CATSapalooza 2022

 By the Birds' Nest & Ian Lewis

The Birdbath editors (Zac, Sienna, & Morgan) were lucky enough this January to sit down with fellow Whitman FMS major Ian Lewis to talk about something very important: Ian's quest to watch Cats (2019) for 12 hours straight every year on the anniversary of its release. What follows is that interview, transcribed in full.

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Birdbath: Hi, what’s up, Ian?

Ian: Ceiling.

Bb: Yeah, love it.

Ian: A really classic joke, yeah.

Bb: Well, I think in this case, it really draws attention to the beautiful, ornate ceiling of the building, in which case it’s perhaps not a joke – perhaps, like, an anti-prank.

Ian: Yeah, that’s gonna be really great for the reading audience.

Bb: No, it’s gonna be awesome. Can you give us a little information about yourself?

Ian: I’m Ian. I go to Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. I’m an FMS and English double major. I'm from Seattle … I’m 6’ 1”, I’m afraid of … heights.

Bb: Heights? You don’t sound sure. Are you?

Ian: You know, I’m afraid of being put on the spot with questions about my fears.

Bb: Oh, okay. Well, nobody asked, so…

Ian: Yeah. What were we talking about? I just can’t believe all of you would go that direction.

Bb: Cool, this is great. Okay! Quickly, before we dive in, because you’re an FMS and English double major, can we get your favorite movie and your favorite book? 

Ian: I wrote about my favorite movie for Birdbath.

Bb: We can even hyperlink it.

Ian: Wow! Sing Street, I wrote about – I don't even know if it’s my favorite movie anymore. I don’t know. I’ve been reconsidering it. So, everyone, go read that article.

Bb: It’s a really good article.

Ian: It’s great, and it’s inaccurate now. And… yeah, I rewatched Yojimbo recently. It’s fantastic.

Bb: I also rewatched Yojimbo… were you in Seattle? Did you go to the –

Ian: No, no. And I also like The Truman Show.

Bb: And what’s your favorite book?

Ian: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.

Bb: Awesome. And, why have we called you here today?

Ian: I believe it’s to testify against my crimes of running Catsapalooza.

Bb: So, what is Catsapalooza?

Ian: So, Catsapalooza is a concept.

Bb: It’s an experience.

Ian: It’s an experience.

Bb: It’s a lifestyle.

Ian: It’s a lifestyle.

Bb: A festival, perhaps? It would be helpful if it was a festival of just one film, just for the theme of our…

Ian: I feel like… it’s a festival…

Bb: Well, I mean, it’s a Jellicle Ball.

Ian: It’s a Jellicle Ball for Jellicle Cats. When the Jellicle moon is out.

Bb: Er, shining bright.

Ian: Right. As we all know, Jellicles can and Jellicles do.

Bb: Really? Wow. Okay, cool. And can you tell us the story of the beginning of Catsapalooza? When, why, with whom, how?

Ian: So I was born on January 11th, 2002. And from there, it’s sort of been a downward track.

Bb: Right.

Ian: And I think the single most deprecating point for that was late January 2020. I went to see a movie – to see a film, that… it was Cats. That’s sort of the implication for where I’m leading to. So I saw Cats.

Bb: Tom Hooper’s Cats.

Ian: Tom Hooper’s Cats, released in 2019, watched in 2020, and I believe caused the various events of that year. So yeah, Catsapalooza emerged from… I guess you could say it emerged from COVID. I saw Cats in late January, and… it’s a fuckin’ movie. You know? It’s like a movie.

Bb: Is it a go-to-the-movies type of movie?

Ian: It’s a go-to-the-movies kind of experience, as one of the members of One Direction put it. And then, I just couldn’t get it out of my head, and so when COVID hit, I thought, you know, I’ll just buy it on Amazon. And so, I spent 20 more dollars on Cats. 

Bb: And this was before you knew you were going to do Catsapalooza?

Ian: This was well before. And so I started just watching it for fun, I guess, if it can be described as a fun experience, and between the start of COVID and what would become Catsapalooza, I think I watched that movie about a dozen times. And I had started doing this thing over Discord – which is like an IRC, but it has video and voice components, I guess – I was illegally streaming Cats to as many people as I could, as much as possible. So, whenever I was in a voice call in Discord, whenever someone brought up the concept of Cats, I would just throw it on.

Bb: Like a Cats evangelist.

