Weird Al Yankovic - Couch Potato

Couch Potato (song)
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“Couch Potato”

Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic
from the album Poodle Hat
Released Cancelled
Format Digital download
Genre Comedy
Length 4:18
Label Volcano
Writer(s) "Weird Al" Yankovic, Eminem, Luis Resto, Jeff Bass
Producer "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology
"Pretty Fly for a Rabbi"
(1999) "Couch Potato"
(2003) "Don't Download This Song"
(2006)

Poodle Hat track listing
"Couch Potato"
"Hardware Store"
"Trash Day"
"Party at the Leper Colony"
"Angry White Boy Polka"
"Wanna B Ur Lovr"
"A Complicated Song"
"Why Does This Always Happen to Me?"
"Ode to a Superhero"
"Bob"
"eBay"
"Genius in France"

"Couch Potato" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem. In it, the narrator details how much television he watches.

Contents [hide]
1 Release
2 Music video
3 References in the song
3.1 Television shows
3.2 Television networks
3.3 Celebrities
4 Notes
5 References
6 See also



[edit] 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 postponed indefinitely. 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.


[edit] Music video
Yankovic intended to make a music video for the song, but the plan was nixed at the last minute when Eminem denied Yankovic the right to make a video. According to Yankovic, the video would have included a "patchwork quilt" pastiche of scenes from other Eminem videos.[1]

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."

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 mocked interview, Al simply played the first verse on a boombox while sitting in a chair, reading a newspaper.


[edit] References in the song

[edit] Television shows
Television shows mentioned or referenced:

8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter
24
60 Minutes
Da Ali G Show
Amazing Race
American Idol
The Anna Nicole Show
Are You Hot?
The Bachelorette
Celebrity Mole
CSI: Boise (referring to CSI and its many spinoffs, such as CSI: Miami)
The Drew Carey Show
E.T.
E! True Hollywood Story
Entertainment Tonight
Everybody Tolerates Raymond (referring to Everybody Loves Raymond)
Fear Factor
The Flintstones
Gilligan's Island
Inside the Actor's Studio
King of Queens
Larry King Live
Law & Order
Lost in Space
MacGyver
Melrose Place
The Muppet Show
NASCAR
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Osbournes
Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
Spongebob Squarepants
Survivor
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Touched by an Uncle (referring to Touched by an Angel)
Welcome Back, Kotter
Will & Grace
Without a Trace

[edit] Television networks
Television networks mentioned:

A&E
AMC
Court TV
C-Span
Discovery Channel
Disney Channel
Fox
HBO
History Channel
Learning Channel
Lifetime Television
MTV
Playboy Channel
QVC
Sci-Fi Channel
Travel Channel
TV Land
Weather Channel

[edit] Celebrities
Celebrity names mentioned or referenced:

Drew Carey
Simon Cowell
Larry King
Lisa Kudrow
Jay Leno
James Lipton
Jennifer Lopez
Madonna
Ozzy Osbourne
Luke Perry
Rob Schneider
Richard Simmons
Anna Nicole Smith
Oprah Winfrey

[edit] 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couch_Potato_(song)