--- title: Cigarette Cockroach Was Destined for Viral Fame description: No one can stop talking about the cigarette cockroach who has redefined desperate times. canonical: https://time.com/5705037/cigarette-cockroach/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-18T19:16:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T21:04:30.000Z og:title: Cigarette Cockroach Crawling With Purpose Had No Clue It Was Destined for Viral Fame og:description: But here we are og:url: https://time.com/5705037/cigarette-cockroach/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ed83c8bed8b04db/698a048722fb852478e2a038/cigarettecockroach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Close-Up Of Cockroach Against White Background og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cigarette Cockroach Crawling With Purpose Had No Clue It Was Destined for Viral Fame twitter:description: But here we are twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ed83c8bed8b04db/698a048722fb852478e2a038/cigarettecockroach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Cigarette Cockroach Crawling With Purpose Had No Clue It Was Destined for Viral Fame by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:04 PM UTCPublished: Oct 18, 2019 7:16 PM UTC  Michael Anlauf/Getty Images/EyeEm by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:04 PM UTCPublished: Oct 18, 2019 7:16 PM UTC Not everyone in New York City is resolved to ditch their [unhealthy habits](https://time.com/5697131/trash-tobacco-use-study/). That is certainly the case for the [cigarette cockroach](https://time.com/5704759/fish-boy/). When a cockroach took a smoke in stroll on the streets of New York City, little did it know it was a move that would guarantee at least [fifteen minutes of fame](https://time.com/5703341/kayaking-down-stairs-tiktok/). But crawling around the grates and into internet stardom, here is cigarette cockroach going for a leisurely smoke and stroll. Already the video has amassed nearly a thousand likes. Posted by Twitter user Tom Kretchmar, the jokes and hot takes were swift. He took it at the 53rd and 5th Avenue subway stop in the stairwell. “Tired: pizza rat Wired: cigarette cockroach,” Kretchmar captioned the video. > [](https://twitter.com/tkretchmar/status/1185238427668766720) It appears to be carrying a cigarette nearly double its size. If you’d like to know more about how to cope with a tough day, there are self-help books for that. Or you could simply pop on this video of cigarette cockroach enjoying its life while the internet stares in terror, not quite sure how to process this. The whole scene endeared it to people online everywhere, scoring the cockroach universal recognition for the gritty move. We look forward to seeing the cockroach on the talk show circuit with even more free swag than it could ever carry. In the Netflix series [_Orange Is the New Black_](https://gizmodo.com/can-you-really-train-cockroaches-like-on-orange-is-the-1590626960), inmates train cockroaches to smuggle cigarettes between prison cells. So perhaps fiction isn’t too far off from reality in this one case. One [study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9862324) found that cockroaches race to cool spots if they’re on a hot surface, but this cockroach was taking its sweet time. The pizza rat reference Twitter user Tom Kretchmar uses is on point. Back in 2015, pizza rat became ubiquitous for the way it relentlessly dragged a large size of totally edible floor pizza through a New York City subway station. People felt it was a metaphor for struggle in an urban city. But whatever pizza rat meant to you, a star was born. See the [best cigarette cockroach memes](https://time.com/5626450/storm-area-51-alien-memes/) below. > [](https://twitter.com/bobivry/status/1185261263263285253) > [](https://twitter.com/marina%5Fcaitlin/status/1185256836536197123) > [](https://twitter.com/TheJewishDream/status/1185243143312171010) > [](https://twitter.com/RebeccaTee/status/1185242683096424448) > [](https://twitter.com/joshkelliott/status/1185258042469818368) > [](https://twitter.com/ryansongalia/status/1185257124340944897) > [](https://twitter.com/abitoverzellis/status/1185244267222065153) > [](https://twitter.com/Merman%5FMelville/status/1185263268010455043) > [](https://twitter.com/ByMattTroutman/status/1185266490859282432) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5705037/cigarette-cockroach/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5705037/cigarette-cockroach/"},"headline":"Cigarette Cockroach Crawling With Purpose Had No Clue It Was Destined for Viral Fame","datePublished":"2019-10-18T19:16:38.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T21:04:30.000Z","description":"No one can stop talking about the cigarette cockroach who has redefined desperate times.","url":"https://time.com/5705037/cigarette-cockroach/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ed83c8bed8b04db/698a048722fb852478e2a038/cigarettecockroach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ed83c8bed8b04db/698a048722fb852478e2a038/cigarettecockroach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Close-Up Of Cockroach Against White Background","caption":"CIGARETTE COCKROACH","creditText":"Michael Anlauf/Getty Images/EyeEm","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5705037/cigarette-cockroach/","name":"Cigarette Cockroach Crawling With Purpose Had No Clue It Was Destined for Viral Fame"}}]}] ```