Michelladonna wants to meet your bodega cat
“Shop Cats” is "'MTV Cribs' meets Steve Irwin."
Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.
You should take this as an invitation to send pictures of your bodega cat. —Kate
Punk’d, MTV Cribs, To Catch A Predator, Next—these shows were staples for 2000s-era after-school viewers. Their subject matter varied, but they were all quick, reality-based entertainment. Now, they could be easily be broadcast in one-minute segments. Today’s viewers are of course, not watching this kind of stuff on TV, but instead, catching it online. If I were a kid today, there’s no after-school content I would love more than TikTok’s Shop Cats.
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The host, comedian Michelladonna (“One word, period,” she says), interviews owners of bodegas and other storefronts about the cats that live amidst their shelves. The show was developed by Mad Realities, a company that has worked on other social-first shows like Kareem Rahma’s Keep The Meter Running and Dress Code with Michelle Li.
Michelladonna, who has also hosted a podcast of her own called The Bodega Chat, says that these shops are “the safe space that you have in the neighborhood, regardless of what time it is. My page and my energy is very New York.”
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The first two episodes of Shop Cats racked up over a million views on TikTok almost immediately after they debuted. In this interview, Michelladonna and I talk about the show’s success, how she charms her way into bodegas, and why there’s no better shop employee than a cat.
How did Shop Cats come about?
Mad Realities actually reached out to me and they had this idea. I came into the office, we talked about it and it was just so juicy. And honestly, really beautiful. I showed one of the first videos to my mom, and my mom's Colombian, and I was like, “What do you think?” She was like, “This is awesome. It would be so cool if I could share it with my friends, but they all speak Spanish.” And I was like, “Let me come back to you.” And so that's when I went back to the team and I was like, “Hey, can we put captions in Spanish?” And they were like, “Yes, let's do it.” So it has been really lovely to be working with a team that is listening and respecting me and really cares about me, like I feel very well taken care of.
How do you source the shops and their cats?
We're going off of what the community is telling us in the comments, what we ourselves like. We just did a video with my actual bodega man and the cat that I pet every night. So that's really beautiful to even give him a little highlight. And also, I'm a New Yorker. I know how people feel about us. People are scared, at times we're a little rushed. We're a little blunt, but it's all love. So to be able to highlight people that I see as like, these are my people, these are New Yorkers and maybe you usually go in there for a bacon egg and cheese and just leave and don't talk to anyone. Hopefully, this show allows people to see like, “Oh no, let me start a conversation.”
It's so sweet to hear people talk about their cats, especially, like you said, the people who maybe someone has a very transactional relationship with. To see that side is so heartwarming.
Exactly. I love watching a grown man melt over a kitty cat.
What is your relationship with cats?
Honestly? I am a little bit allergic. But I have a cat in Colombia. His name is Michelangelo and he loves me and is basically a family cat. I brought him as a baby to my aunt's house and left him there because their father had just passed. And honestly, from what I've heard, it was so therapeutic for them to be with that cat and I love that cat so much. And every time I go back to Colombia, I'm like, where's my boy? So I have a cat, I literally ask for videos, every month I'm like, please send me a new shipment of my baby. I have a lot of love for cats and animals it's just, you know, my allergies, I can't live with them unless we're cleaning right behind them every second.
But you suffer through for journalism.
Exactly. And you know what my team is awesome because we have a bunch of sanitary things. We have little hand towels and hand sanitizer and we carry around the EpiPen just in case. I've never had to use it. I'm knocking on wood now but we're super safe about it.
Sometimes you will see these tweets from out-of-towners being like, “Oh my God, cat in a bodega, so gross.” As New Yorkers, we know those cats are employees. What do you think makes cats such a good fit for bodegas?
First of all, the cat is the manager, always. He's kind of directing inventory, they're letting the people know what the promotions are. But I think also a lot of the folks that we've been asking, they say it's because of the rats. So they're literally catching the rats. But also, I mean, think about like a parrot in a bodega. That's so confusing.
Do you have more in the pipeline or are you going in real time off of people's recommendations in the comments?
We're kinda going real time. We put out our first two episodes and it really is so beautiful, the energy in the community that has been building around it because we're just getting started. I'm like, let's take this all over the world. I would definitely say this concept is like MTV Cribs meets Steve Irwin. We want to also connect with a rescue hopefully. I'm very community-focused. Like, why don't we also choose to do some good as well? We've had hundreds of DMs and comments about where to go. And that's what's so beautiful about it. It's pride connected to their local bodega cat. And it's like, you should be proud because that is a beautiful kitty.
The series has done incredibly well on TikTok so far, why do you think that is?
I definitely manifested it. I definitely shook my crystals in the morning and said, "Work bitch." We are so blessed and we're so happy and we want to obviously take so much care of this project.
How do you explain the concept to the employees? Are they excited to talk about the cat?
I am usually the one that goes in and talks to them because it's like New Yorker to New Yorker. I'm like, hey, we're doing the show and we just wanna talk about your cat. These folks, they're not actors, they're not trained, they're not influencers, they really do not care about being in front of the camera. So I'll mostly go into it as like, I want to learn about you and I want to learn about your bodega and if they're a little hesitant and they're like, what's this even for, then I'll be like, all right, this is our page. They're like, I love my cat. But they're running a business, like my mic is by their mouth and they're still checking out customers
What makes a good shop cat in your opinion?
One that, when you go pspspspsp, it comes to you. One that sleeps on top of the bread to keep it warm. And also the bodega cat must watch the door, just have eyes on the door, see what's going on. That's a good bodega cat to me.
Have you met a favorite cat?
A little inside scoop, we had a cat at a brewery and this cat, the cat is on shirts, is on stickers. It's on one of the manager's skin, like they got a tattoo of the cat. I was so impressed with the cat and the name was Simco and it's also Simco because it's a hop for beer and they sell beer. I really enjoy when everything just comes together. And I can tell that the cat loves being there because when a cat is happy, it's just like, “Yeah, this is my house.”
Where do you hope to take this?
We're just brainstorming. We very much wanna be intentional with what we're putting out right now and see where this takes us. So I wouldn't say we have any specific plans we have to share, but just know that this is just the beginning. I'm feeling very blessed to highlight the people in New York City and also give a very authentic voice to this show because I would be a little frustrated if it wasn't a real New Yorker. We have so much more to come.
OMG I LOVE SHOP CATS!!! 11/10
it's about time somebody finally gave some attention to new york city