Eat IT - Music Video

Music Video

The video for "Eat It" is a shot-for-shot remake of Jackson's video for "Beat It", except that in Yankovic's version, elements are parodied in various silly ways (like the gang members fighting over a rubber chicken, etc.). The following is a comprehensive list of the parodied elements in the "Eat It" video, as compared to "Beat It":

• The Music video was different before the song started playing. In "Beat It", a gangster takes a sip of his coffee. Another gangster taps him and he gets up. In "Eat It", a gangster takes a sip of his coffee. The gangster walks by and taps him like in "Beat It", except the gangster sitting down does a spit-take and then gets up (implying that the gangster isn't that tough at all). Also a hand farting noise is heard before the Guitar plays.
• The gang members at the beginning of the video make different noises after clicking their fingers (in the original, the sounds are animal-like howls; in "Eat It", Yankovic has them reference The Three Stooges by making "woob woob woob" noises; one of many trademarks of Curly Howard, who was a long-time member).
• After the first gang member comes out of the manhole, the second one (being fat) gets stuck as he tries to climb out and he eventually requires the first member's assistance.
• A gang member, played by bassist Steve Jay, grabs his girlfriend's hair and literally pulls her head off and then kisses her, as opposed to just pulling her head back and doing so as in the original video.
• The gang leader in the white jacket has a large yellow smiley face on the back, with "Have a Nice Day" embroidered beneath it, instead of a dragon in the original.
• As the gang with the white-jacket leader walks, various things happen to their trousers. The first long shot of them reveals that they're only wearing boxers. Later, they are seen adjusting their flies on longer pants, suggesting that they'd forgotten to put their pants on for the earlier scene and were just putting them on now.
• The billiard hall has carom billiard tables (no pockets) in the Jackson video, but Eat It has pocket billiard tables.
• Instead of a person, as in the Jackson video, a hugely deformed head, played by drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz peers through the blinds. This is presumably meant to be a zombie in reference to Michael Jackson's music video "Thriller".
• A picture (of Dr. Demento) behind Yankovic falls off the wall not long after he sits up. The room is also littered with half-eaten foodstuffs such as pizzas and doughnuts.
• In the original video, the second gang rode in the back of a pick-up truck. In "Eat It", the gang is waiting for a bus that never seems to arrive. The gang is standing by a bus sign, but it's completely bent in the middle, with the top of the sign only one or two feet off the ground.
• As the gang with the white-coat leader walks to where the meet is to be, the other gang is still waiting for the bus. In the original video, these were parallel scenes of the two gangs walking down separate alleys - here, the second alley is empty. Off camera, the second gang somehow manages to get to the fight scene on time anyway.
• Guitarist Jim West is seen in one of the gangs playing a guitar. He later plays so fast that his guitar explodes (literally going up in smoke). However, on the recording, Yankovic's producer Rick Derringer actually plays the guitar solo.
• The white-coat leader is seen being pushed into the scene by another member, as though being wheeled on. The original video had the leader riding on a fork lift.
• The gang leaders do not tie their hands up in rope, but rather hold a rubber chicken. Instead of switchblade knives, they have a switchblade fork and spoon.
• Yankovic gives the gang leaders something to eat before they burst into dance.
• When one of the gangs appears from a large garage door, one of the doors does not completely open. The gang crawls under it.
• Throughout the video, Yankovic imitates Jackson's dancing. Yankovic's dancing is purposely much less coordinated than Jackson's:
  • When Yankovic dances out of his bedroom, he takes a bite out of a banana.
  • In the diner, Yankovic pushes the doors open just like Jackson does, but knocks someone over in the process. Yankovic also flails his arms wildly as he dances uncoordinatedly down the aisle, knocking over chairs as he goes, and hurls himself bodily through a gap in the counter top, instead of neatly sliding through as Jackson did.
  • During the pool hall scene, Yankovic fogs up the camera lens with his breath during a zoom-in shot to exaggerate Jackson's similar facial expressions.
  • When Yankovic is dancing among some boxes, he drops far more abruptly than Michael Jackson did.
  • One of the gang leaders elbows Yankovic as they dance, knocking him over.
  • Vincent Paterson, who played the caucasian gang leader in the "Beat It" video, reprised the role for "Eat It".
• At the end of the video, Yankovic drops two antacids in a glass of water, referencing a stomach ache from overeating.
• Also at the end of the video, Yankovic is depicted with bulging yellow eyes, in reference to the ending sequence of "Michael Jackson's Thriller". (see above)
• While Eddie Van Halen did the guitar solo for Michael Jackson's "Beat It", the solo in "Eat It" was done by Al's then-producer Rick Derringer. The solo ended a second or two earlier than the original, so the sound of the guitar exploding was incorporated at the solo's end.