Cat On A Keyboard In Space

2006image macroclassic

Cat On A Keyboard In Space is a photoshopped 2006 image of a house cat sitting at a vintage ARP Odyssey synthesizer against a starry backdrop. It became a template for looping YTMND sites, image macros and video remixes, and even landed a cameo in a well-known xkcd comic.

catsytmnd memesphotoshop memeslate 2000s memesabsurdist humor memes

Overview

Cat On A Keyboard In Space, also called Space Cat or Astro Cat, is a photoshopped image showing a house cat calmly perched on a vintage synthesizer keyboard floating in front of an outer-space backdrop. The keyboard is a 1972 ARP Odyssey analog synth, and the composite is credited to a hobbyist known as Andy Squirrel1.

The picture is deadpan and absurd at the same time, a normal pet apparently giving a cosmic recital. That mix of ordinary cat and grand setting made it easy raw material for looping YTMND sites, t-shirt jokes and reaction images throughout the late 2000s5.

How It Spread

MatrixSynth revisited the picture on September 22nd, 2006, linking to the YTMND remix and pointing out the odd "what you see when you die" subdomain1. In February 2007 the YTMND site got aggregated on Digg and StumbleUpon, and on March 4th YouTube user BSDorn uploaded a video version that pulled over 100,000 views within five years3. The earliest Urban Dictionary entry for the term went up on September 23rd, 2007, submitted by user BDizzunn6.

Cat On A Keyboard In Space reached a wider audience on September 29th, 2008, when Randall Munroe worked the image into the xkcd strip "Height", using it to map the relative distance of objects from Earth4. A Facebook page for the cat followed on May 22nd, 2009, and in February 2010 a mashup image macro captioned "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" was submitted as a SpreadShirt t-shirt design5.

YTMND itself kept the format alive. The tag "catonakeyboardinspace" collected more than 110 pages, with another 20 filed under the shorthand "coakis", including pop-culture riffs tied to Harry Potter, LazyTown and David Bowie's "Major Tom"2. The image later drifted onto Tumblr under the tag "#cat on a keyboard in space" as the YTMND scene wound down5.

How to Use This Meme

The template typically drops the original Andy Squirrel Space ARP cat into a new scene or plot beat and lets viewers spot the incongruous animal. YTMND versions often loop the still against a signature audio bed like "Brazilian Flower" or a pop-culture soundtrack, while later remixes park the cat inside comic panels, reaction images or captioned image macros2.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cat On A Keyboard In Space

2006image macroclassic

Cat On A Keyboard In Space is a photoshopped 2006 image of a house cat sitting at a vintage ARP Odyssey synthesizer against a starry backdrop. It became a template for looping YTMND sites, image macros and video remixes, and even landed a cameo in a well-known xkcd comic.

cats ytmnd memes photoshop memes late 2000s memes absurdist humor memes

Overview

Cat On A Keyboard In Space, also called Space Cat or Astro Cat, is a photoshopped image showing a house cat calmly perched on a vintage synthesizer keyboard floating in front of an outer-space backdrop. The keyboard is a 1972 ARP Odyssey analog synth, and the composite is credited to a hobbyist known as Andy Squirrel1.

The picture is deadpan and absurd at the same time, a normal pet apparently giving a cosmic recital. That mix of ordinary cat and grand setting made it easy raw material for looping YTMND sites, t-shirt jokes and reaction images throughout the late 2000s5.

How It Spread

MatrixSynth revisited the picture on September 22nd, 2006, linking to the YTMND remix and pointing out the odd "what you see when you die" subdomain1. In February 2007 the YTMND site got aggregated on Digg and StumbleUpon, and on March 4th YouTube user BSDorn uploaded a video version that pulled over 100,000 views within five years3. The earliest Urban Dictionary entry for the term went up on September 23rd, 2007, submitted by user BDizzunn6.

Cat On A Keyboard In Space reached a wider audience on September 29th, 2008, when Randall Munroe worked the image into the xkcd strip "Height", using it to map the relative distance of objects from Earth4. A Facebook page for the cat followed on May 22nd, 2009, and in February 2010 a mashup image macro captioned "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" was submitted as a SpreadShirt t-shirt design5.

YTMND itself kept the format alive. The tag "catonakeyboardinspace" collected more than 110 pages, with another 20 filed under the shorthand "coakis", including pop-culture riffs tied to Harry Potter, LazyTown and David Bowie's "Major Tom"2. The image later drifted onto Tumblr under the tag "#cat on a keyboard in space" as the YTMND scene wound down5.

How to Use This Meme

The template typically drops the original Andy Squirrel Space ARP cat into a new scene or plot beat and lets viewers spot the incongruous animal. YTMND versions often loop the still against a signature audio bed like "Brazilian Flower" or a pop-culture soundtrack, while later remixes park the cat inside comic panels, reaction images or captioned image macros2.

Frequently Asked Questions