Weird Al Gets In Good-Natured Digs

Making fun of others is supposed to be bad form, but Weird Al Yankovic put his powers of parody to good-natured and entertaining use Thursday in the first of two shows at the Henry Fonda Theatre. The antic accordionist relentlessly spoofed pop culture icons from Fred Flintstone to Kurt Cobain with a performance that wasn’t so much a concert as a Weird Al revue, offering up video pieces, dance routines and schtick that was at times painfully cornball, at times wickedly inspired.

With a four-piece band capable of expert mimicry, Yankovic energetically sucked the seriousness from such tunes as TLC’s “Waterfalls” and Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” (which in Al’s hands has become “Amish Paradise”). Of the between-song bits, clips of Yankovic interviewing Madonna, Keith Richards and Paul McCartney were particularly hilarious.

Because Yankovic works in response to the shifting whims of the pop world, timing is a crucial element of his humor. His medley debunking alternative rock--which turned everything from Smashing Pumpkins to Nine Inch Nails into polka fodder--was sharp and tremendously funny.

But poking fun at John Bobbit by way of a Crash Test Dummies song is already a creaky premise. And at this point, Michael Jackson parodies simply seem unnecessary.

A few Yankovic original tunes were most musically satisfying--Weird Al is a talented tunesmith when not mulching other’s songs. But it was the parodies that earned enthusiastic responses, including a standing ovation for tweaking both “Star Wars” and the Kinks with his show-closing “Yoda.”