April 25, 2019 • 31 mins
One San Diego legend joins another for the definitive interview with the San Diego Chicken.
Credits:Ron Burgundy: Host, Writer, Executive Producer
Carolina Barlow: Co-Host, Writer, and Producer
Producers: Whitney Hodack, Jack O’Brien, Miles Gray, and Nick Stumpf
Executive Producer: Mike Farah
Consulting Producer: Andrew Steele
Associate Producer: Anna Hossnieh
Writer: Jake Fogelnest
Production Supervisor: Colin MacDougall
This episode was Engineered, Mixed and Edited by: Nick Stumpf
Music Clearance by Suzanne Coffman
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Get nasty and touch your body, get nasty and tell
you frank hands, get nasty, but don't tell you mama.
Romburgundy is one fat man. Oh rombergny podcast. This is
(00:27):
Ron Burgundy and welcome to the Ron Burgundy Podcast. I'm
so honored to sit down with my next guest. When
I agreed to do this podcast, it was because I
wanted the chance to really connect with people in an
intimate setting. I'd be able to have long form, meaningful conversations,
(00:48):
no television cameras, just myself, a couple of microphones, and
the chance to look someone right in the eyes, perhaps
for too long, just an extended amount of unnerving eye contact,
the kind where it becomes uncomfortable for everyone involved. I'm
also not afraid of the silence. Sometimes as a broadcaster
(01:12):
it's important to take long pointed pauses four dramatic effect.
So many broadcasters feel the need to fill every moment
(01:33):
with mindless chatter. That is not the Burgundy style. Here
I'll show you what I mean. Did you hear that
extremely long silence? It went on forever? How long was
(01:57):
that silence? Carolina? Well, I wasn't well. It felt like
an eternity and that's okay. Less seasoned broadcasters might not
be able to handle it because they're in love with
the sound of their own voice. That's a mistake. A
good interviewer always stops and listens to what their guest
(02:22):
has two say on the show they are doing four money.
(02:45):
The point is this, I'm not afraid to let it
breathe muchacho. I'm very honored to welcome my next guest.
I'll be speaking with a fellow San Diegon who I
can honestly say, over the years, has become an American icon.
We go back a long long time, both professionally and personally.
(03:09):
We'll reveal who that person is right after this commercial break. Silence,
we are back. Welcome to the Ron Burgundy Podcast. I
(03:31):
am very honored to welcome my next guest. Though over
the last four decades, my guest as rubbed shoulders with
everyone from sitting presidents of the United States to Paul McCartney,
but more impressively, people like Ja Jaga Bore and Johnny Bench.
Please welcome my friend and fellow icon, the San Diego Chicken.
(03:53):
Thank you, Ron. Always good to see you, sir. It's
great to see you too, my friend. Now that's not
your real voice. That just the clucking you do. Right,
didn't you alter ego? Yes? Great, I want to if
you'll do me a favor, I want to take you
back to a specific date and time June. Tell me
(04:16):
about that day, the most defining moment of my chicken life.
There it was an extraordinary event. Picture this Jack Murphy Stadium, thousand.
I am coming out in a gigantic styrofoam egg, rolled
out onto the field. Okay, the emotions are high because
(04:38):
I just got fired by my previous employers at a
radio station. We won't say who that is. Won't we
know who it is, We won't say it. So they
rolled me out onto the field to the sound of
two thousand one iconic tune. I know it will two
thousand and one one more than two thousand effortless love me.
(05:01):
I think you're thinking of a different that's the one
I'm thinking. I'm it's also spruck Zarathustra from the Stanley
Kubrick film two thousand one A Space Odyssey two thousand
and one. One on one We do things a man
and lady do. It's a classic song. We all know it.
So you hatch out of the egg onto the field.
(05:24):
What was that like? Just an extraordinary, amazing feeling. Let
me tell you, Ron, it was something that was unparalleled
in the history of sports. And if I could have
hugged them when I hatched out of that egg, yes,
if I could have hugged them all at once, I
would have. I was literally channeling Sally Fields. I was thinking,
(05:48):
you love me, you really love exactly, exactly, and Sally Fields,
she's also a good dear friend of mine and Carolina's. Uh.
In fact, Caroline grew up at her sleepaway camp. Yes,
Sally Fields has a sleepaway camp for kids who have
been bullied. And I at the time was going through
(06:08):
some preteen angst, so I spent every summer in school.
You let's let's talk about Pete Rose. Do you ever
run into that guy because he owes me money? Yes,
I have run into the Pete and uh, I love
the guy, I've got to say, but I can see
why he owes you money because having run with Pete
a little bit. Yeah, he's a big tipper and he's
(06:31):
always short. He just has this love and affinity for
people and he just peels those bills. So I can
see where he comes up short and why you have
to take the I O you sure that's an understandment. Um,
let me ask you this. You've been in the public
eye for over forty years and you are much like
(06:51):
myself beloved institution. My question is this, what do you
do about the haters? You know? I mean I have
cop friends who take care of mine. Well, I try
to kind of like fluff them off in a way.
But every now and then, shall I say, I have
a family member visit them, uh by the name of Vinny,
(07:14):
and um oh they they have a little understanding and
things get settled quietly. Shall we say? It sounds a
very uh mafia like. Um no, No, just a smart
guy who's very so like a college professor. Yes, a
wise guy, you might say. Okay, interesting approach. You are
(07:36):
a master of slapstick comedy. You really are. I've always
said this to people, but have you ever thought about
trying dramatic roles? Would excuse me? Um, I'd love to
see you work with Lars van Trier any interest. Um.
I don't know who quite that is, but I did
work with George Gooper lindsay on he Hall one time.
(07:58):
But um, yeah, you know, Shakespeare could be in my future.
You never know, but there's a there's a part of
me that wants to come out and show my George
Gouber Lindsay, m hm. Did he ever get an Oscar?
I don't recall they quite got an oscar? I think
nominated for a few an ordinary people. I'm thinking of
(08:20):
someone else. You know, I remember because I used to
play it all the time. In fact, I still do.
