''Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show'' is an

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk S ...

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its su ...

starring a Japanese character called Kiko. The video series debuted on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

in 2007 and was created by husband-and-wife team

Greg Benson Gregory Benson is an American comedian, actor, and director. His production company, Mediocre Films, creates comedic short films, generally for YouTube. He is a frequent director for '' The Guild''.

and Kim Evey's production company,

Mediocre Films Gregory Benson is an American comedian, actor, and director. His production company, Mediocre Films, creates comedic short films, generally for YouTube. He is a frequent director for '' The Guild''.

. In spring 2008, a distribution deal with

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

resulted in 10 new episodes to premiere weekly on the company's C-Spot YouTube channel and its

Crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snack ...

web video site.Iman Peera
"CRACKLE: New webisodes every weekday - Sony revamps old Grouper Video Network,"
WebTVHub, March 26, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-29. A second season premiered on C-Spot's channel on September 19, 2008.

History

Independent episodes

Originally developed for a live

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention ** Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of i ...

venue,Brian Lowry
"Can tiny Web shows leap to TV? Evey's 'Chicken' flies above C-Spot's coop,"
''

Daily Variety ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

'', April 18, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-19. the show's first online episode was uploaded to

on February 25, 2007. It was featured on the site, and quickly rose to

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan ...

status. As of May 28, 2007, it had over 1.4 million views on YouTube and had been featured on a wide variety of other sites. The episode was screened at the

FanTasia Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

on July 20, 2007, marking its Canadian premiere on screen.Films + Schedule: Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show
FanTasia Festival schedule. Retrieved 2008-04-07.

David Spade David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...

took particular interest in the fledgling series,Troy Rogers
"Adam Arkin Talks The Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show,"
''The Deadbolt'' (undated). Retrieved 2008-04-26. promoting it on his show, '' The Showbiz Show with David Spade''. Pairing with Mediocre Films, they created an episode specifically for his show in which one of his co-workers is a guest on Kiko's show."The Showbiz Show" interviews Kiko
May 3, 2007"The Showbiz Show" blog
May 3, 2007 A second episode was uploaded on YouTube, but shortly taken off the site by the producers. A

vlog A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...

by Benson was quickly posted stating that new episodes would be coming, and negotiations were being made about the fate of the show. On May 10, 2007, a Kiko

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

excerpted from the original episode two and titled "JUICY!" was posted. After considerable delays, a revised second episode was uploaded to YouTube on May 29, 2007. This episode was chosen as "YouTube Star of the Moment" by viewers of the ''

Attack of the Show! ''Attack of the Show!'' (''AOTS'') is an American live television program and that aired on G4. AOTS features segments on pop culture, video games, and movies. After an initial run from 2005 to 2013 (which originally aired from 2005 until 2013 ...

'' program on G4 for the week ending June 10, 2007; host

Kevin Pereira Kevin Elder Pereira (born December 28, 1982) is an American television personality and host. Early life While he was 14, Pereira hosted ''Pointless Audio'' under the pseudonym Captain Immy.Stephen A. Johnson (April 15, 2006)AOTS hosts Kevin Pere ...

described the show as "a cross between Letterman,

Pee-Wee Herman Pee-wee Herman is a comic fictional character created and portrayed by American comedian Paul Reubens. He is best known for his films and television series during the 1980s. The childlike Pee-wee Herman character developed as a stage act that ...

Steve Irwin Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 19624 September 2006), known as "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, wildlife educator, and environmentalist. Irwin grew up around crocodiles and ot ...

, Emeril, and a Japanese schoolgirl on

meth Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

."Clips from ''Attack of the Show'' (June 4 and June 10)
uploaded to YouTube by Mediocre Films. Retrieved June 11, 2007.

Sony episodes

After a long hiatus, a third episode was finally uploaded to YouTube on March 28, 2008, in conjunction with the show's debut as part of C-Spot and Crackle. It was announced at that time that C-Spot would release 10 episodes, coming out on successive Fridays as part of an original-programming lineup of six programs. The fourth episode, featuring

pornographic actor A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts in video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of di ...

Ron Jeremy Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953) is an American former pornographic actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", Jeremy was ranked by AVN at No. 1 in their "50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list. Jeremy has also made a number of non-pornographic m ...

