From the Archive: Just Eat It!

From time to time I like to share old pieces of mine that slipped through the cracks for whatever reason. This is one I'm so proud to reprint here - something that was only released as an e-mail, and something that requires a little introduction!

Back in my time working at a major catalog label, I had the incredible fortune of getting to do a lot of work on Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic, a career-spanning box set of pop music's funniest act. It featured all 14 of his studio albums plus a bonus disc of extra material, housed in a 3-D printed replica of Al's signature accordion and accompanied by a 100-page book of liner notes and rare photos. (Al, along with designers Meghan Foley and Annie Stoll, deservedly took home a Grammy for the effort.) With Al's longtime drummer/archivist Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, I had the privilege of sorting through his and his label's archives for the most visually interesting (or unseen) photos, behind-the-scenes images, single covers, advertisements, merchandise and other ephemera. I often joke that I had the only job where knowing a picture of Al was taken in 1984 versus 1994 was a valuable skill.

While assembling material for the book, the company was re-sorting material in its terrific, onsite archive; in the process, we re-discovered the original artwork for The Food Album, a disc Al released under duress from his label Scotti Brothers Records (who, by the mid-'90s, counted Al as its only current hitmaker). Upon discovering that killer animator/voice actor Doug "Mr." Lawrence was the creator of the artwork, I contacted him for an interview and we published the below text as a little feature for people who'd subscribed to Al's e-mail newsletter.

One thing that gets lost in translation from talking to typing that I want to get across: when Doug gets animated, he sounds exactly like Filburt, and there are points on the recording you can hear me laughing with joy simply from talking to someone I heard often on TV growing up. (Lawrence also voices Fred the Fish on SpongeBob, and thus is behind one of my favorite audio memes.)

My thanks to Ethan Ullman of Dave & Ethan's 2000" Weird Al Podcast for filling this crucial gap in my archives! I'm so glad to share it with you as an appetizer for your Thanksgiving festivities! (originally published 8/31/2017)

Released in 1993, The Food Album collected 10 of Al's meal-related parodies. And while it was released at the insistence of the record company, Al still managed to have some fun with the cover, created by writer/animator Mr. Lawrence. Best known as the voice of Filburt on Rocko's Modern Life and Plankton on SpongeBob Squarepants, Lawrence recently shared how he designed one of the wackiest Weird Al album covers around.

Then 20 years old and working on The Ren & Stimpy Show, Lawrence's designs attracted the attention of animation historian Jerry Beck, who suggested he show off his portfolio to Al. "The day I met Al, I had tons of stuff to show...way too much! I was just going nuts," Lawrence said. "We started hanging out and developing projects together. We tried to develop a new movie, and A&W Root Beer wanted him to be a spokesperson. He was allowed to pick who would direct the commercials, and called me to ask if I wanted to. I remember thinking, 'I'm way too young to be doing that!'"

While the commercials never came to pass, the storyboards included the unusual monster that would be seen on The Food Album...which was only released because Al's contract said he had to. "He called me one day and said, 'If I sound a little angry, it's not you. I just talked to my record company, and I need to ask you a favor: I have to do a compilation album,'" Lawrence remembered Al saying. "'I've been avoiding it, and they finally pinned me down...but I told them I pick the artwork that's on the cover. Will you do the artwork, so every time I look at this album that I hate, I'll laugh and I won't hate it?'"

The idea came to Lawrence quickly: lampoon the "cash-in" nature of the collection by having the monster character literally picking Al's bones clean. "I remember calling him with the idea before I drew it. I said, 'How would you like a skeleton version of you on a platter with an apple in your mouth?'" he laughed. "There was this pause, and then he goes, 'Ahh, I love it!'" After a few sketches and a final painting in watercolor, the artwork was ready to go. Lawrence suggested a different title for the record: Belch!, after the speech bubble coming out of the creature's mouth. "But they said no, otherwise people might not know it's about food," he deadpanned.

Lawrence and Al remain good friends; there was even talk of making the creature (later named Hank) into a suit on the Alapalooza tour. And Lawrence was a candidate to direct the "Jurassic Park" video, suggesting stop-motion animator Mark Osborne after signing on with Rocko full-time. To this day, fans still give him copies of The Food Album to sign at comic conventions, and sharp-eyed readers will find the artwork in the booklet for Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic.

"I'm proud of it. I've always been proud of it!" Lawrence said. "I was just new to everything, and was very lucky to run into people who thought my work was worth something. Al was one of those guys."