LINCOLN PARK — Lil Bub, the Internet's favorite tiny cat, made an appearance at Lincoln Park's Urban Outfitters Thursday evening to meet ecstatic fans before hitting up a screening of her documentary, "Lil Bub and Friendz" at Metro.
Some admirers waited in line for an hour or more at 651 Diversey Parkway to meet the cat with the big eyes and tongue that almost constantly lolls out of her mouth.
"I can't even stand it," one fan squeeled as she walked into the back room of the store, where Lil Bub sat patiently perched and waiting with her owner, Mike Bridavsky.
The cat, who rose to fame via Bridavsky's YouTube videos and Tumblr posts, even has a book built off her celebrity. She posed for photos while Bridavsky signed "Lil Bub's Lil Book: The Extraordinary Life of the Most Amazing Cat on the Planet," published in September.
The first 75 people to enter the store received a free ticket to a Thursday night Metro screening of the film, which premiered earlier this year at Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Proceeds from the screening go to Chicago's Tree House Humane Society, organizers said.
"I can't even describe [what] the feeling, just the thought of Bub gives me," suburban Braidwood resident Sarah Hajer, 21, said as she waited in line. "It's just the most wonderful feeling an animal can give."
Lil Bub, now age 2, hails from rural Indiana. She's a "perma-kitten," meaning she's forever kitten-sized. She also has dwarfism and osteopetrosis, a rare bone disease, and her journey to beat the odds has made her a storied underdog, so to speak.
Lincoln Square resident Ashley Deakins, 29, held a place in line for her husband, Aaron, whom she described as a "huge" fan of the cat.
"I think the cat brings him so much happiness," Deakins said. "For some reason, this cat just seems to make a lot of people very happy."
