Weird Al Yankovic Responds to Season 4 Reference

It’s no secret that the Netflix series Stranger Things is a love letter to the 1980s with no shortage of pop culture references. One of the latest comes in the form of “The King of Music Parody” in “Weird Al” Yankovic. In the season four premiere “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club”, Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) and Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) are at lunch in the Hawkins High School cafeteria as they’re approached by Eddie Munson, who runs their Dungeons and Dragons club called The Hellfire Club, played by new addition Joseph Quinn.

“I knew it the moment I saw you. You sat at that table right over there looking like two little lost sheep,” Eddie said to Dustin with his arms around him and Mike. “You were wearing a Weird Al T-shirt, which I thought was brave.” Perhaps to no one’s surprise, this drew the attention of Yankovic, who likely also follows the Netflix series sharing the clip of that exact moment on Twitter with two subtle hashtags, one tagging the show.

Yankovic is the subject of an upcoming comedy biopic on Roku titled Weird: The Al Yankovic Story that stars Daniel Radcliffe playing his younger self showing his rise to notoriety. The musician initially garnered attention thanks to radio personality Barry Hansen aka Dr. Demento, who would feature his parody songs of popular musicians like Queen, Madonna, Joan Jett, and Michael Jackson. Some will be portrayed in the film with Rainn Wilson playing Dr. Demento and Even Rachel Wood as Madonna.

When it comes to his songs, out of courtesy, Yankovic asks permission from the original artists he parodies. He’ll also dabble into style parodies in the spirit of the artist often recreating the original tracks while blending his signature sound with his accordion and occasional kazoo. Yankovic won five Grammys with his first in 1985 for Best Comedy Recording for his Jackson Beat It parody Eat It and his latest in 2019 for his work Squeeze Box for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. Season 4 Volume 1 of Stranger Things is available to stream on Netflix with part two premiering on July 1.