In a rare touching moment to come out of 2020, “Weird Al” Yankovic reconnected with his grade school crush after nearly 50 years — and she still has the portrait he gave her when she sat behind him in ninth-grade math class.
The parody singer shared the story of how he found his long lost cursh on Twitter all these years later, bringing him a rare moment of joy in a year that was otherwise “pretty sucky.”
“I was 12 years old in the 9th grade – younger than my classmates, and (as you may possibly be able to imagine) pretty awkward, shy and nerdy. And I had a crush on Patrice Y., the girl who sat directly in front of me in math class (because the seats were all arranged in alphabetical order for some arbitrary reason). Of course, Patrice would never in a million years have suspected that I had a crush on her, because like I explained… painfully shy. But one day I decided I would make my big move – I decided to draw a picture of her and present her with it,” Yankovic explained in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
But Yankovic didn’t want Patrice to know that he liked her, so he decided to draw a portrait of every single other person in their class, too, “just to throw her off the scent.” Smooth.
“Everybody seemed to like their drawings, and, as you may have predicted, my love life remained completely dormant for the next several years,” he continued. Okay, fast forward nearly half a century later… I’m checking my Twitter feed and I see some woman on there talking about how she used to sit in front of me during 9th grade math class.”
Here’s where the story gets interesting — Yankovic DM’d her on Twitter to see if it was really the Patrice her remembered.
“It was her – my 9th grade crush. I then followed up and asked, ‘Hey, by any chance do you happen to remember that one time I drew pictures of everybody in class?’ A minute later she sent me this photo. She had saved it all these years,” he wrote.
“I just felt like telling this story because, well… 2020 was arguably a pretty sucky year overall, but there were some real moments of joy sprinkled in here and there – and for me, this was definitely one of them.”
See the very good portrait below. Seriously, ‘Weird’ Al was really good at drawing.
‘Weird’ Al Yankovic on Facebook
Evolution of George Clooney's Hair - From Mullet to Whiskers to Flowbee (Photos)
George Clooney's career has evolved from playing a hot handyman dripping with charisma to a, well, hot Oscar-winning actor and producer dripping with charisma. But his resume isn't all that's changed in those four decades – his hair has, too. Here is the long and short of it.
As a kid growing up in Kentucky, little George Timothy Clooney sported shaggy bangs. The hair doesn't scream "George Clooney," but the eyes and grin sure do.
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1985 • Well into building an acting career, Clooney sat for a typical Hollywood-style photo shoot showing off his gorgeous wavy locks and fashionable (at the time) mullet.
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1988 • A gig on "Roseanne" brought Clooney some notoriety… for both him and that fabulous head of hair.
ABC
1989 • Clooney hit the road to promote his new film "Red Surf" (notice the poster behind him) playing a -- you guessed it -- surfer who enjoys the lifestyle drug money brings him. His girlfriend, played by Dede Pfeiffer, isn't so crazy about it. But, oh, that hair, gotta love it.
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1994 • Five years later, along comes "ER," and, poof, he's pediatrician Dr. Doug Ross. The sophisticated, sexy look had women across the world wishing he took adult patients.
NBC
1998 • During his five-plus years on "ER," Clooney let his hair go gray. And we were totally fine with that.
NBC
2000 • His role as chain gang escapee Ulysses Everett McGill in the Coen Brothers' adventure comedy "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" had him looking a bit more scruffy. OK, a lot more scruffy.
Buena Vista
2001 • Clooney cleaned up nicely to join Matt Damon and Andy Garcia at the Los Angeles premiere of "Ocean's Eleven."
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2005 • Clooney posed for photos at the 62nd Venice Film Festival, where the historical drama that he directed, co-wrote and had a supporting role in, "Good Night, and Good Luck" premiered. This became Clooney's signature look, which he credits to the Flowbee.
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2005 • And here is that premiere night. Perfection.
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2009 • Clooney took another comical turn on screen, this time in "The Men Who Stare at Goats," which he also produced. The hair isn't bad, but the mustache… nah.
Overture Films
2006 • The look Clooney established during his "ER" years was a timeless "Caesar haircut." But in his second film with the Coen Brothers, "Hail, Caesar!", he played an actor playing Caesar with a Caesar cut. Did you follow all that?
Universal Pictures
2019 • Clooney went full military in another satirical dark comedy, this time in the Hulu miniseries, "Catch-22," which he also executive produced and directed. He played a parade-obsessed former ROTC graduate who works his way up through the Army to eventually become Brigadier General. And all the way, his hair stood at attention.
Hulu
2020 • In stark contrast to that wavy-haired, clean-shaven up-and-comer 35 years earlier, Clooney's look in his latest film, Netflix's "Midnight Sky," is a buzz cut and scraggly gray beard. Thankfully, he still has those Clooney eyes.
Netflix
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His latest film, Netflix’s “Midnight Sky,” shows off a very different-looking Clooney
George Clooney's career has evolved from playing a hot handyman dripping with charisma to a, well, hot Oscar-winning actor and producer dripping with charisma. But his resume isn't all that's changed in those four decades – his hair has, too. Here is the long and short of it.