Here's Everyone We Spotted At Dr. Demento's Epic Pool Party In Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Roku's "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" is a biopic about the titular musician's life and legacy ... except, not really, though. For those who aren't familiar with his work, Weird Al is famous for writing comedy and parody music and, much like how he took existing tunes and gave them new, sillier lyrics, he did the same with the concept of a biopic. Without spoiling too much (because everyone deserves to see this film with fresh eyes), Weird Al rewrote his story to better mirror that of an angsty, hard-edged rock star. Also, he depicts himself as a stone-cold assassin but, again, spoilers.
Near the start of the second act, Weird Al (Daniel Radcliffe) is taken to a pool party by Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson), the man who discovered him while he was singing about ice cream in a grungy little bar. It's in this scene that the film starts to truly flex its inherent absurdity by throwing in as many celebrities — many of which are played by real celebrities, just not the "correct" ones — as possible into a single suburban backyard. Here are all the recognizable figures we know for certain.
Heads up! This doesn't cover all of the cameos in "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" (like Lin-Manuel Miranda as a surgeon and Quinta Brunson as THE Oprah Winfrey), just the ones in that incredibly crowded sequence. Also, not every actor who portrays these celebrities is listed on IMDb, nor are they all covered in the film's actual credits — these lapses will be noted accordingly.
The lineup is deep as it is wide
For the sake of time and organization, we've split the star appearances into two categories: Musicians and Non-Musicians (or, at least, individuals whose primary public role is as a different form of artist, most of these creators are, admittedly, multi-hyphenates). Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the cameos in "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" are of musicians, so the Non-Musician category is a bit easier to sift through. Let's start with them. Most prominently featured in the scene is Robert Weston Smith, aka Wolfman Jack (Jack Black), a famous DJ known for his gravelly voice.
There's also Andy Warhol (Conan O'Brien), a creative mind most well remembered for his unique visual art that commented on commercialism. In that same vein is Salvador Dali (Emo Phillips), best known for his paintings, even though he dabbled heavily in almost every physical medium.
In attendance is also Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (Lisa Margaroli), whose secondary persona as the coolest named horror hostess saw her rise to enduring cultural relevance. Then there's Paul Reubens, aka Pee-Wee Herman (Jorma Taccone), an American comedian whose secondary persona rocketed him into stardom. Fun fact — Pee-Wee Herman was Daniel Radcliffe's favorite celebrity cameo in the film (via Entertainment Weekly). Along these same lines, there's Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., aka Gallagher (Paul F. Thompkins), a famous American prop comic.
Rounding out this section is Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (Nina West), a famous performer best known for their work as a drag queen. Divine notably inspired the design for Ursula in Disney's "The Little Mermaid."
The many, many musicians
If those last few paragraphs felt overly cramped, then this will be something of a nightmare. In "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," the number of musician cameos is almost double that of the non-musicians (again, see the above disclaimer). Let's rapid-fire some of these names. There's Catherine Elizabeth Pierson, aka Kate Pierson (actor unlisted), lead singer of the B-52s. There are two members of Devo (actors unlisted), an American rock band. There's John Deacon (David Dastmalchian), the bassist for Queen, a rock band that got its own questionably accurate biopic not too long ago.
There's Herbert Butros Kauhry, aka Tiny Tim (Demetri Martin), a singer best remembered for his unique falsetto covers of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" and "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight." There's Frank Vincent Zappa, aka Frank Zappa (actor unlisted), an eclectic musician and composer that Weird Al has vocally framed as a personal inspiration for his own comedy work (via Consequence). There's Grace Beverly Jones, aka Grace Jones (actor unlisted), a Jamaican singer, actress, and model. There's Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., aka John Denver (actor unlisted), an American singer who wrote classics like "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
As if there was room for more, the pool party also features Vincent Damon Furnier, aka Alice Cooper (Akiva Schaffer), an American rock singer who's been performing longer than many people likely reading this have been alive. Then there's Reginald Kenneth Dwight, aka Sir Elton John (actor unlisted), the prolific musician who paved the road for biopics to be a bit more fanciful. And, FINALLY, there's David Robert Jones, aka David Bowie (Gordon Tarpley), an English rock star that stole our hearts with music and our children with magic (a la "Labyrinth").