Although a Weird Al Yankovic movie, it’s Michael Richards as the eccentric janitor turned a TV star that rightfully steals the show in UHF. And it is Kevin McCarthy whose hilarious rendition of a rotten executive of a rivalling station that got the best laughs out of me this time around.

Similar to most parodies, the mileage you get out of UHF greatly depends on your knowledge of the popular culture of the late 70s and the 80s, and much of the humor will be lost with those not familiar with the era. The skits and musical numbers are completely loose from the main plot, but thanks to the TV station theme they blend in fairly well to the movie and are among the best ones Yankovic ever produced.

The movie bombed in the box office – some say because of the financial problems of Orion Pictures and the resulting lack of promotion – and remained Yankovic’s last feature film effort. Unfortunately so as his silver screen debut is surely one of the better crazy comedies of the era and has since become a cult classic.

80s-o-meter: 100%

Total: 86%