Written by Liz Shannon Miller
Posted Monday, April 7, 2008 at 5:50 PM PT

Will It Spread? SNL’s Laser Cats 3

Today, we present the first installment of a feature devoted to predicting the future of new shorts with viral potential. For sometimes it’s hard to tell what will or won’t go viral. But other times, it’s all too easy.

Will It Spread? SNL Digital Short: Laser Cats 3

What’s It About: Andy Samberg and Bill Hader pitch Lorne Michaels on the latest installment of Laser Cats (a show combining what everyone in America likes — cats, and lasers). This time in 3-D!

Premiered: April 5, 2008.

Viral Qualities: Andy Samberg wearing something ridiculous, many cats, tiny baby pug dog.

Star Power: Christopher Walken (also wearing something ridiculous), Senator Chris Dodd.

Drawbacks: 5 minutes in length (a bit long for web viewers). No catchy song. Follow-up to two previously existing shorts that may not be familiar to non-regular viewers of SNL, because they also failed to spread (Laser Cats and Laser Cats 2).

Mash-up Potential: Minimal, unless an industrious Sweder decides to do an homage.

Current Viral Status: As of April 7, 2008, 270 ratings on NBC.com, no appearance in Google Trends or Technorati hot lists

Spread-factor (scale of 1-10, 10 being Lazy Sunday): 3. Really very funny (and the pug dog is ridiculously adorable). But won’t go much beyond its initial airing.

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Topic: Online Video

Comments (6)

this might sound crazy but i don’t think time is not that much of an issue as it use to be. as long as the content is engaging then the video will do fine. the whole 2 minute rule does not seem to apply anymore. but then again what do i know :)

soloride — 7:19 PM on April 7, 2008 Reply
You forgot to factor in the :15 pre-roll. Ever seen a video with a pre-roll go viral? We should look into that…

Ian Schafer — 9:00 PM on April 7, 2008 Reply
It won’t go viral, because you can’t send it to anybody outside of the United States. And contrary to what the people behind hulu seem to think, there are more people outside of the United States than there are inside.

Brian Hogg — 10:03 PM on April 7, 2008 Reply
I actually think the SNL sketch that has the best chance of going viral from last week’s episode is this sketch featuring about a dozen Christopher Walken impressions:

http://www.whipitoutcomedy.com/2008/04/walken-family.html

Though, that one’s probably not going viral either.

Josh Spector — 10:42 PM on April 7, 2008 Reply
Someone somewhere has a rulebook where the only page says, “Walken=Viral”.

Ian Schafer — 8:13 AM on April 8, 2008 Reply
Love it!

Like it matters what anyone thinks.

Enric — 11:35 PM on April 8, 2008 Reply

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