I really like Fred the Fried Chicken.(Maybe because I'm a little bent. I was a teacher for 32 years. Anyways, Fred the Fried Chicken really appeals to me. Any comments or suggestions on this puppet?

Thanks

Steve

Beautiful St. Joseph Island, Northern Ontario

There would only be so much you could do with a character like that. He would be a good extra character but I don't think this kind of character can be your main puppet.

I picture him as having a plucky personality!
Cheep labor! Works for chicken feed and tries to scratch out a living.
Frustrated at home. He feels hen pecked.

Should shiver a lot. "I'm cold! I'm starting to get goose bumps!"
You then offer to put him a nice, warm place, for about an hour. He can sit in there surrounded by mushrooms, and carrots, and a liquid. "Great! Sounds like a hot tub!"

He is a religious bird. Many of his relatives have "entered" the ministry. "After they meet us they are a FULL gospel preacher!"

Popular: First one to be invited to pot lucks and second to a barbecue.

Welcome to the site. Most of the folks have or had real jobs while Tony and I were teachers..(job 51 for me!) St. Joseph's island..my War of 1812 course included the surprise raid. Perhaps Steve you'll sometime visit Vent Haven in Fort Mitchell Kentucky and see the vent figure mausoleum. Might remind you of St. Joseph Island's own "OVER THE RAINBOW" DOLL MUSEUM. Again great to have a Canadian on the site but even better one from the Trillium province.

Thanks for the welcome Ron. I am on the planning committee for the Bi-Centennial of the War of 1812. We are gonna do the raid again. Only this time they know we are coming!!!!!

Good point Neale. I just like the way Fried Fred looks and the fun you could have with him. Think what could happen if you took him to Swiss Chalet. I have three hard figures, a cheeky boy, grumpy old man and a "RED HAT" lady so Fred would not be my only puppet

I have been looking at your past contributions Tony. I like the way you think. Thanks for the ideas.

Sounds great! In what year will they hold the bicentennial of the War of 1812? (I had to ask!)

Steve I was involved early in about 1989 with 1812 re enactors. I wanted them to stage a most minor ambush by Canadian militia on a cabin south of Chatham Ontario. It didn't work but the next year they began to and still stage the Battle of the Thames in Chatham( for US readers it was a major American victory). I've been gone since 1990 but it is a major engagement using Canadian and American artillery, infantry and cavalry.
My best bet for you would be the Chamber of Commerce in Chatham to get some leads.It was a most solid fund raiser(admission and artisan booths) which generated a nice bit of revenue.
Sorry vents...... in high school I taught only world religions and military history so I apologize for the(even for me) tangent.

I have a Fried Chicken and love it! Actually he's a roasted turkey in my show. Used him all summer long and he never once complained about the heat.
Tony's personality profile is "well done". Lot's to work with right there.

It's a strange character but we've bonded. Now he's like family... only more delicious.

Tony. It took me a while to find the answer to your question. I had to go back and look through all my papers. I'm pretty sure the be-centennial of the War of 1812 will be in 2012.

I assume that you can get Fred to do a little dance.
V: Fred, what are you doing?
F: This is the cultural part of the program.
V: And why is that?
F: This is poultry in motion.

I just love Fred the Fried Chicken. It's really different and edgy and a real novelty for sure. I was not thinking about kids when I made it but more adult and teen audiences. Youth would eat this up! It's hilariously different, but takes the right situation, the right audience, and the right entertainer willing to step over the line.

Interesting bit of trivia here. It started out as a cooked turkey, but a fried chicken has more year round use.

The idea of it came from a photo my son Ryan took from his first thanksgiving just married to Danielle and living in Arizona in 2005. He emailed me this photo of him next to their first turkey....



I did a little photoshop on it as a joke and sent it back to him, but it got me thinking about it as a new product!



Ax

Thanks for the input AX. I prefer to work an older audience. I have hinted to "She who must be obeyed" that it would make a great Christmas present. If that doesn't happen I will buy a Fred when we go to Florida for the winter. Kinda like not putting all your eggs in one basket!!!!!

That gave me another idea for a really funny gag. What if Fred the Fried Chicken did an egg laying routine, and he (she) laid a fried Egg!



