Comedy Central announced today an exclusive multi-platform deal with Weird Al Yankovic, the most prolific comedy recording artist of all time. The deal consists of three main prongs– the first of which is the world premiere of Weird Al’ Yankovic Live! – The Alpocalypse Tour. During his Alpocalypse tour to support the release of his first full-length studio album in five years, he chose to film the concert at the revered Massey Hall in Toronto. The special is his first televised concert in over a decade and features hits off of the album like “Perform This Way,” Weird Al’s parody of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” which garnered over six million video views in its first week of release, as well as many of the legendary artist’s greatest hits, like “White & Nerdy,” “Amish Paradise” and “Fat.” Apocalypse debuted at number nine on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, Yankovic’s highest-charting album ever.
The World premiere of Weird Al Yankovic Live! goes down Oct. 1 at 9 pm EST; the DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download release is slated for Oct. 4.
The second phase of the Comedy Central deal is a release of an extended feature-length cut of the concert film on DVD and Blu-Ray via Paramount Home Entertainment and across digital platforms. If all this still leaves fans craving more, Comedy Central will also be premiering “Polka Face,” Yankovic’s next video from the album which will be initially offered online-only at a date to be announced. The song and video features accordion-driven versions of songs by Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Britney Spears, P!nk, Lady Antebellum, Katy Perry and of course, Lady Gaga.
Yankovic’s career has spanned four decades, yielding 12 Grammy Award nominations, including three wins and has racked up 31 Gold and Platinum albums. With his album, upcoming concert special and music videos, Yankovic is clearly in top form. “Weird Al” is an artist who has been able to stay relevant by evolving along with the changing times. He’s certainly been able to aggregate his fan base by successfully harnessing the digital era of entertainment and taking full advantage of all new media distribution opportunities.
