''The Compleat Al'' is a mockumentary about the life of

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

, from his birth in 1959, to 1985. It was partially written by Yankovic and directed by Jay Levey. An abbreviated version premiered on August 7, 1985 on the

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

network before the full film was released on video on September 25, 1985. The title of the film is a parody from the 1982 documentary ''

The Compleat Beatles ''The Compleat Beatles'', released in 1982, is a two-hour documentary chronicling the career of the Beatles. Although it has since been supplanted by the longer and more in-depth documentary ''Beatles Anthology'', ''The Compleat Beatles'' was for ...

''. Although it is a mockumentary, it is roughly based on Yankovic's real life. For example, Yankovic was raised in Lynwood, California, and has a degree in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

from

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

. His real-life parents appear in the mockumentary, as does a picture of his real-life childhood house. Because of the mixture of Yankovic's real life and fiction, many of the film's fabricated information was accepted by fans as real. For example, the false information that Yankovic was born in a Saint Vitus hospital (the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

); or the film's pun which claimed his birth in an elevator signified his "rise to the top." The mockumentary also contains clips from the first three '' AL-TV'' specials, and all of Yankovic's music videos up to 1985: "

Ricky Ricky may refer to: Places *Říčky (Brno-Country District), a village and municipality in the Czech Republic *Říčky v Orlických horách, a village in the north of the Czech Republic * Rickmansworth, a town in England sometimes called "Ricky" ...

", "

I Love Rocky Road "I Love Rocky Road" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic about a man's obsession with rocky road ice cream. It is a parody of the 1981 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' cover version of the British band Arrows' 1975 song, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", origin ...

", "

Eat It "Eat It" is a 1984 song by American comedy music artist "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of Michael Jackson's 1983 single " Beat It", with the contents changed to be about an exasperated parent attempting to get their picky child to eat any ...

", "

I Lost on Jeopardy "I Lost on Jeopardy" is a song by American musician "Weird Al" Yankovic from his second album, ''"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D'', released in 1984. The song is a parody of "Jeopardy" by The Greg Kihn Band, released in 1983, and its refrain "Our lov ...

", "This Is the Life", " Like a Surgeon", "

One More Minute ''Dare to Be Stupid'' is the third studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 18, 1985. The album was one of many Yankovic records produced by former McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between August 1984 and March 1985, the a ...

", and "

Dare to Be Stupid ''Dare to Be Stupid'' is the third studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 18, 1985. The album was one of many Yankovic records produced by former The McCoys, McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between August 1984 and March ...

". The parody also extends to the technical aspects of the film, such as the copyright warning message which starts routinely but escalates to warnings that copying the video may result in damage to your VCR, smoke may come out of your TV set, escalating to possible destruction of the planet due to the greed of the viewer.

Production

The film came about when

CBS Home Video Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC (Trade name, d/b/a MGM Home Entertainment and formerly known as MGM Home Video, MGM/CBS Home Video and MGM/UA Home Video) is the home video division of the American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. ...

approached Yankovic to make a long form music video. It was produced by Yankovic's manager Jay Levey, Levey's friend Hamilton Cloud, and

Robert K. Weiss Robert K. Weiss is an American film and television producer. His productions include films by director John Landis, producer Lorne Michaels, and the " Z. A. Z." team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker. He also co-created the science- ...

, who had previously produced '' Kentucky Fried Movie'' and ''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respective ...

''. The production, which had a budget of $250,000, also included making videos for " Like a Surgeon", "

", and "

", which were included in the film. The film, including the music videos, was directed by Levey and Weiss.

Release

The film first premiered on August 7, 1985 on the premium cable channel

, which aired a 60-minute version of the film. The full film was then released on VHS and

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

on September 25, 1985. The film was later released on

Laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

in 1986. A 10-minute version of the mockumentary appeared on the sixth ''AL-TV'' special, which aired on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

in 1992. A book entitled ''The Authorized Al'' () was released shortly after the film as a companion piece. It is essentially a book version of the video.

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

released ''The Compleat Al'' on DVD for the first time on November 11, 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Compleat Al, The American mockumentary films 1985 television films 1985 films 1980s musical comedy films Films with screenplays by "Weird Al" Yankovic Films with screenplays by Jay Levey Films directed by Jay Levey Films directed by Robert K. Weiss 1980s English-language films Films produced by Robert K. Weiss Films with screenplays by Robert K. Weiss 1980s American films