Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) - guy who ate 40 rotisserie chickens in philadelphia

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

In November 2022, one Philadelphia man took it upon himself to eat a rotisserie chicken every day for forty days. Why? Jamie flew across the country, went to his house, and interrogated him. Follow Alex here: https://x.com/AlexiconTom Get Raw Dog here while you're at it: https://bookshop.org/p/books/raw-dog-the-many-histories-of-hot-dogs-jamie-loftus/18785131?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyJqzBhBaEiwAWDRJVD9r1z2NOcI0CT3yvq3h68RY6tW9BdoKm7dkRjMrcr7rLlCOYNwtsRoCks8QAvD_BwESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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If there's one thing Americans love, it's excess. And the most intense example of all that is one that I'm a bit of an authority on not to brag. It's the Nathan's hot dog eating contest on Coney Island on the 4th of July. I've been twice. By the time you hear this, I may have been through. three times, and I regret to inform you that competitive eating is the most interesting thing in the entire world, bar none. And like many of the most interesting things in the entire world bar none, there's a ton of weird baggage stuffed into the arteries of this contest. I have

written a literal book on the topic. But as a lover of the extremely base, I legally must watch the Nathan Tontog contest every single year, preferably in person, preferably with questionable press credentials. And so believe me when I say, folks, there's such a thing as too many hot dogs. The man who can eat the most hot dogs at present is someone you may have heard of before and someone I have performed a two-hour fan fiction piece about on stage for about a year and a half. Hi, my name's Jamie Bethany Chestnut, and I was Joey Chestnut's wife. What a weird accident that I had nothing to do with it. I'm so grateful no one plans to investigate what did not happen. His name is Joey Chestnut, and that show was called Mrs. Joseph Chestnut America, USA.

And this man, this king, has eaten 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes. I saw it. And we're going to see history, bud. Five, four, three, two, one. Wow. What a rush. Seventy-six! You are hearing unofficially, 76 hot dogs and buns for Joey Chestnut, which, if confirmed, would be yet another world record.

And Rich, the crowd won at this moment, Joey wanted this moment, and we may just have it. This is probably the event that most people in the Western world associate with competitive eating at large. Not only is it wrapped into a jingoistic and false idea of what America is, It's also highly publicized and on TV every year. But competitive eating actually took a long time to catch on in America. It was Japan where the concept of mass consumption first took off, creating celebrities and popular televised events. Hell, it's where Major League Eating's first great champion came from.

The incredible, Takeru Kobayashi, whose explosion onto the American scene in the 2000s immediately began doing laps around the nearest Western competitor. He made the Kony Island event, what it is today and has inspired virtually every single professional eater who's come since. And yes, that very much includes Joey Chestnut. Kobayashi was the eater who showed the U.S. that eating in excess was something that one had to train their body to do.

He was a slim guy, but he had this very specific technique and preparation process, one that most eaters still use today. There's an incredible 30 for 30 about Joey and Takaro's rivalry in the late 2000s, one that heavily relied on Major League Eating's chairman George Shea stoking racist sentiments about Kobayashi. Because, yes, this is a very American contest. And if you want to know more about that, the link to my book is in the description. Anyways, when I first heard of this episode's main character, my mind went directly to Joey, who I'm pretty sure I am still legally married to. Today's main character traffics in the disciplined consumption of food that can kill you and became a folk

Kiro in much the same way. But unlike Joey Chestnut and Takaro Kobayashi, the only reason I'm talking about it now is because this character, as is often very dangerous, had a weird idea and then posted about it on Twitter. Because the Nathan's hot dog eating contest and major league eating in general has certainly benefited from but isn't defined by the internet. If anything, the biggest media bolster of the hot dog eating contest has been ESPN, which broadcast the contest every year and promotes it in the way that other news networks promote war, and it's supported by the wave of traditional media that represents it. The internet comments along, but it's never been the engine of why the event endures as it does. But as the years have worn on, more and more of

major league eating's champions have emerged from the internet, or made most of their money by adapting to it. The only eater who has ever defeated Joey Chestnut, this guy named Matt Stoney, began as an eater on YouTube, and then later stepped away from Major League eating and found even more success by continuing to create his own eating challenges online. One of my favorite eaters who, if you haven't seen, oh my God, his name is Badlands Booker. I'm the baddest man from the Badlands! It's still a prominent figure in Major League eating, but is even more famous and very likely makes more money doing chugging videos on YouTube. I know you've heard of mixing Pepsi and milk. and getting what's called pilk. But have you ever heard of doing it with chocolate milk?

Well, we are going to do it today, folks. I present to you the chocolate pilk chug in the biggest DOS food on earth. And this all kind of makes sense, right? Like if there's one thing the internet loves that isn't spewing hate speech with complete anonymity, it's a performance of excess that could very possibly kill you. I used to do it too. When I first moved to Los Angeles and was working as a fact checker at Playboy, and for the record, I checked and all the breasts were in fact large. I did an online performance piece called Shrek nudes, where I painted myself green and sold my own nudes to make money for Planned Parenthood.

The year after, I was working at a bookstore and had sold a lot of David Foster Wallace to guys who were rude to me, and I did this different performance art piece that I just posted on Twitter, where I ate a third of a copy of Infinite Jest. Do I stand by these actions today? Fuck you, none of your business. She was having fun. Thumb. All this to say, when it comes to people doing weird things for attention online,

I am in no position to judge, and I would never. Today's main character stands, bravely, and with great physical discomfort, at the intersection of a physical challenge and an internet stunt. From one joky tweet, one man was lifted by the algorithm to infamy, forced to consume day after day, tempted by capitalism and politics along the way, and, depending on who you ask, united or disgraced the nest of the American colonial project for a single afternoon. Philadelphia Chicken Man, your 16th minute starts now. lights, but no, well, can't be perfect all of the time. So like me a start, let's take it too far.

