pee-Wee Herman is one
of my favorite things about the film
and about filming it. Like he is so funny
and had that impression locked and loaded,
ready to go... -Yeah.
-...it feels like, yeah. -Like he's been waiting
his whole life for someone to say, "Hey, are you free on a Saturday
to play Pee-Wee Herman?" -One other thing about Jorma --
I mean, it's a low-budget movie and Jorma wanted to be in it and he flew himself out on his
own dime from New York to be in the movie.
-Bless him. -I'm sure whatever he paid him
didn't cover the plane flight. [ Laughter ]
-Right. Well, you can't see it onscreen. It looks fantastic. And I should note
there are so many wonderful -- It seems like everybody who's
in it is having so much fun. And because, again, people are doing impressions
of beloved characters and they're getting
to play it straight, it is such a delightful way
to approach this whole thing. Also, it was just Halloween
and I have to ask because you, I think,
are one of -- you're a costume every year. You post, every year,
how many people. And there really is
all walks of life. [ Laughter ] All ages, all sexes, everybody is getting onboard. And then, of course,
I feel like you have played -- I feel like all the characters
you've played in your life are equally represented
on Halloween. -Yes. There is a ton
of Allen Ginsbergs out there every year. [ Laughter ] Yes. No. It's lovely.
I don't know how you feel about it
because it's actually you... -No, it's lovely. It's great.
-...if that's any stranger. -It's lovely, yeah.
I really enjoy it. -You know, I imagine you,
like everybody else, have children come to your home
for Halloween. Do people ever -- Do kids ever
see you and are taken aback? -I think it's happened like once that somebody dressed
in Potter gear has like come to our door. It hasn't happened like a ton,
you know, other than that. But we've just moved
to a new building, so there's a whole new chance
for it to happen. But, yeah, it's mostly like
out on the street, you know, in the parade
and stuff, you see people around
and you can just be like, "Oh, yes, well done." [ Laughter ] -I imagine you tried pretty hard on those nights to like dress
away from the character. -Yes.
If I'm leaving the house, I'm not dressing
as Harry Potter. [ Laughter ] -You know,
one of the nice things is, you know,
it's referenced in the film that artists did, ultimately,
come to appreciate most of your songs as homage.
I imagine not everyone. But is it true, because it's
a detail of the movie, that it did sort of boost
the sales of the original songs? -That is actually true. They call it the "Yankovic bump"
in the movie. [ Laughter ]
But that is based on reality because I heard
from Nirvana's record label that, when my parody "Smells
Like Nirvana" was released, they sold like an extra million
units of "Nevermind." So, you know,
artists' record sales spike when the parody comes out.
So we kind of took that little nugget
and extrapolated it into this whole subplot
about Madonna wanting that Yankovic bump!
You know. [ Laughter ] -Do you have a favorite
Weird Al song? As we send people off. -I mean, it changes a lot,
but at the moment, the song "Bob," speaks to the
wordy, nerdy part of my brain that is like entirely made
of palindromes. It is an amazing
Bob Dylan impression. And I also got to watch Al
perform that the other night at Carnegie Hall.
-Well, there you go. -Very, very special.
-I will say, before we go, I do remember the first time
I heard "Eat It" on the radio [ Laughter ]
and, as a kid -- as a kid, I remember thinking, "This [bleep] changes
everything." [ Laughter and applause ] And in the movie, there's the
same reaction in the movie, as a joke and, as I'm watching,
I'm like, "No, that's how I felt." [ Laughter ] It's so great.
It is lovely to see you both. Thank you so much
for joining us tonight. [ Cheering and applause ]
Daniel Radcliffe,
Weird Al Yankovic. "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" premieres Friday
on the Roku Channel. We'll be right back
with Kerry Condon.
