Dictionary definition of “chicken-in-a-basket”

chicken-in-a-basket

n. in attributive uses, connoting unsophisticated, unfashionable, or unoriginal entertainment, especially in a remote or rustic environment; in the form chicken-in-a-basket circuit, a series of performances by an unpopular or unfashionable group or entertainer at remote, small, or undesirable locations or events. Also chicken-in-the-basket. Subjects: English, United Kingdom, Entertainment

Editorial Note: Chicken-in-a-basket circuit is similar to rubber chicken circuit and mashed potato circuit in the United States. Etymological Note: Chicken-in-a-basket is a cheap, simple dish common at cheap, simple restaurants or dinner shows.

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Citations: [1986 David Sinclair Times (London, England) (Mar. 10) “o be or not to be one’s self / Review of Liza Minnelli at the Palladium”: Wearing a beaded scarlet top and black skirt, she began with the Irving Berlin standard “Blue Skies,” which suffered rough treatment at the hands of a ruinous chicken-in-the-basket funk rhythm.] 1989 Neil Lyndon Times (London, England) (July 24) “No room at the inn for a family”: We’ve seen previous attempts made to lift the place into the chicken-in-a-basket bracket and they’ve never come off. The pub has remained a pub and there was always a welcome in the family room. 1990 Joseph Gallivan Independent (London, England) (Feb. 15) “Warwick road to cabaret” p. 36: It is oversimplistic to dismiss her direct expressions and her extraordinary voice as chicken-in-the-basket sentimentality. 1992 Ben Thompson Independent (16) (May 17) “Crazy name, crazy dame”: The Royal Festival Hall is under seige by Goths. Not the part-time, chicken-in-the-basket variety, but the real thing; all dog chains, whey faces, and PVC trousers—people who need to listen to Leonard Cohen before they can face breakfast. 1994 Financial Times (U.K.) (May 18) “A Tribute To Gary Glitter” p. 19: the set and costumes are reminiscent of the troughs of Glitter’s career when he played the chicken-in-the-basket circuit—although I’m sure he never appeared at La Rue’s Codpiece, Didcot, as the script suggests. 1994 Nigel E. Richardson Usenet: alt.fan.madonna (Sept. 5) “Re: Madonna II?!!”: Consistency is death, singing the same song, over and over, becoming a parody, serving yourself up in Vegas for the chicken in the basket crowd. 1996 David Sinclair Times (London, England) (Apr. 15) “Ego Out Of Control”: Her choice of cover versions, including songs made famous by Peggy Lee, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone and Bobbie Gentry, underlined how far short of the standards of those great singers she fell, painfully so in the case of Fever and Son of a Preacher Man, performances which belonged in a chicken-in-the-basket environment. 1997 John Foyston Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) (Mar. 10) “Legg Fuses Passion, Method” p. C3: I was once in this apalling cabaret trio, and we were playing in Liverpool at a place that was part of what was known in England as the chicken-in-a-basket circuit. 2004 Dave Burke Pipeline Instrumental Magazine (U.K.) “Gypsy Noodle—Review”: Pitched towards the provincial chicken in the basket audience and relying on the common currency of familiar hit vocal tunes for material, Zoe has pursued a path somewhere near to those sterile market-survey constructed Shadows albums of the mid-eighties. 2005 Peter Holmes Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) (July 10) “Jet show their teeth” p. 14: Mocked in some quarters as the “chicken-in-a-basket” circuit for Zimmer frame entertainers, the Hilton’s dinner cabaret enabled two of life’s great pleasures—food and showbiz—to be enjoyed in a civilised manner. 2005 Philip Key Daily Post (Liverpool, England) (Aug. 19) “All of a sudden we’re legends”: But by the end of the decade, they hit some hard times, McNally admits. “It’s what I call our chicken-in-the-basket period when we played all the cabaret and social clubs. The social clubs in the North East were the worst.”

Posted 29 Aug 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

There my be an earlier reference from TV. On “The Bob Newhart Show”, Dr. Hartley took his group to a retreat at “Ken and Mitzi’s of the Woods”. The place had a really lame floor show and the only thing they could get was creamed-chicken-in-a-bask et.

by Rance 29 Aug 05, 0310 GMT

There are a number of earlier uses of chicken-in-a-basket associated with lame spectacles or cheesy downmarket entertainment, but the poultry dish doesn’t show up as a lexical item--that is, it appears specifically as something you eat, not as a figurative term that lends connotations to something else.

by Grant Barrett 29 Aug 05, 0328 GMT