About
Henri, Le Chat Noir is a Tuxedo cat that is well-known on the Internet for starring in a series of YouTube videos in which the narrator discusses his philosophical thoughts in French.
Origin
Henri is the online nickname of Henry, an eight-year-old rescued shelter cat in Seattle, Washington. His human “uncle” filmmaker William Braden created the first short (shown below) for a class project at the Seattle Film Institute. It was shot, edited and narrated in eleven days. Braden chose to use a film noir style with French narration to express Henri’s contempt for humans as well as other cats, especially a nameless white cat who appears in the videos. The name Le Chat Noir[1] (The Black Cat) is taken from the 19th century Parisian cabaret with the same name, which is best known for its iconic poster of a black cat against a red and yellow background by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen. After the project was complete, Braden uploaded the film to YouTube on May 24th, 2007 and it has gained more than 1.6 million likes as of October 2012.
Spread
The video went relatively unnoticed for several years until Henri was quoted on a personal Tumblr[2] in August 2011. On April 6th, 2012, Braden uploaded a second video titled “Paw de Deux” (shown below, left) which gained more than 6 million views in six months. The following day, Henri’s second video was featured on Jezebel.[3] Throughout April, Henri’s videos were shared on College Humor[4], Tastefully Offensive[5], the Democratic Underground[6], Buzzfeed[11], Forbes[12], The Daily Dot[13], The FW[14] and Metafilter.[7] After seeing his videos take off, Braden set up a homepage[10], a Facebook fan page[8] and a Twitter account[9] for Henri.
On June 20th, 2012, Henri’s third video went live (shown above, right), documenting a trip to the veterinarian. The video was shared on Blame it on the Voices[19] and the Huffington Post[20], among other news and humor sites. Nine days later, a love letter to Henri from another black and white cat named Anais Mittens (shown below) was uploaded by YouTuber Lizzie Reid. Her video was featured on Buzzfeed[15], The Daily Dot[16], Catster[17] and Neatorama.[18]
Golden Kitty Award
In August 2012, Henri’s second video won the Golden Kitty award (shown below, left), the top award at the Internet Cat Video Film Festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was chosen by viewers out of 10,136 submissions, beating the Japanese cat Maru “by a landslide.”[21] William Braden (shown below, right with Lil Bub and his owner) accepted the award, where he was quoted as saying “I don’t think I’ve ever purred this loudly.”[22]
Book Deal
Shortly after receiving the Golden Kitty award, Braden announced that he had secured a book deal for Henri that would be published on April 30th, 2013 by a Random House imprint.[23] This announcement was followed by interviews with the Seattle Times[21], ABC News[24] and the LA Times[25] during which he revealed that he makes approximately $1,000 per week through revenues from Henri’s online merchandise store[26], which allows him to give up his wedding videographer gig to work full time with Henri.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Le Chat Noir
[2] Tumblr – verafides | Henri quote
[3] Jezebel – Your Morning Ennui: Henri the French Cat Articulates the Pain of Existence
[4] College Humor – Henri the Cat’s Ennui the Cat
[5] Tastefully Offensive – Henri’s Ennui
[6] Democratic Underground – Cat existentialism
[7] Metafilter – listlessness, tedium, lassitude, languor
[8] Facebook – Henri, le Chat Noir
[9] Twitter – @HenriLeChatNoir
[10] Henri le Chat Noir – Home
[11] Buzzfeed – Henri The Existential Cat
[12] Forbes – The Smart Marketing of Henri: Viral Cat Videos for People Who Hate Viral Cat Videos
[13] Daily Dot – The Ennui of Henri the Cat
[14] The FW – Black and White French Film Offers an Existential Portrait of a Cat
[15] Buzzfeed – Henri The Existential Cat Has An Admirer
[16] The Daily Dot – YouTube Right Now! "Henri Le Chat Noir, Love Anais Mittins
[17] Catster – Anais Mittins Pledges Herself to Henri the Existential Cat -- But Will They Ever Meet?
[18] Neatorama – Anais Mittins
[19] Blame it on the Voices – Henri the Existential Cat at the vet
[20] Huffington Post – Henri Le Chat Noir, French Speaking Existential Cat, Goes To The Vet
[21] Seattle Times – Garfield High grad wins Internet Cat Video Film Festival
[22] Mashable – Sad French Kitty Wins ‘Best Cat Video on the Internet’
[23] Henri, Le Chat Noir – The Book
[24]ABC News – Henri the Cat Goes Viral, Turns Profit in the Name of Art
[25] LA Times – Henri, afflicted by fame