Song of the Day 11/10: Weird Al Yankovic, “I Lost on Jeopardy”

I thought this would be a good way to acknowledge the passing of Alex Trebek, but I had forgotten that this parody of Greg Kihn’s “Jeopardy” actually predates Trebek’s association with the game show. The original show aired on NBC on weekday afternoons from 1965 to 1975 and was briefly resurrected a couple of times before going dark in the late ’70s. It had been off the air for several years when Kihn’s song came out in 1983. By the time of Yankovic’s parody in 1984, plans were underway to revive the show in its current syndicated form, but Yankovic didn’t know that.

The original host, Art Fleming, turned down producers who wanted him to reprise his role on the new version, but he said yes to Yankovic’s video shoot. So did Don Pardo, the original show’s announcer, along with Greg Kihn, whose song was being parodied. Kihn appears in the last scene, driving away in his sports car with a bride, a reference to the last scene of the video for his song.

Since the video wouldn’t embed, you have to click the link above to see it.