Preash: My Day as a Peacock

About a month ago, my boss somehow convinced me to dress up as our station's mascot, Rainbow the Peacock, for a pizza party at a school which donated the most toys for a toy drive. Apparently she was blown away by my previous mascot work as Stormy the Weather Bear. She said she needed someone who would go all out since there would be competition...Sir Purr, the Carolina Panthers' mascot. I tried to make it very clear to her that I really didn't wanna do it, but she pretty much insisted.

So the day came Wednesday. It wasn't until that day that I learned that this school at which I'd be performing was a middle school. Not an elementary school. Brutal. Now I was really not feelin' it. But there was no turning back.

Stevie 3-Times helped me try on the suit before we headed out. I was hoping it wouldn't fit, but apparently they make mascot costumes one-size-fits-all.

Click to enlarge

The transformation begins


Seven real peacocks were slaughtered to make the costume's fur


"Zip me up, sweetie?"


Three birds


:)


Stevie 3-Times gives me a hand...LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!1!11


Extreme concentration


It took 20 minutes to scrape out the brain and junk so I could fit my head inside


Receiving head from Stevie


Nearing completion


...


I never realized how creepy the lighting is in our office...Jesus


Snapping the chin strap


Even a full-body peacock costume can't hamper my hacky sack skills

The costume fit so we headed to the school and met up with Jennifer Copeland (holla!) and Sir Purr. Actually the guy who plays Sir Purr. He drives a special van which he changes in. I used the "health room" as a changing room.

The lunch periods were broken up into 6th, 7th and 8th grades and we visited them in that order. The 6th graders were pretty pumped, and 7th graders were less pumped, and the 8th graders didn't give a sh*t.

My 6th grade performance was pretty lackluster. I let Sir Purr lead the way and just kinda walked around. But my 7th grade performance was a stellar. I went all out.

Between one of those lunch periods we visited the special needs kids. That was pretty cool. They were excited and I danced with a few of them and took pictures.

At one point Stevie, myself and Sir Purr were all waiting back in the health room. Being the pro that he was, Sir Purr did not take off his head at all...even back where no one could see us. So the three of us talked about random mascot and football stuff and Stevie and I had to look Sir Purr is his panther eyes when talking to him. Stevie described it as the most surreal experience he's ever had. (On the drive back I learned that Stevie has deep-seeded issues with mascots. He said he was freaking out at one point when I was hugging him in costume and refused to let go...typical Ryan comedy.) Stevie tried to make me sound like a pro in front of Sir Purr by casually mentioning my gig as Stormy back in Oklahoma City.

So it was quite an experience. I can tell you it's better being a mascot in front of kids than it is in front of adults. At least the kids acknowledge your presence.

Please enjoy the film. If you open it up from YouTube, you can watch in high quality.

***A Preash Original***



Preash to Stevie 3-Times for the video and Tressel for the pics