Current Obsession: Keyboard Cat
June 1, 2009
By now you may have heard of Keyboard Cat, after all he’s been featured on CNN, The Daily Show, The MTV Movie Awards, and new videos are popping up every day. The premise is deceptively simple, really. Keyboard Cat sits at the sidelines, keyboard at the ready, and watches as someone unwittingly sets themself up for pain, failure, and general embarrassment, at which point he happily plays his ditty, effectively ushering them off the stage. Nothing left to see here, folks. Move it along.
It’s absurd, it’s stupefying, it’s downright life-affirming.
The Background:
So, I hate to break it to you, but Keyboard Cat is actually dead. The original video was filmed twenty years ago by Charlie Schmidt, a performance artist, and featured his cat Fatso playing two songs. (Actually, I’m kind of surprised that the second song hasn’t caught on. I think )
Charlie Schmidt uploaded the video of Fatso to YouTube in 2007, but Keyboard Cat first hit the masses on February 2nd, 2009 when Brad O’Farrel posted the first Keyboard Cat video, as we know it.
What You Need to Know:
Is it appropriate to send to coworkers?
For the most part, depending on how brutal the fail preceding keyboard cat is.
Will your mom like it?
She may not get it, but if she’s anything like my mom she’ll probably start to nod her head along to the music and the idea of a cute cat playing a keyboard will fill her with joy.
Why is it popular?
The Keyboard Cat meme panders to the internet’s love of both fail and funny cats. Basically, it’s the modern equivalent of America’s Funniest Home Videos minus the terribly scripted jokes.
Anything else?
If you’re feeling creative you can contribute to the keyboard cat compendium with Auto Keyboard Cat. But you may want to act quickly, it’s only a matter of time before Keyboard Cat will be all played out.
Related memes: Lolcats
