Latest news with #Michelladonna
Straits Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Meet the bodega cats on viral TikTok series Shop Cats
Michelle Reiss, known online as Michelladonna, plays with Ashley the bodega cat at Rodriguez Grocery & Deli in New York. PHOTOS: JUTHARAT PINYODOONYACHET/NYTIMES NEW YORK – If you are in a deli or a bodega in New York City and need to speak with 'the manager', you may find her underneath the fridge or nestled between bags of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Bodegas, or small grocery shops, being managed by the cats that live in them is part of a 'big running joke among a lot of New Yorkers', said Drew Rosenthal, creative producer of Shop Cats, a web show that recently found a large audience on TikTok for its feel-good feline coverage. When Rosenthal, 35, moved to Brooklyn eight years ago, he was surprised by the ubiquity of semi-feral cats patrolling the city's bodegas and delis. Even more so by the scarcity of online bodega cat registries documenting their addresses and personal updates, given their beloved role in the city's ecosystem. Last summer, working for Mad Realities – a media company with ambitions of becoming 'the MTV of the internet', according to its chief executive and founder Alice Ma – Rosenthal addressed this gap in the kitty catalogue by pitching a bodega cat talk show he characterised as 'Cribs meets Steve Irwin'. It was greenlit almost immediately. The pilot of Shop Cats featured Rosenthal's local bodega cat in Crown Heights, a cuddly but capricious grey and white tabby named Kiki, who sleeps behind a display of corn chips. In the 1½-minute episode, Michelladonna, the flamboyant host of Shop Cats, interviews the whiskered bodega manager – who introduces herself by hissing into the microphone – and the locals who take care of her. The interview culminates in a test of Kiki's hunting skills via her ability (or desire, rather) to chase a feathered toy. The hunt was set to a zany, Looney Tunes-style soundtrack, a signature of the show. In developing Shop Cats, Rosenthal wanted to create a 'very New York' show, which meant he needed a New Yorker to host it. Michelladonna, nee Michelle Reiss, with her comedy background and irresistibly thick Queens accent, fit the bill. Reiss, 26, hosts the show with a familiar, early-aughts VJ energy, occasionally functioning as a cultural liaison between immigrant bodega owners and the Gen Z audiences meeting them on TikTok. 'I know how to talk their language, uncle to uncle,' she joked. The instantly chummy, New Yorker-to-New Yorker rapport Reiss establishes with bodega owners devolves into a cooing gush fest once the boss is brought up. 'Their faces change when they talk about their cats,' she said. 'It's my favourite thing to experience doing this show.' Shop patrons are similarly quick to fawn over their local working kitten. Simcoe, a courteous, long-whiskered tuxedo cat who runs a brewery in East Williamsburg, has inspired T-shirts and tattoos. 'Simcoe is the best,' Yoko, a brewery regular who wears homemade earrings featuring Simcoe's face, says in the episode. Reiss, too, tends to style herself in feline fashions, often sporting a long ponytail that shimmies behind her like a sassy cat tail. 'You've got to lean into that kitty fever,' she said. She also has a penchant for winged cat-eye liner. Michelle Reiss, known online as Michelladonna, conducts 'interviews' with the feline occupants of New York's delis and bodegas in the Show Cats series. PHOTO: JUTHARAT PINYODOONYACHET/NYTIMES Since the debut of Shop Cats in September 2024, the show has garnered more than 740,000 followers on TikTok. It also took home the prestigious Webby Award for social media in May. The award is the leading international awards for excellence on the internet. Unlike many places on the internet, the show's comment sections are consistently and overwhelmingly positive – an anomaly given TikTok's hot-and-cold user base – with several commenters claiming that Shop Cats is their 'preferred type of journalism'. Ashley the bodega cat at Rodriguez Grocery & Deli in New York on June 2. PHOTO: JUTHARAT PINYODOONYACHET/NYTIMES One comment claimed that the show's use of Spanish subtitles had the potential to 'heal America'. The comment has more than 28,000 likes. The decision to add Spanish subtitles came about when Reiss sent an unpublished episode to her mother, who lamented being unable to share Shop Cats with her Spanish-speaking friends. After getting Mad Realities' approval, Reiss translated and transcribed the first few episodes herself. It felt compatible with the show's format, given that it is de facto multilingual, with Reiss usually approaching bodega owners in Spanish. Many of the shop owners like to claim a cultural affinity with their cats. The adoptive caregivers of Rambo, a scrappy brown tomcat from the Bronx, for example, like to claim that he is Yemeni on his father's side and Dominican on his mother's side. Charlie, the 15-year-old striped 'employee of the month' at Flowers by Giorgie in Queens, was lauded by his owner for being 'the best Ecuadorian cat in New York'. And on a recent sunny afternoon in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, the Shop Cats team had the pleasure of meeting Jamal – a puckish tabby whose name means 'beauty' in Arabic. Jamal was the team's fourth attempted interview of the day – some of the cats are unwilling to participate, which can create challenges for the three-person crew. However, Mr Ali Mohammed, Jamal's owner, was tickled by the concept of his cat being interviewed, as were his store's patrons and staff. At one point in the shoot, eight people – including two store employees, four giggly children under the age of nine, their father and a food supplier who had stopped by for a routine snack delivery, but stayed for the show – were recording Reiss as she interviewed Jamal and Mr Mohammed. 'They either want us out of their store immediately or they're so excited, they're FaceTiming their families back home,' Reiss said. It should be noted that throughout the entire interaction, including while he was being interviewed on camera, Mr Mohammed was on a video call with his daughter, a veterinarian in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. As filming was about to wrap, Mr Mohammed's nephew walked into the store and made a beeline for Jamal. 'This is my girlfriend,' he deadpanned. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Is that a cat in the Cheetos? New York comedian spotlights the city's famous bodega felines
