The Lost Cat is a rather haunting, surreal podcast written and performed by A.P. Clarke. It tells of its narrator's experiences as he searches for his lost cat. Along the way, he encounters everything from Lovecraftian entities to parallel universes.
The podcast's Facebook page
states that it is intended to have 10 seasons. So far, only one has been released. It can be listed to here.
Welcome to Night Vale was a major influence. Similar to WTNV's "Weather" segment, each episode of The Lost Cat features one of A.P. Clarke's original musical pieces.
This series provides examples of:
- After the End: Implied in several places. The world does feel similar to our own in places, yet there are monsters and surreal dangers everywhere, the narrator feels the need to arm himself when he leaves the house, the air quality varies, and there is a perpetual roaring from the other side of the lake.
- Bazaar of the Bizarre: Curiosity shops.
- Cats Are Mean: In the pilot episode, the narrator travels to a house that has been taken over by cats, trapping the owner inside. They nearly chew off the narrator's foot.
- The Determinator: The narrator faces a dangerous house, an Eldritch Abomination, journeys into a parallel universe, and braves a curiosity shop all in search of his cat.
- Different World, Different Movies: In the parallel universe, the Terminator films starred Sylvester Stallone.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The series is kicked off by the narrator's cat vanishing. His subsequent search for it is the common string that ties together the rest of the series.
- Gone Mad from the Revelation: In "The Half a Cat," the narrator learns of a sickly man who had his head transplanted to a new body. He believes he has become a monster and goes on a murderous rampage.
- Major Injury Underreaction: At various points, the narrator gets turned inside out, has his skull removed, and has his hand bitten off. None of it fazes him much. In fact, he's calm enough to outwit the people who stole his skull.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: In "The Pet Graveyard" episode, the narrator finds an anomaly that leads to a parallel universe, which he ventures into in search of his cat. He meets himself an they learn that his presence in a universe where he also exists is causing the anomaly to expand and potentially destroy the world. They successfully "overload the system" somehow by fining other alternate selves in other universes and jumping into each other.
- No Name Given: The narrator.
- Spider Swarm: In Episode 5, the entire town is literally covered with spiders that pour out of the toilets and drains. The residents only escape by clustering around the Leviathan's hole while the spiders converge around them so high and thick they blot out the sky.
- Tortured Monster: The Leviathan is essentially paralyzed by its confusion and conflict over its place in the universe.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: All over the place. With the exception of the Spider Swarm, no one in this universe is ever genuinely freaked out, terrified, or shocked at the bizarre things they see and do. Parallel universes, finding a monster in your bedroom, animate dolls, ghosts, you name it.
