Hello, I have decided to take some of my interviews and write the scripts down so everyone can read them. This will take a while to do, right now I am working on the Jim Bohannon show from 1999 here is what I have done so far , enjoy!

Jim Bohannon 1999

This is about the first 30 minutes of the 50 minute long interview:

Jim Bohannon 1999 - Al Interview

JB- And Welcome to the Jim Bohannon show! As we have a special treat here for you tonight here is a little touch of that. *Saga Begin clip plays*

Ah yes and our boy is with us tonight. Ladies and Gentlemen who else could possibly brought us that song but “Weird Al” Yankovic, who's latest CD great title Running With Scissors.

AL: Why thanks you.

JB- Hahaha

AL- How you doing Jim?

JB- I’m doing very fine Al.

AL- Oh good.

JB- First of all you don't look like you, what happened to the mustache and your hair is all changed. I saw a picture of you and i thought that can’t really be “Weird Al” but there he is on the cover Running With Scissors.

AL- I’m incognito

JB- Ok what are you doing a Madonna type makeover here?

AL- I’m in a witness relocation program.

JB- Oh ok by the way Weird Al is our guest in this portion of the program and you will actually get a chance to talk with the man. As he has a brand album and a tour. You got the whole going here, The Saga Begins of course the lyrical adaptation of American Pie. Where do you get these ideas, obviously you knew this movie was going to be a big pop culture thing.

AL-  Yeah you know a couple of years ago I thought that this might just be popular! People might just want to go see this! My whole career kind of hinges on pop culture phenomenon. So i figured I would base my life around the release on the new Star Wars movie.

JB- That I can obviously see, something as big as the star wars movie comes out and WAY the satyrical observer of events would be interested. But here's the part where do you go from the young Darth Vador and you wind up with an adaptation of American Pie by Don McLean?

AL- How does that work, well I had two choices I could either go with a contemporary song that  is popular when the movie is being released or a classic rock song, and I was kind of leaning towards a classic rock song because Star Wars is kind of classic kind of movie and it seemed it would be wrong to pair it with something that was waiting and wasn't rock and roll standard. American Pie certainly is that and American Pie is one of my all-time favorite songs by the way. I think it leads its self to a kind of rambling narrative that could tell the story of the Phantom Menace and the icing on the cake is that it begins with a long long time ago which is very Star Wars esc.

JB- It is it is that, the whole album we are going to be playing excerpts throughout the evening. There's some really funny stuff on here. In addition to Al Yankovic the album Running WIth Scissors there is also Touring With Scissors.

AL- Yes im leaving on the road on sunday and were going to be out on the road pretty much the rest of the year on and off. Where touring all around North America Doing bout 6 cities a week it’s pretty grueling. Its a lot of fun its my favorite part of what I do, I love going out and performing live. Its a full on rock and comedy media extravaganza. We try to put a lot of production value into the shows.

JB- We will just go over some of the places he’s going to be July 19 Greenbay, Wisconsin, 21 Costa Mesa California, 22 Reding California, 23 Central point Oregon,  25 Beverly Massachusetts, and then it goes on through New Jersey Rhode Island all over the country crisscrossing all over.

AL- Yeah not much rhyme or reason to have costa mesa one day and Massachusetts next day and back to Green Day Wisconsin, not a lot of continuity there.

JB- With the title of the album im sure you getting a lot of complaints about that you cant do that, saying running with Scissors no you can’t say that!

AL- Yeah well kids don’t do this at home. I had a Saturday morning kids show on cbs a couple of years ago i felt kind of blocked in cause y humor is kind of clean already but when you do a show like this its antiseptically clean. There is one example when i broke a plate on my head and the censors said “you can’t break a plate on your head if kids see that they will go into the kitchen and take plates out of the cupboard and breaking them on their heads!, because it’s imitateible behavior.” In my opinion if kids are that stupid they should be aloud to watch TV.

JB- Yes, or reproduce.

AL- Haha, Yeah exactly. But ow since im not doing Saturday morning TV anymore i’m running with scissors!

JB- All right! In addition we might point out that not only there is the ”Weird Al” Yankovic CD and tour, but wait I haven't gotten to the action figures yet, And I haven't gotten to the Star Wars unplugged video. Weird al you there? You there?

AlL- I’m here.

JB- Tell us about your video.

AL- Oh it’s called The Saga Begins and we shot it on location at Tatooine, we had to get permits for that.

JB- Haha I was gonna say.

AL- Actually it was shot at the Mohoje dessert in California and it was extremely hot, the most uncomftorable video shoot we have ever done. It was 122 degrees plus in the middle of the dessert. We had about half a dozen crew members just drop, they had to cary a piano across the dessert for a couple of shots. They weren't loving life that day.

JB- I suppose not, I suppose there are many people that are fans of you that wouldn't know the reference but suppose you are the descendant of Spike Jones in some sense.

AL- Oh well that's very flattering yes Spike Jones is a huge influence, Stan Freberg and Tom Leher are the people I usually credit for getting started.

