Poultry Slam 1999

For Thanksgiving, the time of year when poultry consumption is highest, it's our annual program about turkeys, chickens, fowl of all types, and their mysterious hold over our imaginations. This show includes favorite stories from previous Poultry Shows, and some new stories. Prologue: Ira Glass introduces this episode about... fish? Duki: The story of a typical American family—imaginary poultry—and a handpuppet. (17 minutes) Still Life With Chicken: What happens when a chicken crosses the thin yellow line that divides the animals we eat from the animals we keep as pets. Jonathan Gold, food writer for Gourmet magazine, tells how he accidentally came to adopt a chicken, and what happened to his opinion of chickens afterwards. (14 minutes) How To Do The Funky Chicken: The true story of how a multinational chicken company turned a white man into a black man. The man they did it to? An old time Kentucky Colonel who liked to dress up as a Southern plantation owner in string tie and goatee, who happened to be their own spokesman. Mark Schone reports. (13 minutes) Chicken Diva: Yet another testimony to the power chickens have over our hearts and minds. Jack Hitt reports on an opera about Chicken Little. It's performed with dressed-up styrofoam balls, it's sung in Italian, and it's—no kidding—able to make grown men cry. CDs of the opera Love's Fowl by Susan Vitucci and Henry Krieger are available at pulcina.org. (13 minutes)