We said goodbye to Pudge this week. It’s hard to imagine life without him after 16 years together. Even though he was the smallest member of the family, he was the biggest personality. Many of you are familiar with his box art, and a select few have had the chance to own an original piece. He was a well-traveled cat, moving from Illinois to California with us, but New York seems like the perfect place to end his journey. If there was ever a guy to shout, “Hey! I’m walking here!” It was our tough puff.
Hard to imagine doing a craft without our little project manager to supervise. Hard to imagine walking into the bathroom at 7AM and not hearing his loud meow, demanding water straight from the tap. Hard to imagine being able to place plants anywhere in the apartment without fearing he will eat them.
While our hearts ache, we are finding small comfort in the fact that he got to do a few of his favorite things over the weekend. Lick the remnants of tuna from a can, chase his favorite mouse on a string, hold court among visiting women who adored him, and, of course, curl up in a wicker basket to soak up the warm sun. Hard to imagine there will ever be another like Pudge. We will miss you, our sassy little guy.
Ladies and gentlemen, THE RUNDOWN, a new digital series that looks back at the best Cold Opens, Monologues, Live Sketches, Pretapes, and Update Features over the last 51 seasons.
It’s the Criterion Closet meets Fantasy Sports, where each guest will pick their favorite sketch and create a best of episode over the course of the series.
It’s been a blast creating this alongside @graceshaker and @chriswerner . I hope you enjoy the first episode with @colinjost breaking down Cold Opens. Check back every Wednesday during hiatus weeks for new episodes.
Special thanks to the team that made this possible…
@dannygnewyork@carlysmells
Jason Vandermer
@mattyonks@jasehueser@elijahjams@breezus_christ@audiofife
Rachel LaBianca
@ian_dugan@dinamoles@christophervoss
The entire crew and research team
And all our amazing guests this season
The best crew deserves the best swag which is why @chriswerner and I enlisted @woodencyclops to design this rad Beast Unit bag.
Big thanks to @camputee for producing these in record time for the holidays.
I love crew swag and have been wanting to make a hat ever since seeing @arielsinhaha and @allstarpresschicago Bulls Artist Series Hat back in 2021. So getting to work with them on this season’s Beast Unit cap was a dream.
Also, shoutout to @imdb_13 for designing the BEAST font from a previous crew gift.
