Weird Al to Bring 'Mandatory' World Tour to Minneapolis, 8/19

Following his wildly successful 2015 tour, four-time Grammy Award-winning artist "Weird Al" Yankovic has announced the continuation of his Mandatory World Tour in 2016 which stops at the historic State Theatre (805 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis) on Friday, Aug. 19 at 8 p.m. Also announced was a flyaway contest where winning fans will choose an all-expense-paid trip to Los Angeles to see one of his two performances at the Hollywood Bowl or to New York City for his show at Radio City Music Hall. Complete contest info can be found at weirdal.com.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 12 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26 at the State Theatre Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, charge-by-phone at (800) 982-2787 and online at HennepinTheatreTrust.org.

VIP packages are available online for $143 and $273 each; includes one reserved premium location ticket, commemorative merchandise and more. The $273 Mandatory Czar VIP Experience also includes a post-show meet and greet with Weird Al.

All pricing includes a building restoration fee of $4.00

The 2015 MANDATORY TOUR took Weird Al and his long-time band to more than 100 cities in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. This year's tour (beginning June 3) will see Yankovic bringing his high-energy comedy rock show to an additional 76 cities across North America.

According to Yankovic, "I've decided to do the Mandatory World Tour for one more year, after learning that some people didn't make it out to the show this last time around. Apparently, they don't know the meaning of the word 'mandatory'!!!"

The tour follows Yankovic's Grammy-winning Mandatory Fun, which was the first comedy album in more than fifty years to hit number one on the Billboard charts and the first comedy album in history to debut at the top spot.

In addition to this year's tour, below are a few other recently-announced Yankovic projects:

· Co-host and bandleader for the fifth season of Comedy Bang! Bang! on IFC, to begin airing this spring

· Voice of the title character in Disney XD's new animated fall series Milo Murphy's Law (from the creators of Phineas and Ferb)

· Executive Producer of a TV show based on his best-selling children's books (being developed with the Jim Henson Company)

· Star and creator of an on-air promotional campaign for SundanceTV (now airing)

· A series of Weird Al retro-clothed action figures from NECA, to be released over the next two years beginning this spring

· Recent appearances on the ABC hit series Galavant (as a singing monk) and The Goldbergs (as the '80s version of himself), as well as numerous voice-over roles including spots on Gravity Falls, Wander Over Yonder, Adventure Time, and the DC animated feature Batman vs. Robin

· Live performances on George Fest: A Night to Celebrate the Music of George Harrison (to be released in all formats on Feb. 26)

· A career-spanning box set from Legacy Recordings, featuring all 14 Weird Al studio albums digitally remastered in all formats

"Weird Al" Yankovic is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist in history, earning four Grammys and fifteen career nominations. He is best known for his hilariously irreverent parodies of hit songs by the biggest stars in the musical universe over the past three decades, including "Eat It," "Like A Surgeon," "Smells Like Nirvana," "Amish Paradise," "White & Nerdy," and "Tacky." In 2015, Yankovic released his 14th studio album, the Grammy Award-winning Best Comedy Album Mandatory Fun making history as the first comedy album to debut at number one on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and the first time a comedy album has reached the top of the chart in over 50 years.

The single "Word Crimes" debuted in the Billboard Top 40, making Yankovic one of only three people to have had Top 40 singles in each of the last four decades (the other two are Michael Jackson and Madonna). Yankovic has found success in multiple entertainment formats including the film world with his cult classic UHF, his CBS TV series The Weird Al Show, online with The Nerdist Channel with his faux celebrity interview web series Face 2 Face with "Weird Al" Yankovic and the publishing world with Weird Al: The Book (an illustrated hardcover on Al's life and career) and his children's books, including the New York Times bestseller When I Grow Up. Weird Al has performed more than 1,500 dates over the course of his career and continues to direct videos and be an innovator in the entertainment community.

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