Then give me one more minute. Sixteen minutes of fame. Sixteen minute of fame. Sixteen minute of fame. One more minute of fame. Now this is the first episode of the first episode of where I have to admit, if this one didn't catch you, I don't really blame you. But even if you don't know who the Philadelphia Chicken Man of 2020 is,

today's character, Alexander Timmonsky, the phrase Chicken Man is a potent one. Maybe you've heard it before. Look at this, Deborah. A lifetime supply of frozen chicken by chicken man. Imagine years of a years of the years of chickens. Or a year. Now, another exciting episode in the life of the most fantastic crime fighter the world has ever known. or fuck, fuck, fuck, chicken man. He's everywhere, he's everywhere. Or, in an extremely specific lyric sent to me by my brother, shout out Ben, here.

Whether we like it or not, the very concept of the chicken man surrounds us. is kind of a special episode because I wasn't really planning on making it. When I hear Philadelphia Chicken Man, I think, eh, maybe too regional. It doesn't sound like there's much of a story. Sure, it meant a lot, and I mean a lot to the people of Philadelphia, but did it mean anything to anyone else? But the Chicken Man was calling to me. Out of nowhere, about a month ago, my friend Andrew and Philly reached out to see if I could headline a comedy show on short notice. I could. I really, really like Philadelphia. It kind of reminds me of Boston, the kind of place where people get angry with you for no reason

and set their uncle's car on fire if their sports team loses. They're very different places, but when I'm in Philly, I feel like, I get it. And then I remembered there was a main character in Philadelphia who's been brought up to me a lot. And it's a fairly recent story. Come with me, if you will, to November 2022. I know, I know, we were just in October for the Coffee Wife episode. But bear with me, because 2022 is a weirdly huge year for main characters. Something was in the water.

November 2022, gay marriage is legalized in Japan. Everyone's having a meltdown about inflation. In the U.S., the midterm elections are sending everyone into an absolute hailspin. And in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a man named Alexander Timminsky ate a rotisserie chicken in one sitting for the 40th day in a row. It all began with me doing math to figure out that this started on September 28th, 2022. Alex, and I'll let him introduce himself in just a moment, Alex ate an entire rotisserie chicken in one sitting. Prior to this, he was living his life with his wife, working for money as a server at the Barclay Prime Steakhouse in the Ritzee-Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, and in previous years, worked as a musician. The first chicken went down easy.

Our boy wanted this chicken. It was a treat. Maybe he tells his wife, and it's a near certainty that his co-workers saw him do the deed before a shift began. But it's an act relegated to Alex's personal circle. On day two, he thinks, you know what, let's do round two. Day three. Day four. And at some point, before he goes public on day 11, he decides he's going to keep this thing going.

And by October 8th, he takes to his occasionally active Twitter account at Alex Icon Tom, display name, smooth recess. He hadn't tweeted since September 27th, Rotissary Chicken Eve. The tweet? I am jealous of people that can shit in public bathrooms without anxiety. A tweet from the same day. The ghouls have started to arrive. It all feels eerily connected, like an omen. And by the time that Alex tweets on October 8th, his life has changed.

He posts a picture of himself at the restaurant he works at. He's a white guy in his early 30s with a beard, a hoodie, and a hat, sitting in front of a chicken that he's already started in on and looking confident. He makes eye contact with the camera with a near indiscernible smirk, a cloth napkin bib tied in with his fork and knife in each hand pointing upward, ready for war. The rotissory chicken itself is already skinned. But no salt or sauce is in sight. A glass of water, a vanilla poli or seltzer,

and a conspicuously gigantic carrot sit on the table before him. Most chillingly of all, it is broad daylight. The tweet reads, I would like to invite you all on a journey that I am on. I am eating a rotissory chicken every day for 30 days. Today is day 11. I will keep you all updated as I get closer to my goal. Thank you.

At the time I'm writing this, this tweet has 540 favorites and 47 retweets. Respectable, sure, but nowhere near the heights that this character and this story will reach. You'll also notice that he's saying the challenge goes for 30 days when we, citizens of the future, know that it actually goes for 40 days. Anyways, this first chicken post is supported mainly by Alex's existing followers. He gets a hell yeah. He gets a do you eat a giant carrot every day as well. He thanks everyone for their support and posts again the next day, accompanying a picture of Alex looking at a yet to be tampered with rotisserie chicken,

gazing down in a scenic public park. It's a repost of his Instagram story saying, Enjoying Day 12 of eating a rotissory chicken every day. A beautiful chicken on a beautiful day in a beautiful park. It keeps going from there. Alex eats chicken on the floor. Alex kisses the chicken, and as time goes on, he starts to look sick. Is it a performance?

