Lil Bub

Background

Lil Bub was the runt of her litter born to a feral mother. She "was born with several genetic mutations", had to be bottle-fed and had difficulty being adopted. When Bridavsky first picked her up, he said "Hey, Bub!" Her tongue always hangs out because of her short lower jaw and toothlessness, but her appetite is unaffected.

Lil Bub also suffers from a bone disorder, osteopetrosis, for which she receives medication. In late 2012, during the filming of Lil Bub & Friendz, she had a serious health episode and was diagnosed with osteopetrosis by a specialist in Indianapolis. Bridavsky has studied reiki to care for her. Lil Bub's short legs and osteopetrosis restrict her movement but she is "a fantastic waddler." Vibrations from travel also break down the osteoclasts. She was recorded running at the Strand Bookstore after her book signing.

A group of scientists launched a campaign on the website Experiment.com to sequence Lil Bub's genome. The purpose of this project is to better understand Lil Bub's unique appearance (for example, her extra digits). The campaign reached its funding goal on May 25, 2015.

Bridavsky sells a variety of merchandise, like plush Lil' Bub toys, coffee mugs, and tote bags. He donates much of the profits to animal rescue groups. Lil Bub helped him through a rough patch and he paid off six months of back rent on his recording studio. Bridavsky has a policy to not "approach anybody for anything" and chose to not sign with talent agent Ben Lashes, whose clients include Grumpy Cat. Lil Bub’s Lil Book: The Extraordinary Life of the Most Amazing Cat on the Planet was released September 3, 2013. Urban Outfitters sells Lil Bub's 2014 calendar and other exclusive merchandise. Books-A-Million sells her book.

Meet and greets

Lil Bub and Bridavsky have arranged "meet and greets" at animal shelters in her hometown of Bloomington and around the country including the PSPCA in Philadelphia, Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition and Social Tees in New York City, the SPCA in Los Angeles and the Oregon Humane Society in Portland, Oregon. The shelters receive donations and a cut of merchandise sales.

Lil Bub has posed for a PETA campaign that encourages people to spay and neuter their pets.

Lil Bub met Grumpy Cat at the second annual Internet Cat Video Film Festival. Lil Bub had a book signing for her new book at Strand Books on September 5. Lil Bub and Bridavsky did a reddit "Ask Me Anything" on September 10. Lil Bub did a meet and greet on October 10 at Urban Outfitters in Chicago benefitting Best Friends Animal Society and Tree House Humane Society.

A screening of Lil Bub & Friendz at Metro Chicago raised $1,800 for Tree House Humane Society.

Media appearances

Lil Bub appeared on Good Morning America in August 2012. She did a photoshoot with Bullett Magazine in October 2012. She was also featured in Bloom Magazine in the December 2012/January 2013 edition.

She appeared on Today and The View in April 2013. Lil Bub appeared in the YouTube Big Live Comedy Show with Jack McBrayer and the cast of Workaholics. She appeared on an episode of Meme'd on The Pet Collective.

In September 2014, Lil Bub was interviewed by David Yow of The Jesus Lizard for The A.V. Club.

Lil Bub makes an appearance in the 2016 film Nine Lives as the cat form of the film's main antagonist Ian Cox (Played by Mark Consuelos) after he is hit by a car and his soul goes inside the cat's body.

Lil Bub & Friendz

Lil Bub stars in Lil Bub & Friendz, a documentary directed by Andy Capper and Juliette Eisner and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18, 2013. The film also stars Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat and Grumpy Cat. Capper and Eisner decided to make a full-length film after meeting Lil Bub and seeing the turnout of 10,000 people at the 2012 Internet Cat Video Film Festival in Minneapolis. Lil Bub & Friendz won the Tribeca Online Festival Best Feature Film.

Lil Bub, Bridavsky, Capper and Eisner attended the Tribeca Drive-In outdoor screening at the World Financial Center Plaza on April 20. Lil Bub did a petting and photo session. Festival co-head Robert De Niro met Lil Bub at the Director's Brunch on April 23 after co-head Jane Rosenthal quipped to The Hollywood Reporter "I keep saying Little Bub needs to meet Big Bob."

Lil BUB’s Big SHOW

On Lil Bub's second birthday, June 21, 2013, it was announced that she would star in Lil BUB's Big SHOW web series with Revision3. Bridavsky selected Rev3 for its connections to Discovery Communications and Animal Planet. Bridavsky had full writing and creative control. The talk show format was made possible by having a subtitled Lil Bub edited with footage of her guests recorded separately. Her first guest was Whoopi Goldberg who met her on The View. The episode ended with Lil Bub introducing the audience to Tabby's Place, a cat sanctuary for disadvantaged felines. The episode aired September 3, 2013.

Bub's second episode was released September 17, 2013 and featured the Guinea pig named Little Prince. Her third episode featured Steve Albini and was released October 2, 2013. Lil Bub's fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes featured Kelley Deal, Sue the T-Rex, and Nordic Thunder, respectively, and were aired October 17, 2013, Oct. 30, 2013, and November 17, 2013. On November 28, 2013 (Thanksgiving), Lil Bub had a Thanksgiving Day special, which featured Murder by Death and was her seventh episode. On December 11, 2013, she had an episode featuring Time Travel.

Recording career

Lil Bub's owner, Mike Bridavsky, recorded a collection of instrumental electronic music tracks with Matt Tobey at his home recording studio. Crediting the album to Lil Bub, and incorporating some recordings of Lil Bub's vocalizations, Bridavsky released the album Science & Magic on Joyful Noise Recordings on December 4, 2015. Andrew W.K. wrote the liner notes to the album, which was subtitled "a soundtrack to the universe".