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The genius behind “Wake Up Cat” is back with “Let Me In.” Miss Alli had it on in the bullpen, and I heard that distinctive “mrow” and without even looking up asked her, “‘Wake Up Cat’?” “Nope, the new one.” “There’s a new one?!”
The part where the cat is sitting in front of the open door all, “…What.”? Love.
I’ve (re-)discovered a few things over the course of the recent Days Of Rage. Some of them are great!
I found it while researching a murder (…this is a sentence I have more frequent use for than most), the true story of a neighborhood legend from my childhood. I grew up in a leafy, …
I loved Wake Up Cat. I have a Wake Up Cat-ish cat here at the house (we call him Alarm Cat in that circumstance) and he heard the distinctive meow and came to watch the sketch with me.
Just this morning Alarm Cat went off an hour before the clock alarm, and managed to arrange my electrical cords (which were inside the bedroom; the cat was outside the room) such that when I left the room they would jam in the doorframe. Pure genius.
The cat pointing at its mouth at the end kills me every time.
Nice. That part reminds me of that old essay of yours about how much the cats love going into the hallway to do…nothing. My cat’s strictly indoors, so I don’t have to worry about her being a “Let Me In” cat, but she’s most definitely a “Wake Up Cat.” I can’t remember the last time I slept all the way through to my alarm clock going off.
Hee! I have both of these cats. I love the purring-rubbing as the cat comes in!
I don’t have Let Me In Cats at my house, but I grew up with them — and I look forward to the follow-up in which the cat, seconds after coming inside, is sitting by the door again: “Row? Row? Row? Row? ROWW? RRRRRROW?!”
AAAH! I love it.
My cat begs and begs and begs to be let into the basement every night. Once I finally relent and open the door, she sits there looking at me just like that. Hee.
oh so amazing! cracks me up. I’m hoping that this ends up having monthly installments or something.
While my little man is not a “Let Me In” cat, he is most DEFINTELY a wake-up cat. Usually at 1AM, then again at 230AM, again at 5AM. By the time my alarm actually goes off at 6, he’s curled up on my bed, purring, ready to go to sleep. I don’t get it.
Pure awesome. Though Wake Up Cat is still my favorite.
My cat? 100% indoor feline, but still a Let Me In Cat. There is no such thing as a closed door in my house, because the relentless pawing at the door is enough to drive you batshit. And if you were to open the door, let the little diva in, and then close the door behind her again? Lather/rinse/repeat but this time to get *out*, natch.
She’s lucky she’s adorable and the best thing ever. Honestly.
I love these cats. We let ours out onto our screened in porch, and they act just like this when they want in.
If our oldest one could grow some thumbs, he’d probably wield a mean baseball bat as well.
I love these clips – I second Ashley and hope that these clips come out more often. I’ve given my cat some canned food once or twice recently as a treat and now she stalks me, trying to lure me into the kitchen in hopes of getting some more canned food. She may as well be sitting there pointing to her mouth like Simon’s cat! When she follows me into the bathroom and I close the door behind her, she HAS to go back outside the door. But if I close the door with her in the hall, she HAS to come back inside! The grass is always greener on the other side of a door when it comes to cats.
CATS RULE! I hope he has hundreds of these in his fertile little brain!
In the house I grew up in, we had a screen door leading out of our kitchen. To gain reentry, our cat would launch himself, much like Let Me In cat, except then he’d hook his claws into the screen and hang spread-eagled until we took notice.
We had to replace that screen lots; a bulky kitty will stretch wire mesh something fierce.
That is the exact reason our cat is kept out of the bedroom. He still tries to wake us up by playing loudly outside the door, but at least we don’t get hit upside the head every morning. He’d do it, too, because he’s crazy like that.
I was way more excited then I should have been when I saw “Let Me In” come up on Cute Overload. My husband and I have watched “Wake Up Cat” repeatedly and laugh every single time. I think we’d still find it funny if we didn’t own Wake Up Cats ourselves, but it does make it just that much funnier.
I can especially identify with the cat standing on top of you, patting you and meowing. That’s my husband and I every morning with our two. I’m so glad they don’t have thumbs.
We have cats that play “the other” game. Which side of the door do you want to be on kitty? The other one. They beg and cry to come in, then when you open the door, they stroll in, or run away.
Aren’t kitties wonderful? And Simon Tofield must have cats – he has them down to a “T.”
I’m thinking I grew up with a cousin of Wake Up/Let Me In Cat. Growing up my cat would sit at the door and meow and meow to be let out. So I’d open the door. She would stare at the outside world for what seemed like eons, take one or two steps towards the outside, and then turn tail to go back into the kitchen for a snack.
If his cat is anything like mine, he’s got thousands, maria.
This reminds me of the old song from Prairie Home Companion, “I Wanna Go Out.”
I have a Let Me In Cat, who turns immediately into a Let Me Out Cat within seconds of being granted entrance. Infinity.
Brilliant! He has such an eye for detail. I loved watching the gnome’s head go flying & the cat abruptly appear hanging on the screen.