He'd probably say no. I'd probably say yes, but no matter who's right, it's interesting to look at. By day 19, he's holding his head in his hand in exhaustion. On day 24, he's standing in active discomfort. Day 25 is the first time we see him say, fuck it, and eat the damn thing straight out of the bag in the grocery store. The goal changes to 40 chicken. And as Alex inches closer to 30 rotisserie chickens with polar seltzer at the end of October 2020,

the internet is growing interested. He hits 30 chickens on October 27th, and it's a post. He's sitting at the same table at the restaurant he works at, Alex's looking full of sodium and triumph, as he sits before an uneaten rotisserie chicken with candles that announce 30, along with a little CVS centerpiece. 64 retweets, 830. six favorites. We're cooking. Later that day, things really start to kick up. Alex posts an image to

Twitter, one that will live on in temporary internet infamy, into the literal day that I'm writing this. It's a simple white poster with three pictures of him eating chicken in distress and the following announcement in all caps. Come and watch me eat an entire rotisserie chicken. November 6th will be the 40th consecutive day that I have eaten an entire rotisserie chicken. 12 o'clock, noon. The chicken will be consumed on that abandoned pier near Walmart. And most critically, this is not a party. This poster is just decisive and weirdly phrased enough that it starts to do numbers online.

Because as I said, Philadelphia is a sports town, and the combination of a contentious midterm election coming up in a week and two important teams still in play, at the time the poster launched, the Phillies were headed for the World Series, and Philadelphia Union was set to compete in the Major League Soccer Cup. Philly was up. And Alex continued in the days leading up to what I've decided to call the event. And here's where the story balloons from local weirdo does thing near the docks, to a full-blown national human interest story. And can I just say, human interest pieces have got to be some of the most dreadful writing on the face of the fucking planet.

Every single one of these stories lightly echoes the other, reducing the human it claims to be interested in with the same three or four collection of traits, no matter who's reporting it. Anyways, here's what the New York Times said. The city had lost the World Series and the Major League Soccer Cup final on Saturday in a span of about five hours.

But at 12 p.m. on Sunday, at an abandoned pier along the Delaware River, a bearded man and a white-sleeveless shirt sat at a makeshift table and stared intently at the plate as dozens gathered around. They braced for gusts of wind in order to cheer him

in the final stretch of a self-imposed challenge to devour 40 rotissory chickens in 40 days. Maybe the man, Alexander Timminsky, 31, would like to be the one to bring them redemption

after a miserable weekend filled with defeat. Most of these pieces, the one in Food Network magazine, the one in Philadelphia magazine, the one in the Philly Inquirer, and on and on, all feature the same matters of information. Alexander Timminsky is 31. His day job is server at restaurant,

and all of this somehow has to do with Philadelphia sports. And from where I'm sitting, and the main character's opinion, the story is even less complicated than this implies. eyes. But I'm getting ahead of myself. In the 10 days leading up to the event, Alex introduces cauliflower florets as a side dish to the chicken on day 34. He's pulling over a thousand likes on every chicken post by day 35, 22,000 likes by day 37. And on the eve of the 40th rotisserie chicken, a picture of Alex palming a chicken on the pier and scowling has 46,000 likes.

And then it happened. On the morning of November 6th, 22 at 9.21 a.m. Alex tweeted, I hope they greased the poles. At 1123 a.m., he posted the tableau of where he'd be eating, as promised, on that abandoned pier near Walmart. And while, as he said, it was not a party, a makeshift red carpet was held down with bricks leading up to a simple table with a white tablecloth. The setup is as it was in the previous 39 days, a rotisserie chicken, a polar seltzer, a single seat. At 11.53 a.m., he posted a picture of his view from the table with a caution tape line across the end of the red carpet, where a crowd of hundreds of people are gathering to watch the 40th chicken be consumed.

Alex enters through the, I have to admit, very polite crowd, and walks to the right of the red carpet. He's really big on this not being a party. There's no music playing, and he doesn't seem to be interested in interacting with the most festive thing about the space, the carpet. One of the assembled members asks him where the chicken came from. The crowd continues to grow as the noon start time eke's closer and Alex keeps the crowd laughing in the meantime. I'm just worried about the chicken right now. That's it. Five, four, three, four, three, two, two, one.

The clock strikes noon. The whole event takes about an hour, and Alex is milking it. seasonably warm day, but still pretty windy right on the pier. And the act of eating 40 chickens is so intense on the body that no one is surprised when the chicken man needs to remove layers until he's down to that white tank top that men wear that's nicknamed after domestic violence. It's an undershirt. It's a white undershirt. We can retire the other word. And as the chicken man gets closer, wincing through it, crushing the water bottle beside his trusty polar seltzer, the crowd starts to get rowdy. But to be clear, this is not.

not a party. And when that, chicken men, chicken man. And when that last piece of heavily processed chicken clears, Bruce Springsteen's

Streets of Philadelphia begins to play. And the crowd is permitted to rush past the yellow caution tape and embrace the chicken man in celebration. He gives a short speech

announcing to the crowd, I'm no hero. I'm but a man. I ate the chicken. I did the best I can. I just thank you all for being here and thanks for watching me consume. His final tweet on the matter has 138,000 likes and 9,700 retweets. It's a picture of Alex, his face flushed with sodium and adrenaline, holding the empty rotissory chicken tray above his head in celebration, shouting to the crowd of thrilled Philadelphia denizens. He's done it. It's captioned. 40 days eating an entire rotissory chicken, hashtag chicken.

