'Weird Al' Yankovic Announces Epic 'Mandatory' World Tour

US-bred parodist/musician "Weird Al" Yankovic has announced a massive world tour after the global cult-like success of last year's full-length Mandatory Fun.

The so-named Mandatory World Tour kicks off in Las Vegas in May, and takes Yankovic all around the United States through till mid-July, when he heads north to Canada, before jumping between the two countries once more each as the calendar ticks to September.

From there, Yankovic crosses the pond to Europe, playing shows in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Ireland — leaving all of October through December for the forthcoming Australian and New Zealand dates (or possibly some small windows during the earlier legs of the tour), which are currently listed as being "to be announced" on Yankovic's website.

Evidently, the scope of the tour has overwhelmed some fans, leading Yankovic to post a message of clarification on his Facebook page:

"First of all, this bears repeating — I basically have NO CONTROL over where I play," Yankovic explained in the post. "There's no reason to thank me if I'm playing your city, and there's REALLY no reason to get mad at me if I'm not. I don't decide what city I play, or what venue I play, or what day I play … if you want to twist somebody's arm, maybe try your local concert promoter… but you don't need to convince ME — believe me, I would love to play everywhere!"

Of the yet-unannounced southern-hemisphere dates, Yankovic said: "You may have noticed there are a few holes in my otherwise packed touring schedule. This is because some dates haven't been completely confirmed (like the Australia/NZ dates), and some dates we're not allowed to announce yet for various legal/contractual reasons.

"All I can say is, please be patient… don't give up hope quite yet… there are still a few more 2015 tour dates to be announced."

Other than his world tour, Yankovic has other pursuits to keep him busy this year, including lending his voice to the role of creepy villain The Dollmaker in forthcoming animated flick Batman Vs Robin.