You recorded a cover of Rod Stewart's song. Do you
think I'm sexy? Uh? Be candid with me. What's it
like with the groupies? There must be a lot of
San Diego Chicken groupies. Well, I guess I can. I
can fess up here and now, Yes, yes, there were,
(08:41):
yes indeed, and uh, you know they would always ask
me about my McNuggets. I see samples. You know. Well,
let's not get into that. It's a dirty teens listening
to this episode. You know, I don't like to talk
about my private life very much. There I'm actually a
happily married chicken. Are you familiar with the actress Marissa Tarmay, Sure, yes,
(09:08):
Legal Eagles, Urban Cowboy, my cousin Tommy. Yeah, she's terrific. Well,
I don't think she was in either of those films,
but we are married. We had no idea San Diego
Chicken and Marissa tomay Oscar Award winning actress. Yes, absolutely,
(09:28):
but we'd like to keep it, you know, on the
down low both of our careers. What a compliment though,
you let her do her thing, she lets you do
your thing. And fantastic arrangement and bond that we have
for each other. Really you were saying something kind of
like lovebirds. Oh yes, right, love birds. Um. You were
(09:52):
saying earlier that one of the interesting things about a
lot of the physical stick that you've come up with
sometimes they were suggested from the actual baseball players. It's great,
they've got a great sense of humor, but they come
up with these weird ideas off the top. They come
to me umpires as well, coaches, they'll they'll they'll throw
(10:12):
ideas out at me, and I said, let's give it
a try, and we go out and uh, it's it's amazing.
Baseball's probably got the best sense of humor of all
the sports run. And yet I have to think there'd
be a guy who's having a bad game and be like, hey, Chicken,
get away from me. Has that ever happened. That's happened
on occasion, not too much, surprisingly, especially you know, it's
(10:32):
it's hard to beat when thousands of people are laughing
all at once. But I've actually had players come up
to me and thank me because because of my shenanigans
and chicanery out there, They actually said they focused on
the game a little more and try to block it
and actually had a great game. Had a great game,
believe it or not. Uh huh, that's a true story. Um.
(10:55):
Carolina had a question about Ken Griffy. She's a big
Ken Griffy fan. Ken Griffy, is he six three or
six four? I've got to say more on the six
three side. But Carolina asked, what you really wanted to
ask about Ken? What does Ken think about when he
(11:16):
was playing for the Big Red Machine, When he was
playing for the Big Red Machine, what he can think
about the switching of the players two different teams. What
are you saying? I'm sorry, you know, I don't know
anything about sports. I was trying to I think what
she was trying to say is the Big Red Machine.
We're talking about the Cincinnati Reds in the seventies. Of course,
(11:37):
would you say that's one of the finest teams you've
ever seen play, absolutely And one of the things I
also learned they were funny. That team. They can and
they were funny. They were loose and free and fantastic.
That contributed to their success. At least four Hall of
Famers off that team. Incredible of the starting eight that
they had out on the field, amazing squad, tremendous and
(11:59):
they were great, always goofy, always having fun. But I
guess when you're winning and having a dynasty, Uh, you're
you're playing with house money, and it's easy to be carefully,
easy to be carefree, no question, no question. So famous Chicken,
We've known each other a long time, and I just
want to be honest with the audience. There was a
there was a period of a few years where we
(12:20):
didn't speak to each other, and I was a guest
of honor at a Padres game, and uh, you and
I get that this was supposed to be funny and
h and what you do, But you pulled down my
You pulled down my pants in front of the whole stadium,
and I was just there and my skivvies, looking like
a goddamn fool. It was my understanding that was a
(12:40):
pre arranged thing. Well it wasn't. Okay. Publicists lie, They
lie all the time. I was humiliated. I'm sorry it happened,
but you you sort of overreacted. I underreacted. Yes, I
showed extreme restraint in that situation. You punched me in
a jaw and knocked me cold turkey. You underreacted. I
(13:02):
was flat on the field. They carried me out in
a stretcher. Kids were crying, screaming, just stunned. I remember
because it was in the newspaper the next day, Ron
Burgundy Clucks the San Diego Chicken. It was like a
clever pun headline, and instead of clocks the San Diego Chicken,
they wrote, yeah, the clucks. I get the play on words,
(13:25):
but it didn't make it any better. It turns out
you can't punch a beloved mascot in the face. Otherwise
people think you're a jerk. Well that was a long
time ago. Shall we just say, let's let bygones be bygones.
Well it better be, since you sued me, I mean,
we settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, and
that some was not small. How much was it? It was?
(13:50):
My house boats so well, look at it as a
poultry sum You look these chicken puns. They come from
fastest serious I try to catch them. It's advantage, it's
it's kind of conge powering me right now back? Um,
(14:13):
So okay, So we're good, right, You and I are good? Yeah?
I appreciate it. Wrong, we we can, we can move
past all of it. Yeah, we're good. I heard another
guy asked that on another interview podcast. You just get
asking are we good? We're good? Are we good? Mark Marin?
Have you ever been on his podcast? Uh? He had
the President of the United States and in his garage,
(14:34):
Jimmy Carter. Isn't that insane? I don't I think it was.
That's amazing, Obama, It's amazing. Okay, San Diego Chicken. Let
me see. I've got some other questions I've jotted down
here for you. Let me ask you this. Did you
hang out with Steve Garvey at all? Now, for those
listeners who don't know, Steve Garvey l a Dodger great
but then finished his career with the San Diego Padres
(14:56):
I believe got the Padres to the World series. Yes
he did. Did you hang out with with with the
Garve not not too much with the Garve. I tell
you why, because he's always a nominee for the Hall
of Fame, comedy for the Hall of Shame. So we
don't really make yourself well. You know, that's how I'm
looked at sometimes by But you know, I still have
respect for any padre that that walks this earth. What
(15:19):
about Gary Templeton, Gene Tennis, um hang out with you
of those guys. Don't hang out with them at all,
but they were great with me back in their playing days.
