Furry fandom's longest running puppeteering show is celebrating its 24th anniversary this Wednesday, and the show's host is hoping for a big turnout. Rapid T. Rabbit and Friends has been running since President's Day 1983.^[1] Featuring live pawpet action along with prerecorded coverage of local and regional events, the show's history spans 572 regular 30-minute episodes, as well as almost 100 specials.^[2]

Rapid T. Rabbit himself has participated in several furry conventions in the past, the first being ConFurence East 1995. Of late, though, increased transportation and studio costs and the move of Anthrocon to Pittsburgh in 2006 have forced the wandering lapine to stick closer to home. He does plan to attend United!, scheduled to be held this August in Newark, New Jersey.

Rapid T. Rabbit has had many guests in the past, from T.H.E. Fox to Dr. Demento, Tenderheart Bear, Chuck E. Cheese and even Big Bird himself.^[4] The show reached a high point in September 1999 with an interview on The Daily Show.^[5]. Since then, ever-rising housing rates have led to restricted time for filming, which often has to take place in co-host Cuppy's mixing room.^[1]

It's been a personal struggle to keep it going, being that I fund it entirely by myself.[3]

The show airs each Wednesday at 5:30PM Eastern Time on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Time Warner Cable channel 57 and RCN channel 85.^[6] Broadband streaming is available. Episodes also run in the 30 minutes before the Funday PawPet Show; the Anniversary show is tentatively scheduled to rerun on March 18th.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Upcoming RTR studio taping...but beyond that? - Rapid T. Rabbit's LiveJournal (February 1, 2007)
2. ↑ Rapid T. Rabbit episode list
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} WikiFur News personal interview
4. ↑ Rapid T. Rabbit photo gallery
5. ↑ Rapid T. Rabbit - Video clips
6. ↑ Rapid T. Rabbit Show Monthly Schedule