Listening exercise
NPR: A Chat with 'Weird Al' Yankovic
Interviewer: Steve Inskeep
Click on "Listen" on this page:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1404580
(a longer "extended version" of this interview is also available from this page
but it is not necessary for this exercise)

Vocabulary:
there's no mistaking
exactly
only funnier
to parody
pop music
to tune into
hallucinogenic
version of
radio station
the greatest hits of
the 70s, 80s, 90s
My Bologna
(The Knacks: "My Sharona")
surgeon
for the very first time
(Madonna: Like a virgin)
yogurt
spam
fresh or canned
"Eat it!"
(Michael Jackson: Beat it!)
to come a long way from
youth
Los Angeles
to get his first break
to mail
disc jockey
Dr. Demento
to record
bedroom
cheesy
cassette tape recorder
horrible
spark
to be amused
teenage kid
cool
accordion
to end up in the same sentence
mutually exclusive
Alfred Matthew Yankovic
to come by
NPR studios
to grow one's hair
curly
to the shoulders
Hawaiian shirt
concert
theme park
to tour
album
Poodle Hat
to mock
the likes of
Nelly
Avril Lavigne: Complicated
to be related
cousin
to date
curious
to be a big fan of
a reflection of
to be a function of
to go so far as to say
to virtually destroy
Oh, would you!?
Michael Jackson: "Bad"
"I'm fat!"
pudgy
portly
stout
to distort one's view of
the original song
to ruin a legacy
in terms of
doesn't need to be parodied
tongue-in-cheek
to wait so long
Eminem
big hit
"tongue-in-cheek takes on pop culture"
"The Real Slim Shady"
"Without me"
novelty
sense of humor
redundant
"Lose Yourself"
deadly serious
anthem
to take oneself seriously
to create an opening for s.o. to V
to mock
"Couch Potato"
C-span TV
to land in
HBO
toughest
rhyme structure
intricate
amazing
wordsmith
internal rhyme
to emulate
a lot going on
to make a conscious decision
to duplicate
exactly
funny
coherent
Gilligan
MacGyver
Pig Latin
Drew Carey
E.T. (Entertainment Tonight)
gossip freak
J. Lo
to sit around Ving
underwear
to do research
to wonder about
to fun of
a specific song
to pull something else out of
to make fun of two things together
to rock the whole Zeitgeist
to bury oneself in
to get very focused on
comedy
novelty
to dash s.t. off quickly
to craft one's lyrics
three-ring notebook
systematic
analytical
to spend a lot of time
to put s.t. together
Backstreet Boys: "I want it that way"
to delve into
"E-Bay"
used pink bathrobe
rare
mint
snowglobe
Smurf
TV tray
to be filled with
crap
to show up in
bubble wrap
most (=almost)
pet rock
artists
to recognize
melody
to be ingrained
creepy
to be creeped out
You should be!
to be part of the problem
odd kind of way
Jay Leno (TV evening talk show host
who does a daily monologue full of
jokes based on the latest news events)
monologue
to get the news
pop culture
update
time capsule
as it were
highest bidder
garage sale
junk keeps arriving in the mail
from that worldwide garage sale
Dukes Of Hazzard ashtray
a lot more than you could fit into your radio
to adamantly deny
Frankie Yankovic
extended version
Morning Edition

Listening comprehension questions:
1. How did Yankovic get his start in his career as a parody artist?
2. How, does Inskeep suggest, do most people feel about the accordion?
3. Why did Inskeep say that Yankovic has "virtually destroyed" some pop songs?
4. What is Yankovic's reaction to Inskeep when he suggests that Yankovic has "virtually destroyed" some songs?
5. What else does Inskeep say that makes Yankovic react in a similar way?
6. Why, does Yankovic say, was Eminem's "Lose Yourself" so hard to write a good parody of?
7. What does Inskeep mean when he says that Yankovic is making fun of "two things together"?
8. How does Yankovic go about writing his parodies?
9. What does Yankovic mean when he says his parodies are a kind of "time capsule"?
10. What is your reaction to Weird Al and his parodies, after watching and listening to the files for these two assignments?

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