I must say about the Chargers, any of the Chargers,
Don Corriel, their coach, Well, Dan Fouts was always great
with me. I've got to say, yes, yeah, the legendary
broadcaster right now, Yes, but he immortalized me in the
(15:43):
Holy Roller. He always referenced how everybody was passed out
when the Oakland Raiders fumbled the ball all the way
in for a touchdown to win a game against the Chargers.
Change the rules of football, Ron did. Yeah. But Dan
Fouds expressed one time I saw him say this on
NFL right channel, that he really felt for me because
I had a seizure up in the stands and he saw,
(16:05):
oh yeah, yeah, yeah, So I had you had a
real seizure inside your your chicken suit when you saw
the play. You didn't. Really, they didn't bring in the
m T S. You don't. You don't have epilepsy, do you? No? No, nothing,
nothing of the sort. But I'll tell you everybody felt
sick and that day. Can chickens have epilepsy? Sure they can.
(16:29):
I'm sure you might be right up there with chicken pox.
I'm not sure would be the chicken head. Chicken pox.
It's pretty good, that's really good. Is it hard for
you to eat chicken? I gotta tell you this rong. Yes,
it's not. That's the secret. I don't mind if people
eat those other chickens. It helps a little less competition, yes,
(16:52):
less competition. If you can't beat them, eat them. But
then again, they're not performing, they're not What purpose did
they really serve? Yeah? But if I'm the last chicken
standing in America, think of the marketing opportunity. The only
thing is that people might not know what a chicken
is anymore. Well, let's see last chicken standing chicken a
la king who knows? I why why a chicken? You know?
(17:16):
For our listeners at home, how did you stumble across
a chicken as the mascot. Well it it was a
radio station idea to come and and and and hire
me off the campus at San Diego State, just on
the whim. No audition, no job application, nothing, I just,
uh they hired me on the spot because I agree.
(17:37):
And what were you doing prior to uh to this?
I was washing dishes. I was a dishwasher at a
restaurant and marploers and cleaning off tables and that was it.
But I had an opportunity to get my fortnitoor real
radio station, albeit through a chicken suit. So you went
from making five thousand dollars a year to six thousand
dollars a year. Yeah. Actually it was a pay cut,
(17:59):
you know, because it was two dollars an hour, and uh,
that's a lot of work. But I got free records. Okay,
that's still I don't know if it's a good deal.
That's how much I make. Now you know, we're not
going to discuss your salary on the podcast. Okay, Um,
let me ask you this. The San Diego Clippers before
(18:20):
they moved to Los Angeles. We're playing down there at
the uh oh, what's the stadium there? I forget back
then as known as a sports arena. That's right, the
sports arena. And I understand you became very good friends
with World b Free. Oh yes, absolutely, And you guys
were roommates for a while, is that true? Yes, we now,
we used to hang around together. And and I gave
(18:40):
him up pointers no no pun intenda, especially at the
fall line. Yeah yeah, And and uh he was. He
was a fantastic three point shooter. I believe Ron. He
would have me run up and down the baseline going
crazy trying to distract him. So it helped him in
his focus to laser in on that basket. That's interesting
to completely opposite approach. You created frenetic energy, but that
(19:04):
forced him to focus up. That's right, you like a
laser beam. And and you thanked me for it, and
it was it was great, yes, And and the Clippers
had a solid five years with World b Free there
at the time, and then eventually moved to l A
And my and my dear friends Swen Nader Oh yes, yes,
super right, super Swen and I used to after games
(19:29):
we'd go and play play dueling banjos in the parking lot.
Who knew. Yeah, it was easy to do because there
weren't a lot of fans at those games, so you
could just hang on the parking lot as late as
you wanted to dueling banjos. So you're not we weren't playing.
We're playing two different songs, trying to see who would
(19:50):
attract more of a banjo crowd doing. What's the most
insulting thing a fan has ever yelled at you? Oh,
the most insulting thing is um, probably calling me a turkey.
I've got to say, and uh, that's that's a whole
(20:10):
another gendre. And I would never lower myself to that standard. Absolutely,
but that was pretty insulting. I thought, I'm sorry about that.
That was me, Oh that was turkey. Oh man, I
can't see very well out of here, and I hear
it up and that was that I should have known.
Oh my gosh, hey, your dirty turkey, get out of here.
(20:34):
To be fair, run uses that it's it's it's really
more a term of endearment. Get in here, your dirty turkey,
Happy birthday. That case, no offense taken anyway. I had
been drinking a few cold ones and I just started
calling you a dirty turkey. So I'm sorry that if
you took that the wrong way. I did not know
(20:55):
that was you kind of like trolling me through the
grand stands night after night. Have people ever thrown batteries
or pennies at you? No? No, I haven't gotten anything
like that, or frozen frozen chickens. No, not quite, and
not even um underwear like Tom Jones. What's the most
expensive thing anyone's thrown at you? Like, say, watch or
(21:17):
gold coins, krugerrands, um. I would probably say about a
nine dollar beer. Okay, still nine And if that happens,
you just you just ignored and move on, right. I
think of it as a bird bath. Try to lick
it off and move on. I love it. That's a
that's a great philosophy in life. Think of it as
(21:38):
a bird bath, right, absolutely, I mean, you know, what
the heck? You know it's it's kind of like life
gives you lemons, you make lemonade, take a bird bath,
that's absolutely. Somebody douses a beer. Enjoy the life gives
you lemonade. You make chicken juice. I'm trying to think
of another pun, but I couldn't. Oh, I know, you
(22:00):
can't make chicken salad at a chicken. That's a good one. Right,
that's an uplifting one. Okay, it has the lesson isn't clear,
let's keep going. That's it's it's a saying. My dad
used to tell me, you can't make chicken. Ron, get
in here, look at you. You can't make chicken salad
(22:23):
a chicken happy birthday. And you just say that, and
he'd hand me a bag of charcoal briquettes. Wow, well,
you know I've proven something. I think I've made chicken
salad out of chicken stick. So like jokes, yes, okay,
give it a rest. Is it upsetting that you can't fly? Yeah?
(22:44):
Do you ever think about that? I've thought about that, Ron,
And you know what, I just have to join and
and and my real brother in spirit. My brothers in
spirit are penguins, and so I I identify with them.
