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Beloved comedy songsmith “Weird Al” Yankovic kicked off his “The Bigger & Weirder 2025 Tour” in Las Vegas on Friday night with a stacked setlist of hits.

Taking the stage at the Venetian Resort’s Venetian Theatre after an opening set by the singing clown Puddles Pity Party, Yankovic was backed by an eight-piece live band (including several of his original bandmates). The concert began with “Tacky,” his parody of Pharrell Williams’s “Happy,” followed by the live premiere of new songs “Mission Statement,” “Polkamania!” and “Everything You Know Is Wrong.”

Get “Weird Al” Yankovic Tickets Here

Yankovic then played “One More Minute,” “Smells Live Nirvana,” and “Dare to Be Stupid,” followed by a medley that mashed-up songs like “Party in the CIA,” “My Bologna,” “I Love Rocky Road,” “Eat It,” “Like a Surgeon,” and more. After that, he doubled-down on the hits with “Fat.”

From there, the show continued with more parodies,...

Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry. This week, the creator of an animated smash hit is getting choosy about platforms while a man known for dispensing emotional damage is getting his close-up.

Creator commotion

The creator of The Amazing Digital Circus has thoughts about YouTube censorship. In a tweet, Gooseworx claimed that YouTube’s stringent guidelines are requiring some edits that aren’t necessary in the Netflix version of Tadc. Those issues are one reason why Gooseworx sought distribution from a major streaming service in the first place.

A YouTube guitarist shreds with metal masters. Mastodon invited Ben Eller to play with them at a festival in the Dominican Republic. Shredders like Eller have been tearing it up on YouTube for years, and Mastodon’s move is a tip-of-the-hat to that community.

Exclusive: Ksi and Maya Jama are two of the first interviewees featuring on a new BET UK show produced by The Sidemen Story maker Pangaea Group.

Hosted by broadcaster Julie Adenuga, Deadline revealed Now You Know was being developed by Luke Hyams and Sunita Mirchandani Hyams’ Pangaea last year. The series for Paramount-owned BET UK will roll out from next month on the Paramount 5 streaming platform (rebranding in two days from My5) and YouTube.

Love Island host Jama will appear in the first ep on April 1 and YouTuber Ksi, whose hit series Inside was recently picked up by Netflix, will be in the second. The other two guests in the first season of Now You Know are Big Zuu and singer-songwriter Mahalia.

The guests will discuss their journeys and influences. Notably, Adenuga will also give audiences a look at the preparation and vulnerability behind her work, with each episode...

Now You Know is a new video podcast in English by Al Jazeera Digital Division, hosted by Samantha Johnson. Now You Know debuts on September 9, 2024. The series is dedicated to amplifying the voices and stories of women for Al Jazeera’s 14.4 million YouTube subscribers.

“Now You Know” is conversation-driven and aims to share women’s experiences worldwide and inspire others to embark on their own aspirations. Johnson talks to women who keep the ladder down so that the girls who follow in their footsteps can climb up.

The topics will centre around women in film, finance, sports, health, and more. She also takes on social issues such as the evolution of Black women's hair, perceptions of menopause within different societies, and taboo cancers in the global south.

"To say I'm excited about 'Now You Know' is an understatement. This project has been in the works for over a year,...

Nascent indie production outfit Little Spain and Sony Music Entertainment have provided Variety with the exclusive first look trailer for upcoming Movistar Plus+ Original “This Excessive Ambition” (“Esta Ambición Desmedida”), a unique look at the life and times of multifaceted Spanish musician, C. Tangana.

The trailer is dropping in the build up to “This Excessive Ambition’s” world premiere at the 71st San Sebastián Film Festival’s big screen Velodrome, which accommodates nearly 3,000 spectators.

Billed as “not a tour, not a documentary, it’s a tragedy in three acts,” the film curates more than four years of footage into an eye-opening look at life at the top of the music industry by way of the lauded Grammy Award-winning experimental musician, referred to as Pucho by his inner circle.

