THEATRE

The time has come. "Weird Al" Yankovic, the biggest selling comedy recording artist of all time, has returned to demolish the pop landscape with his twice-Grammy-nominated 13th studio album, Alpocalypse (RCA/Sony).

Now entering his fourth career decade, Weird Al has won 3 Grammys (with 14 nominations) and countless awards and accolades for Weird Al classics like "Eat It," "Like a Surgeon," "Fat," "Smells Like Nirvana," "Amish Paradise," and "The Saga Begins." Yankovic is also well-known for his cult-hit feature film UHF (1989), his late '90s CBS Saturday morning series The Weird Al Show and the numerous AL-TV specials that he's made for MTV and VH1 over the years. His previous album Straight Outta Lynwood (2006) spawned the Billboard Top 10 single "White & Nerdy," the video for which spent two months at #1 on iTunes and garnered over 100 million hits on the Internet.

Since then, Al has released his greatest hits package The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic (Legacy), wrote, starred in and directed the themed attraction Al's Brain: A 3-D Journey through the Human Brain (featuring cameos from Fabio to Paul McCartney) and accumulated over 2.5 million followers on Twitter. With the recent release of his children's book When I Grow Up (HarperCollins), Al now adds "New York Times Bestselling Author" to his resume. An app version of the book for the iPhone and iPad is also available.

Alpocalypse was released on June 21, 2011, charting at #9 Billboard - the highest debut of his storied 3-decades-long career. The first single from the album, the Lady Gaga parody "Perform This Way," had its fair share of controversy... after a number of crossed wires and a crazy one-day media firestorm, all ended well with Lady Gaga's full approval and blessing. Yankovic directed the video clip for "Perform This Way," and his proceeds from the single and video were donated to the Human Rights Campaign. Alpocalypse was nominated for two Grammy Awards -- for Best Comedy Album and Best Short Form Video for the "Perform This Way" Music Video.

Alpocalypse also features parodies of Miley Cyrus ("Party In The CIA"), Taylor Swift ("TMZ"), B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars ("Another Tattoo") and T.I. ("Whatever You Like"). The album's requisite polka medley - "Polka Face" - features accordion-driven versions of songs by the biggest artists of the day, including Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Britney Spears, P!nk, Lady Antebellum, Katy Perry and of course, Lady Gaga.

The album also features a fine assortment of Al originals, including the Doors homage "Craigslist" (with keyboards by original Doors member Ray Manzarek), the twisted love song "If That Isn't Love" (with Taylor Hanson on piano) and the provocatively-titled magnum opus "Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me."

The deluxe version of Alpocalypse includes a DVD with 10 music videos by some of the world's top animators and directors: Bill Plympton, JibJab, Augenblick Studios, Ghostbot, SuperNews, Divya Srinivasan, Cris Shapan, Koos Dekker, Brian Frisk and Liam Lynch. A Blu-ray edition of the videos from every song from Alpocalypse, including "Perform This Way" and "Polka Face" (the first official music video produced for a Weird Al polka medley).

In October of last year, Comedy Central debuted "Weird Al" Yankovic LIVE! - The Alpocalypse Tour, filmed at Toronto's venerable Massey Hall, with the unabridged version of the concert released on DVD and Blu-ray. This year, The Nerdist Channel debuted Face 2 Face with "Weird Al" Yankovic, a web series where Al "interviews" some of the biggest stars in show business including Harrison Ford, Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Morgan Freeman, and many others. On October 1, Abrams will release Weird Al: The Book, an illustrated coffee table book on Al's life and career. Weird Al - and his long-time band - continues to tour with his high-energy, rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza Alpocalypse Tour throughout the world.