When we come back, I walk from my friend's apartment in South Philly to go and see the chicken man. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebeney, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebeney, and every Tuesday I'll be sharing all new anonymous. the stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. On Pretty Private, we'll explore the untold experiences of women of color who faced it all, childhood trauma, addiction, abuse, incarceration, grief, mental health struggles, and more, and found the shrimp to make it to the other side. My dad was shot and killed in his house. Yes, he was a drug dealer. Yes, he was a confidential informant, but he wasn't shot on a street

corner. He wasn't shot in the middle of a drug deal. He was shot in his house, unarmed. Pretty Private isn't just a podcast. It's your personal guide for turning storylines into lifelines. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. My name is Ed. Everyone say hello, Ed. from a very rural background myself my dad is a farmer and my mom is a cousin

so like it's not like what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke but that really was my reality nine years ago I just normally do straight stand-up but this is a bit different on stage stood a comedian

with a story that no one expected to hear 22nd of July 2015 a 23 year old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack,

where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up. a shoe with some bones in it. They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change.

Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny. you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, got you. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors.

And you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Authrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to 16th Minute. I was the president of something I called Mad Cow Club in the fourth grade. And I'll say it again, it was not my plan to interview the chicken man.

But as I walked down the street to where the chicken man lives with his wife and his dog in South Philly on that Saturday, 420, to be exact, I couldn't help but think it was meant to be. I'd been having a hard week, and it would turn into a few hard weeks. But Philly was kind of my last stop to really enjoy myself with my friends, and I wanted to make the most of the day. The chicken man had replied to my DM on Twitter within a few days and said he was usually available Saturday afternoons. Just let him know where we should meet. I thought about asking him if I should bring chicken, but then remember it, ah, fuck, when I was writing about hot dogs, the last thing I wanted to do was eat a hot dog with a stranger.

So instead I asked him if he wanted Dunkin' Donuts. He didn't. And when I got to his house, he answered the door and a home-making. Philly's hat. I had a lovely time. Here's my talk with the chicken man. And just so you know, this interview has been edited for time and clarity. Okay, first, if you could just introduce yourself. Sure. My name's Alexander Timminsky. Thank you so much for welcoming me into your lovely home. Yeah, my humble abode. Yes. I mean, I feel like people say that in Philly, and then you're like, this is the nicest place I've ever seen in my life. In comparison to New York City, I would say.

Well, I guess I'll just, how are you? How are things? How's life? Things are good. You know, everyone has their ups and downs. But for the most part, I've been feeling pretty optimistic when I wake up every day. So it's been, I guess it's been, what, a year and a half now since. Yep, just about. It was November of, I think, 20, 22. Mm-hmm. Since the incident. The incident. So I guess for context, I've done, I was trying to figure out how. I was going to write it out in the show. I was like, I've done protracted almost performance already internet stuff before, but I've never completed it. And I feel like it's, I mean, on my end,

it was almost certainly because I was too ambitious and I was like, I'm going to eat a whole copy of Infinite Jest was the goal. Like, that would kill you. You can't do that. It wouldn't be easy, but maybe your body would acclimate after Chapter 3. Yeah, then it really picks up and you're Like, no, I still kind of like, I don't really, I didn't read it. But you completed a challenge that you set for yourself. How did you get there? What was, where did the idea come from? Sure.

So I guess I just ate a whole, whole chicken and it felt really good. I'm a very impulsive person. So I'll get like micro-obsessions about certain things. And sometimes it's outland. But, yeah, I just felt this strong urge to just keep going. And there really wasn't any reason to it at all. What are other examples of micro-obsessions of yours? I got really obsessed with cracking bullwips for a while.

Wow. Yeah. Right now I'm getting my ass kick by 13-year-olds on chest, online chess. Okay, okay. I was doing this one really strange thing where I was cutting traffic cones with copper wire in my basement. To what end?

The very end. Okay. What was it for, though? It just felt really relaxing to do. Really? Yeah, like I'd come home from work and you would start, you know, rubbing the wire against the cone

and then you'd see, like, smoke coming up off it. And then once you got a nice ring, it felt. And then you could also see on the ground all these rings of the cone, and you kind of felt this, I don't know, like, oh, you're being productive. You can see the evidence of your hard work. I feel like that applies to the chicken challenge, too. I'm very satisfied by that kind of activity, too, where you can actually physically see this is what I have done.

Yeah, absolutely. What would you do with the chunks of traffic? common one's there? I think it's, yeah, it's still down in the basement, like kind of tucked away in a corner. There's just a nest of copper wire and, you know, pieces of traffic on. Yeah, so sometimes I'll forget that it's down there and then I'll see it and I'll be like, oh yeah, I remember that really strange obsession that I had that I really didn't tell much people about because it would probably seem a little bit alarming. That's good. I mean, most people just, like, like play the drums or something.

Yeah. But you're innovating. So you've always sort of had this kind of hyperfixation personality. Since you were really young, where did you grow up? Take it back to the beginning, chicken man. Yeah, so I grew up in Rhode Island. And I was always a pretty strange kid. And the thing is, I didn't realize how strange I was.

but people would make sure to tell me how strange I was. Yeah. Not in a bad way, but, yeah, just my brain has always seemed to navigate the world a little bit differently, if that makes any sense. Yeah, I used to, like, bring wild dogs into school. What? Yeah, I was doing this thing where there was, like, stray dogs for some reason near my school, and I would bring them in, bring them into class. Big dogs, small dogs? Well, there was one dog I bring in twice.

Okay. So I guess I've only done it three times. Three times feels like a habit. Yeah, and I feel like I did it also to just, you know, get a rise out of some of the other students, if that makes any sense. It does, yeah. No, when I was a kid, I mean, I did, I kept a lot of it to myself. It was more of a copper wire in the basement kind of thing. Okay, so you grew up in Rhode Island.

