A celebratory exploration of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s breakout second album, a comic and musical triumph of the MTV era which brought a new focus to studio and video craft in the making of novelty music and set the template for an unexpectedly long career and created an example for further generations of musical comedians.

Novelty records have been chart-toppers as long as there have been charts. But novelty artists disappear quickly from the public’s memory. Accordion-toting parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic has defied the odds, lasting in showbiz for over forty years. In 1984, Yankovic released his second album, “Weird Al” Yankovic In 3-D, with a food-focused parody of Michael Jackson’s iconic “Beat It” as its centerpiece. At the time, it seemed inevitable he would be known forever as “The ‘Eat It’ Guy.”

Featuring new interviews with Weird Al and previously unseen photos by drummer and band archivist Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, this book unpacks how Yankovic changed the face of musical comedy and built the foundation of his long and eclectic career. His deftness with wordplay combined with his attention to sonic detail makes the parody songs and comic originals on In 3-D as pleasurable to hear (and re-hear) as any other well-made pop record. At the same time, the rise of MTV offered Weird Al’s adeptness with audio mimicry a perfect visual counterpart and a long-running outlet for his comic vision.