WINNIPEG -- After nearly 30 years in the game, there's still one thing funny-man "Weird Al" Yankovic has yet to become a parody of.

Himself.

Or then again, maybe he has. Wait, is that even possible?

Whatever. Despite the fact he's been telling the same joke for a few decades now, Yankovic proved last night he's still capable of getting the big laughs.

Playing MTS Centre in support of last year's Straight Outta Lynwood album, the accordion-wielding satirist delivered a near 21/2-hour show that flagged in parts only due to its length, not a lack of funny stuff.

Even more impressive? The fact Yankovic's brand of humour remains as family-friendly as ever, though his fanbase (judging from last night's crowd of 4,000, anyway) is made up of equal parts parents and their kids, plus the requisite yuk-lovin' teens.

That same recommendation may have resulted in a few missed references last night, as when Yankovic opened with one of his trademark polka-medleys, a parody-pastiche of hits by Franz Ferdinand, Kanye West, Modest Mouse, Rhianna and Snoop Dogg.

The bit was funny, but we couldn't help wondering whether the same folks who grooved to Eat It during recess 20 years ago were catching all the same cues as the kids.

Clad (at first) in a hipster-looking black-with-white belt combo, Yankovic next launched into the Green Day goof Canadian Idiot, which went over well, thanks to a McKenzie brothers chorus and a blast of red and white streamers at the end.

"This is the first time we've played that in Canada so thanks for not killing us," he joked afterward.

Up next was the Cake homage Close But No Cigar -- replete with tinny mariachi trumpet --the Subterranean Homesick Blues rip Bob (made up entirely of palindromes), and the Puff Daddy spoof All About the Pentiums, during which Yankovic proved that he may be funny, but he ain't no rapper.

And in between? A whack of those stitched-together interview segments where Yankovic splices his own questions into previously-taped celebrity Q&As.

It was these bits we were most curious about --having not remembered them to be all that funny 15 years ago -- but the gimmick plays even better in these celebrity-obsessed times.

Plus, Yankovic is now such an expert at the trick that the clip segments (some a bit caustic) drew as many laughs as the song-parodies, though neither could rival the '50s-inspired educational reel that advocated disposing of loose matches by eating them.

On the song-front, it was a nice mix of old and new: Yankovic followed his Star Wars/American Pie mash-up with the Lola-esque Yoda, flipped between a surprisingly stirring Trapped In the Drive-Thru and the aforementioned Michael Jackson number, and aped Taylor Hicks and Chamillionaire with the same aplomb as Kurt Cobain.

Did the joke get old by the end of the night?

A little bit.

But that doesn't mean we don't wanna hear it again.