NEW YORK, September 13, 2011 – Parody and polka are perfectly performed when Grammy® Award-winning “Weird Al” Yankovic returns to the small screen to present his first special since 1999.COMEDY CENTRAL will debut the World Premiere of “Weird Al” Yankovic Live! – The Alpocalypse Tour on Saturday, October 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
On October 4,“Weird Al” Yankovic Live! – The Alpocalypse Tour will be released in North America on DVD and Blu-ray by COMEDY CENTRAL Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment and download-to-own including iTunes and Amazon Video On Demand. In addition, the special will be available in high definition on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and PlayStation Store. The extended DVD and Blu-ray include nearly an hour’s worth of concert footage not seen on COMEDY CENTRAL, plus over 30 minutes of bonus features that include: music videos for “Perform This Way” and “Polka Face,” three extra live concert performances, a bunch of Al’s personal YouTube videos and more.
“Weird Al” Yankovic Live! – The Alpocalypse Tour was shot this summer at the venerable Massey Hall in Toronto during Weird Al’s tour to support the release of Alpocalypse. His first full-length studio album in nearly five years, Alpocalypse (released by Jive/Sony in June) debuted at #9 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, Yankovic’s highest-charting album ever. “Weird Al” Yankovic Live! – The Alpocalypse Tour features hits off of Alpocalypse 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, including “White & Nerdy,” “Amish Paradise” and “Fat.”
In another element of the multiplatform deal, comedycentral.com will be premiering “Polka Face,” Yankovic’s next video from Alpocalypse, on September 25 and will be its exclusive home for two days. 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.
“Weird Al” Yankovic has enjoyed a varied and successful career that is now entering its fourth decade, performing concerts throughout North America, Australia and Europe. Yankovic has received twelve Grammy® Award nominations, winning three times, and has racked up 31 Gold and Platinum albums, making him the biggest selling comedy recording artist in history. His previous albumStraight Outta Lynwood (2006) featured the single and video for “White & Nerdy” which spent two months at #1 on iTunes and was viewed online over 100 million times.
In addition to his accomplishments as a musician, Yankovic has also authored a children’s book,When I Grow Up (HarperCollins), which was released earlier this year and landed on The New York Times Best Seller list. He is also well-known for his cult-hit feature film UHF, his CBS Saturday morning series The Weird Al Show and the numerous AL- TV specials he has made for MTV and VH1 over the years. Fans can “like” Al on Facebook, join his 2.1 million followers on Twitter@alyankovic and check out his videos on YouTube. They can also see him live in concert across North America this fall.
