Keyboard Cat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Keyboard Cat |
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A screenshot from the Keyboard Cat video
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| Directed by | Charlie Schmidt |
| Produced by | Brad O'Farrell |
| Starring | Fatso (aka Keyboard Cat) |
| Release date(s) | June 7, 2007 |
| Running time | 0:54 |
| Country | United States |
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Keyboard Cat is a famous internet meme that started with a video. The original video was made in 1984 by Charlie Schmidt. It showed his cat, Fatso, looking like she was playing a musical keyboard to a happy tune. Charlie Schmidt was actually moving Fatso's paws off-camera.
Schmidt put the video on YouTube in 2007. Later, in 2009, a person named Brad O'Farrell got Schmidt's permission to add the video to the end of funny blooper videos. It looked like the cat was "playing off" someone who made a mistake, similar to how performers were "hooked" off stage in old Vaudeville shows. This idea became very popular online, often called "Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat."
Even though Fatso passed away in 1987, Charlie Schmidt found other cats to be the "Keyboard Cat." Bento was the second Keyboard Cat until 2018. Now, the current Keyboard Cat is named Skinny.
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The Story of Keyboard Cat
The different Keyboard Cats have all been owned by Charlie Schmidt, who lives in Spokane, Washington, USA. The very first Keyboard Cat video was made by Schmidt in 1984. It starred Fatso, a female cat who lived from 1978 to 1987.
Schmidt filmed Fatso wearing a tiny blue T-shirt. She appeared to play a fast beat on a special musical keyboard. Schmidt was actually moving Fatso's paws from behind, and the shirt helped hide his hands. He made the video just for fun because he was bored.
Years after Fatso died, Schmidt put the video online on YouTube in June 2007. He first called it "charlie schmidt's "cool cat"." As the video became famous, he changed the title to "Charlie Schmidt's Keyboard Cat! - THE ORIGINAL!" By early 2023, this video had been watched over 70 million times!
Adding Schmidt's video to other funny or viral videos became very popular. These videos were often titled Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat or something similar. "Keyboard Cat" was even named the second greatest viral video by Current TV.
Brad O'Farrell asked Schmidt if he could use the video and if others could use it too. O'Farrell then added the Keyboard Cat video to the end of a clip showing someone in a wheelchair falling off an escalator. It looked like the cat was playing music to send the person off stage. O'Farrell posted his video in February 2009.
O'Farrell helped get his video featured on the front page of YouTube. This made many other users create similar videos. They would take "epic fail" videos and add the Keyboard Cat footage at the end. By May 2009, over 200 such videos had been made.
The meme became even more popular with attention from the news in May 2009. This included articles by the Associated Press and a message from Ashton Kutcher on Twitter. Even The Daily Show with Jon Stewart mentioned Keyboard Cat.
Keyboard Cat references kept growing throughout 2009, making it a well-known meme. At the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Andy Samberg joked that Keyboard Cat would play off winners who talked too long. Kato Kaelin also made fun of Keyboard Cat on the show Tosh.0. During Weezer's 2009 summer tour, Keyboard Cat would play the band off stage every night.
The Nintendo DS game Scribblenauts was shown at E3 2009. In the game, you can write words to make objects appear. One of the objects you could summon was "Keyboard Cat," which helped the game get attention.
New Keyboard Cats
Because Keyboard Cat was so popular, Schmidt adopted a male cat named Bento. Bento looked a lot like Fatso and became "Keyboard Cat 2.0." Schmidt shared a new video of Bento "performing" in March 2010, calling it "Keyboard Cat REINCARNATED!" This video was also used in many similar ways.
Bento passed away in March 2018, and many people online shared tributes. Schmidt wasn't sure if he would find another Keyboard Cat. But in March 2019, he announced his "Keyboard Cat 3.0," named Skinny. Skinny is a male cat Schmidt adopted in 2010, and he appeared in a new YouTube video.
In April 2020, the original YouTube channel where the video was uploaded was shut down after being hacked. It was later brought back, but the videos were not.
Famous Uses of the Meme
The Keyboard Cat meme has appeared in many different places:
- An easter egg in Activision Blizzard's game World of Warcraft: Cataclysm shows a character named Deathwing playing a keyboard.
- Ubisoft made a funny video for its game Splinter Cell: Conviction called "Play Him Off, Keyboard Sam."
- The Xbox Live Arcade game Earthworm Jim has a boss character inspired by Keyboard Cat.
The Keyboard Cat meme has also mixed with other memes:
- An 8-bit (old video game style) version of the cat and song was made.
- The online store Threadless sells a "Three Keyboard Cat Moon" T-shirt. This shirt is based on another famous design called "Three Wolf Moon." It was one of their most popular shirts.
- The shirt even appeared in a TV ad for the PlayStation 3 Slim game console.
- G4TV's Attack of the Show held a "Great American Keyboard Cat Competition." People could create their own Keyboard Cat art.
- The Tampa Bay Rays baseball team used a version called "Rays Keyboard Kitty" to cheer up their fans.
- On April 1, 2011, YouTube released a funny video showing "Top 5 Viral Pictures of 1911," which included a parody called "Flugelhorn Feline."
People have also changed the music in Keyboard Cat videos. For example, a video was made showing Keyboard Cat playing the theme song from the popular podcast Serial.
On the website for the game Bin Weevils, you can see a "bin pet" version of Keyboard Cat on a TV screen.
Some people jokingly call the Keyboard Cat video the "greatest music video ever." Even though the video is still on YouTube, the sound was removed due to copyright issues with Warner Music Group. This made some groups worried about how copyright rules might limit creative expression.
During Super Bowl LVII, the original Keyboard Cat video was shown in a YouTube TV ad. It was edited to show the cat playing the NFL Network theme music.
Keyboard Cat in Other Media
Besides being a meme, the Keyboard Cats have appeared in other movies and TV shows. These appearances usually refer to the famous meme.
- A 2010 TV ad for Wonderful Pistachios showed Bento cracking a nut while the song played.
- In 2014, Jimmy Kimmel Live! made a fake movie trailer called Ameowadeus. It was a funny version of the movie Amadeus. In the trailer, a character named Hamster On a Piano (played by Christoph Waltz) is jealous of Keyboard Cat (played by Kevin Spacey).
- Bento was in a movie ad for the UK's EE phone company. He also appeared in the 2014 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Bento also showed he was a fan of the Carolina Panthers in a National Football League ad during Super Bowl XLIX.
- Bento was the halftime show for the 2014 Puppy Bowl.
- The video was made fun of in the 2022 video game Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
- The video was mentioned in the 2022 Disney Channel show, Hamster & Gretel.
Legal Discussions
On June 21, 2011, Charlie Schmidt started a lawsuit against Threadless. This was because of their "Three Keyboard Cat Moon" T-shirts, which came out in 2009. Schmidt said they copied his work without permission. Threadless argued that Schmidt didn't officially own the copyright until September 2010, after the shirts were made. They also said he lost his copyright when he allowed people to make tribute videos. This lawsuit was settled by May 2013.
In May 2013, Schmidt and Christopher Torres, who created Nyan Cat, both sued 5th Cell and Warner Bros.. They said their characters appeared in the Scribblenauts video games without permission. Both Schmidt and Torres had officially registered copyrights for their characters. The lawsuit was settled in September 2013, and both creators were paid for the use of their characters.
See also
In Spanish: Keyboard Cat para niños
- Cat organ
- Cats and the Internet
- List of individual cats
- List of internet phenomena
- Grumpy Cat