And how do you end up in Philadelphia? I used to play music, and I played in Philly a few times. What kind of music? More like kind of like avant-garde sound stuff. Okay. Sometimes performative as well. Like, I would basically just buy different electronics and then pour water on it. it. Whoa. Yes. And then the water would react to, or the electronics would react to the water.

It felt really pure, like this is the exact sounds that need to be made because the water is like kind of the one in control. Right. And I could only use them once, so I'd have to spend a lot of money on this stuff. And then I'm kind of upset about it now because I use a lot of tape machines. Yeah. And the inflation on those machines are astronomical. I'd probably be pretty rich if I... So I guess I'm a bit of a masochist now that I think about it. I mean, that is really interesting.

I mean, I guess that means you can perform live rarely. Is that... Yeah, occasionally. And I'd like to backtrack. I meant my wife in Providence or to be... Yeah, she lived in Philly, so... Oh, okay. That's what sealed the deal.

Nice. Well, I do have to say that Philadelphia is the best city in the entire world. I agree with you. Yeah, there's an air of honesty that I just crave. And everyone is just so real. And everyone's kind of like going through the shit. And like we all realize it. And it's like almost like we're all in the same team.

But a team that also hates each other. When did you get to Philly? I think it was about nine years ago now. Okay. It was crazy. When I first moved here, It seemed like the locals, like, somehow new. What do you mean?

Like, people would yell out at the window of their car. A lot of heckling for no reason. Yeah. And then once maybe a certain time passes, or you like this weird, like spiritual energy of Philly, like floods your brain and your blood, then they know that you're here now. So, yeah, I'm definitely acclimated because no one.

one yells at me anymore. I'm coming back around to the chicken, I promise. I am interested to hear that you were an artist because in all of the articles, it's so funny, like, reading through, and you're only identified as a server in all of these articles. Was that intentional? Was that just sort of how it went? Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much it. I had no intention of being like, oh, I'm creating this art piece. I think I was just doing this thing. I mean, maybe my inner artistic self kind of had some sort of influence, but I didn't set out to do it as a sense of for art. And for that reason, I didn't want to say, oh, I'm an artist. I never tell anyone I'm an artist. I'm just, I think I'm just a weird guy navigating a weird world, weird world. Yeah, that's all I am

right now as a server, which I'm flying to say. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. To me, it feels like an art piece. And this was sort of a continuous thing throughout the coverage of it. There's like this purity to it because I think so many of the stories that I've covered or found online there is this, it starts as a pure thing and then becomes something that is eventually monetized or like continued or merchandised or whatever it is. And sometimes, like, whatever, I'm not passing judgment. But that seems to be the general tendency. So when you started, it was for fun. What made you decide to continue? Why, 40? Very Christ-like. Yeah. Well, it became something that, like, I enjoyed. I really

enjoyed eating it. And then slowly, it turned into something that was really challenging. And I like the idea of like feeling the pain and to like push through it and to like kind of focus on this transition of something that's so tasty, so good into something that's barely tolerable. Yeah, just to push through felt good. I was going to go to 30 and then 30 just didn't feel right. And then so 40 seemed like the right number. And a lot of people going back to the monetization thing offered me. a lot of money to like sponsor the next event to do this and that but it had to be finished at

40 because it just felt like that was it felt like the end of the book or something like as much as people offered me it would destroy the whole purpose of it because I didn't do it to make money I don't want to turn it into something that's for money I did it for myself and it ended up being something that made a lot of people happy which that in itself was rewarding a enough. Yeah. I mean, and that was something as I was reading through these pieces that it seems like people who, especially people who came to kind of this grand finale really valued and appreciated was the fact that it hadn't turned into a graven thing, even though, and I don't know if they would have known that you had those opportunities. When did that, when did the project

like start picking up and changed from like, this is something that you're friends and maybe Philly knows about to something bigger? Sure. So the whole, like, kind of midway through, I was, my brain was, like, cycling all these ideas. And then I would focus back on the chicken thing because it almost had a sense of routine and stability. It became. So I was like, maybe I'll, like, eat it on the pier, the last one. And because it would be so much fun if, like, I was the only one there. Yeah. And if there were people there, that would be cool, too. Alone, it's like a Norman Rockwell painting kind of. So there was one day I had to go to work in like two hours. And I was like, okay, I'm just going to do this.

I made a poster on Photoshop within like 10 minutes. And I printed out like 15 posters. And I can be kind of shy at points. Even online, I don't really post first. often. And it was really hard for me to even put up the posters because I didn't want to concern anyone or I just, I don't know. People would be surprised to hear it, but I'm a very shy person. And so I put all the posters up and it was really exciting at the end of it because I went all the way down near like Cheesesteak Avenue. And as I was walking back home, each poster

at each poll there was like six people like looking at it and that's cool so it it's really i don't think this whole thing was like spiritual in any sense but it had this weird power that i don't know i think myself and other people really um felt it and yeah it felt good to share and it also felt really good that growing up and being afraid of exposing some of the weird side of me was accepted. Yeah. Not only by people with like a creative mind, but every sector chapter of, it seemed like it was widely accepted, which has really helped me feel good about who I am and the fact that I can be exactly who I am.

And if you do that, people will definitely cherish and accept it. We'll be right back with more of my interview with The Chicken Man. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebeney, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebeney, and every Tuesday I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. On Pretty Private, we'll explore the untold experience. of women of color who faced it all, childhood trauma, addiction, abuse, incarceration, grief, mental health struggles, and more, and found the stream to make it to the other side. My dad was shot and killed in his house.