You know, they're they're they're cutesy and they're LoVa bull
and so I say, could have been a mascot that
you could have You could have been a penguin, the
San Diego Penguin Bingo. Yes, could have been. But hey,
(23:07):
well you know what, I think you made the right choice.
The chicken is just it's fun. It's funny. It's iconic.
You never blink. Hmm, and I'm at the beak of
my career. We negotiated no more. Yeah, we did no
more than four puns. All right, let's do a lightning
(23:28):
round with the San Diego Chicken. Here we go. What
are your thoughts on climate change? Go quickly fast? Oh?
I care very deeply about the environment. After all, this
guy might be falling. What is the deal with the
Philly fanatic? That guy's a weirdo, right, sorry, of yeah,
he's all Philly all the time. Look at his girth,
but he's very enthusiastic about those Phillies. Morgana the Kissing
(23:49):
Bandit was she ever cut? Will she ever be prosecuted? Well,
I gotta tell you she caught up with me one
time years ago, and if loving her is wrong, then
I'm happy to do the time for her. Right. ORGANA
is going to be listening to this San Diego Chicken.
Final question, what do you want your legacy to be? Well?
(24:10):
I like to think that he was amusing to watch um,
enjoyable and help pass the time added to the game.
And uh, you gotta admire somebody who never had a
real job for a living, you know, what. I feel
the same way because I love what I do so much.
Now I know for sure Carolina has never had a
(24:32):
real job ever, worked multiple different positions OFR zero BuzzFeed News,
a lot of places listen to that resume journalists would
love to work at. It's so nice to me. Nice
meeting you, Thank you for inviting me on. Thank you
so much, San Diego Chicken. Where can we find you next? Well,
(24:55):
I believe it or not, I might be doing something
with the padres this year first, right, it should be
fun looking forward to it. It's going to be a
grand time at Petco Park. And uh and that will
be throughout the baseball season or just dates. We're gonna
have a special selected date for the return of the
Chicken this year to Petco Park. Will you come back
(25:16):
out of the styrofoam egg? Oh? Probably not out of
the styrofoam egg, but some other surprises. What if they
lowered you out of a spaceship? Right? How cool? That
would be? Complete agreement. That's that's something I would already.
They should already start promoting that to sell season tickets.
Here it comes the UFO, the Unidentified frying object. Okay,
(25:40):
we're gonna turn off your mic now. Sorry, all right,
thank you so much, San Diego Chicken. We'll be right
back here at the Run Burgundy Podcast. And we are back.
Thank you for listening to Ron Burgundy podcast. Our guest,
(26:03):
of course, was the San Diego Chicken. Carolina is here
with course art fact check. Carolina, we did actually okay today. Um.
We the lyrics as are at straw. Obviously we're really
off two thousand one. What a crazy year. No one
thought we'd make it past. Why do K No, definitely
(26:25):
not those um. And we also found chickens can't have seizures. Um.
I knew that. I just didn't want to embarrass him. Yeah,
fair enough. Um. And then I she didn't even pronounce
his wife's I looked at U. No, he's not married
to Marissa Toma. Come on, yeah, so that's crazy. Um.
(26:48):
But that's it. Everything else was very legitimate and factually correct. Great. Well,
my final thoughts for today. Today was a high water
mark for me, Ron Burgundy, as a child of the
the mean streets of San Diego. This was an icon
(27:08):
that I really wanted to reach out to and have
on the podcast. Not only is an interesting interview subject,
but as a beacon of light to the world. Yes,
we turned out a lot of people, a lot of
people so that we could get the San Diego Chicken,
(27:28):
h including the current pope, And I think that was
I think that was a wise decision to get the
San Diego Chicken. That's a huge feather in the old
cap if you think about it. The most iconic people
ever to come from San Diego are myself, the actress
(27:50):
who played Blossom, and the guys from Blink, and then
of course the San Diego Chicken. You saw him, you
heard him, you felt him, you felt his power, his
strength a lot, and his love for humanity. It well,
(28:11):
Carolina Barlow, I can't believe it. Season one in the
camp can what a journey. It was a lot. I mean,
we thought we were going to have a rod. He
didn't show didn't show up. We got stuck in the elevator.
We of course battled that horrible demon in my garage
that no one seemed to hear but me. The ghost. Yeah,
(28:32):
the ghost got to reminisce with our good friend Deep Octobra.
Oh my god. We meditated with him, meditated with him.
We talked about true crimes. We've just it's it's it
feels like it's been a lifetime and I've enjoyed every
second of it. It's been hard for me, but I
think that I've learned a lot about communicating and I
(28:53):
really just want to um, work harder to continue my
produced soorial relationship with you and and have boundaries when
I feel I think that you have shown a lot
of growth, um, but you still have a ton of
hard work ahead of you. Well, and that's just constructive criticism, Okay,
(29:14):
I thought I was being no. I'm saying, great job,
but I think you're at the tenth of where you
can be. And I say that with a smile. It
doesn't feel like that. But well, to our listeners, Yes,
to our listeners, we can't we can't thank you enough.
You have been wonderful. I think I don't know. You
might have been given me the finger the whole time,
(29:35):
but I have a feeling you've really enjoyed the insight
we've provided you. And um, well, we'll see you on
the the dark side of the moon. As they say,
I wish we could play that song. So to all
our wonderful listeners, all of you, Pete, Terry, Angela, Gus
(29:58):
Marty the I mean, the list goes on and on.
You all know who you are. Thanks for listening, Thanks
for all the flowers you've sent, all the gift cards,
all the free food, most of it spoiled upon arrival,
but we still appreciate the thought. Once again, until next season.
This is Ron Burgundy along with Carolina signing off. There
(30:22):
you go, goodbye everyone. The Ron Burgundy Podcast is a
production of I Heart Radio podcast Network and Funnier Die.
I'm Ron Burgundy. I'm the host, writer and executive producer.
Carolina Barlow is my co host, writer and producer. The
(30:44):
show is also produced by Whitney Hodeck, Jack O'Brien, Miles Gray,
and Nick Stuff. Our executive producer is Mike Farrell. Our
consulting producer is Andrew Steo. Our associate producer is Anna Hosnier.
