A man named Cubby, who lives above several chicken restaurants, hates the smell. When a woman in the park tells him he smells of chicken, he goes insane and decides to get rid of every chicken in the world. He goes to the library to check some occult books out, but runs into Egon, who's after the same books. He warns Cubby that the books are dangerous, but Cubby ignores Egon and runs out screaming about chickens.
While the Ghostbusters and Slimer do their usual in the firehouse, Cubby uses the books he borrowed to summon a demon named Morganon. When Cubby explains that he wants to get rid of the world's chickens, Morganon is dismayed at such a "wasteful" wish but grants it anyway by giving Cubby the power to make whatever he wants appear or disappear.
The next morning, Cubby uses his powers to make all the chickens in the world, plus a chicken-shaped sign, disappear. The Ghostbusters get called about this, and Egon remembers Cubby from the library, so goes back and gets his address from the librarian (who has a crush on him). The Ghostbusters confront Cubby, who sends them to the same dimension he sent the chickens.
There, they fall and are about to fall to their death when they land in the Underworld. Morganon reveals that the bargain he struck with Cubby has made him a laughingstock, so he asks them to help undo it. The Ghostbusters agree, so Morganon sends them home.
Egon makes some animatronic chickens, and they use them to trick Cubby into thinking that when they came back, so did the chickens. Cubby tells the chickens to "go back where you came from", which returns the real chickens. Thus, Morganon breaks the contract and removes Cubby's powers. The Ghosbusters then take Cubby to a loony bin, where Morganon trolls him by disguising himself as a nurse and offering him chicken.
This episode provides examples of
- Animal Gender-Bender: One of the animatronic chickens resembles a hen, but crows, which in real life, only roosters do.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: Besides real chickens, a plaster replica at the nearby restaurant was also made to disappear.Chef: Who'd want a 500-pound plaster chicken?
Peter: I dunno. A 2-ton plaster wolf? - Badass in Distress: Subverted when the Ghostbusters appear to be falling to their deaths, but are harmlessly transported to the Underworld.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: While Cubby doesn't want people to eat chicken, he also doesn't like living chickens and sends them to another dimension.
- Balking Summoned Spirit: "Chicken, He Clucked" has a man named Cubby calling on a demon named Morganan, and demands Morganan get rid of all the chickens in the world (Cubby lives over a Chicken restaurant and is tormented by the smell). Morganan is embarrassed by the request, and tries to talk Cubby into quite a few other ideas, but Cubby is firm. He wants rid of the chickens. Morganan offers to give him power to make things appear, and disappear at will. Morganan ends up enlisting the help of the Ghostbusters after word of the deal spreads through the underworld and ruins Morganan's reputation.
- Batman Gambit: Morganon can only break the contract and remove Cubby's power, if the guy puts everything back the way it was. Egon thinks to create some animatronic chickens to trick Cubby into thinking they're back. He correctly banks on Cubby using Exact Words rather than a more specific command.
- Big "NO!": Cubby yells, "NO!" when the chickens come back.
- Big "WHAT?!": What Morganon shouts when Cubby first tells him he wants to get rid of all chickens.
- Black Comedy: Morganon says, "See you later... or one of you", implying that one of them will be going to Hell.
- Brought Down to Normal: Morganon removes Cubby's powers.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Morganon's little imp happily told their cohorts all about the chicken deal, making Morganon a laughingstock.
- Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: The morning is punctuated with a rooster crowing.
- Cuckoo Finger Twirl: As Morganon rants about Cubby's deal, Ray does this towards Winston. Morganon notices and yells at Ray to knock it off.
- Distressed Dude:
- Does Not Like Spam: Exaggerated for Cubby, who literally goes insane over the smell of cooked chicken.
- Enemy Mine: Morganon saves the Ghostbusters from certain death so that they can trick Cubby into breaking the contract.
- Exact Words: Cubby commanded all chickens "go back where you came from" and got exactly that in the worst way.
- Flashy Teleportation: Morganon teleports in puffs of smoke.
- Flight: Morganon can fly.
- Gallows Humor: While falling to his death along with the other Ghostbusters, Egon jokingly suggests using parachutes, knowing full well they have none.
- Greed: Discussed when Morganon wonders if what Cubby wants is wealth.
- Green and Mean: Morganon keeps a green imp as a pet.
- Happy Dance: Cubby dances happily after getting powers.
- Hidden Depths: Slimer is revealed to be able to do math (though not as well as Egon).
- I'm Not Doing That Again: After everything is back to normal, the guys haul Cubby off to the nearest mental hospital. He could obviously benefit from that, but they also don't want to risk him dabbling with the supernatural again.
- Immortality: Discussed when Morganon wonders if Cubby wants to live together.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Peter flirts with the librarian by saying he reads the most out of the Ghostbusters... and then Egon shows up with a whole stack of books.
- Laughing Mad: The lunatic Cubby laughs a lot.
- Lean and Mean: Cubby, who has no problem transporting both chickens and humans to another dimension, is very scrawny.
- Lightbulb Joke: While insanely obsessing over chickens, Cubby babbles, "How many chickens does it take to change a lightbulb?!".
- Little "No": Cubby, upon seeing the Ghostbusters are back in town.
- Long List: At the beginning, someone lists a lengthy list of chicken dishes over a loudspeaker.
- Love Triangle: Peter has a crush on the librarian, who has a crush on Egon.
- Mythology Gag: When Morganon implies one of the Ghostbusters will go to Hell, the others all look at Peter, referencing the scene in the original movie where someone wrote on his office door for him to "burn in Hell".
- Nerds Are Sexy: The librarian is quite flirtatious with Egon, even trying to give him her address.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: During the falling scene, Ray wonders if he could make them have a soft landing, as though that would save them.
- Oblivious to Love: Egon doesn't notice the first time the librarian flirts with him (though he does notice the second time).
- Oh, Crap!:
- Egon says, "Oh no!" when he realises Cubby will send him and the others to the other dimension.
- Cubby yells, "Oh no! NO!" and looks up in fear when the chickens return.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Morganon saves the Ghostbusters from a deadly fall since they're the only ones who help restore his reputation and get the chickens out of the Netherworld.
- Sanity Slippage: Cubby's irrational hatred for chickens causes him to lose his mind.
- Sinister Schnoz: Cubby, who's a dangerous lunatic, has a large, pointy nose.
- Sleep Deprivation: Discussed when Peter wonders if Egon stayed up too late and isn't thinking clearly when he takes the others to the library.
- Speak in Unison: When Peter asks the others why they're staring at him when Morganon says he'll see one of them later, they reply at once, "No comment!".
- Stink Snub: What started Cubby's descent into madness was a woman telling him he smelled of chicken.
- Take That!: While imploring Cubby to make a different request, Morganon offers him control of France.Morganon: It's a really nice country. We have lots of people from France.
- Tempting Fate: Peter says that it's the kind of night where nothing can go wrong... and then we cut to Cubby summoning Morganon.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Egon in response to Cubby offering to show the guys where the chickens are.
- Token Evil Teammate: Morganon departs by saying he'll be seeing one of the Ghostbusters again someday. Peter then notices the others staring at him.
- Wasteful Wishing: Downplayed — wishing for all the chickens to disappear isn't as frivolous as, say, wishing for a snack, but it's still nothing compared to what he could have wished for (immortality, wealth, etc) and Morganon complains that it's a waste.
- Visible Odor: The smell of the cooked chicken is shown as steam.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Morganon's stunned reaction to Cubby simply wanting to make all chickens disappear.