Yes, he was a drug dealer. Yes, he was a confidential informant, but he wasn't shot on a street corner. He wasn't shot in the middle of a drug deal. He was shot in his house, unarmed. Pretty private isn't just a podcast. It's your personal guide for turning storylines into lifelines. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Sometimes it's hard to remember, but... Going through something like that is a traumatic experience, but it's also not the end of their life. That was my dad, reminding me and so many others who need to hear it, that our trauma is not our show. shame to carry and that we have big, bold, and beautiful lives to live after what happened to us. I'm your host and co-president of this organization, Dr. Lyotra Tate. On my new podcast, The Unwanted Sorority, we wade through transformation to peel back healing and reveal what it actually looks like, and sounds like in real time. Each week, I sit down with people who live through harm, carried silence, and are now

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My name is Ed. Everyone say, hello, Ed. I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer, and my mom is a cousin. So, like, it's not like... What do you get when a true question? producer walks into a comedy club. I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke,

but that really was my reality nine years ago. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. On 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house.

So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to 16th Minutes. I know what the chicken man's home address is. Here's the rest of our interview. I mean, I have a lot of questions about sort of that last day.

But leading up to it, just pragmatically, did you get the chicken from the same place every time? Did you mix it up? I mixed it up. Getting back to the fact that I have come to realize I'm a bit of a masochist is I would always try to choose the, like, the worst chicken. What qualifies as the worst chicken? Like super dry and unseasoned. Okay. So there is one place, Rittenhouse Market, which is right next to where I work.

And I got to say, the staff there are so nice. And it was really fun to see how confused and concern they were at the start. And then towards the end, before this even took off, they started to get kind of excited, which was fun. But they had the blandest chicken. So I would get that a lot. but it all depended on, like, what was available and where I was. Okay. So you were personally handpicking the rotissary chicken every day.

Oh, yeah. So most of them come in bags. Those are the ones I prefer because you can kind of touch it and feel it. The ones that are firmer were the ones that I would choose because, you know, the firmer ones were the driest. Right. How does your relationship to eating the chicken, whether it's duration, approach, whatever, how does it change over time? So to start, it was really quick.

I could probably do it in 15 minutes, no problem. And then when I started, I would use a fork and knife, which is kind of weird. As the days passed, it just became more barbaric. Use the hands. And then it would slowly take longer. By the end, and people think that I'm exaggerating, but it would really take about, like, sometimes two hours. And so my technique would kind of change, like I wouldn't be able to eat it before work because, you know, I had, or I'd go in super early and just before the staff got there and enjoy it, the hostesses would be there and they'd be like, oh, my God, Alex. There was definitely a clear transition from day one to day 40, which also made it interesting for me.

There ended up being like a water component at some point? Yeah, so when it gets dry, it. it's almost like dust or like, like, it's hard to explain. Right. It's like it would take longer because your mouth is just drying out with every single bite. From the salt too. Yeah, yeah. So I would use like sparkling water.

Okay. That seemed to help and kind of swish it around in my mouth. And it would create this almost like paste. And then I realized that if I put like a little bit of lime or lemon, that acid would, make it a bit easier as well. Okay. All the hot dog competitors will, you know, dip the buns in water and, like, have this wild technique that does sort of

enable them to almost kill themselves on TV every year. Are they required to drink the water? No. No. Oh, that's good. Yeah. There was one time that there was no chicken, so I had to result to, like, a garlic seasoned. Wow.

Brutal. I know. Thank you for your honesty. I don't think I've mentioned that yet. Can I, I mean, I'm just curious because I feel like every, you know, description of a corporate offer feels a little cursed. Do you remember sort of the nature of how people were approaching you? What kind of stuff were you being offered?

Yeah, like every angle, when someone gets a lot of attention, I think people want to like latch on to it like there was there was an election day yeah it was the following day and there was different politicians trying to get in touch with me really or their staff at the very least so they were calling like the restaurant I work at and like trying to get my phone number somehow I have no idea how someone got my number and was texting me and it was like can you please come down and do what you did and eat a chicken for democracy Like, come on. If, like, at least it, like, asked me, like, for an endorsement.

Right. Or something. But I wanted to leave politics out of all of this because it's for everyone, really. Different grocery stores, different sponsorship offers. People were asking to make the poster a, what's that crypto thing where they take pictures or, like, posters? Oh, like an NFT? Yeah, someone offered me, and who knows if this was true or not, but they seemed like a legit source, $100,000 to make it an NFT,

and then also I would get like a percentage from each sale of the NFD. Okay. But that seems so stupid, so I pass that up. Yeah, I don't want to like go into it too much, but I was offered a lot of money. People were trying to send me their like, clothing brands to like for free but clearly they wanted me to like post about it um wear it while eating chicken something like that yeah um yeah pretty much every stupid thing you could think of yeah

it's funny because i think about like the and not to like generalize where i live too much but um i think about like this happening to anyone in l.A and how quickly they're like yep great let's do it it It feels very filly to be like, no, fuck that. Yeah, exactly. Fuck that. And there's, I mean, I'm in a lot of credit card debt, sadly. But there's times from like, oh, man, maybe I should have done one or two of those things. And then I snap back to reality.

I'm like, no, I wouldn't change anything. I mean, I could have juiced this easily. I could have gone to 50. I could have gone to 60. Yeah. I could have gone to 360. but I wasn't looking to chase and get more out of it when it ended. That was, it was complete.

