I love New York... pic.twitter.com/0z5uaf9iTO
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) November 17, 2020
Pizza Rat was (and maybe still is) a famous rat in New York City that was recorded dragging a slice of pizza down a flight of stairs in a subway station.
That was five years ago--a more innocent time. Jonothon Lyons, a theater professional, lifts our spirits by dressing up as Pizza Rat and dragging an enormous slice of fabric pizza around New York City. You can see Lyons's videos on his YouTube channel.
In an interview with Hyperallergic, Lyons describes the reactions that he encounters when he performs:
H: What’s your experience been like as a rat on the subway? What kind of reactions are you getting from people?
JL: People react with either joy, fear, or radical indifference. I’m just out there to have fun and make people smile, and I like that it’s a little mischievous, there’s definitely a little bit of a prankster going on, but I’m not there to aggravate anybody or get in anybody’s way. For the most part, people are really seeming to enjoy it. New York City is the world’s capital of live performance, and our doors have been shuttered since March, so we haven’t seen any theater — everything’s been virtual. I think this is having such a big response because I brought something out into the streets and into the subways that we only usually get to see up on a stage.
My favorite reaction is that of the man on the stairs in the above video. He nopes out of the encounter and walks away without giving Lyons another thought. This is New York: a man dressed as a rat dragging a pizza isn't even the weirdest thing he's seen that day.
-via Nag on the Lake