Story highlights
- Pizza Rat is the latest Internet phenom
- We are all Pizza Rat, social media proclaims
(CNN)It can be argued that there are fewer things more New York than a slice, the subway and a rat.
Combine the three, and it's magic.
Behold Pizza Rat, the world's newest viral star and, for some, a symbol of the ultimate New Yorker.
A YouTube video was uploaded of a rat attempting to carry a slice of pizza down some subway stairs in the Big Apple.
No matter that the slice is way bigger than Pizza Rat and at any minute the rodent could be squashed by scampering humans who are also just trying to get to their destination. Pizza Rat was on a mission.
"He appears poised to complete the descent and return to his squalid rat hole with his unnecessarily large prize -- an inspiring demonstration of the grit and determination one needs to make it in New York City," Caroline Bankoff wrote for the Daily Intelligencer.
Suddenly, Pizza Rat was being hailed as "Carrie Ratshaw" (a nod to the "Sex and the City" character) and an all-around winner at life. There's even a quiz that can determine whether you are Pizza Rat.
The Internet, of course, has been all embracing it, with "Watch What Happens Live" host Andy Cohen speaking for us all when he tweeted simply "obsessed with #PizzaRat."
Naturally, there is already a New York Pizza Rat Twitter account, which offers a simple explanation for the trek: "Wasn't trying to make a statement, humans. Just trying to get some damn pizza down some subway stairs."