The project is dutifully directed by Santos Bacana, Cris Trenas and Rogelio González (“Now You Know”), creatives who share an intimate connection...

This year’s limited program writing Emmy contest is unique in that it is the first in five years to include any TV movies at all and the first in 13 years to involve three of them. The one-off narrative specials in the running for this honor are “Fire Island,” “Prey,” and “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” all of which are also nominated for Best TV Movie, and the middle of which has achieved the rare feat of concurrently being recognized for its directing.

While all three of these telefilms stand as relatively strong contenders, this writing race is being very comfortably led by “Beef,” which is the only program that can possibly win all seven of this year’s major limited series Emmys. Putting up fights of their own are the miniseries “Fleishman is in Trouble” and “Swarm,” which both also face “Beef” in the corresponding lead actress and contemporary costumes categories.

This story about the Emmy-nominated songs first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Comedy issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

In the Emmys’ Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics category, it pays to be funny. After all, this is the category where the winners include “Antidepressants Are So Not a Big Deal” from “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “It’s Not Just for Gays Anymore” from the Tony Awards, “Dick in a Box” from “Saturday Night Live” and, um, “I’m F—ing Matt Damon” from “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Over the past two decades, comedic songs have won more than two-thirds of the time. Most years, they’ve landed the majority of the nominations.

This year, four of the six nominees are from comedies: “Fought & Lost” and “A Beautiful Game” from “Ted Lasso,” “Your Personal Trash Man Can” from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Now You Know” from the TV movie “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2023 Emmy Predictions:

Outstanding Television Movie

Weekly Commentary: It’s a “weird” season, but there have been pleasant surprises.

“Prey,” the Predator prequel, which was filmed in the Stoney Nakoda First Nation west of Calgary nabbed six inspired nominations including outstanding television movie, directing and writing. And while Indigenous Peoples...

This year, for the first time since 2018, multiple Best TV Movie Emmy nominees have also earned recognition for their writing or directing, seemingly indicating a return to form for the time-honored program format. The current race for the main telefilm prize is also one of the most compelling in recent memory, as every one of the five contenders has a unique set of advantages that could put it over the top.

After winning the Critics Choice and PGA Awards for Best TV Movie earlier this year, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is the natural frontrunner in the corresponding Emmy contest. The vast majority of Gold Derby’s participating users concur, but they also erroneously expected last year’s award to go to “The Survivor” rather than “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.” With that in mind, it’s important to pay attention to what makes “Weird” vulnerable against its challengers and...

Burgeoning network The Roku Channel had a breakthrough year at the Emmys thanks to its original telefilm “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” In all, the Weird Al Yankovic biopic parody received eight nominations including three for the infamous music superstar himself for producing, writing and music & lyrics. In addition, former “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe earned his first major career bid for taking on the role of Weird Al. Read on for a closer look at “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’s” eight nominations.

In the top category of Best TV Movie, “Weird” by far received the most noms of any of its rivals this year. The others, in descending order, are Hulu’s “Prey” with six, Disney+’s “Hocus Pocus 2” with three, and NBC’s “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas” and Hulu’s “Fire Island” both with two. Earlier this awards season, “Weird” claimed two Critics Choice Awards for movie and actor,...

Legendary parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic is celebrating after getting nominated for an Emmy for the first time. On Wednesday, the full list of nominations was revealed for the Primetime Emmy Awards, and there were a total of eight announced for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. A parody biopic film that premiered on The Roku Channel last year, Weird is considered a TV movie, and as such, it's been nominated for Outstanding Television Movie. The film will be up against Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas, Fire Island, Hocus Pocus 2, and Prey.

Yankovic himself is up for two awards, as he was nominated for the category Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. Specifically, he was nominated for the song "Now You Know." Alongside co-writer Eric Appel, the "Eat It" singer was also nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Meanwhile, the person who portrays Yankovic in the film,...

