There’s no denying it, no one can help giggling at an amusing cat video on the Internet.
Funny cat videos have become a successful niche on YouTube and the genre has spawned it’s very own cat celebrities and now there is even a cat film festival – a whole evening dedicated to the funny felines of the internet.
Lat year, the Walker Open Field cat video festival received thousands of nominated videos that were divided into CATegories including comedy, documentary, animated and foreign. The top prize went to Henri, Paw de Deux, who The Guardian has named the Ryan Gosling of Internet cats thanks to his pensive French-narrated black and white short films.
This year, the Internet Cat Video Festival, or #catvidfest as it’s referred to on Twitter, is coming to Derry for the Northern Island CultureTech festival on 12 September with additional pop up screenings throughout the festival from 9 to 15 September.
"Internet cat videos are doing all of the things compelling art should: they raise questions, challenge assumptions, anger people and create emotional connections," said Walker Art Center curator Scott Stulen, who will be in town for the Derry event. "The Internet Cat Video Festival is a platform to use this popular content to create an un-ironic and genuine experience. Simply, this is more than a collection of cute cat videos, but rather an embrace of an internet phenomena and experiment to transform a solitary online viewing experience into a real world social event."
Everyone has their own personal favourites, here’s a few of the most famous LOLcats around:
Grumpy cat
With her condescending stares, Grumpy Cat (real name Tardar Sauce) has become a fully-fledged celebrity to the extent that ‘Grumpy Cat’ has been trademarked, she has advertised cat food, and traveled around in a limo. Yes, really. Her book is called ‘Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book: Disgruntled Tips and Activities Designed to Put a Frown on Your Face’.
Skifcha
Also known as Dubstep Hipster Cat, this Siamese shot to fame when his owner posted a video online of him wearing white paper craft glasses while bopping along to heavy dubstep music. The first upload achieved 1.2m views within nine months. He has since become a favourite on Meme sites.
Lil Bub
Lil Bub is so hip, he even featured in a video by indie-favourite Vice magazine. Poor Bub has wide set eyes and a deformed jaw that leaves his tongue hanging out. The runt of the litter has risen above his physical difficulties to become one of the most Googled cats on the net. What a cool cat.
Sam the Eyebrow Cat
This is actually the desktop on my computer because this cat makes me laugh so much. The white cat from New York has two black lines of fur on his head that make him look constantly perplexed. His quizzical looks have gained him more than 24,000 followers on Instagram. He’s so high brow that even the Telegraph have written about him.
Maru
This cat from Japan loves getting in boxes, particularly ones that are really far too small for him. It may sound dull, but his attempts to get comfortable are so amusing he has amassed over 200m views on YouTube. He has also released two books, a DVD and starred in Japanese commercials since 2007.
All these are great fun to watch, not to mention the cat dressed as a shark riding on a roomba, the standing cat and keyboard cat who has played out many a YouTube fail.
Who’s your favourite LOLcat?
