The history of Weird Al and ponies has been a long and winding one, dating back all the way to 2011 when the first evidence of Al being interested in ponies began to emerge. It all started with tweets by Weird Al regarding the PMV that included many of his popular songs called Pony Polka back in April 2011.
From there there was much speculation and excitement about Weird Al starring in ponies, especially since Al had done roles in other Hasbro shows before. Things began to heat up as he made more pony references and culminated in one of the director's of MLP asking Al directly if he'd like a role in the show.
For years things were rather silent until news of Cheese Sandwich hit the rumor mill and the rest you can say is history.
Check on after the break as we explore the history of Weird Al's involvement with the show and how he eventually got on the show!
As mentioned in our opening, Weird Al first mentioned pony with this tweet back in April 2011 for the video Pony Polka, linking to it directly.
Excitement afterwards was a bit muted, mostly with people expressing how cool it was that Al was acknowledging pony work. And with that things faded into the background... that is until Pony Polka 2 came out a short while later.
What fans thought a Weird Al pony would look like
Once more Weird Al tweeted about the latest Pony Polka and this time the fandom began to wonder if something more might be going on. Especially after Jayson Thiessen asked him if he would be on the show as a guest after he responded to the original Pony Polka.
@alyankovic mlp/yankovic make a perfect pair! Ever consider doing a guest spot on the show? (I'm the director and a huge AL fan)
April 2011 came and went and for a long while there was no new news about Weird Al being interested in a role and as season 2 came and went the news was all but forgotten until we received a little bit of news by the guy behind the Background Music of MLP, William Anderson.
Apparently he and Weird Al were friends and backstage during one of his concerts he nabbed this quick 30 second interview with the man himself in August 2012.
With season 2 over and season 3 on the way, hope began to rise once again that Al would one day be on pony, but the fandom remained cautiously optimistic. After all, at this point we had gotten a big VA like John de Lancie on the show, so why not Al?
Again things went dark for awhile until late December when news started to leak from internet outlets that Weird Al was due to appear in an episode for season 4, the now famous Pinkie Pride episode.
Despite a leak of the episode hitting the net awhile before the episode was to air, Pinkie Pride was a success in the eyes of the fandom and a new favorite secondary character was born.
While it would seem that the saga would stop there Al himself has expressed interest in playing the party planner again in the future if he fits into the story, mentioning in an AMA on Reddit in 2014:
And again in 2015:
So who knows, it might be possible to see Cheese Sandwich again in the future! Funny to think this all started with some fan work he thought was interesting enough to share with his followers. Who knows, maybe your next fan creation will draw in a celebrity?
Anyhow, hope you guys enjoyed this brief history of Weird Al and ponies! If you have anything to add to it please leave it in the comments and feel free to leave suggestions for future segments!
April 2011 came and went and for a long while there was no new news about Weird Al being interested in a role and as season 2 came and went the news was all but forgotten until we received a little bit of news by the guy behind the Background Music of MLP, William Anderson.
Apparently he and Weird Al were friends and backstage during one of his concerts he nabbed this quick 30 second interview with the man himself in August 2012.
With season 2 over and season 3 on the way, hope began to rise once again that Al would one day be on pony, but the fandom remained cautiously optimistic. After all, at this point we had gotten a big VA like John de Lancie on the show, so why not Al?
Again things went dark for awhile until late December when news started to leak from internet outlets that Weird Al was due to appear in an episode for season 4, the now famous Pinkie Pride episode.
Despite a leak of the episode hitting the net awhile before the episode was to air, Pinkie Pride was a success in the eyes of the fandom and a new favorite secondary character was born.
While it would seem that the saga would stop there Al himself has expressed interest in playing the party planner again in the future if he fits into the story, mentioning in an AMA on Reddit in 2014:
And again in 2015:
So who knows, it might be possible to see Cheese Sandwich again in the future! Funny to think this all started with some fan work he thought was interesting enough to share with his followers. Who knows, maybe your next fan creation will draw in a celebrity?
Anyhow, hope you guys enjoyed this brief history of Weird Al and ponies! If you have anything to add to it please leave it in the comments and feel free to leave suggestions for future segments!
Twitter: Calpain
