For the shot of the Spatula City billboard, the production bought a billboard on a remote stretch of highway. For months afterward, drivers taking the exit would ask nearby businesses about Spatula City. The ad was finally removed after the businesses complained.
During 'Weird Al' Yankovic (1999), Emo Philips shows an actual Screen Actors Guild residual check he earned for this film, 30 cents. He stated proudly that the check represented what being in this film did for his career.
According to 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Kevin McCarthy would often break out in laughter after finishing a take in which his character was especially nasty.
Real fish were attached to the "Wheel of Fish." They were bought at a local fish market early one morning. The set designer began attaching them to the wheel around 6 am, making sure the wheel spun smoothly. Filming started at 4:30 pm, on a hot summer day, in a building that wasn't air-conditioned, filled with hot studio lights and over 100 extras. On the DVD commentary, 'Weird Al' Yankovic described the filming conditions as "ripe".
'Weird Al' Yankovic never believed that this film deserved a PG-13 rating, but refused to allow cuts required to earn the film a PG. The scenes the MPAA wanted cut included the "flying poodles" and part of "Conan the Librarian", which features a guy getting (bloodlessly) split in two for having an overdue book. The "Town Talk" scene, in which a shop teacher's thumb is cut off and bleeds all over George and the stage, was originally longer. Multiple endings were filmed, included one in which George finds the severed thumb and the shop teacher puts it in his pocket, continuing his lecture. In another the shop teacher states the thumb should be kept warm so it can be reattached, and puts the thumb in his mouth, continuing his lecture. When shown on television, the library scene is often cut out for content, but the bloody scene with the shop teacher is still shown. Some stations cut the "poodle tossing" scene, others show it.
Barry Hansen: (a.k.a. Dr. Demento) eating whipped cream during the Channel 62 promo. "The Dr. Demento Show," a syndicated radio show that started in 1974 and moved online in 2010, focuses exclusively on novelty and comedy records. It played a huge role in 'Weird Al' Yankovic's career.
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