The Highball has been getting a pretty good reputation for its high-end bar food, but on Saturday night there was a new addition to the menu: Twinkie Wiener sandwiches, specially prepared in tribute to Weird Al Yankovic.
The polka-lovin’, accordian-playin’, nerd cred-innovatin’ cultural icon was in town for two back-to-back sell-out screenings at the Paramount of his screwball comedy UHF.
His 1989 flop has, with the passage of time and the benefit of a 2002 DVD release, become a cult classic of the “But I thought I was the only person that found that funny” type. Before the screening, lead by hosts Owen Egerton and Zack Carlson of the Alamo Drafthouse, the audience of the Paramount joined together for possibly the world’s largest sing-a-long to Amish Paradise and other Yankovic spoof classics. The nerdgasm continued as they turned one first 35mm screenings of this film in recent history into a full-fledged quote-a-long (“Badgers? Badgers? We don’t need no stinking badgers!”)
After the screening of a flurry of spatula waving, Yankovic and his long-time manager and UHF director Jay Levey took to the stage for a free-roaming and high-fiveing Q&A about the film and his career. The big revelation was that the part of whackjob janitor/kids’ show host Stanley Spadowski was written for Christopher Lloyd before Yankovic finally cast a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards. According to Weird Al, “[He] bought a physicality to the role that I don’t think anyone else could have.”
There was only one way to celebrate this much open nerdery in public: Twinkie Weiner sandwiches and Weird Al karaoke at the Highball.
And, yes, before you ask, Twinkie Weiner sandwiches taste exactly how you would expect them to taste. Exactly like that.
This article appears in May 21 • 2010.
