The Cat!
“That was so dumb I should’ve said it!”
5. To start lets go to Series IV, episode four, White Hole.
The crew have discovered a weird thing called a white hole that spews
time. This episode takes the stupidity of the Cat and uses it
brilliantly, they have the Cat repeat himself ad nauesum, and add the
white hole which makes time occur in random pockets out of order which
adds to the humor. Eventually the Cat starts repeating himself on
purpose without the help of the white hole. On the documentary on the
Series IV DVD set, Built to Last, the cast recalls this scene being very difficult to shoot, having to rearrange themselves continuously.
4. The best scene from Camille. Everyone
else has gone in and seen the object of their desire because Camille is
a pleasure GELF that takes on the form of whatever each person sees as
the perfect pairing. The character the Cat sees certainly couldn't be
more deserving!
3. The scene from Back to Reality where the crew wake up and find that they aren’t who they believe they are and learn that they are just people doing the Red Dwarf computer game. What makes this one of the best moments for the Cat is just one line, the funniest out of the entire scene. This is the very first of my second favorite of the reoccurring alternates of the Red Dwarf crew, Dwayne Dibley, the Duke of Dork! When this episode was filmed, the audience didn’t react quite as well as the cast and crew thought they would, which is odd considering this is often placed at the top of many fans top ten lists. Due to the audiences’ reaction Doug Naylor went to the editing suite and created one of the best episodes of all time!
2. Number two on the list was almost the funniest gags in all of Red Dwarf. The moose joke from Trojan,
the premiere of Series X. The Cat is the character that is responsible
for selling the gag at it’s highest points. The ridiculousness of the
gag helps, taking a random fact and turning it into one of the funniest
gags in television history. Watch out for those moose herds!
1. Now the definitive Cat moment is during the western, Gunmen of the Apocolypse,
my personal favorite episode of the entire series. As Rivera the Kid,
Danny John-Jules gives us arguably the best performance in all of Red
Dwarf, shooting bullets, dancing, twirling his guns and shooting signs
on people, he delivers with a script that is without a doubt the most
inventive on paper for the series.
Honorable Mentions:
- The charades scene from Dear Dave is pure genius and draws one of the biggest laughs from the audience for that season.
- The Mediscan scene from Series VIII provides us with some classic Cat humor with his heartbeat and decorated stomach wall.
- And finally the Blue Midget dance scene from Back in the Red: Part Three.
I would hate myself if I didn’t throw what is the ultimate Cat clip, enjoy!
Previously
Andrew Jero is 18, lives in Iowa and has a very strong love of both Red Dwarf and Doctor Who. He enjoys acting and writing plays, television scripts,
and short stories. Follow Andrew on Twitter.
