Weirdness comes naturally.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

It's been so long that "Weird Al" Yankovic can barely remember how the "weird" joined "Alfred" to form his moniker. He's pretty sure his dormmates tagged him "Weird Al" during his freshman year at Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1977-78.

"I suppose maybe I was a little weird," Yankovic says from his hotel room in Uncasville, Conn., just hours before a performance on his current tour that comes to Eugene's McDonald Theatre on Wednesday. "But everything I did seemed perfectly normal to me."

Of course he's joking. Right?

Strangely enough, "Weird Al" sounds perfectly normal when you talk to him. He's bright. Articulate. And he's a family man now, you know. Has a lovely wife and a 17-month-old baby girl he adores.

Get him on stage in front of thousands, however, and the weirdness takes over.

The "Poodle Hat" takes over.

That's the name of his first studio album in four years, released in 2003. Silly songs? Maybe. But they won Yankovic his third Grammy Award in February. And where did the inspiration come from?

`I couldn't think of a better title than `Poodle Hat,' ' Yankovic says. "It just seemed to work.

`When it's right, it's right."

No rules, just write

No, there do not seem to be any rules when it comes to "Weird Al." The album cover shows Yankovic, 44, dressed in a business suit on a packed New York City subway, a cute gray poodle superimposed on top of his long, curly brown locks. And he's got that "weird" look in his wide-open eyes.

"Poodle Hat" is a compilation of more zany songs like the first one, "My Bologna," that made Yankovic famous when he was just 19. That, of course, was a parody of the Knack's, "My Sharona," and it went a little something like this: "Ooh, my little hungry one, hungry one/ Open up a package of - my bologna/ Ooh, I think the toast is done, toast is done/ Top it with a little of - my bologna."

Truly weird.

This latest album parodies the likes of Eminem's "Lose Yourself," Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" and the Backstreet Boys "I Want It That Way." The Eminem parody is called "Couch Potato" and is not about losing yourself in the music, but losing your mind watching television. (`There's Simon Cowell/ Who folks wanna disembowel/ He opens his mouth/ Always says something foul/ They're dyin', wow/ Wannabes are cryin' now.')

And although Lavigne's hit song might be about the complications of falling in love, Yankovic's "A Complicated Song" is about the complications of overloading yourself on pizza. (`Tell me/ Why'd you have to go and make me so constipated?/ Cause I'd do anything to just get my bowels evacuated.')

Other fun-lovin' songs from "Poodle Hat" that you're sure to hear Wednesday include the "Angry White Boy Polka" and "Party at the Leper Colony."

Yankovic's tour began July 7 in Uniontown, Pa., and will take him through much of the country, including concerts at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, Calif., this week, Sacramento on Sunday and Portland on Tuesday before ending at the Central Washington State Fair in Yakima on Sept. 25.

His Eugene stop had been planned for the Cuthbert Amphitheater, but was moved to the McDonald at the promoter's request. Existing tickets will be honored, but those who would prefer a refund can get one until 5 p.m. Wednesday at the place of purchase.

Behind the laughter 

It's been a tough year for Yankovic, and you'd have to think the tour is welcome comedy relief for him. His parents, Nick and Mary Yankovic, died in April from carbon monoxide poisoning in their San Diego home. Both were in their 80s.

Yankovic's bizarre musical comedy career began during his childhood in Lynwood, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, when his parents bought an accordion from a door-to-door salesman and gave it to the young, if not then-weird, Al.

When he was a teenager, Yankovic says his friends encouraged him to send a recording of himself playing the accordion and singing a song he'd made up called "Belvedere Cruising," a reference to his parents' 1960s Plymouth Belvedere, to the `Dr. Demento' radio show. Much to Yankovic's surprise, Demento played it.

"It was terrible," Yankovic recalls. "But I think he thought it was funny because it was some teen who thought he was cool playing the accordion."

It was also Demento who first played "My Bologna," which Yankovic recorded as a disc jockey at the college radio station in San Luis Obispo.

So what's next for Yankovic? He says he hopes to be back in the studio next year to record a new album. And what might that be about?

"When you're a professional leech like me, you're kind of at the mercy of pop culture," he says. "I've got to wait for the next big thing to lampoon."

And what should we expect Wednesday?

"It'll be just the kind of stuff you've come to expect from a zany, wacky guy like me."

Weird.

Mark Baker can be reached at 338-2374 or mbaker@guardnet .com.

PERFORMANCE PREVIEW

"Weird Al" Yankovic

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

Where: McDonald Theatre, 1010 Willamette St.

How much: $32 to $42 through the Hult Center box office, 682-5000

CAPTION(S):

"Weird Al" Yankovic promises a load of fun from "a zany, wacky guy like me" when he plays the McDonald.