Bad news first. Guys—Keyboard Cat is dead. The same cat you're still splicing into videos and GIF-ing as fast as your little fingers can fly is, in all likelihood, rotting 6 feet below some nondescript, Midwestern backyard. It all happened one night in 1987; our beloved Keyboard Cat (formerly known as Fatso) raised his paw to his keyboard to sound one final, solemn note before slipping into eternal, musically-inclined kitty slumber.
But in a heartwarming video elegy to the fallen feline, Vice's Motherboard sat down with Brad O'Farrell, the disseminator of everyone's favorite Internet mascot. While it may seem like he's been in our lives forever, Keyboard Cat actually only first appeared in 2007 before gaining his over 29 million views on YouTube and the kind of web-based notoriety that little millennial boys and girls can only dream about. You even get to hear from the mildly off-putting man who's responsible for the original film itself. The entire video is strange, unsettling at times, and highly entertaining, much like the very Internet that Keyboard Cat embodied. Rest in peace, dear friend; we hardly knew ye. [Motherboard]