Veteran musical satirist ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic has taken a very un-’Weird Al’ approach to music at his recent live appearance, teaming up with comedian Will Forte to cover Chappell Roan’s 2023 single “Hot to Go!”.
The appearance took place as part of Jason Sudeikis’ annual Thundergong! benefit concert in Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday (Nov. 9).
The event – now in its eighth year – is a benefit for the Steps of Faith Foundation, which aims to help ease the financial burden of prosthetic care for amputees and those requiring prosthetics. Its 2023 event raised $900,000, bringing its lifetime total to more than $3 million until this year’s edition.
Yankovic and Forte appeared together on stage at the benefit, where the latter joking with the musician about his mood on the evening. “Would it cheer you up if we sang a song together?” Fore asked
“You are known for taking current songs and changing the lyrics around,” he continued, “But what if we sang a song right now that’s current where we didn’t change the song around?”
“Not change the lyrics? What a novel concept,” responded Yankovic. “That’s a great idea. Let’s do it.”
The pair then launched into their performance of “Hot to Go!”, complete with the appropriate dance moves. Since its release in August 2023, the track has become something of a sleeper hit, with its wider playlisting on radio resulting in a peak of No. 15 on the Hot 100 and No. 9 on the Pop Airplay charts in October 2024.
The Thundergong! Benefit lineup also featured appearances from Brendan Hunt, Cristo Fernández, Lacy Henderson, and Flavor Flav, who teamed up with Sudeikis to perform a rendition of Public Enemy and Anthrax’s 1991 collaboration of “Bring the Noise”.
The performance of Chappell Roan’s hit also coincided with news that the singer had parted ways with her management team and that she had been nominated for six Grammys, including Record and Song of the Year.
