San Diego Chicken
| The Famous San Diego Chicken | |
|---|---|
(2001)
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| Portrayed by | Ted Giannoulas |
| Information | |
| Species | Chicken |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Mascot |
The San Diego Chicken, also known as The Famous Chicken, the KGB Chicken or just The Chicken, is a sports mascot played by Ted Giannoulas.
The character originated as an animated TV commercial for KGB-FM Radio in San Diego. Writer, cartoonist, and actor Brian Narelle was working for Odyssey Productions and offered to animate an acrobatic chicken as part of a commercial contract bid. Narelle went on to direct and animate the commercial as well as create cartoon art for the campaign.
In March 1974, Giannoulas was hired to wear the first chicken suit. At the time he was a 20-year-old journalism major at San Diego State University. He was originally from Canada but had attended Hoover High School in San Diego. The Chicken's first appearance was a KGB promotion to distribute Easter eggs to children at the San Diego Zoo. Later the Chicken would wander throughout the stands at San Diego Padres baseball games, and if someone said "Lay One On Me," the Chicken would "lay" an egg via his leggings containing a prize. A redesigned suit followed that more closely resembled The Famous Chicken today.
The Chicken, whose antics entertained steadily larger crowds, moved on to features at concerts and sporting events – appearing at more than 520 San Diego Padres games in a row. The Chicken also appeared at many San Diego Clippers basketball games before the team moved to Los Angeles. San Diego sports reporter Jack Murphy described him as an "embryonic Charlie Chaplin in chicken feathers".
Conflict emerged between KGB Radio and Giannoulas, and the latter was fired on May 3, 1979. Another unnamed employee was hired to don a chicken outfit at a Padres game. Fans, many of whom were aware that Giannoulas was not in the outfit, booed the chicken loudly, forcing him off the field. After a lawsuit was decided in Giannoulas's favor in June 1979 by Judge Raul Rosado, Giannoulas was allowed to continue to perform in a chicken costume, although not the same one as the original. His self-styled Famous Chicken emerged from an egg at a "Grand Hatching" seen by 47,000 people at a Padres game at Jack Murphy Stadium, as the sound system played the introduction to "Also sprach Zarathustra", the theme notably used in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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