JB- Tell us how you got started, for those who don’t know, cause I guess im not totally familiar with that. One day I just noticed there you were and I guess someone like Dr. Demento was playing you.

AL- Absolutely

JB- But how did you begin? you didn't just wake up one day and say well lets see I could either be assistant secretary or a musical satirist.

AL- I think I was just like every other kid that would listen to songs on the radio and start changing the words around to amuse myself and make my friends laugh. Everybody does that at one point I guess I just never grew out of it.

JB- That’s true we grow out of it. When did you first make money, do you remember the first time when you made money at a gig poking fun at pop music?

AL- Doing that? Oh boy, thats really early, I guess playing at my cousins wedding on the

accordion wouldn’t count. Would it?

JB- Yeah it does! the accordion was a big part. That was of course during the Weird Al unplugged days I suppose, right? Of course came then cam the electric accordion and then later the conclusion to the saga would be Yankovic the Vegas Years.

AL- RIght hahaha.

JB- Haha yeah, but needles to say people would like to talk to you, I suppose being a talk show we better let them do it.

AL- Oh all right.

JB- Here's Mark of Derum North Carolina and your on the Jim Bohannon show with “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Mark (a caller)- Pleasure to be on thank you very much!

JB- Surely what are you on anyway?

Mark- Where on the talk player. You know when you got started it was ah as JIm mentioned before thanks to people like Dr. Demento was really helpful to your career and people like Frank Zappa wouldn’t of been hear if it was not for people like Dr. Demento. Do you think those places are going away?

AL- Um I think they are endangered of disappearing and radio is more tightly formatted and it’s harder to find that kind of programming these days. Dr. Demento is still doing really well, he’s going into his 30th year on the air. But yeah it’s harder to find,I think back in the 70’s when Dr. Demento was just starting out I think radio in general was a bit more experimental and open. Yeah it’s sad to say though people are to into playlists now and it’s highly regulated there are all sorts of consultants that determine what gets played. There is a radio station here in LA a very popular station. I mean ten years ago I could literally walk in with a record and go up to one of the DJs who was a friend and say hey! I have a new record and he would drop the needle on it. And that just wouldn't happen today

JB- Yes today they have to go through a committee which is just a way of covering the backside.


AL- Right.

JB- We will take a break, Mark thank you for your call.

*goes to commercials*

Comes back:

*Jerry Springer clip*

JB- Hahaha! Funny Stuff.

AL- Thank you!

JB- “Weird Al” Yankovic from the album Running With Scissors and the title of that is Opera... No it’s Jerry Spring what did you expect it to be? Funny stuff!

AL- Hhaha. Thank you.

JB- Let me tell you something there are people over the years that have tried to satire. Some of them have been lame. I have never heard one of your songs that I thought was just quote off the mark. It seems to me that you hit a home run every time.

AL- Why thanks, thats nice. I get a lot of my detractors saying “oh he does parody music my 12 year old kid writes parody songs.” But you know every body does parody songs but it’s not easy to do well or for a long time.

JB- Here's Connie from Duluth Minnesota.

Connie- Good evening and how are you?

JB- Im fine.

AL- Im fine.

Connie- I am so thrilled to be talking to such a legend in the music industry, Weird Al you rule! Weird al RULES!

AL- haha! :) Why thank you!

Connie-  I have three children and they know all of your songs. We have pictures of you and we are diehard fans.

JB- As a matter of a fact an image of Weird Al’s face actually appeared in the wood grain of her kitchen door.

AL-WOW!

Connie- Yeah it just flipped me out, ya know!

JB- Yeah maybe it has healing powers.

Connie- I have to say that you are the best entertainer and it’s such a blessing to make people laugh the way you do, and we really appreciate your weirdness.

AL- Oh stop! Oh my!

Connie- haha :) Well I have a question im wondering, I live in Duluth MN and I know the tour doesn’t come near here. I was wondering if you were planning on recording your tour so we could purchase it on video?

AL- Um no plans to do that right now. Umm hmm we did a disney channel special a couple years ago and that’s the closest we have come to doing a live video. But I never say never and that could be something we do down the line but right now there's no plans.

Connie- Ok, Also were wondering if your going to be a Ricky Martin parody of living lavida loca?

AL- You know I just kinda missed the Ricky Martin wave, we finished the album right before that became a hit. We could of done something like Living Lavida Polka or something.

JB- haha thats good thats good.


Connie- haha! ok We’ll take anything of yours Al cause we love you!

JB- thats true, Al Yankovic does the yellow pages, haha I would buy that.

Connie- haha well my daughter has a bunch of pictures she copied off the internet from your picture gallery, we are kind of curious to know if you wear hair pieces? Because we saw a picture of you with short hair and you are drop dead gorgeous.

AL- haha

JB- I was just looking at that web site and I don’t know about drop dead gorgeous but certainly different.

