The Cat Lawyer Zoom Fail Is Hilarious Mostly Because It Could Happen to Any of Us

It’s really not that uncommon. Everyone has had the experience of logging on to a Zoom meeting to find that they can’t hear anything, or the people they’re meeting with can’t hear them. Maybe the video isn’t working. 

“Can you hear me? I can’t hear you, so give me a thumbs up if you can hear me.” In the moment, it can be frustrating and embarrassing. Technology isn’t always our friend.

Still, you’ve probably never logged on to an important Zoom meeting as a cat. 

If you haven’t seen the video of the attorney who logged on to a court hearing via Zoom with a cat filter enabled, you should definitely watch. You might wonder if it’s really that funny. I assure you, it is.

The judge tries to let the attorney know that he must have some kind of a filter turned on in his video settings, to which the man replies “I’m here live, I’m not a cat”

“Oh, that was just a mistake by my secretary,” he later told Vice. “I was using her computer and for some reason she had that filter on. I took it off and replaced it with my face.”

By the way, no one is laughing at the cat lawyer. It is only funny because it could absolutely be any of us.

I can certainly relate. I mean, I’ve never logged on to a Zoom meeting as a cat, and I’ve certainly never showed up to argue a motion in front of a judge that way. I do, however, have four children all in virtual school and who have multiple Zooms throughout the day. I also spend a fair amount of time on Zoom myself. 

It can be a bit overwhelming, to be honest. Most people weren’t spending most of their day logging on to virtual meetings a year ago. For that matter, most people had never heard of Zoom a year ago. 

Even though Zoom is one of the easiest videoconferencing options available, it’s not hard to get settings confused. That’s especially true if you share a device with someone else who may not be using it for important meetings, like appearing before a judge. Kids are notorious for finding obscure settings and changing them, and the next thing you know, you’re a talking cat.

If you do ever happen to find yourself in a situation where you log on and find that your appearance or your background isn’t exactly what you expected, thankfully there’s a quick fix. Simply select the small arrow next to the video control and select either “Choose Video Filter” or “Choose Virtual Background.” Then, depending on which you want to remove, select “None.”