Jorma Taccone joked that this was less of a casting situation and more of an appeal to be a part of this project. Having seen the film, I would have begged as well. As Taccone told Jimmy Fallon:
“I begged my way in, was how I – how I did it. We were supposed to do a cameo, the three of us, like, as The Lonely Island. Like, me, Andy, and Akiva. And it coincided with Andy having his second child […] And so, unfortunately, like, it wasn’t going to work on the shoot date. So I called – I called Weird Al, and I was like, ‘Hey, I will do anything to be in this movie. Like, I’ll fly myself out. Whatever.’ And he called me 20 minutes later, and he was like, ‘I talked to Eric [Appel – director]. Would you want to be Pee Wee Herman?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah. Like, absolutely.'”
Taccone said he was terrified to talk to Reubens before doing the role, even though they know each other. He said, “I didn’t call him because I was told that I shouldn’t. Like, because … they were trying to have everything be a surprise.” He was excited to get to do the Pee-Wee Herman laugh, and he absolutely nailed it. Seriously, watch this film right now.
It’s a shame that Samberg wasn’t in it, but I’d say having a baby is a pretty good reason to forgo a role. Oddly enough, Mark Hamill was one of the names that were in play for a role in the pool party scene, but once again, it didn’t work out, schedule-wise. To think, we could have had Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter in the same scene!
“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is currently streaming on The Roku Channel.