Our writer is Jake Fogolist. Our production supervie there is
Colin McDougall. This episode was engineered, mixed, and edited by
(31:04):
Nick Stump. See you next Thursday on The Ron Burgundy Podcast.
M
Get nasty and touch your body, get nasty and tell
you frank hands, get nasty, but don't tell you mama.
Romburgundy is one fat man. Oh rombergny podcast. This is
(00:27):
Ron Burgundy and welcome to the Ron Burgundy Podcast. I'm
so honored to sit down with my next guest. When
I agreed to do this podcast, it was because I
wanted the chance to really connect with people in an
intimate setting. I'd be able to have long form, meaningful conversations,
(00:48):
no television cameras, just myself, a couple of microphones, and
the chance to look someone right in the eyes, perhaps
for too long, just an extended amount of unnerving eye contact,
the kind where it becomes uncomfortable for everyone involved. I'm
also not afraid of the silence. Sometimes as a broadcaster
(01:12):
it's important to take long pointed pauses four dramatic effect.
So many broadcasters feel the need to fill every moment
(01:33):
with mindless chatter. That is not the Burgundy style. Here
I'll show you what I mean. Did you hear that
extremely long silence? It went on forever? How long was
(01:57):
that silence? Carolina? Well, I wasn't well. It felt like
an eternity and that's okay. Less seasoned broadcasters might not
be able to handle it because they're in love with
the sound of their own voice. That's a mistake. A
good interviewer always stops and listens to what their guest
(02:22):
has two say on the show they are doing four money.
(02:45):
The point is this, I'm not afraid to let it
breathe muchacho. I'm very honored to welcome my next guest.
I'll be speaking with a fellow San Diegon who I
can honestly say, over the years, has become an American icon.
We go back a long long time, both professionally and personally.
(03:09):
We'll reveal who that person is right after this commercial break. Silence,
we are back. Welcome to the Ron Burgundy Podcast. I
(03:31):
am very honored to welcome my next guest. Though over
the last four decades, my guest as rubbed shoulders with
everyone from sitting presidents of the United States to Paul McCartney,
but more impressively, people like Ja Jaga Bore and Johnny Bench.
Please welcome my friend and fellow icon, the San Diego Chicken.
(03:53):
Thank you, Ron. Always good to see you, sir. It's
great to see you too, my friend. Now that's not
your real voice. That just the clucking you do. Right,
didn't you alter ego? Yes? Great, I want to if
you'll do me a favor, I want to take you
back to a specific date and time June. Tell me
(04:16):
about that day, the most defining moment of my chicken life.
There it was an extraordinary event. Picture this Jack Murphy Stadium, thousand.
I am coming out in a gigantic styrofoam egg, rolled
out onto the field. Okay, the emotions are high because
(04:38):
I just got fired by my previous employers at a
radio station. We won't say who that is. Won't we
know who it is, We won't say it. So they
rolled me out onto the field to the sound of
two thousand one iconic tune. I know it will two
thousand and one one more than two thousand effortless love me.
(05:01):
I think you're thinking of a different that's the one
I'm thinking. I'm it's also spruck Zarathustra from the Stanley
Kubrick film two thousand one A Space Odyssey two thousand
and one. One on one We do things a man
and lady do. It's a classic song. We all know it.
So you hatch out of the egg onto the field.
(05:24):
What was that like? Just an extraordinary, amazing feeling. Let
me tell you, Ron, it was something that was unparalleled
in the history of sports. And if I could have
hugged them when I hatched out of that egg, yes,
if I could have hugged them all at once, I
would have. I was literally channeling Sally Fields. I was thinking,
(05:48):
you love me, you really love exactly, exactly, and Sally Fields,
she's also a good dear friend of mine and Carolina's. Uh.
In fact, Caroline grew up at her sleepaway camp. Yes,
Sally Fields has a sleepaway camp for kids who have
been bullied. And I at the time was going through
(06:08):
some preteen angst, so I spent every summer in school.
You let's let's talk about Pete Rose. Do you ever
run into that guy because he owes me money? Yes,
I have run into the Pete and uh, I love
the guy, I've got to say, but I can see
why he owes you money because having run with Pete
a little bit. Yeah, he's a big tipper and he's
(06:31):
always short. He just has this love and affinity for
people and he just peels those bills. So I can
see where he comes up short and why you have
to take the I O you sure that's an understandment. Um,
let me ask you this. You've been in the public
eye for over forty years and you are much like
(06:51):
myself beloved institution. My question is this, what do you
do about the haters? You know? I mean I have
cop friends who take care of mine. Well, I try
to kind of like fluff them off in a way.
But every now and then, shall I say, I have
a family member visit them, uh by the name of Vinny,
(07:14):
and um oh they they have a little understanding and
things get settled quietly. Shall we say? It sounds a
very uh mafia like. Um no, No, just a smart
guy who's very so like a college professor. Yes, a
wise guy, you might say. Okay, interesting approach. You are
(07:36):
a master of slapstick comedy. You really are. I've always
said this to people, but have you ever thought about
trying dramatic roles? Would excuse me? Um, I'd love to
see you work with Lars van Trier any interest. Um.
I don't know who quite that is, but I did
work with George Gooper lindsay on he Hall one time.
(07:58):
But um, yeah, you know, Shakespeare could be in my future.
You never know, but there's a there's a part of
me that wants to come out and show my George
Gouber Lindsay, m hm. Did he ever get an Oscar?
I don't recall they quite got an oscar? I think
nominated for a few an ordinary people. I'm thinking of
(08:20):
someone else. You know, I remember because I used to
play it all the time. In fact, I still do.
