Couch Potato (song)

"Couch Potato" is a parody song by American satirist "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of the Academy Award winning song "Lose Yourself" by Eminem. In it, the narrator details his obsession with watching television and the television shows he watches.

"Couch Potato"
Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic
from the album Poodle Hat
RecordedMarch 21, 2003
Genre
Length4:18
LabelVolcano
Songwriter(s)
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic
  • Eminem
  • Luis Resto
  • Jeff Bass
Producer(s)"Weird Al" Yankovic

Release

"Couch Potato" was originally going to be the lead single of Poodle Hat, but due to Eminem's concern that it might hurt his career, its commercial release was cancelled. "Couch Potato" has never been released as a promo, nor a commercial single. It is only available on the Poodle Hat CD, or as a digital download on the internet.

Canceled Music video

Yankovic intended to make a music video for the song, but the plan was scrapped at the last minute when Eminem denied him permission make a video, expressing concerns that it might disparage his image.[1] According to Yankovic, the video would have included a "patchwork quilt" pastiche of scenes from other Eminem videos.[2]

Yankovic told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2004, "Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career."[1]

Yankovic mocked the situation on his Al TV special where he staged a mock interview with the rapper using footage from a real Eminem interview on MTV News. Eminem said "I believe in...artistic expression." Al countered with "So you think, for example if somebody wanted to do, oh, I don't know, a parody of somebody else's video, they should be able to...artistically express themselves and just do it?" Eminem was shown at a loss for words.

Also in the mock interview, Al simply played the first verse on a boombox while sitting in a chair, reading a newspaper until Eminem eventually turned it off.

Eminem references the interview in his book The Way I Am, saying that "Weird Al" took some jabs at him. He said he thinks Yankovic is funny, and thought the "interview" was funny.

References in the song

See also

Notes
  • Yankovic performed the song live on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn on May 21, 2003, the day after the release of Poodle Hat.
  • Yankovic also performed a modified version on Nickelodeon Magazine's 10th Anniversary special. He had to edit the song, however. The second verse as well as the second chorus were cut and instead of saying "gay", he and his band said "hey", and the reference to the Playboy Channel was also cut from the song.
  • A reference to this song is made in the comic Vicious Whisper, released by Aaron Alexovich alongside the comic Serenity Rose both of which are published by Slave Labor Graphics. In the comic, an actual fan of the series poses the question "look... if you had... one shot... to sit on your lazy butt and watch all the TV you wanted, would you take it? Or just let it slide?" Presumably, because Aaron A. did not notice the reference to the song, Vicious Whisper answers this question honestly in an in-depth speech.

References
  1. Thomas, Mike (October 16, 2004). "Is the King of Pop losing it?". Chicago Sun-Times. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on October 16, 2004. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
  2. ""Weird Al Disappointed Eminem Nixed Video", Music.Yahoo.com". Archived from the original on January 27, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2006.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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