Rubber Chicken Covers
- Dylanna Fisher
- Apr 1, 2020
- 4 min read
Rubber Chicken Covers. Yes, rubber chickens. Oh, Happy April Fools Day, by the way!
Rubber Chickens
Rubber chickens are a prop typically used in comedy. Historically, their origins are a bit mysterious, as nobody really knows for sure how they started. There are many ideas about how they came about, but not much specific evidence.
One of the most common thoughts is that rubber chickens started with medieval jesters.
Is that really where they all started?
In the blog Modern Farmer, Andy Wright writes an article about the origins of rubber chickens. Lawrence E. Mintz is the professor emeritus of the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland and an editorial board member of Humor: International Journal of Humor Research. In an interview, Mintz supposes that the rubber chicken originated in medieval comedy when jesters would use readily available props, including chicken corpses. Although that’s rather a morbid beginning for comedy, it’s plausible. The Medieval ages were the source of some messed-up things.
It’s been backed up by The Rubber Chicken Museum
The Rubber Chicken Museum agrees, saying it can trace its origin to medieval jesters. You read that right. In Seattle, there has been a rubber chicken museum located in the Archie Mcphee store since 2018. They boast, “As the home to the world’s largest rubber chicken and the world’s smallest rubber chicken, you’ll stand slack-jawed in awe in front of our display of plastic poultry.”
The exhibit even features an academic essay by renowned rubber chicken expert Kirk Demarais that brings forth the historical context of the rubber chicken. And you thought this article was going to be all kinds of silly, not academic!
Mintz continues to say that it was not the medieval jester stage that brought the rubber chicken into the spotlight but burlesque performances. Comedians “baggy pants” comedians would smack each other with the chickens. Mintz explains that it was a pretty rudimentary, “not just the comedy part of it but the striptease and all of that”
Wright even suggests that the rubber prop could even be supposed to be dirty or even phallic.
“I suppose it’s a possibility,” says Mintz, sounding doubtful. “Especially considering the body cavities in the chicken. But I never really thought about it that way.”
Wright also interviewed Dwight Blocker Bowers, an entertainment curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Bowers suggests that it could be a variation of slapstick comedy. The rubber chicken makes a rather loud, obnoxious noise—jarring and in your face.
“Vaudeville thrived on absurd situations,” says Bowers. “Physical comedy was used at the time for an audience of many different ethnic types, and it didn’t depend on dialogue.”
“It’s kind of like, why do people still like The Three Stooges?” says Mintz, “It’s almost because it’s defiant. It’s brutally witless and has no art to it. and it’s in your face. ‘I’m going to laugh at this whether you like it. yes, I know it’s not sophisticated.’”
Rubber chickens have been used in a range of comedy acts. They are used in burlesque shows, stand-up comedy, television shows, cartoons, and Science.
Did you know that a rubber chicken was in space??
Even a rubber chicken made it to space in the spring of 2012. A group of high school students in Bishop, California, launched a rubber chicken loaded with sensors to measure the radiation of an intense radiation storm—the strongest since 2003. The chicken that was launched was not any normal chicken but Camilla, the mascot of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
During her flight, she flew into one of the strongest proton storms in years, which included over 50 solar flares. When she launched, the satellites orbiting Earth reported a huge count of protons, which were 30,000 times the normal amount.
Examples of YouTube’s Rubber Chicken Comedy
Though its main aspect is comedy, here are some internet examples, because who doesn’t love YouTube videos with Rubber chickens? Don’t worry the Rubber Chicken cover songs are coming soon.
Rubber Chicken Cover Songs
Although they’re meant for comedy, that’s not all they’re used for. Many musicians have taken to using them as an instrument. This creates a genre of music covers made from rubber chickens. Yes, you did read that correctly. And yes, I do have a list of Rubber Chicken cover songs.
Big Marvel has quite a few chicken covers, including “Havana,” originally by Camila Cabello, “Shape of You,” originally by Ed Sheeran, and “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2. Serious and sly, he dominates YouTube with his Rubber Chicken Covers. And they’re all pretty fantastic. This one is a cover of “Afric, a” originally by Toto. It features a rubber chicken and an actual chicken. The actual chicken does not seem impressed with him.
Of course, because it’s been such a popular song to cover, we needed to provide a cover of “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish. Chicken Fla brings forth the chicken flavour!
This Rubber Chicken Cover, as odd as it is, is a great addition to your everyday music playlist. Imagine the surprise on people’s faces as you get handed the aux cord!
For more giggles, please check out RayDay’s use of this cover for the epic fight scene in Thor Ragnarok. Here’s some rubber chicken Lil Nas X cover for all you country lovers. You may not think you need it, but here’s a rubber chicken cover of “Old Town Road.
Who knew a rubber chicken had a country swagger?
Franco Muñoz’s Rubber Chicken Cover of “Despacito” slows it down for you lovers out there. Sweet and loving in a chicken cover doesn’t sound like it should work, but by golly, it does!
It’s amazing how well this song works for a Robber Chickenn cover. I’m sure that’s exactly what Luis Fonsi thought when creating this song.
Here’s a YMCA Rubber Chicken Cover to get your blood pumping with some dancing. It’s also a chicken cover because that’s what this article is all about. Thanks to Chiccles, the internet has another Rubber chicken cove,r and it’s beautiful.
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