Weird Al Yankovic, Eventim Apollo, London, review: American’s parodies make a happy return

It’s amazing how most of his skits work for a British audience

The inevitable highlights include the grunge parody 'Smells Like Nirvana' (Getty Images)

Not having donned a tin-foil bowler hat or a Hawaiian shirt, I feel a couple of jokes behind even before Weird Al Yankovic pops up on the screen live from outside the venue. But I am soon up to speed as he is indeed wearing a Hawaiian shirt and singing ‘’Tacky’’, a pastiche of ‘’Happy’’ by Pharrell Williams, and enters from the foyer. Trust the Californian comedian to break the fourth wall as he does repeatedly throughout two hours that sometimes feel like a crash course in US popular culture squeezed through a blender and regurgitated for our enjoyment.

Some of the targets – Michael Jackson in “Fat’’ (ie ‘’Bad’’) and constant riffing on his ‘’Beat It’’ send up ‘’Eat It’’ and Robin Thicke – are like shooting fish in a barrel. But his permanently arched eyebrow and the four-piece band who join in the many imaginative costume changes make it work.

The inevitable highlights include the grunge parody “Smells Like Nirvana’’, while “Canadian Idiot’’ raises more than a smile. Endearingly, Yankovic ventures outside the mainstream with homages to Devo and the Seattle’s The Presidents of the United States of America. It’s amazing how most skits work for a British audience and, if one doesn’t, there will be another one along in a minute.