Thankfully my cat is an indoor cat (at 5 floors up, that’s strictly enforced), so I don’t experience this particular phenomenon, but it seems to be related to the “pick-me-up whineow immediately followed by the put-me-down squirm” behaviour.
Clearly Mr. Tofield has set up a hidden webcam at my house. I was only suspicious before, but now I’m certain of it. I’m reminded of a great tune by Alien Folklife called “Thomas Cat”. You can listen at: http://www.alienfolklife.com/audio/ALIEN_FOLKLIFE-Thomas_Cat-2.m3u or go to http://www.alienfolklife.com/music-4.html for the lyrics and links to the tune…
but the pertinent bit is:
Let me out. . . no let me in. . . no let me out. . . let me in
Let me out. . . no, let me in. . . no, let me out. . . let me in
Just open up and stand aside
Yours is not to reason why
When I’m ready I’ll decide. . . or maybe not
I have a Wake Up Cat too – Tom’s part Maine Coon & weighs about 20 pounds – you’d think that’d wake me up, 20 pounds climbing up my chest, but no – and when he has to resort to tapping me on the face, he leaves his claws out just the teensiest bit. He’s been known to cup a paw around the tip of my nose & cut off my air supply, too. And if I ignore that, he makes hairball noises – that one never fails!
Thanks Sars, I lovelovelove these!!!
Hee hee!! I love it so!! I was waiting for the cat to decide he didn’t want to come in after all, thanks, once the door was open. Oh, kitty.
I too, have a wake-up cat who doubles as a let-me-in cat. Several times a day, we play the let-me-in, let-me-out, let-me-in game. His favorite twist is to come in through the back door only to walk directly to the front door to go out. Because crawling under the fence out back to get between yards would be too much work.
So cute! I love the garden gnome part! So you know the video you’re linking to has been disabled. I found it another place (yay google). You might want to change the video you’re linking to to the one here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rb8aOzy9t4 I think it’s the official youtube spot for it. :)
I have the trump. I have Let Me Into Your Sleep cat, the glorious inbreeding of both. She sits on my chest and taps… TAPS… on my EYELIDS to wake me up. It’s like when the cat taps on his cheek the one time with its paw. Except tap-tap-tap. Wait. Tap? Taptap? On my EYES. Like they’re a door and she just knows that when they’re open it means I’m awake. Anyone?
She doesn’t wake me up BEFORE my alarm thank god, but when my alarm goes off she knows the noise means I’m getting up so she runs over. She? Does NOT like the Snooze button. “…you…TEASE…”
Thanks for the youtube link, I can’t view cuteoverload at work and I forgot to turn on the computer at home last night. I knew there was somthing I meant to do….
That Simon’s Cat is brilliant.
Erin in MD, your work blocks cuteoverload?? That is horrible! What about morale??
(Also, it blocks that but not YouTube? Bizarre.)
Yes, I have a cat that HATES closed doors. He’ll sit on the otherside and “MROW!” like he’s in agony, and then the little paw will appear under the door, waving wildly back and forth. It’s hilarious, most of the time.
But heaven forbid I have a “gentlemen friend” over. Nothing kills the mood like a stupid cat howling outside the bedroom door.
Mine also likes to let me know when the litter box needs cleaned. He’ll just wander the house, crying in that SAME tone as “Wake Up Cat”, until I get up and start following him around, and after leading me through the entire house, we’ll end up at the litter box, and he’ll sit and just look at me. If he could point at his butt, he would.
I have a a cousin of the wake-up cat- the good-night cat. We’ll get in bed and the cat will be no where to be found. Just when we’re about to fall asleep (you know, where a loud noise will startle you) the cat jumps on the foot of the bed, makes a mad dash to the head of the bed, run across my and my husbands head, skids onto the nightstand, jumps down, runs UNDER THE BED in the same exact pattern and out the door. And then he waits until you get back to the same sleep sopt, does it again and calls it a night. And he makes sure to break up the pattern; he’ll go just long enough without bothering you to where you think he’s gotten over what ever the hell possessed him and then- kitty Nascar. When you least expect it.
And if he happens to get us when we are still awake enough to know what the hell is happening, we laugh hysterically, which garners two extra laps. Damn, cats are weird.
Hi Kerry,
Morale is somewhere near the bottom of the list. : )
Cuteoverload is blocked but not Icanhascheezburger. All of blogspot is blocked but only some sites on typepad. You can see youtube but you can’t check your webmail. You never know what will be blocked until you click on it. (I set the filter off a lot.) I’m surprised I can still see TN and TWoP, although I’ve probably just jinxed it. Unfortunately, I have the kind of job where you often spend a lot of time waiting and trying to stay busy … or occupied.
My cat has figured out he can score some Greenies when he comes in from outside, so now he has a come in/go out/come in/go out racket going that I really must find a way to stop.
@Dr. E: As I play “Thomas Cat” for the Nth time, I thought it was time to say “thank you!” for posting it here. One, it totally belongs in the lineup with Simon Tofield’s Wakeup Kitty; two, it’s not filtered, so I can actually listen to it on One of Those Days; three, I’ve spent years doing feline urban rescue, and have turned many a Thomas Cat into a Sam Spayed.
And now I’m going to play it again.