Digging in the Cache is a series where we go back in time to look at fun tidbits of Internet and computer history. A cat playing the keyboard is funny, right? Well, maybe, but when you use a silly video of a cat playing a keyboard and use it as a way to depict a failure, sometimes with the tagline, “Play him off, Keyboard Cat!”, you have an Internet meme.
Keyboard Cat (named Fatso) was originally recorded in 1984 by Charlie Schmidt, but wasn’t posted on YouTube until 2007, under the title “charlie schmidt’s cool cats.” Then on February 2, 2009, blogger Brad o’Farrel used a clip from the video to express a moment of Fail in his own video, “Play him off, Keyboard Cat,” and Keyboard Cat quickly took off. In May of 2009, Ashton Kutcher announces Keyboard Cat as his favorite video on Twitter, and two days later CNN reports on the meme. The Keyboard Cat has since been used in commercials for Ubisoft, T-Mobile’s Nokia Astound, and Pistachios.