“Weird Al” Yankovic may have “Lost on Jeopardy,” but hopefully he’ll win at the 75th Emmy Awards.

The parody singer-songwriter just picked up his first-ever Emmy nomination — two in fact — for his biographical Roku movie, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

The 63-year-old was honored for outstanding writing for an original movie and for original music and lyrics for “Now You Know.”

In addition, Daniel Radcliffe (who played Yankovic) was nominated for outstanding lead actor in a limited series or movie, and the film was nominated for outstanding television movie, outstanding writing for a limited series or movie, and in several other technical categories.

Yankovic reacted to the news on Twitter: “Sorry for screaming at the top of my lungs, but Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Just Got Eight Emmy Nominations!!!!”

The honors are a major victory for an underdog project that Yankovic told The Hollywood Reporter was rejected all over Hollywood.

Despite all the musical superstars who entered this year’s Emmy competition, only one – Ed Sheeran – managed to score when the 75th annual Emmy Award nominations were announced Wednesday.

Sheeran was nominated (along with co-writers Max Martin and Foy Vance) for the song “A Beautiful Game” for the season 3 finale of “Ted Lasso,” one of two songs from the popular Apple TV+ series that made it into the music-and-lyrics category.

Emmy’s 550-member music peer group ignored the original songs entered by Dolly Parton, David Byrne, Steve Martin, Kid Cudi, Donald Glover and Lainey Wilson, as well as those from such Oscar-winning tunesmiths as Alan Menken, Steven Schwartz, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

Among the seven music categories, a surprising number of first-time nominees was recognized, and more than one-fourth of all the nominees in the five composition and songwriting categories are women, another positive sign of change in the Hollywood musical landscape.

Rihanna could score a touchdown at the 2023 Emmy Awards: The pop star is nominated for her explosive Super Bowl performance, where she debuted her baby bump and broke the internet.

Rihanna’s halftime show earned five Emmy nominations — and she specifically scored a bid for outstanding variety special (live), which she shares with executive producer Jay-Z. The rap mogul is also nominated for outstanding directing for a variety special, which he shares with Hamish Hamilton.

Jay-Z, along with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent, won outstanding variety special (live) last year for the 2022 Super Bowl halftime performance.

Elton John, Selena Gomez, Lizzo, Ed Sheeran, Dolly Parton and Kid Cudi were among the pop stars who also scored Emmy nominations Wednesday.

John will compete with Rihanna and Jay-Z for outstanding variety special (live), and if he wins, the Oscar, Grammy and Tony winner will become an Egot.

“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” could end up being a strong contender at this year’s Emmy Awards. It may sound, dare we say, weird, but The Roku Channel’s satirical biopic has been a consistent presence at the recent guild awards we saw handed out in the lead-up to the Oscars. Most of those guild awards were also recognizing work on television alongside features, and “Weird” not only managed to get in those categories but it also won several.

Most notably, “Weird” was able to pull out a victory at the Producer’s Guild of America Award for Best Streamed or Televised Movie. Notably, several films that were nominated in this category over the past couple of years would later get into the Best TV Movie category at the Emmys, including “Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia,” “Oslo,” “Bad Education” and “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square.” The latter two took...

Wednesday night at the 2023 Scl Awards (Society of Composers & Lyricists), Michael Abels won the award for top studio film score for his work on “Nope,” while Ryan Lott and his experimental band Son Lux earned the statuette for Outstanding Independent Film Score for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The 4th annual gala took place at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Read on for all of the 2023 Scl Awards winners.

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was a champion along with Alexandre Desplat and Roeban Katz in the Outstanding Song for a Musical or Comedy category for the tune “Ciao Papa” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Also scoring a victory in a song category was the legendary Diane Warren, who became the first songwriter to receive an honorary Oscar in December. She accepted her award in Outstanding Song for a Drama or Documentary for “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman.

Diane Warren and Everything Everywhere All at Once composer Son Lux were among the Oscar nominees who won at the 2023 Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards on Wednesday night.