Ian: Yeah. And watch Cats for two hours. And I eventually decided, you know, Cats is just such an insane experience, it needs to be shown to as many people as possible. So I started inviting a bunch of people that I knew to this Discord server, and told them we were gonna be watching Cats 6 times consecutively for 12 hours, and we did. And I think that’s when it really started to go downhill in total for my life.

Bb: So, when was this?

Ian: This was the first anniversary of the first release of Cats, so December 23rd of 2020. And I guess the reason was, ostensibly, presumably the easiest way out of the hellscape that was that year was just to watch Cats a bunch, and sort of exorcise that demon.

Bb: How many people were invited to Catsapalooza the first year?

Ian: I’d say about 20 people were invited – it was primarily just people I knew from my high school.

Bb: And how many stayed for all 6 watches?

Ian: I believe it was… that’s a contentious figure.

Bb: Why?

Ian: Because – so, there were, I believe, 3 people, including myself, who made it all the way through from start to finish, and one person who had their Wi-Fi go down, like, the first 20 minutes of the movie. And then we went to watch the entire rest of the thing, and I reward people for going through the entire experience with a special role in the server, and I didn’t give it to them. I thought it would be funny,

Bb: And what is the role?

Ian: I think it’s just “Jellicle Cat,” and then the year [of the event], so “Jellicle 2020.”

Bb: So that was year 1. And then there was year 2. How was the reception the second time?

Ian: I think that it was similar attendance. I hadn’t publicly introduced it to people yet, and I think most people were shocked by the idea that I would go on to watch Cats another 12 hours. But I think I had to, because I thought it would be the funniest thing to do. So we got similar attendance records. Maybe a little bit more.

Bb: Was this the first year that you advertised it publicly?

Ian: This year [2022] was. This was Catsapalooza 3. So yeah, this is the first one I’d advertised publicly. I had invited people specifically, but this was the first time it was a general invitation.

Bb (Sienna): So, I made one watch.

Bb (Morgan): And I made one watch. I was opening and you were closing.

Bb (Sienna): Yeah, so you watched the first one and I watched the last one. What was your experience like?

Bb (Morgan): Well, I was at my house, and I don’t have wifi there, so I was watching on my phone. So I would have participated more if that wasn’t happening, but the whole time I was thinking, like, I can’t imagine watching this 6 times. I’m actually, like, a fan of the musical Cats, I’ve seen the stage production recording a ton of times, and Cats (2019) is just… there’s something different about it, you know?

Bb (Zac): Well, what draws you to Cats?

Ian: I think… I think a general sense of masochism. But I think my general lifestyle choices are based on whatever I think will be funniest in the end, and I think this is a funny way to live your life, just to watch Cats a bunch. You know, it’s not enjoyable, but it’s definitely fuckin’ funny. And there’s something about that fucking movie.

Bb (Sienna): Is it Munkustrap? Is that what it is?

Bb (Morgan): Is it James Corden? Is it “YEEEOWCH?”

Bb (Zac): Is it Jason Derulo?

Bb (Sienna): Oh, I think it might be Jason Derulo…

Bb (Morgan): Or is it the little children? The little mice?

Bb (Sienna): Ooh, or the roaches?

Bb (Zac): Or the scene at the end when Judi Dench stares directly, like, into your soul?

Ian: For what feels like 20 consecutive minutes.

Bb (Zac): I snuck a photo of only that frame in the theater when I saw it.

Bb (Sienna): That’s so great.

Bb (Morgan): How about Rebel Wilson unzipping her catsuit?

Bb (Sienna): Her skin, yeah.

Ian: Or, how about the director cutting away to different, obviously improv'd scenes that are not funny or enjoyable.

Bb (Zac): Or, like, the general lore about how they released it unfinished, and then they changed it and re-shipped it while it was already in theaters.

Bb (Morgan): Or that somebody’s job was to edit Jason Derulo’s junk out?

Bb (Zac): Or that they made Cats? Like, they made Cats. Like, that’s funny.

Bb (Sienna): That they made Cats into, like, a realistic movie with talking scenes.

Bb (Morgan): Or, just, like, Tom Hooper.

Bb (Sienna): Tom Hooper. Crazy guy! Love Les Mis.

Bb (Morgan): Maybe Tom Hooper shouldn’t direct musicals.

Bb (Sienna): Oh, yeah. I don’t love Les Mis because of Tom Hooper. I love it because of Aaron Tveit.

Bb (Morgan): Yeah.

Bb: Okay, I want to get back to the experience. Because, one thing that struck me about the last watch was how high in spirit everybody was, still. How many Jellicles were there this year? 

