Weird Al Yankovic’s 14th studio album, Mandatory Fun, has debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s chart.Casey Curry/The Associated Press
The Super Bowl halftime show has become the biggest music ticket on earth with performances by Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, The Black Eyed Peas and Madonna in recent years.
Next up: Weird Al Yankovic?
It could happen. A petition launched earlier this week to have the madcap song parodist perform at next year's Super Bowl has garnered more than 45,000 signatures in only a few days.
The Weird Al campaign was initiated on Change.org by Seattle resident and "lifelong football fan" Ed Ball, who admits to being inebriated when he penned the long and rambling (675 words!) preface to his petition.
Why Weird Al? Ball writes that he didn't "want to sit through another Black Eyed Peas disaster or see Nicki Minaj verbal vomit some lyrics that I cannot understand."
Added Ball: "And do you want Miley Cyrus?!? Because this is how you will end up with Miley Cyrus!!!"
Ball says that the idea came to him after hearing a drunken conversation between sports fans in a bar, one of whom was debating whether Justin Bieber or Iggy Azalea would be better for the halftime gig.
All of which prompted Ball to launch the petition, which he "drunkingly submitted."
For the record, Ball addressed his state of mind on Change.org when his petition reached the 20,000 signature mark, writing, "I do no condone excessive drinking and/or drunk posting, campaigning, etc etc… I would get the same gratification seeing Weird Al perform at the Super Bowl even if I was sober."
As of Thursday morning, the petition was still gaining steam on Change.org with one supporter including the comment, "It's about damn time." Another commenter, from California, chimed in with "Weird Al is the true spirit of our nation."
So far, the NFL, which holds the final decision as to who plays the Super Bowl show, hasn't responded to the campaign.
But if Weird Al were ever to be seriously considered for the coveted halftime gig, now would be the time.
The 54-year-old musical jokester, who rose to fame in the eighties with songs like Eat It (a parody of Michael Jackson's Beat It), is having the best summer of his career having topped the Billboard 200 chart for the first time with his recent Mandatory Fun album.
And if there was ever a song that deserves to be played live before a football crowd, it's Weird Al's recent single Sports Song.
Super Bowl XLIX is scheduled for Feb. 1, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz..