The A – Z Challenge; F: The Rubber Chicken – Unsung Hero Of Comedy

(Instead of doing a differently named subject based on the letter for the day, I’m using the letters of the alphabet as hierarchical headings only.)

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 23802 – 1241

My Dear and Much Loved Audience, Especially The Comedy Lovers,

Here’s the haps:

One of the staples of comedic humor, second only to the pun, the shaggy dog story, the single-panel comic strip, the whoopie cushion, the squirting lapel flower, the arrow through the head gag, big nose Groucho glasses, the four-panel comic strip, red rubber noses, fake vomit, exploding cigars, flying cream pies, falling grand pianos and chattering teeth…okay, well, wait a minute, 10th only to the…never mind, just take my word for it, it fits in this list of comedic staples somewhere, is the rubber chicken. In fact, I know of at least one person in this audience who has worked in comedy and I think they could attest to the fact that the rubber chicken is vital, er, necessary, er can be a lot of fun if deployed properly.

A very brief (read cursory) look into the history of the rubber chicken said that its origins were mysterious but it’s likely that jesters in Medieval times would put a dead chicken on a stick and wave it around and pretend it was a weapon, making jokes and bonking members of the court with it. (It was a regular laugh-a-minute with those guys, wasn’t it?) They kind of went out of style until in 1911 a Vaudeville supplier made rubber chickens for “baggy britches” types of comedians, later to be known as prop comedians, who would pull all sorts of props out of the pants and make jokes about them.

“But Herb,” I thought I heard someone say, “Are they actually useful and can they, in fact, make someone laugh or be happy?” I’m glad you asked me that question because I like to say, “yes”, as much as I can.

They are used by the military to teach the USAF Honor Guard to maintain their military bearing at all times:

Oops! Wrong bearing.

Police Academies also:

Professional Musicians:

Mountain bike training:

A veritable plethora of uses for this humble but noble invention of the comedic mind exist. You may or may not recall that my (at the time) two-year-old granddaughter made great use of her fashion sense with it. A Two Year Old With Great Rubber Chicken Fashion Sense

And yet another use that I have found is as an Emotional Support Chicken:

Yes, an Emotional Support Chicken is a great companion. you can tell it anything and it will never betray your confidence. It will laugh with you or cry with as you decide or just sit quietly with you. You can take out your aggressions on it in a number of ways without doing it significant damage either emotionally or physically. This is my personal Emotional Support Chicken, Henrietta.

When I did the A-Z challenge where I listed off places I would like to see there was one place I didn’t think to mention at the time. It’s in Seattle, WA, which seems like it might be a nice place to visit but the real attraction for me would be the Rubber Chicken Museum in the Archie McPhee’s store. Really.

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