New York City Has a Resident Human-Rat Called Buddy
You might have seen videos of Buddy online. He's not hard to miss: a human-sized rat (well, a human dressed up as a rat) who runs around New York on all fours, acting like a rat. The performance artist usually draws laughs and smiles from onlookers, and the sheer bizarre-ness of the act makes it so very New York City. Continue reading to learn more about Buddy the rat and check out their Instagram page.
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Buddy the rat is actually Jonothon Lyons, an actor and performance artist who created the character of Buddy in a theater performance over a decade ago.
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Lyons and a director friend took the rat costume out for a night in Times Square, and the following videos went viral. Lyons realized that Buddy had to start taking the rat into public.
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Buddy the rat appears on the subway a lot, as passengers there often see real rats.
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In a famous stunt, Buddy recreated the viral 2015 video of a (real) rat dragging a piece of pizza home in a New York City subway station.
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5There was a problem rendering this video - it may have been deleted.
Lyons aims to be mischievous, but not disruptive in his performances. Sometimes people laugh or scream, and there are mostly positive reactions to Buddy.
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Buddy the rat continued his public appearances during the pandemic, with Lyons wearing a face mask underneath the rat mask.
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Lyons sees New York City as the world capital of live performance and feels privileged to be a part of the scene.
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