You recorded a cover of Rod Stewart's song. Do you
think I'm sexy? Uh? Be candid with me. What's it
like with the groupies? There must be a lot of
San Diego Chicken groupies. Well, I guess I can. I
can fess up here and now, Yes, yes, there were,
(08:41):
yes indeed, and uh, you know they would always ask
me about my McNuggets. I see samples. You know. Well,
let's not get into that. It's a dirty teens listening
to this episode. You know, I don't like to talk
about my private life very much. There I'm actually a
happily married chicken. Are you familiar with the actress Marissa Tarmay, Sure, yes,
(09:08):
Legal Eagles, Urban Cowboy, my cousin Tommy. Yeah, she's terrific. Well,
I don't think she was in either of those films,
but we are married. We had no idea San Diego
Chicken and Marissa tomay Oscar Award winning actress. Yes, absolutely,
(09:28):
but we'd like to keep it, you know, on the
down low both of our careers. What a compliment though,
you let her do her thing, she lets you do
your thing. And fantastic arrangement and bond that we have
for each other. Really you were saying something kind of
like lovebirds. Oh yes, right, love birds. Um. You were
(09:52):
saying earlier that one of the interesting things about a
lot of the physical stick that you've come up with
sometimes they were suggested from the actual baseball players. It's great,
they've got a great sense of humor, but they come
up with these weird ideas off the top. They come
to me umpires as well, coaches, they'll they'll they'll throw
(10:12):
ideas out at me, and I said, let's give it
a try, and we go out and uh, it's it's amazing.
Baseball's probably got the best sense of humor of all
the sports run. And yet I have to think there'd
be a guy who's having a bad game and be like, hey, Chicken,
get away from me. Has that ever happened. That's happened
on occasion, not too much, surprisingly, especially you know, it's
(10:32):
it's hard to beat when thousands of people are laughing
all at once. But I've actually had players come up
to me and thank me because because of my shenanigans
and chicanery out there, They actually said they focused on
the game a little more and try to block it
and actually had a great game. Had a great game,
believe it or not. Uh huh, that's a true story. Um.
(10:55):
Carolina had a question about Ken Griffy. She's a big
Ken Griffy fan. Ken Griffy, is he six three or
six four? I've got to say more on the six
three side. But Carolina asked, what you really wanted to
ask about Ken? What does Ken think about when he
(11:16):
was playing for the Big Red Machine, When he was
playing for the Big Red Machine, what he can think
about the switching of the players two different teams. What
are you saying? I'm sorry, you know, I don't know
anything about sports. I was trying to I think what
she was trying to say is the Big Red Machine.
We're talking about the Cincinnati Reds in the seventies. Of course,
(11:37):
would you say that's one of the finest teams you've
ever seen play, absolutely And one of the things I
also learned they were funny. That team. They can and
they were funny. They were loose and free and fantastic.
That contributed to their success. At least four Hall of
Famers off that team. Incredible of the starting eight that
they had out on the field, amazing squad, tremendous and
(11:59):
they were great, always goofy, always having fun. But I
guess when you're winning and having a dynasty, Uh, you're
you're playing with house money, and it's easy to be carefully,
easy to be carefree, no question, no question. So famous Chicken,
We've known each other a long time, and I just
want to be honest with the audience. There was a
there was a period of a few years where we
(12:20):
didn't speak to each other, and I was a guest
of honor at a Padres game, and uh, you and
I get that this was supposed to be funny and
h and what you do, But you pulled down my
You pulled down my pants in front of the whole stadium,
and I was just there and my skivvies, looking like
a goddamn fool. It was my understanding that was a
(12:40):
pre arranged thing. Well it wasn't. Okay. Publicists lie, They
lie all the time. I was humiliated. I'm sorry it happened,
but you you sort of overreacted. I underreacted. Yes, I
showed extreme restraint in that situation. You punched me in
a jaw and knocked me cold turkey. You underreacted. I
(13:02):
was flat on the field. They carried me out in
a stretcher. Kids were crying, screaming, just stunned. I remember
because it was in the newspaper the next day, Ron
Burgundy Clucks the San Diego Chicken. It was like a
clever pun headline, and instead of clocks the San Diego Chicken,
they wrote, yeah, the clucks. I get the play on words,
(13:25):
but it didn't make it any better. It turns out
you can't punch a beloved mascot in the face. Otherwise
people think you're a jerk. Well that was a long
time ago. Shall we just say, let's let bygones be bygones.
Well it better be, since you sued me, I mean,
we settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, and
that some was not small. How much was it? It was?
(13:50):
My house boats so well, look at it as a
poultry sum You look these chicken puns. They come from
fastest serious I try to catch them. It's advantage, it's
it's kind of conge powering me right now back? Um,
(14:13):
So okay, So we're good, right, You and I are good? Yeah?
I appreciate it. Wrong, we we can, we can move
past all of it. Yeah, we're good. I heard another
guy asked that on another interview podcast. You just get
asking are we good? We're good? Are we good? Mark Marin?
Have you ever been on his podcast? Uh? He had
the President of the United States and in his garage,
(14:34):
Jimmy Carter. Isn't that insane? I don't I think it was.
That's amazing, Obama, It's amazing. Okay, San Diego Chicken. Let
me see. I've got some other questions I've jotted down
here for you. Let me ask you this. Did you
hang out with Steve Garvey at all? Now, for those
listeners who don't know, Steve Garvey l a Dodger great
but then finished his career with the San Diego Padres
(14:56):
I believe got the Padres to the World series. Yes
he did. Did you hang out with with with the
Garve not not too much with the Garve. I tell
you why, because he's always a nominee for the Hall
of Fame, comedy for the Hall of Shame. So we
don't really make yourself well. You know, that's how I'm
looked at sometimes by But you know, I still have
respect for any padre that that walks this earth. What
(15:19):
about Gary Templeton, Gene Tennis, um hang out with you
of those guys. Don't hang out with them at all,
but they were great with me back in their playing days.
I must say about the Chargers, any of the Chargers,
Don Corriel, their coach, Well, Dan Fouts was always great
with me. I've got to say, yes, yeah, the legendary
broadcaster right now, Yes, but he immortalized me in the
(15:43):
Holy Roller. He always referenced how everybody was passed out
when the Oakland Raiders fumbled the ball all the way
in for a touchdown to win a game against the Chargers.