, drew increased media attention around its April 4, 2008, debut, with ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

''' Web Scout article titled "Sony's C-Spot: New Web comedy lineup surprisingly clean despite Ron Jeremy cameo.""Sony's C-Spot: New Web comedy lineup surprisingly clean despite Ron Jeremy cameo,"
March 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-07.David Sarno. "WEB SCOUT: Online Series Are Getting Serious," ''Los Angeles Times'', April 2, 2008, Lifestyle section.

Monsters and Critics Monsters and Critics is an online entertainment news website focusing on TV, movies and celebrities. It publishes news, reviews, recaps, interviews, feature articles, explainers, blogs and commentary. The website has been owned by Digital Minefi ...

reported that same week that the series would be available on C-Spot via several channels of distributions, including AOL Video, Hulu, YouTube and Crackle, as well as through

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

V Cast V, or v, is the twenty-second and fifth-to-last letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''vee'' (pronounced ), plura ...

and directly to Sony's

Bravia Bravia (stylized as BRAVIA) is a brand of Sony Visual Products Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, and used for its television products. Its backronym is "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All Sony high-defi ...

televisions. The same story indicated that additional episodes would have guest appearances by writer-actor

Wil Wheaton Richard William Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film '' Stand by Me'', Joey Trotta in ''Toy Soldiers'', an ...

, actor-director

Adam Arkin Adam Arkin (born August 19, 1956) is an American actor and director. He is known for playing the role of Aaron Shutt on ''Chicago Hope''. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony (Best Actor, 1991, '' I Hate Hamlet'') as well ...

, and actor-director

Michael O'Keefe Michael O'Keefe (born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr.; April 24, 1955) is an American actor, known for his roles as Danny Noonan in ''Caddyshack'', Ben Meechum in ''The Great Santini,'' for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Bes ...

;"Smallscreen News: Sony taps Wil Wheaton, others for C-Spot, web comedy destination," April 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-07. Arkin's episode — in which he played a bewildered

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...

— was made available April 25, at which time C-Spot announced that Wheaton would appear in the May 16 episode. Wheaton would instead end up on the May 30th episode.

Format

Episodes follow a fairly standard format: The episode begins with the theme song followed by Kiko introducing herself as the host and introducing the guest ("please for you to crap hands and cheering for..."), mispronouncing their name in an off-color fashion, and then bringing the guest star out from a side curtain. The guest attempts to correct Kiko's pronunciation, but Kiko continues mispronouncing the guest's name throughout the show (and subtitles reflect the mispronunciation, not the correct name). Kiko usually leads the guests through a series of zany activities (which usually make the guest rather uncomfortable), which are usually interrupted by Kiko announcing, "Now it's time to spin the Wheel of Fun!" Kiko spins a wheel of a chicken, and when it lands on a space (containing unspecified Japanese characters) pointed to by the chicken's beak, she indicates yet another zany activity for the characters to participate in. The show ends with the guest star appearing very uncomfortable/confused and Kiko announcing the end of the show as the credits roll.

Recurring characters

Kiko is played by Evey, who also writes the series. While the character is

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, Evey was born in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and grew up in the United States.Biographical profile
at KimEvey.com Additional regular characters include UniCow"Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show: Back and Pervier"
April 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-06. (

Payman Benz ''Payman'' (Persian: ''Promise'') was a cultural and political magazine in Iran. It was one of the periodicals which was published and edited by Iranian religious reformist Ahmad Kasravi in the period 1933–1942. History and profile The first ...

)''Gorgeous Tiny'' cast and crew
GorgeousTiny.com. Retrieved 2008-04-27. and Cownicorn ( Sean Becker), hybrid

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicor ...

s; Panda (

Michele Gregory Michele (), is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael (given name), Michael. Michele (pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more c ...

), and Go-Go Dancer ( Julie Wittner), who do not speak (though Go-Go Dancer can sing). Guest Rick Pope ( Ryan Smith) — which Kiko mispronounces as "Lick Poop," a mispronunciation that is transcribed on-screen — appeared in episodes 1, 4, 5, 13, 16, 18, and 22; several follow-up videos from Mediocre Films and distributed on C-Spot's YouTube channel are part of a series titled "Lick Poop's Video Diary", which purports to be Rick Pope's private

, stolen, edited, and uploaded by UniCow."Lick Poop's Video Diary,"
uploaded to YouTube June 18, 2007.

References

External links

Official Website *{{IMDb title, 1219493
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show (Episode One)
at YouTube
Mediocre Films WebsiteGorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show at Crackle
2007 web series debuts American comedy web series 2000s YouTube series