Petition pushes 'Weird Al' for Super Bowl gig

This November 21, 2006 file photo shows US pop satirist Weird Al Yankovic as he arrives for the American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California. An online petition to get chart-topping parody singer 'Weird Al' Yankovic to headline the highly coveted
This November 21, 2006 file photo shows US pop satirist Weird Al Yankovic as he arrives for the American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California. An online petition to get chart-topping parody singer 'Weird Al' Yankovic to headline the highly coveted Super Bowl half-time show blasted past the 50,000-name mark on August 7, 2014, just a day after its launch. -- PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An online petition to get chart-topping parody singer "Weird Al" Yankovic to headline the highly coveted Super Bowl half-time show blasted past the 75,000-name mark on Thursday, a day after its launch.

If successful, the pitch to the National Football League (NFL) would see the 1980s pop-culture icon follow in the footsteps of Beyonce, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones in performing at the much-watched American football classic.

"The theatrics alone would be hilarious," wrote Ed Ball, a fan from Washington state who initiated the fast-growing Change.org petition.

Last month, Yankovic, 54, best known for his 1984 Michael Jackson spoof Eat It, scored a career first when his new album Mandatory Fun entered the Billboard charts at number one - the first comedy album to hit the top spot in 51 years.

This season's Super Bowl, which decides the 2014 NFL champions, takes place February 1 in Glendale, Arizona - with the no-holds-barred, half-time spectacular expected to pull a massive TV audience as it does every year.

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