| Couch Potato | |
| Artist: | "Weird Al" Yankovic |
| Album: | Poodle Hat |
| Recorded: | March 21, 2003 |
| Length: | 4:18 |
| Label: | Volcano |
| Producer: | "Weird Al" Yankovic |
"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" 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.
Yankovic intended to make a music video for the song, but the plan was scrapped at the last minute when Eminem denied him permission to 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. 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.