“Every aspect of Weird Al’s art is enthusiastic and cheerful, a throwback to an earlier era of comedy and pop culture…”

Every aspect of his art is enthusiastic and cheerful, a throwback to an earlier era of comedy and pop culture, when lightness had validity. Now every fairy-tale princess and superhero has to be drenched in blood, watching a city collapse in a fake orgasm of C.G.I. overload. Stand-up comedians these days are more likely to plumb the depths of their emotional dysfunction than they are to wear trick costumes or do imitations. Yankovic is comforting in the way of Bugs Bunny, or early Steve Martin.

Sasha Frere-Jones, “Weirdly Popular”, The New Yorker (11 & 18 August 2014), 93.