Ian: Uh, 2 or 3. It’s usually around that number. And one of them is always me, and one of them is always a friend of mine, Angus, who has, for some fucking reason, watched all of these with me.

Bb: That’s perseverance. Yeah, I think I came in expecting some really, like, tired, sick aura.

Ian: I think that’s the second-to-last one. Because there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for the [last one]. I would say the first watch is probably the worst. Or, well, no, the first watch, you have some momentum. The second watch is when it gets bad.

Bb: Maybe you’re like, oh, I’m gonna have to settle in. Not, like, 3 or 4?

Ian: No, it’s 2. It immediately hits you how fucking awful this movie is.

Bb: Like waking up on a 13 hour flight to find that you still have, like, 5 hours left?

Ian: Yeah, if that 13 hour flight was also playing Cats consecutively.

Bb: At what point in the movie do you remember that you’re gonna have a horrible… like, you’re putting yourself in the blender?

Ian: I think it’s the moment when you first see one of the horrific cat people walking on all fours. Which is immediately. But I think a close second is the moving bag full of Victoria, the ballerina cat. Just writhing in a bag and being scratched up by these freakish monsters.

Bb: What’s your favorite and least favorite cat?

Ian: I think my favorite is… I think the easy answer is Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat. That’s the go-to.

Bb: Yeah. Like, where is Skimble, you know? What’s the worst cat from Cats, as an expert?

Ian: James Corden. I’ve written about this, but every time I see the movie, there’s a part right at the end of a song where he pulls down this massive metal barrel, and every time, I imagine his head getting stuck under the barrel and him having his skull crushed by the barrel and dying, and the movie would end. It hasn’t happened yet, but it will. It’s going to.

Bb: Well, they edited out the wedding ring, they could edit in him dying.

Ian: The wedding ring is still there in some scenes! It’s fucking insane.

Bb: Well, so, we’ve been talking about how horrendous Cats is, but are there any redeeming parts? Now that you’ve seen it at least… what would that be, at least 19 times?

Ian: At least two dozen. Um, I think I enjoy the fact that I know that so many people making this movie were certain it was going to succeed. I think there’s a schadenfreude in seeing all these fucking great Oscar-winning actors and directors just collapse, while being absolutely certain that this movie’s going to win at least one Oscar. I mean, they do the musical thing of having one original song, they got Taylor Swift for that—they got Taylor Swift to star in the fucking movie—they got Dame Judi Dench, they got Sir Ian McKellen, they got Jason Derulo; Rebel Wilson was still coming off the Pitch Perfect high. And then it became sort of a… what movies shouldn’t be. It’s perfect in the fact that… there are so many movies that are so-bad-it’s-good, right? And there is some element of their original intent in those movies that are, like, oh, The Room is awful, but it’s fun to watch. There’s a sense of, oh, this is kind of a weird dude getting his vision put out, and it’s enjoyable to watch. And then there are films that are just, like, so bad they’re bad, right? They’re just so horrendously awful that nothing about them is enjoyable. But Cats reaches a new level where it’s so bad, it’s so bad, it’s good. Because it somehow hits that level and then keeps going in a way that’s just not mathematically possible. It’s the first piece of art that’s, like… the art of it is found in the fact that it failed at every conceivable level to be art.

Bb: That’s beautiful. Where do you see Catsapalooza going? Is this something you think you’ll be doing until you die, and when you die, what do you imagine will be the fate of Catsapalooza?

Ian: I think at some point I want to do it in person, and, like, rent a theater for it. That’s going to be a lot, but that’s an idea.

Bb: You said your favorite Cat is Skimbleshanks. Great cat. So does that make your favorite song “Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat?”

Ian: I think it’s my favorite sequence in the movie. I think “Memory” is a good song, but it’s too good for this. It shouldn’t be in that movie. And I will say that Jason Derulo’s song would be good, but they just keep cutting to Rebel Wilson. 

Bb: Do you get any comfort from the act of watching Cats at any point? Like a familiarity? Or is it just, like, an enemy to you?

Ian: They’ve sort of researched what my emotions on it are, and I think it’s best described with the term “Stockholm syndrome.” I feel imprisoned by this film, and I will never escape it. But it’s reliable. I can trust it to go where it goes, over and over again.

Bb: Anything else to share about Cats? Anything you want to say to the lovely readers of Birdbath? Plug whatever you want?

Ian: Come to Catsapalooza 4! In [December] 2023, when that happens.