Change the rules of football, Ron did. Yeah. But Dan
Fouds expressed one time I saw him say this on
NFL right channel, that he really felt for me because
I had a seizure up in the stands and he saw,
(16:05):
oh yeah, yeah, yeah, So I had you had a
real seizure inside your your chicken suit when you saw
the play. You didn't. Really, they didn't bring in the
m T S. You don't. You don't have epilepsy, do you? No? No, nothing,
nothing of the sort. But I'll tell you everybody felt
sick and that day. Can chickens have epilepsy? Sure they can.
(16:29):
I'm sure you might be right up there with chicken pox.
I'm not sure would be the chicken head. Chicken pox.
It's pretty good, that's really good. Is it hard for
you to eat chicken? I gotta tell you this rong. Yes,
it's not. That's the secret. I don't mind if people
eat those other chickens. It helps a little less competition, yes,
(16:52):
less competition. If you can't beat them, eat them. But
then again, they're not performing, they're not What purpose did
they really serve? Yeah? But if I'm the last chicken
standing in America, think of the marketing opportunity. The only
thing is that people might not know what a chicken
is anymore. Well, let's see last chicken standing chicken a
la king who knows? I why why a chicken? You know?
(17:16):
For our listeners at home, how did you stumble across
a chicken as the mascot. Well it it was a
radio station idea to come and and and and hire
me off the campus at San Diego State, just on
the whim. No audition, no job application, nothing, I just,
uh they hired me on the spot because I agree.
(17:37):
And what were you doing prior to uh to this?
I was washing dishes. I was a dishwasher at a
restaurant and marploers and cleaning off tables and that was it.
But I had an opportunity to get my fortnitoor real
radio station, albeit through a chicken suit. So you went
from making five thousand dollars a year to six thousand
dollars a year. Yeah. Actually it was a pay cut,
(17:59):
you know, because it was two dollars an hour, and uh,
that's a lot of work. But I got free records. Okay,
that's still I don't know if it's a good deal.
That's how much I make. Now you know, we're not
going to discuss your salary on the podcast. Okay, Um,
let me ask you this. The San Diego Clippers before
(18:20):
they moved to Los Angeles. We're playing down there at
the uh oh, what's the stadium there? I forget back
then as known as a sports arena. That's right, the
sports arena. And I understand you became very good friends
with World b Free. Oh yes, absolutely, And you guys
were roommates for a while, is that true? Yes, we now,
we used to hang around together. And and I gave
(18:40):
him up pointers no no pun intenda, especially at the
fall line. Yeah yeah, And and uh he was. He
was a fantastic three point shooter. I believe Ron. He
would have me run up and down the baseline going
crazy trying to distract him. So it helped him in
his focus to laser in on that basket. That's interesting
to completely opposite approach. You created frenetic energy, but that
(19:04):
forced him to focus up. That's right, you like a
laser beam. And and you thanked me for it, and
it was it was great, yes, And and the Clippers
had a solid five years with World b Free there
at the time, and then eventually moved to l A
And my and my dear friends Swen Nader Oh yes, yes,
super right, super Swen and I used to after games
(19:29):
we'd go and play play dueling banjos in the parking lot.
Who knew. Yeah, it was easy to do because there
weren't a lot of fans at those games, so you
could just hang on the parking lot as late as
you wanted to dueling banjos. So you're not we weren't playing.
We're playing two different songs, trying to see who would
(19:50):
attract more of a banjo crowd doing. What's the most
insulting thing a fan has ever yelled at you? Oh,
the most insulting thing is um, probably calling me a turkey.
I've got to say, and uh, that's that's a whole
(20:10):
another gendre. And I would never lower myself to that standard. Absolutely,
but that was pretty insulting. I thought, I'm sorry about that.
That was me, Oh that was turkey. Oh man, I
can't see very well out of here, and I hear
it up and that was that I should have known.
Oh my gosh, hey, your dirty turkey, get out of here.
(20:34):
To be fair, run uses that it's it's it's really
more a term of endearment. Get in here, your dirty turkey,
Happy birthday. That case, no offense taken anyway. I had
been drinking a few cold ones and I just started
calling you a dirty turkey. So I'm sorry that if
you took that the wrong way. I did not know
(20:55):
that was you kind of like trolling me through the
grand stands night after night. Have people ever thrown batteries
or pennies at you? No? No, I haven't gotten anything
like that, or frozen frozen chickens. No, not quite, and
not even um underwear like Tom Jones. What's the most
expensive thing anyone's thrown at you? Like, say, watch or
(21:17):
gold coins, krugerrands, um. I would probably say about a
nine dollar beer. Okay, still nine And if that happens,
you just you just ignored and move on, right. I
think of it as a bird bath. Try to lick
it off and move on. I love it. That's a
that's a great philosophy in life. Think of it as
(21:38):
a bird bath, right, absolutely, I mean, you know, what
the heck? You know it's it's kind of like life
gives you lemons, you make lemonade, take a bird bath,
that's absolutely. Somebody douses a beer. Enjoy the life gives
you lemonade. You make chicken juice. I'm trying to think
of another pun, but I couldn't. Oh, I know, you
(22:00):
can't make chicken salad at a chicken. That's a good one. Right,
that's an uplifting one. Okay, it has the lesson isn't clear,
let's keep going. That's it's it's a saying. My dad
used to tell me, you can't make chicken. Ron, get
in here, look at you. You can't make chicken salad
(22:23):
a chicken happy birthday. And you just say that, and
he'd hand me a bag of charcoal briquettes. Wow, well,
you know I've proven something. I think I've made chicken
salad out of chicken stick. So like jokes, yes, okay,
give it a rest. Is it upsetting that you can't fly? Yeah?
(22:44):
Do you ever think about that? I've thought about that, Ron,
And you know what, I just have to join and
and and my real brother in spirit. My brothers in
spirit are penguins, and so I I identify with them.
You know, they're they're they're cutesy and they're LoVa bull
and so I say, could have been a mascot that
you could have You could have been a penguin, the
San Diego Penguin Bingo. Yes, could have been. But hey,
(23:07):
well you know what, I think you made the right choice.
The chicken is just it's fun. It's funny. It's iconic.
