As loyal readers know, last weekend was Al-Eddie-Al. The boyfriend even made T-shirts to celebrate the occasion. Here’s what happened with the Al parts (Eddie to follow in a later posting).
After an amazing lunch at Angeline’s in Berkeley, we arrived at Cobb’s Comedy Club. Unfortunately, many people arrived before us, so we had to sit near the back. Weird Al Yankovic was in “in conversation” with Chris Hardwick, the host of Web Soup. I will freely admit here that I didn’t know who he was; even though he’s had lots of gigs, I’ve never watched something that featured him. Hardwick began by talking about Al as his idol (I could relate). The third time they met, he asked Al to lunch, and they’ve been friends ever since. (I’d seen Al in concert three times, but I’d never met him before).
The conversation was good, though I suppose many of us in the audience knew the basics–where Al went to school, etc. I’m glad that we were sitting in the middle, as Al kept turning to Hardwick, which put his hair in his face and blocked the view for one side of the audience.
There were also video clips.
One of the things we were able to see was this clip from Al’s “Eat It” years. He was invited to perform on what was described as Japan’s Saturday Night Live. He assured us that his look of total confusion was not acting: <object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/mJEvTCqToCk&hl=en_US&fs=1&”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/mJEvTCqToCk&hl=en_US&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>
They also showed this absolutely awful rendition of “My Sharona,” which Al agreed to do for a friend’s school project in college (this was way before MTV, btw). Apparently, this is an easter egg on his video collection, but I’ve never once found an easter egg, perhaps because I don’t randomly hit buttons when I’m watching DVDs: <object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/1BnfhNNaFgQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/1BnfhNNaFgQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>
Then came the audience questions. Most of them were banal and some were below banal (can I take a picture of you; would you sign this?). I wanted mine to be special.
Hardwick was choosing the audience members, so when he got close, I kept my hand up and gave him a flirty look (the things I do for Al!). When my time came, I could hear my own heartbeat. I managed to thank Al for allowing Du and I to use the lyrics to “Weasel Stomping Day” in our book. And then I told him that DJ and I saw a street sign in Maui that had been corrected: 
When we returned to the mainland, DJ found out who fixed that sign. Yes, it was Al. (See the video of him altering the sign here: http://www.twitvid.com/BF9B7). I asked Al if he always carried sign fixing stickers around with him. He said usually not and that his wife made him take down the sticker after a few days.
This means two things. One, when DJ and I said the sign was proof that there are intelligent people in the world, we should have known it was Al. Second, Al and his wife were there at the same time as DJ and I.
After the questions, Al graciously signed things for people. He signed a shirt for me and the picture of the sign for DJ. I gushed and had a total nerd freak out when I got to shake his hand.
Look how happy I am:
Dr. Karma & Weird Al
We saw Al again at midnight, after we’d reunited with the boy. Al was introducing a midnight screening of UHF (after which he left, presumably to get some sleep). DJ and I weren’t sure we were going to make it through the film, but it went at an amazing pace, as usual.
All in all, it was one of the best days of my life. Al is not a disappointment as a hero, as so many people can be–he’s kind and smart and is my favorite star in the world.
The real lesson of the day, though?
The third time I meet him, I’m definitely asking him to lunch!
