Mandatory Fun, Sunny

I am unsure how to pull this album review together, so I am simply going to share some outlined, unconnected (& too-personal-to-be-interesting) musings about Weird Al:

• After some 40 years, Weird Al continues to be amusing and largely unstoppable. 30 Rock S6E14 (a Very Fine episode) details the pervasiveness of this situation. Avoiding parody will drive you further into it, like a finger trap.
• This is not to say it is all hits. Weird Al has (and will continue to) totally whiff. And yet, a failed parody itself is somewhat amusing, if we don't take ourselves too seriously (and don't have to pay RCA to hear).
• I used to think it was "Weird" Al, as opposed to "Weird Al," though that would make no sense. The full sobriquet is "Weird Al," rather than "Weird" Al or Weird "Al," short for Alfred. Splitting up "Weird Al" would be as strange as referring to famous singer-songwriter as just "Michael."
• My own personal experience with Weird Al is bumping into him too early. A young boy who would watch TV until 4 or 5 AM in the early naughts may note that after 2a things dry up tremendously and Infomercials fill the void (which often have real Commercials playing in between). "Weird Al," at this point Platinum all the way through, found his album packs right in the mix. We didn't have pop music growing up, so "The Saga Begins" seemed like a weird Episode 1 homage, rather than a Don McLean parody, making very unclear to me what Weird was even peddling. Even years later, watching UHF in high school and having now heard "American Pie," PoYB contributor Sam S. was the one who informed me that the "3D part" (my words) was a Dire Straits parody. I find my own continuing naivete quite amusing.
• Weird has seemingly three vectors of parody—the classic parody song we know and love, but also the style parody, and the polka:
• Before "Weird Al," my association with Polka really begins and ends at John Candy's character in Home Alone. After Weird, I definitely don't know what Polka is (I won't be looking it up). Polka music is fast-playing accordions and tubas? Just typing Polka this much is causing jamais vu, making the whole thing worse. Weird plays the songs in medley in Polka style, showing us that the depths of meaning prevalent in pop music lyrics are so potent they transcend any music they're laid upon. This is an easy gag and no less amusing for it.
• Al: "At this point, it's sort of mandatory for me to do a polka medley. Fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley." This is likely correct.
• The style parodies range from good to fine to meh. Yes, it makes sense Cat Stevens has the associated nine-plus-minute song, and it is funny, but listening to it once or twice is just fine, thanks.
• And, of course, the direct parodies are what we know ol' Weird for. The thing I love about Weird is that he is untethered to old ideas of parody. "Happy" to "Tacky" tracks—take the song and flip it on meaning behind the same tune. "Handy" and "Inactive". This is textbook. But then you have "Foil" which is tied to "Royals" only in that the 'oi' and 'oy'  diphthongs are a spot match. And that's it? It's so incredibly stupid. But hearing "Foooooiil," if your brain is already tuned in waiting to hear "Roooooyal," causes an almost involuntary grin. Highly amusing.
• Cf. "The zipper is broken on my / Knapsack"
• In part due to the above, sitting and listening through a whole Weird Al album has a disjointed effect. It's as if your friend gave you a photo album of his last vacation, but when you open it up all the photos are of him photobombing strangers and displaying immense strength in holding up architectural structures vis-à-vis image perspective tricks. When you look back up, your friend is staring right at you with a huge grin on his face.
• Quoting Wiki, "Yankovic has suggested Mandatory Fun may be his last traditional album, switching to more timely releases of singles and EPs," which is obviously his right speed. 2021 is very different from 2001, and hearing a late-night infomercial to buy Mandatory Fun ultra-deluxe edition in three simple payments simply makes no economic or social sense.