You never blink. Hmm, and I'm at the beak of
my career. We negotiated no more. Yeah, we did no
more than four puns. All right, let's do a lightning
(23:28):
round with the San Diego Chicken. Here we go. What
are your thoughts on climate change? Go quickly fast? Oh?
I care very deeply about the environment. After all, this
guy might be falling. What is the deal with the
Philly fanatic? That guy's a weirdo, right, sorry, of yeah,
he's all Philly all the time. Look at his girth,
but he's very enthusiastic about those Phillies. Morgana the Kissing
(23:49):
Bandit was she ever cut? Will she ever be prosecuted? Well,
I gotta tell you she caught up with me one
time years ago, and if loving her is wrong, then
I'm happy to do the time for her. Right. ORGANA
is going to be listening to this San Diego Chicken.
Final question, what do you want your legacy to be? Well?
(24:10):
I like to think that he was amusing to watch um,
enjoyable and help pass the time added to the game.
And uh, you gotta admire somebody who never had a
real job for a living, you know, what. I feel
the same way because I love what I do so much.
Now I know for sure Carolina has never had a
(24:32):
real job ever, worked multiple different positions OFR zero BuzzFeed News,
a lot of places listen to that resume journalists would
love to work at. It's so nice to me. Nice
meeting you, Thank you for inviting me on. Thank you
so much, San Diego Chicken. Where can we find you next? Well,
(24:55):
I believe it or not, I might be doing something
with the padres this year first, right, it should be
fun looking forward to it. It's going to be a
grand time at Petco Park. And uh and that will
be throughout the baseball season or just dates. We're gonna
have a special selected date for the return of the
Chicken this year to Petco Park. Will you come back
(25:16):
out of the styrofoam egg? Oh? Probably not out of
the styrofoam egg, but some other surprises. What if they
lowered you out of a spaceship? Right? How cool? That
would be? Complete agreement. That's that's something I would already.
They should already start promoting that to sell season tickets.
Here it comes the UFO, the Unidentified frying object. Okay,
(25:40):
we're gonna turn off your mic now. Sorry, all right,
thank you so much, San Diego Chicken. We'll be right
back here at the Run Burgundy Podcast. And we are back.
Thank you for listening to Ron Burgundy podcast. Our guest,
(26:03):
of course, was the San Diego Chicken. Carolina is here
with course art fact check. Carolina, we did actually okay today. Um.
We the lyrics as are at straw. Obviously we're really
off two thousand one. What a crazy year. No one
thought we'd make it past. Why do K No, definitely
(26:25):
not those um. And we also found chickens can't have seizures. Um.
I knew that. I just didn't want to embarrass him. Yeah,
fair enough. Um. And then I she didn't even pronounce
his wife's I looked at U. No, he's not married
to Marissa Toma. Come on, yeah, so that's crazy. Um.
(26:48):
But that's it. Everything else was very legitimate and factually correct. Great. Well,
my final thoughts for today. Today was a high water
mark for me, Ron Burgundy, as a child of the
the mean streets of San Diego. This was an icon
(27:08):
that I really wanted to reach out to and have
on the podcast. Not only is an interesting interview subject,
but as a beacon of light to the world. Yes,
we turned out a lot of people, a lot of
people so that we could get the San Diego Chicken,
(27:28):
h including the current pope, And I think that was
I think that was a wise decision to get the
San Diego Chicken. That's a huge feather in the old
cap if you think about it. The most iconic people
ever to come from San Diego are myself, the actress
(27:50):
who played Blossom, and the guys from Blink, and then
of course the San Diego Chicken. You saw him, you
heard him, you felt him, you felt his power, his
strength a lot, and his love for humanity. It well,
(28:11):
Carolina Barlow, I can't believe it. Season one in the
camp can what a journey. It was a lot. I mean,
we thought we were going to have a rod. He
didn't show didn't show up. We got stuck in the elevator.
We of course battled that horrible demon in my garage
that no one seemed to hear but me. The ghost. Yeah,
(28:32):
the ghost got to reminisce with our good friend Deep Octobra.
Oh my god. We meditated with him, meditated with him.
We talked about true crimes. We've just it's it's it
feels like it's been a lifetime and I've enjoyed every
second of it. It's been hard for me, but I
think that I've learned a lot about communicating and I
(28:53):
really just want to um, work harder to continue my
produced soorial relationship with you and and have boundaries when
I feel I think that you have shown a lot
of growth, um, but you still have a ton of
hard work ahead of you. Well, and that's just constructive criticism, Okay,
(29:14):
I thought I was being no. I'm saying, great job,
but I think you're at the tenth of where you
can be. And I say that with a smile. It
doesn't feel like that. But well, to our listeners, Yes,
to our listeners, we can't we can't thank you enough.
You have been wonderful. I think I don't know. You
might have been given me the finger the whole time,
(29:35):
but I have a feeling you've really enjoyed the insight
we've provided you. And um, well, we'll see you on
the the dark side of the moon. As they say,
I wish we could play that song. So to all
our wonderful listeners, all of you, Pete, Terry, Angela, Gus
(29:58):
Marty the I mean, the list goes on and on.
You all know who you are. Thanks for listening, Thanks
for all the flowers you've sent, all the gift cards,
all the free food, most of it spoiled upon arrival,
but we still appreciate the thought. Once again, until next season.
This is Ron Burgundy along with Carolina signing off. There
(30:22):
you go, goodbye everyone. The Ron Burgundy Podcast is a
production of I Heart Radio podcast Network and Funnier Die.
I'm Ron Burgundy. I'm the host, writer and executive producer.
Carolina Barlow is my co host, writer and producer. The
(30:44):
show is also produced by Whitney Hodeck, Jack O'Brien, Miles Gray,
and Nick Stuff. Our executive producer is Mike Farrell. Our
consulting producer is Andrew Steo. Our associate producer is Anna Hosnier.
Our writer is Jake Fogolist. Our production supervie there is
Colin McDougall. This episode was engineered, mixed, and edited by
(31:04):
Nick Stump. See you next Thursday on The Ron Burgundy Podcast.
M
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