Director Peyton Reed was brought to the show through his wife, who worked in a music video production company that had done some of Yankovic's music videos, and was hired by CBS to produce the show. The show had been pitched to Reed as similar to "Pee-wee's Playhouse", but to have a more subversive humor that followed Yankovic's style of comedy. CBS brought in Wayne White, the production designer for "Pee-wee's Playhouse", to construct the set for "The Weird Al Show". For casting, Yankovic used a combination of previous actors he collaborated with (such as Judy Tenuta) and casting calls for others.