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Dustin the Turkey, more commonly simply Dustin, is a popular Irish television puppet, star of RTÉ's The Den since the 1980s. He claims his full name is Dustin Hoffman. He joined the show with fellow puppets Zig and Zag but remained with the show since their departure in the late 1990s. He has also outlasted two human co-hosts: Ian Dempsey and Ray D'Arcy, making him the longest serving member of the on-screen cast of The Den. He makes appearances outside of The Den, including an annual appearance on The Late Late Show Toy Show special at Christmas where he makes fun of the show's regular host Pat Kenny, as he did with the previous host, Gay Byrne. A surprisingly provocative character, while he has been tamed down in recent years, Dustin would often make some very insulting remarks about various Irish celebrities and the services provided by RTE, and would say a lot of 'dodgy' things about politics and their practises that sometimes made one wonder how he got away with it. Insults targeted at County Leitrim came particularly thick and fast.

Music

Dustin has been a contender for the number one position in the Irish music singles chart at Christmas time and has had three number-one albums: Dustin: Not Just a Pretty Face, Dustin: Unplucked and Faith of Our Feathers. A further album after that was called Poultry in Motion. He released his Greatest Hits album in 2001, which featured just one new song, a dance remix of Sweet Caroline, which went on to become his last No.1 single. These albums have featured backing vocals from many Irish stars including Bob Geldof and Boyzone. Many of his songs are parodies of either folk songs or well known chart hits from across the decades. He famously made the news in Britain one year when he was number one in Ireland with his songs Christmas Tree and Rat Trap (a cover version of the Boomtown Rats song which he sang with Bob Geldof, and made fun of him throughout), when in just about every other country the Christmas number one spot went to the Spice Girls with their song 2 Become 1.

Of note was his song 32 Counties, in which he cited the wonders of each county in Ireland. Leitrim took another beating, as he dubbed it "a mistake." It seems that he finally pecked off more than he could chew, however, since subsequent showings of the song on The Den would blank that line out, and if it was discussed, he would have to profess that he "didn't remember" what he said about Leitrim.

Politics

Dustin has, on occasion, expressed an interest in politics. He has mockingly run campaigns for a number of presidential elections (though he was never an official candidate). He ran as a representative of 'Fianna Fowl' (a play on Ireland's largest political party Fianna Fáil) and of the 'Poultry Party'. His major campaign promise was to "bring the DART to Dingle", as well as making sure every young boy in Ireland got to go on a date with the Spice Girl of their choice. Many Irish voters have spoiled their votes by writing Dustin's name on their ballot papers.

Identity

The identity of the puppeteer responsible for Dustin is not common knowledge, though it is known that he attended school in north County Wicklow.

• Irish television
• Irish music