Origin The character originated in 1974 in an animated TV commercial for
KGB-FM Radio in
San Diego. Writer, cartoonist, and actor Brian Narelle (who notably played Lt. Doolittle in the 1974 cult classic,
Dark Star) 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. during the
1976 presidential election 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. He was allowed to wander throughout the stands at Padres games, and if someone said "lay one on me," The Chicken would "lay" an egg containing a prize via his leggings. He soon took to the field and, he recalled, “discovered a side of my personality I did not know existed, almost a Jekyll and Hyde thing.” His new persona, the 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 on Friday, as the sound system played the introduction to
Richard Strauss'
Also sprach Zarathustra, the theme notably used in the 1968 film
2001: A Space Odyssey. Beginning in 1981, Giannoulas co-starred on the Saturday morning children's television series
The Baseball Bunch, alongside noted
Cincinnati Reds catcher
Johnny Bench and
Los Angeles Dodgers manager
Tommy Lasorda. The local
Emmy Award–winning series ran for five seasons and featured The Famous Chicken as the comic foil to Bench as he attempted to mentor a fictional baseball team of
Little League–aged children. In his 1984 review of the show,
Miami Herald sports writer Bob Rubin praised Giannoulas' contribution to the series, writing, "The Chicken may be the most gifted physical comic since
Curly, Larry, and Moe." during the
1988 presidential election Five years after a halftime incident at a
Chicago Bulls'
NBA game in January
1991, a
Chicago jury ordered Giannoulas to pay
$300,000 to a Bulls cheerleader injured when The Chicken tackled her on the basketball court. In 1998, the owners of the
Barney & Friends children's television show on
PBS sued Giannoulas for copyright and trademark infringement, over a sketch in which The Chicken engages in a slapstick dance contest against a Barney-like character. Giannoulas prevailed in the suit and recovered his attorneys' fees, based on the court's determination that his sketch was a legitimate parody, and therefore protected speech. The success of the Famous Chicken helped lead to mascots becoming widespread throughout professional sports, particularly
Major League Baseball. and
The New York Times called him "perhaps the most influential mascot in sports history." Giannoulas was inducted in the
Baseball Reliquary Shrine of the Eternals in 2011.
Later activities By 2015, The Chicken was reported to have made 5,100 appearances in 917 different facilities, 50 states, and eight countries, wearing out more than 100 chicken suits. As of August 2016, after 42 years of playing The Chicken, Giannoulas was still making appearances across the United States, albeit at a slower pace, performing at 11 ballparks in July and August of that year. He expressed uncertainty about how long he would continue, or whether he would appoint a successor. "It's not the end," he was quoted as saying, "but I can see it from here." ==Notable appearances==