Archie McPhee

This guide to Archie McPhee in Seattle follows Mark Pahlow from his 1970s mail-order joke business to the storefront he opened in Fremont in July 1983, named for his wife's great-uncle, a jazz musician and prankster. It traces the rubber chicken's decades as comedy's cheapest punchline, from vaudeville stages to a French Revolution legend printed right on the tag, and the store's moves through Ballard and Wallingford. Listen for the squeak as you browse aisles of glow-in-the-dark aliens and bacon-scented air freshener.