I will confess here simply that I have never cared for the Chicken Lady sketches. They leave me cold.
It is not that Mark McKinney insufficiently commits to the role. He does not; he pours his body and soul entire into it. The way he scuttles over and shuffles backwards out of the kitchen with the plate of grubs and omelettes? That is, I believe, as close an approximation of how a true half-chicken, half-woman would do so. The twitching and head-bobbing, too, are astonishingly dead-on. Her bold and unashamed willingness to chase men for sex is funny and heartening both at once – I should love her for her committed and unique comic choices, or at least for her celebration of female agency.
But guys, Chicken Lady has always creeped me out. She gives me the fucking willies. I’m willing to accept that the fault lies with me. I want to accept it. Better my fault than Mark McKinney’s. But when Dave Foley runs screaming through the front door, I’m right behind him.
Tags: kids in the hall, kith mondays, television
Right there with you. She is the reason that I never could fully commit to KitH.
Oh, god, I love the Chicken Lady! I feel so out of step.
But what about when she’s at the strip club with Kevin as the Bearded Lady?!
Chicken lady loves life!
(I never understood Cabbage Head. Let the beatings commence!)
(ETA- IS Chicken Lady based on the end of the movie Freaks, or is that just my fervent hope?)
CABBAGE HEAD GUY and “I’M SQUISHING YOUR HEAD” GUY also hard for me to love!
Cabbage Head guy was only important as a reference in the second Pit of Ultimate Darkness with Sir Simon Milligan.
VALIDATION
I am here with you, feeling love for the Chicken Lady. Straight from my body and onto your plate! (Said whenever I cook eggs).
Yes, yes, yes. And I think that’s what I love about it (and KitH more broadly) – their ability to take me straight through hysterically funny to deeply true, uncomfortable or horrifying. (The simmering rage that occasionally shows in Buddy Cole hits some of the same spots for me.)
Mallory you are right to be creeped out by Chicken Lady. She is deeply unsettling. It’s all a part of her charm.
For me, Chicken Lady is to sketch comedy as the Plastic Ono Band is to music — given my existing taste, I OUGHT to like it, but do not actually enjoy it despite respecting the artistry and talent behind it.
Chicken Lady sketches are the only sketches that I will straight up skip over on the DVDs. Very unsettling. In a way that only they, the music of the band The Paper Chase, and my assumptions of what Twin Peaks is like (based on visual parodies I’ve seen of Twin Peaks) can be.
I watched Twin Peaks for the first time when it hit Netflix a few years ago, and I was expecting so much more weirdness! All the parodies made it seem a lot more strange than it ended up being for me. There were some genuinely eerie and surreal moments (and some scary as shit ones, e.g. anything with BOB), but maybe I was spoiled by the X-Files et al, because Twin Peaks ended up being a lot more boring and cheesy than I expected.
But the strip club sketch with bearded lady Kevin might be even BETTER!
But the strip club sketch with bearded lady Kevin might be even BETTER!
“But guys, Chicken Lady has always creeped me out. She gives me the fucking willies.” Is this not 100% the point of Chicken Lady?
All I know is that when I saw them live ages ago and saw the apartment set (kind of run down, but generic), with Dave standing on the other side of the door waiting for his cue, I (and quite a few others) screamed “CHICKEN LADY!!!” and it was truly exciting. Also, how he says “a beer,” is wonderful.
YES! His delivery of “A beer” slays me every time. I can’t say I really love chicken lady but I do love some of the sketches that are built around the character. It’s complicated.
NO! I knew this day would come, and I’m somewhat relieved (and surprised) that Mallory shares my discomfort, but I cannot deal with the Chicken Lady at all.
Aaahhh! I love the Chicken Lady. I love all her sketches. My favorite part in this one is the stare-down right before Dave starts screaming. Look at Mark’s face right after he says, “straight out of my body and onto your plate.” He starts to crack up and Dave does such an amazing job of not losing it in that moment.
Also, the creepy laughter after “if you want to stay in my good books, which you do…” I love everything about this sketch.
But cabbage head guy? WTF guys.
Huh I feel like they are the DISTILLATION of KITH. And definitely creepy as hell. Sort of like if your average KITH sketch is a nice hot toddy, Chicken Lady sketches are straight up alcohol, hold the toddy. I want to run screaming but cannot turn away.
I haven’t watched Kids in the Hall in years and was thinking about cosplaying Chicken Lady… after watching this I’m not sure I have it in me.
there are so few works of art about what it is like to be an ugly person. This is the first time I have seen Chicken Lady and it seems to me that is what it is about. Society understands deformed or disfigured people even if it does not embrace them but plain simple ugliness is such a bizzar condition. Everyone loaths you for having the same feelings and internal life as a not ugly person and everyone seems somehow to blame you for being an ugly person. People get angry at you at daring to just enter certain public spaces as an ugly person. But when you are alone in your home and don’t look in mirrors you imagine you are a regular person. But no one cares if an ugly person loves life. That is what I see in this sketch.
This is so on point! Thank you for saying it.
I have always loved the chicken lady sketches. I think KITH had the most creative comedy on television. By the way I now have 4 chickens, and children on our block who visit call me the “Chicken Lady” incidentally I also lovelife.