Growing up in Ridgewood, Queens, the comedian Michelladonna (real name: Michelle Reiss), knew she could always count on seeing Lulu, a black-and-white striped cat, whenever she ran into the corner store for a snack. She counts Lulu as a close confidante, a silent witness to the goings-on of the neighborhood who knows everyone's gossip. 'I have literally gone to Lulu at the end of the night and been like, 'Hey girl, let's talk,'' says Michelladonna, who is 26. 'That's just part of life here: you say hi to the cat, you greet the manager, and then you continue your day.' New York's corner stores – called bodegas anywhere in the five boroughs – are more than just a place to buy beer, coffee and cigarettes. The shops have long served as ad hoc community centers, open 24/7 and every day of the year. Friendly owners know their customers' names, faces and personal dramas. (A recently popular TikTok featured an avuncular bodega owner showing a young woman covert pictures he took of her ex's new girlfriend.) Originally opened by Puerto Rican and Hispanic owners, bodegas are increasingly staffed by Yemeni Americans, and the people who work there represent their neighborhood's cultural makeup. Bodegas are so beloved that when two former Google staffers proposed replacing them with glorified vending machines called 'Bodegas', New Yorkers laughed them out of town. But to Michelladonna, and countless others, there's another reason to visit a bodega: its resident cat. Part vermin control, part mascot, these felines can be seen lounging amid Cheetos bags or roaming by the freezer cases. And while you may only be able to find a bodega cat in New York, their influence has gone global thanks to a host of social media accounts such as @bodegacatsofinstagram (538,000 followers), @bodegacatsofnewyork (46,600 followers) and Shop Cats, a TikTok show hosted by Michelladonna, who 'interviews' these furry workers while highlighting the small businesses where they (unofficially, at times lazily) work. Dan Rimada, who runs @bodegacatsofinstagram, estimated to NPR last month that 'around 30-40%' of bodegas in the city employ these cats. Michelladonna's romps through town have led her to meet Linda, a 'shy little kitty' and orange bodega cat found cleaning herself while lying in a bed of onions at a Bushwick shop. Or Benito, a 'tough guy cat' living in Crown Heights, considered such a boss of the store that he wears his own gold chain. Then there's the 'chonkalicious' Oreo, Rubenesque in form and toddling around a Hell's Kitchen deli. 'We go in and check out the vibes of the cat,' Michelladonna said. 'Sometimes the cats don't want none of it, and we bake that in and make that part of the episode.' 'They are our talent, and we want to make sure that the talent feels good.' While these shop cats might be the true stars, Michelladonna finds supporting characters in the bodega workers and customers – because no one gives better man-on-the-street commentary than a New Yorker. Kumer, who owns a flower shop in Chelsea, copped to taking more than 100 photos a day of Luna, a smoky Siamese who roams through the aisles. Roan, who works at a costume shop in Flatiron, called Mr Hyde, a black cat who sleeps on the counters, 'bougie as hell'. Michelladonna was cast by Mad Realities, a production company that focuses on short-form social media content, after gigging as a standup in the city. She studied finance at Cornell, graduating in the middle of the pandemic, but decided that she couldn't go into corporate life. 'I asked myself, 'What would happen if I die tomorrow?'' Elmhurst hospital, near her childhood home in Queens, was the dead center of coronavirus at the time. 'I would hear stuff about people in my circles passing away,' Michelladonna said. 'I said, 'fuck it, let me try going into comedy, because I what I really love is entertaining.'' Though New Yorkers may have decided to own the concept of bodega cats, Michelladonna says that the show does well outside of the city, too. 'I get people asking me to go to Brazil, France, Turkey, Japan and Colombia [to see their shop cats],' she said. 'The audience is all over.' Shop Cats is also on RedNote, the Chinese app and TikTok competitor that became popular in the US amid drama over a potential TikTok ban. Sarah Lohman, an author and historian of food who has studied bodega cats, says that bodega cats are good PR for felines, who historically have been viewed as more aloof and less lovable than dogs. 'Up until about 15 years ago, we've always painted dogs as man's best friend, but because of social media, cats hold an equally esteemed position, and can also be best friends,' Lohman said. 'You see this most clearly in the relationship between bodega cats and their city.' But not everyone is a fan. Technically, bodega cats are illegal. Unless a health inspector finds them particularly charming, they can fine shops for having one. Though it's certainly a loosely enforced law, Rimada, the founder of @bodegacatsofnewyork, has created a petition to change this law, and have the city finally officially recognize bodega cats as working animals, not unlike seeing-eye or drug-detection dogs. More than 11,000 people have signed the petition so far. 'If we give bodega cats that distinction, then the city can start to provide funding that will help bodega cats,' Rimada said. He has talked to animal shelter volunteers who have used their own money to spay, neuter or provide other veterinary care to beloved bodega cats. Along with Michelladonna and the Instagram account @bodegacatsofinstagram, Rimada started a fundraiser to cover the costs of this healthcare. 'While many bodega cats are loved and well cared for, too many don't receive the veterinary support they need,' Rimada said. 'This campaign ensures these quintessential New Yorkers get the healthcare they deserve.' This includes medical care such as vaccinations, checkups and spaying or neutering the cats. When she's off the clock, Michelladonna spends just as much time with bodega cats as she would on screen. Recently, she was out with friends at a gay bar and wanted to run to the corner store to get some air and refreshments. She immediately asked the owner if he had a cat, and without hesitation, he told his 10-year-old son to bring Michelladonna to the basement to see it. 'I spent 20 minutes in the basement with this kid just playing with the cat, got my fix, and then I went back to the bar,' she said. 'I was just vibing. To me, that's what New York City is.'
