I Lost on Jeopardy

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"I Lost on Jeopardy"
Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic
from the album In 3-D
Released	June 4, 1984
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	December 12, 1983
Genre	Comedy
Length	3:26
Label	Scotti Brothers
Producer(s)	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Chart positions
81 USA
"Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology
"King of Suede" (1984)	"I Lost on Jeopardy" (1984)	"This Is the Life" (1984)

"I Lost on Jeopardy" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of "Jeopardy" by Greg Kihn.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] 7" single

1. "I Lost on Jeopardy" – 3:26
2. "I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead" – 3:37

(The promo 7" single only contains "I Lost on Jeopardy".)

[edit] 12" promo single

1. "I Lost on Jeopardy" – 5:31 (extended mix)
2. "Mr. Popeil" – 4:40

[edit] Music video

The music video parodies the original Jeopardy! television show (it refers to both Art Fleming and Don Pardo, who were on the original show), and has a reproduction of the original Jeopardy! set.

In the video (and the song) Yankovic goes up against "a plumber, and an architect, both with a Ph.D." and manages to miss every question, finishing with an enormous negative score. He doesn't get any consolation prizes (see below), and is told that he has brought shame and disgrace to his family name for generations to come as a result of his disastrous showing.

However, Yankovic is not daunted; he mentions that he hopes his luck will change "next weekend on The Price is Right".

[edit] Trivia

• The single was released fourteen weeks before the debut of the current version of Jeopardy!, hosted by Alex Trebek.
• The prizes that Yankovic didn't win, as announced by Don Pardo, were a twenty-volume set of the Encyclopedia International, a case of Turtle Wax, and a year's supply of Rice-a-Roni, as well as a copy of the home game version of Jeopardy!
• After Yankovic is thrown out of the studio near the end of the video, Doctor Demento makes a cameo appearance as a camera operator.
• In the music video, references are made to Jeopardy's music video:
  • As Yankovic is being taken away, he tears off a piece of wood from his stand. In the "Jeopardy" video, Greg Kihn is seen pulling off a piece of wood as he is pulled toward the center of the church.
  • The end of the video shows Yankovic being ousted from the game show studio into a car driven by Greg Kihn. This is meant to connect with the last scene of Kihn's video for his song "Jeopardy", a hit for the Greg Kihn Band a year earlier.
• When Art calls Yankovic a "complete loser", the word "Loser" appears on all of the screens, except the two flashy red ones which say "Complete Loser". The license plate of the car at the end of the video is also "Loser".
• The two other contestants are Millard Snopkin, an architect from Carbondale, Illinois, and Leroy Finkelstein, a plumber from Brooklyn, New York.
• The recreated set shown in the music video mysteriously omits the famous exclamation point from the show's logo.
• The categories of question are "T.V. Themes", "Nuclear Physics", "World Geography", "Food", "Potpourri", and "Famous Accordion Players".
• Answers presented to the contestants include (with category and dollar prize amount):
  • "Number of bricks in the Great Wall of China" (World Geography for $20)
  • "Secret ingredient found in both Cheese Whiz & Crazy Glue" (Potpourri for $20)
  • "This German baroness could suck the chrome off a fender" (the Daily Double question, Famous Accordion Players for $60)
  • The mathematical equations known as the Lorentz transformation, which Albert Einstein used in formulating his theory of special relativity (Potpourri for $100)
  • Some Chinese script (T.V. Themes for $100)
• Yankovic's score was -$6750
• The video was shown during the closing credits of an episode of Rock & Roll Jeopardy! that Yankovic had appeared on. In theory, it made sense to show the video, as Yankovic actually did lose the game on the show (the winner was KC of KC and the Sunshine Band).

[edit] Sources

[edit] See also

• List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic
• List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic

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