Warren won best original song for a drama or documentary for “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, which is also nominated for best original song at the 2023 Oscars. Son Lux’s Ryan Lott accepted the award for best score for an independent film for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Son Lux is nominated for the Oscar for best original score and Lott is a nominee for best original song for his work on “This Is a Life,” both from Everything Everywhere All at Once.

In the category of best original score for interactive media, Stephanie Economou won for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök, just 10 days after her Grammy win.

Guillermo del Toro and lyricist Roeban Katz won best song...

The Society of Composers & Lyricists (Scl) presented the winners of the 4th Annual Scl Awards for score and songs in visual media tonight at the Skirball Cultural Center.

The evening was hosted by Darren Criss, who also gave the audience a musical performance. Awards were presented across seven categories for music in visual media in addition to the Spirit of Collaboration Award and two Jury Awards.

The Spirit of Collaboration Award was presented to Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz and Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle. The composer and filmmaker have collaborated on five films, including Babylon, La La Land, Whiplash, the First Man, and Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. The presentation of the award was accompanied by a musical performance including “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from La La Land, the First Man theme for harp and theremin, and a Babylon Medley, including “Voodoo Mama” and “Herman’s Hustle.

Aaron Lee Tasjan offers a personal glimpse behind the glitter on his new song “Up All Night,” a succinct slice of Elo glam-pop that finds the enigmatic Nashville songwriter opening up about his anxieties and sexuality.

“Broke up with my boyfriend to go out with my girlfriend/cause love is like…that,” Tasjan sings over ringing guitar chords and distorted synth that call to mind the best of Jeff Lynne. The song is an immersive listening experience, with Tasjan giddily guiding you on a journey through musical genres and his own vices.

With a string of hits to his name, including the Florida Georgia Line collab “Up Down,” Morgan Wallen will embark on his third headlining tour next year. The Tennessee native is set to play major venues from Detroit to Boston on his new Whiskey Glasses Roadshow headlining tour.

The tour (the latest incarnation of the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour) kicks off January 2nd in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and hits theaters and auditoriums in New Orleans, Raleigh, Philadelphia, and Denver, among others. “Now You Know” singer Jon Langston and Ashland Craft,...

Jeremy Merrifield’s “Balloon,” Carolina Markowicz’s “The Orphan” and Siqi Song’s “Sister” have won the top awards at the 2019 HollyShorts Film Festival, which handed out its awards on Saturday Night at the Harmony Gold in Hollywood.

Those three films won in categories that automatically qualify a short for the Best Animated Short or Best Live-Action Short categories at this year’s Academy Awards.

“Balloon” stars Jonah Beres and Paul Scheer is the story of a high schooler who discovers he has super powers. The film, made at the American Film Institute, is also a finalist at the 2019 Student Academy Awards.

Also Read: 2019 ShortList Film Festival Finalists Announced: Watch and Vote for the Winner!!

“The Orphan” is based on true stories and deals with a teen orphan given up by his adoptive parents for being too effeminate.

“Sister,” which is also a finalist in TheWrap’s ShortList Film Festival,...

Cancel your plans, pick up some popcorn and keep your delivery menus handy, folks — it’s a “Star Wars” marathon this weekend on MTV.

Sure, everyone’s talking about “Star Trek” these days, but long ago, in a galaxy far, far away there was a trio of movies that rocked the world to its very core… and then there was “Episode IV-vi,” too. (I kid, I kid.) This weekend, MTV is screening all six “Star Wars” films, kicking off with “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” on Saturday at 5 Pm — with a special showing of “Behind The Screen,” MTV’s specialmovie exclusive extravaganza, on Sunday night.

Yeah, no need to change out of your pajamas for the next couple of days, eh? After the jump, check out the full programming schedule for the “Star Wars” marathon weekend:

Saturday, 5/23

5 Pm: “Episode I: The Phantom Menace”

8:30 Pm: “Episode II: Attack of the Clones”

Sunday,...