‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Talks to Dan Rather About How His Musical Career Really Started

“Weird Al” Yankovic sat down with veteran reporter Dan Rather for the AXS TV series The Big Interview where he talked about how his musical career really started.

Weird Al talks with Dan Rather about how he ended up getting his start in the music industry and how he’s thrived so many decades on The Big Interview!

Yankovic explained that he was directed into an architecture career, but his calling won out, particularly when he discovered the Dr. Demento Show, began sending in his own tapes, and discovered that he had a cult following.

You know, I built up a cult following through the Dr. Demento show.  Being on the Dr Demento Funny Five or Top 10 doesn’t necessarily translate to a record deal…. at the end of every show he would play the most requested songs of the night …. a lot of times my songs would be…I’d have several songs on the countdown.

Yankovic also credits his parents and of course, Dr. Demento for helping him to realize his dreams.

If my parents were concerned or worried they did a pretty good job of hiding it from me I thin they always knew that I had a pretty good head on my shoulders…I couldn’t figure out exactly what I was going to do but after graduating I you know knocking a few doors and I tried to take advantage of the airplay I was getting on the Doctor Demento radio show and luckily I was able to get a record deal and against all odds, I’m still doing what I love.