"Weird Al" Yankovic - Like a Surgeon (1985)
*** (of four)
I like the Weird Al video for "Like a Surgeon" for the same reason I like the Airplane! and Naked Gun movies - I'm a big fucking dork. And a part of me really goes for cheeseball sight gags. There's one about every two-and-a-half seconds in the "Surgeon" video, and the song itself gets points for not being about food or television, Weird Al's two most beaten dead horses.
It's even kinda morbid subject matter for such a wholesome parody singer, this song about a tragically inept physician. The first shot has Doctor Al walking into a flatlining patient's room, hitting the EKG machine a couple times and, when that doesn't work, beating the dead man's chest. His pulse kicks right up, to the exact tempo of the song's beat. From there, gags involve fingers being cut off, chainsaws being used for surgery, an orderly slipping on a still-beating heart that fell on the floor and Al pulling a bunny out of a man's chest cavity. Shit, a guy's eyeball even pops out of his head and gets screwed back in by one of Al's band members.
That's not even the really funny part of the video. The best comes in the second half, when Weird Al manages to rip off every pseudo-sexualized Madonna dance move from the "Like a Virgin," "Burning Up" and "Lucky Star" videos, while sporting hairy midriff and all. There have been some definite lowlights in Weird Al's career (he's got a parody to "Hot in Herre" about doing his laundry, for pete's sake), but when he's on, he's on. And I'm a big fucking dork for enjoying it.
I like the Weird Al video for "Like a Surgeon" for the same reason I like the Airplane! and Naked Gun movies - I'm a big fucking dork. And a part of me really goes for cheeseball sight gags. There's one about every two-and-a-half seconds in the "Surgeon" video, and the song itself gets points for not being about food or television, Weird Al's two most beaten dead horses.
It's even kinda morbid subject matter for such a wholesome parody singer, this song about a tragically inept physician. The first shot has Doctor Al walking into a flatlining patient's room, hitting the EKG machine a couple times and, when that doesn't work, beating the dead man's chest. His pulse kicks right up, to the exact tempo of the song's beat. From there, gags involve fingers being cut off, chainsaws being used for surgery, an orderly slipping on a still-beating heart that fell on the floor and Al pulling a bunny out of a man's chest cavity. Shit, a guy's eyeball even pops out of his head and gets screwed back in by one of Al's band members.
That's not even the really funny part of the video. The best comes in the second half, when Weird Al manages to rip off every pseudo-sexualized Madonna dance move from the "Like a Virgin," "Burning Up" and "Lucky Star" videos, while sporting hairy midriff and all. There have been some definite lowlights in Weird Al's career (he's got a parody to "Hot in Herre" about doing his laundry, for pete's sake), but when he's on, he's on. And I'm a big fucking dork for enjoying it.
posted by daytime at 12:49 AM
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