I think it's interesting to hear that people wanted to extend it too because that makes me, I don't know, I'm like hot dog killed, but like that reminds me a lot of that sort of world too where it's like it's just like a push to hurt yourself. Yeah, a lot of people were into it for that reason, which is fine. You know, a lot of people were into it for their own reason. Yeah, I think I made a post, like, after the 40th, I was like, I'm done eating chicken, you sickos. How did you feel at the end of the 40 days physically? My body was super severely affected. Like, a lot of those chickens are pumped with hormones, and then they actually take, like, saline baths. That's what makes them, like, really salty and tasty.

okay so my stomach was just so twisted that I had zero appetite I would get like cramps my joints would hurt which is weird oh and then you know with not having an appetite it would make me really fatigued and and it took like a week after I finished for my body to reacclimate to you know my regular self have you returned to rotatory chicken in all since um um I ate one piece not to be rude for this one interview. They surprised me with it, and it was on that pier. Yeah. And I took one bite, and it was a great reminder of why I will never eat another rotisserie chicken probably for the rest of my life. I mean, that seems probably for the best. I mean, I want to go through the final day. So you hang up the signs.

At what point do you, how far in advance do you hang up the signs for the final day, do you remember? I can't remember. I think it was five days, maybe seven. And so going into that day, do you remember, like, what, did you have any expectations of how the day was going to go? You made note that it was not a party. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was just, like, I'm there to, like, go to war. You know what I mean? Yeah. I didn't want people, like, drinking beers and, like, bringing their Hulu loops. Is that how do you say it? Hulu loops. I just

associate that with like large gatherings for some reason. Yeah, I feel like it's almost like Coachella. It's turning into Reto's Free Chicken Coachella. Yeah, I did not want that. It was more of like a stand and watch. But it seemed like people did that

anyways. Yeah, there was a few people that drank beer. Well, there was some laughter. But the cool thing is there was less laughter, more like excitement. As I am shy, I normally am comfortable and like performing in front of a lot of people. But it's different when people are watching you eat. It's a very vulnerable thing. And then like imagine if like I got like stage fright and couldn't eat the chicken,

how different all of this would have been. I would have turned around and probably jumped in the water and swam to Camden. It would have been cool. It would have been cool. And then your wife was at the event too. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm curious, I mean, as this is gaining momentum throughout the month plus it's going on, what do they say when they realize that you're doing this? Or they're like, oh, yeah, this is an Alex thing. This makes sense. Well, I brought it up to Mallory. like kind of when I was just like brain like I thought of the idea and I told her and she seemed really like she was like oh yeah okay Alex sure and then once it picked up I don't know she was like oh Alex is actually onto something not that she doesn't support all of that stuff she would have

been maybe the only one there watching me eat the chicken and she would have had a big smile on her face. But it was nice because some people were pretty confused, especially in my family. And the funny thing is, it's interesting how, you know, a lot of people accepting something can give them validation or something, you know what I mean? I feel like there is a shift once what you're doing is validated by something larger than yourself that all of a sudden people who I'm close with, I mean, like their attitude towards all of a sudden it was like a little cooler that I was doing this disgusting thing I'd been doing for three months. Yeah. I mean, I was concerned with my family thinking that

I was having like a mental breakdown or something. So I didn't post it on Instagram. That's why I use Twitter because most of my family doesn't use Twitter. Good for them. Yeah, I know. Right. Yeah, at a certain point I started posting it on my stories. And I think one of them was like, Alex, everything okay. Yep. I think that's the sign of a good family member. You've got to check in when you see your loved one becoming the chicken man. But my last question about the final event is that you made some kind of speech once the job was done. Was this planned? Did you write it? Did you write it? Did it just come out of you? Yeah, it just came out of me. I like to do everything off the cuff. Like, that's why I really enjoyed making the music I made because vulnerability I crave and

it does add a sense of purity for sure. And so I don't remember what I said. Something about, oh, they're yelling hero. Yes. Hero, hero. And I said, I am no hero. I've got it here. Oh, yeah, what is it? You said, I'm no hero. I'm but a. man. I ate the chicken. I did the best I can. I just thank you all for being here. And thanks for watching me consume. Oh, yeah. That's a good way to end it. I didn't think they'd be calling me hero for eating chicken. You know, how could I expect something like that? For some reason, it was often like, oh, there were two championships that Philadelphia lost. And then the chicken man took it home for everyone. Did you feel connected to that narrative at all? It was just when I saw

come up a lot. Yeah. I thought it was. It was really cool that it happened that way. There's nothing I enjoy more than making people happy. I'm like getting emotional. But, yeah, I was really lucky that I got to comfort the city of Philadelphia. It was a really nice perk to the whole thing. I mean, Philly loves their sports, so people were broken in half for sure. But, yeah, I feel really fortunate.

that I got to, you know, lighten up their day somehow. And just going back to, like, how you described, you know, people yelling at you and sensing the newness to Philly on you when you arrived to, you know, whatever, seven or so years later, this, like, huge embrace from the entire city. That's so cool. Yeah, it was a, I'm a really lucky guy because a lot of people do really interesting stuff and stuff that's even more impressive than what I did. eating the chicken wasn't that impressive, but I got lucky that it took off. It was a very

lucky thing to happen. 18 months later, how do you feel about having done this? You know, when it first happened, it was very overwhelming. The day after, when it was really everywhere, I was driving and called Mal. And I was like, I got to stay out of the city. and I got a hotel room in Trenton, New Jersey, and for some beautiful reason, my phone broke. Oh, that rocks. And so I was just left to, like, myself to internalize everything. And that sort of feeling lingered a bit.