Ax

My family audiences LOVED the cooked bird. Did about 60 shows with him this summer. It took a bit of thinking about how I was going to use him but the kids went wild.
He's in this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b_clk4JjIc

also used the Old Storyteller for the first time (right after the bird)

Great video, Steve. Loved your set and your pacing. Good stuff for the theme!

I was thinking of the old Storyteller, the Red Hat lady, and the chicken in one show. She could be the church lady, who talks about the preacher needing a timer. "I've got a chicken in the oven." In her mind everything goes longer than it needs to, except for commercials, which she enjoys. I used to be able to cook a 4 pound chicken in the time it took me to go to church and get back. This new preacher gives 6 pound sermons. Eventually, you get around then to the chicken who has already been discussed.

The Old Storyteller could come out with a Romeo shirt after the Red Hat lady.
V: What's that?
F: That's a shirt.
V: But what does it have on it?
F: A little bit of scrambled egg from this morning, and some ketchup from yesterday...and a little peanut butter from last week.
V: It says ROMEO.
F: That's right. That's me.
V: YOU are a ROMEO?
F: Yes. You've seen all those women going around with red hats on.
V: Yes. I think they are called the Red Hat Society.
F: It sounds better than the Purple Pantsuit Society. So we got a group of men together. We're the ROMEO group.
V: Does ROMEO stand for something?
F: Yes.
V: What?
F: Real Old Men Eating Out

Thanks for your input. I live in the country on an island and have the world's slowest dial up service. (I'm sure there is a joke for Tony here}I will have to wait until I go into the city and use the grandbrat's computer to watch your clip. Again thanks.


P.S to AX

I just happened to find a rubber fried egg on a clown site today. Coincidence? I think not. It is the cosmos at work.

Too funny....and speaking of coincidence....

... our new Edna lady puppet is going to be used by the first vent to buy her....as a "red hat lady".

Ax

Hey AX that's what I was thinking of doing . Using the new Edna and retiring my present Red Hat Lady named Andrea. When will the Edna figure be available?

I'll start a new Edna thread. This one is for Fred the Fried Chicken.

Turkey
November 12 2008, 12:38 PM

Benjamin Franklin nominated the turkey as our national bird. Instead we chose the proud eagle, who stands with his head held high, even if he's bald.

I was just wondering what we would eat for Thanksgiving if the turkey were the national bird, and thereby illegal to kill. Would we also be overrun by turkeys on our highways? (We already are, you say?) Would our coins show the engraving of a turkey holding a shield with it's stars and stripes in its beak?

A backwoodsman was stopped by a game warden while he was hunting turkey for his Thanksgiving dinner. The warden asked to see what was in the canvas bag, and was shocked to see an eagle!
"That's not a turkey! That's an eagle!"
Woodsman: "It is? Imagine that! Here all these years I thought this was a wild turkey."
Warden: You've eaten eagles before?
Woodsman: Every thanksgiving! But, honest, Warden! I thought this was a turkey! You aren't going to arrest me are you?
Warden: I suppose not. If you don't mind me asking, what do they taste like?
Woodsman: Hmmm. They're sort of a cross between a spotted owl and a California Condor.

From Tony in another thread...

Turkey
November 12 2008, 12:38 PM

Benjamin Franklin nominated the turkey as our national bird. Instead we chose the proud eagle, who stands with his head held high, even if he's bald.

I was just wondering what we would eat for Thanksgiving if the turkey were the national bird, and thereby illegal to kill. Would we also be overrun by turkeys on our highways? (We already are, you say?) Would our coins show the engraving of a turkey holding a shield with it's stars and stripes in its beak?

A backwoodsman was stopped by a game warden while he was hunting turkey for his Thanksgiving dinner. The warden asked to see what was in the canvas bag, and was shocked to see an eagle!
"That's not a turkey! That's an eagle!"
Woodsman: "It is? Imagine that! Here all these years I thought this was a wild turkey."
Warden: You've eaten eagles before?
Woodsman: Every thanksgiving! But, honest, Warden! I thought this was a turkey! You aren't going to arrest me are you?
Warden: I suppose not. If you don't mind me asking, what do they taste like?
Woodsman: Hmmm. They're sort of a cross between a spotted owl and a California Condor.