AL- Yeah whenever you see me with short blonde hair thats a wig. I get a lot of comments like “oh you look really good with short blonde hair”  ummm ya thanks I guess I will just go put on a wig everyday... thanks.

Connie- Haha! Well we just think your gorgeous.

AL- Oh thank you!

Connie- It’s the kind of entertainment that is so near to our heart and when you can make people laugh like that you’ve got it made.

JB- God bless you.

AL- Thank you very much!

JB- Here's Lisa in Dayton Ohio, Lisa be advised that Al appears August the 15 in Cleveland, the 18 in Cincinnati and August the 20 in Columbus.

Lisa- I already know that.

AL- Hahahaha!!

JB- Ok well she's already in line for those.

Lisa- Yeah I have my tickets for Columbus and Cincinnati already.

AL- all right!

Lisa- Yeah!

AL- I will se you there.

Lisa- all right more money in your pocket.

JB- And he needs it. What's on your mind tonight Lisa?

Lisa- Well I had a question about It’s All About The Pentiums. Al are you like a big computer geek? Because you get pretty technical in that song.

AL- I’m a medium sized computer geek, I have had a computer for a few years. I don’t actually go online that much, although I did quit a bit in the last few months because I was doing research on the whole Star Wars thing. I have been getting into computers more over the last few years and I do know enough to kind of figure out all the technical terms that I used in the song.

JB- And by the way when we come back we will be playing It’s All About the Pentiums. But where not gone quit yet. So are you a big fan Lisa?

Lisa- Oh yeah huge fan.

JB- How long have you been a fan? Do you go back to some of his Michael Jackson take offs?

Lisa- Oh yeah I was a real big Michael Jackson fan. I have been a fan since then.

JB- Wow, well thanks you for your call Lisa.

AL- I appreciate it.

Lisa- Bye.


*commercials*

JB- Oh “Weird Al” Yankovic is all about the pentiums. When you do parodies like this I guess you have to pay royalty to the original folks, don't you?

AL- Yeah cause it’s their music obviously so they are entitled to their share of the royalties.

JB- So in other words whenever Al takes off on somebody they make money. Have you ever had artists come up to you like Michael Jackson call you up and say hey just eat it would be a really good way... Now Michael probably doesn’t need the revenue you would generate, but I would imagine that there must be artists that have approached you about parodying them.

AL- Yeah, I don't know how serious they are but every once in a while I will run into somebody at a party or an awards show and they will say “ hey when are you going to get around to doing one of my songs?” And it’s not so much about the money. I think artists really feel they have made it when their Weird Al parody comes out.

JB- Yeah. Here is Julie of Kent Ohio.

Julie- Hi, good evening Al and good evening Jim.

AL- Hi.

JB- Hi, and don’t forget August the 15 in Cleveland, the 18 in Cincinnati and August the 20 in Columbus.

AL- Write that down!

Julie- I will be in Cleveland and Columbus.

AL- all right!

Julie- And Pittsburgh too, Al I just wanted to let you know I think it’s cool how you include your parents and relatives in your television specials and some of your videos.

AL- Well you know they were cheap.

JB- Hahaha!

Julie- Haha, I just think it’s a wonderful way to honor them, and I was wondering if you have any relatives appearing in the Saga Begins video?

AL- Actually yeah, oddly enough. The women who plays the sort of Queen Amadala look alike is my cousin Tammy and my other cousin Darin is one of the aliens in the background. Also Tammy’s husband Dave is in there. I always try to give my relatives the first call whenever I am doing a video. Part of me wants to feature them, but part of me doesn’t want me to subject them to being an extra and you know it’s not the most glamorous work in the world.

JB- Well but it is, if your in a video of course it’s glamorous. You get to point yourself out... See that third person from the left?

AL- Right.

JB- That’s me!! I was on screen for 1.8 seconds.

AL- Hahaha. My parents were in the Amish Paradise video, they played amish people, and I also featured them in the Disney Channel special. (There’s No Going Home)

JB- How do you parents feel about this? My son the wacky guy.
AL- It’s pretty funny cause I come from a totally non show business family. So I don't know if they knew exactly what to think when this all first started out. But now they get a huge kick out of it. My Dad is extremely proud, I mean he’ll go into the supermarket and show my high school senior picture to the checkout women. He’’ll say “ Here's my son Weird Al, you ever heard of him?” And he will get really offended if they have never hear of me.

JB- you’ve never heard of him? What?

Julie- haha, he's just been hiding under that rock.

JB- So you have already got tickets to see this guy?

Julie- Yeah I do.

JB- No kidding, I bet you collect stuff, you have the home game right?

AL- Hahaha.

Julie- Hehe well if it existed I would have it.

AL- The action figure.

JB- Haha, well that’s great. Anything else you’d like to add?

Julie- Nope just looking forward to seeing him in a couple of weeks.

AL- all right! We’ll see you there.

Julie- Ok.

JB- Do something like stand up if they are shooting a video of the crowd.

Julie- all right, thanks! Bye.