It was very confusing and overwhelming. It was extreme. I got very depressed, actually. really yeah i got really it was everyone reacts to different things in their own way but yeah yeah it was like it kind of fucked me up for sure what was it bringing up for you i'm sorry like and like what was sort of prompting that uh it was like my reality that i was very comfortable with um that felt routine um was disrupted yeah everything thing from people trying to, like, leach off the attention, throw me money. It pissed some people

off, too. People were like, oh, he's, he just wanted to be famous, which is such a stupid thing. Like, I was eating chicken. Narcissists were finding, or finding, like, a tool or vessel to release their anger. Yeah. But then there was people that, you know, enjoyed it. And that, that helped balance it out. But slowly, I guess I acclimated to the attention and it's weird. It really hasn't gone to my head at all. I think it's interesting too, just that like there's been no story regardless of what it is or what is actually happening within the story that doesn't come with this wave of reactionary like anger, which seems like too much for one person to have to absorb? Yeah, yeah. It took a lot of energy to absorb. I would kind of hang out in the house

a lot and not go out very much. It was psychotic. I'm like walking down the street and like people were, you know, running up to me or I think someone threw like trash out their window at me. So it was like all these extremes. Oh my God. Yeah. But the narcissists have found other things to worry about. So now it's pretty much positive reactions, which is nice. I don't know. I I do struggle with depression a bit. And so that's, like, one little element that can kind of help pull me out, knowing that, and I keep saying it over and over again, but to, like, make other people feel good, makes me feel good.

That's my reaction to it. So it really has helped me a lot in the long room. That's amazing. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for this. Such a pleasure. I really appreciate it. I really, I am just so grateful that you found this interesting enough to talk about, I guess.

Oh my God. No, I was really, really excited that you wanted to talk. And also, I just feel like there's, like, a unique purity to this saga. Well, I also got to thank you for not asking me the same stupid-ass questions. Thanks so much to Alex for inviting me into his home, to Alex's wife, Mallory, for taking the dog out for about an hour or so so I could come by and see you next time you're in Boston. I mean, what else is there to say?

Actually, this, because I was unsure where to put this in the episode, and I say this as a hot dog and processed meat scholar. Even if you are not a vegetarian, the vast majority of rotisserie chickens on shelves have died horrific deaths in processing plants where the human employees are treated nearly as bad. It is an absurdly frustrating and complicated issue whose villain is squarely the owners of the plants themselves, who have routinely abused animals and not allowed death with dignity, all while cutting corners with employee safety and pretty. producing a tremendously unhealthy product for a majority poor consumer base. Fuck Tyson Foods, fuck Smithfield. I write about it extensively in my book, but it felt bizarre to have an episode that so thoroughly addressed processed processed meat without mentioning that. But as for the chicken man himself, he's still polarizing in some circles of die hard,

what does it mean to be from Philadelphia types? And I get it. I get it the same way when someone living from Boston does something to Boston. But the more time that passes, the more the chicken man's legend becomes solidified. As far as the kinds of art side projects that Alex talked with me about, there is one more thing I want to say. Something I think is kind of funny. In 2023, Alex was spotted selling T-shirts on the side of the road in South Philly that read, this is not a party. I spoke with several South Philly residents who recognized the chicken man back at it, and a few

of them even took him up on the $25 price point. And just days before I'm recording this, An imposter surfaced. A man in New York, masked like a coward, started fliring with a poster in Alex's exact style. The poster reads, Watch me eat this entire jar of cheeseballs. Union Square Park, April 27th, 3 p.m. Alex responded in stride,

posting a screenshot of a news report on ABC with the cheeseball controversy. The Chiron reads, Chicken Man Rip-off? He captions the image. It can't be a rip-off. off because this cheeseball guy didn't eat them for 40 days. Also was clearly a party. Everyone on that pier was simply there to see me go to war. Very different. Hashtag Philly. But in a town like Philadelphia, they don't take kindly to their heroes being threatened. A Philly resident named Eric Fink

quote tweeted the cheeseball guy sign, replying, New York just ripping off our chicken man, be original NYC. Our chicken man. And so, the chicken man enters the pantheon of local legend. But as for here, Philadelphia Chicken Man, your 16th minute ends now. And for this week's moment of fun, our amazing executive producer, Sophie Lichten, sent me this TikTok of an old man who wears a t-shirt with the barcode for rotisserie chickens at Costco to, expedite the process of buying rotissary chickens at Costco. Enjoy. See you next week. You know who I am. I don't want any trouble. I got five chickens. I don't want any LED on them. None. Scan my shirt five times, buddy. Five times. That's a regular credit card. I need the Costco. Okay. Hold on. I got one. There you go.

I don't want to charge it on this car. I want to put it on this car. Scan it. I think he's a TikTok. I think he's a TikTok. Scan it. I did. Okay.

Done. Done. 16th Minute is a production of Cool Zone Media and IHeart Radio. It is written, posted, and Produced by me, Jamie Loftus. Our executive producers are Sophie Lichten and Robert Evans. The Amazing Ian Johnson is our supervising producer and our editor. Our theme song is by Sad 13.

And pet shoutouts to our dog producer Anderson, My Cats Flea and Casper, and my pet rock bird who will outlive us all. Bye. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebeney, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are. set free. I'm Ebeney, and every Tuesday, I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the IHeart

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