A mockumentary about the life of “Weird Al” Yankovic, The Compleat Al premiered in an abbreviated form on Showtime in August of 1985, before the entire film was released on video that September. The film loosely follows his life and career from his birth in 1959, all the while tying in his first eight music videos. Long out of print, many assumed The Compleat Al was simply one of those artifacts lost to Beta, VHS, and Laserdisc history, leaving fans to pay top dollar for used and bootlegged copies on eBay. But, as Shout Factory often does, they’ve come to the rescue again, making it available on DVD.

A mix of truth and fiction, we learn that young Al grew up in suburban Lynwood, California, attended college to study architecture, and along the way, sent parody songs to Dr. Demento’s popular radio show. People who supposedly knew Al before he was a superstar are interviewed, as well as the real Mr. and Mrs. Yankovic. Dick Clark, Phil Ramone, and Rick Derringer also stop by to offer their takes on Weird Al, and his career. In an occasionally annoying turn, Kevin Seymour (credited as Michael Porter), takes on the character of the nerdy Barry Cohen, Al’s highly ineffective manager. He is just so over the top that he quickly becomes too much. Thankfully, the footage of Weird Al’s mid-80s tour in Japan, the fake copyright warning at the beginning, and several other oddities quickly makes up for Barry Cohen’s inclusion.

The eight classic videos included on The Compleat Al offers a glimpse at the musical highlights of Weird Al’s career up until 1985, while showing his early steps in becoming the cultural icon he is today: “Hey Ricky,” an I Love Lucy based parody of Toni Basil’s “Hey Mickey;” the ice cream-inspired Joan Jett parody “I Love Rocky Road;” the very popular “Eat It,” a parody of the Michael Jackson mega-hit “Beat It” and the Madonna homage “Like a Surgeon.” Also included are four original compositions from Weird Al, “Midnight Star”, “This is the Life” (from Johnny Dangerously), “One More Minute With You” and “Dare to Be Stupid” (from The Transformers Movie.) Yankovic is clearly a talented comedy writer, which is likely a big part of the reason his career has flourished for more than three decades.

Also included are several segments from AL-TV, a premise in which he used his private satellite transmitter to take over MTV. Using the plat form to air his own videos, and welcome guests like Harvey the Wonder Hamster, a couple of hours of AL-TV was an opportunity to enter a strange, yet enjoyable universe where being a bit strange was encouraged. Given MTV’s current lack of videos, and unapologetic focus on more reality based programing, AL-TV serves as a reminder of how unique MTV once was.

Presented in the full frame format, The Compleat Al looks okay for a title seemingly forgotten nearly thirty years ago. That said, it’s pretty clear that the film was made with VHS in mind. Aliasing is a consistent issue, and minor dirt damage as well as video noise are apparent. Color is fairly solid, but can vary, based on the video source. Details aren’t particularly sharp, but considering the film’s origins, things likely look as good as they can.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track offers a fairly straightforward presentation, with no separation between channels. Both the music and dialogue are clear and strong. There’s no distortion in evidence.

There are no subtitles or closed captioning available.

The following extras are included:

  • Film Trailer (0:32) More akin to a TV spot, this is a quick montage of clips from the film.
  • Extended Film Trailer (5:18) Expands on the above idea by including interviews from the film.