| Genre: | Comedy |
| Creator: | Richard Concepcion |
| Opentheme: | "Custer's Last Stand" by Apollo 100 |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | 780 |
| Runtime: | 28 minutes |
Rapid T. Rabbit and Friends was an independently produced puppet and variety show created and produced by Richard Concepcion.[1] The show was broadcast weekly on public-access cable TV in New York City from 1983 to 2017.[2] The show ran on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Queens Public TV, and aired online every Sunday afternoon over the Pawpet Broadcasting Network before the Funday Pawpet Show.[3]
The show, which is based in Rapid Transit Rabbit's hometown of New York City, followed him, and his friends Cuppy, Rupert and Mejeep, both in town, and around the country on their adventures. This could be in the form of puppets interacting with each other via a traditional puppet stage, or in the form of a video documentary. In recent years, the show expanded to include Rapid as a mascot, as well as a puppet which was used to film video documentaries for the show.
Throughout the years, the Rapid T. Rabbit character has attended many events such as the Doo-Dah Parade in Ocean City, New Jersey,[4] and the Long Island Ducks Mascot Day among others including the New York City Easter Parade. While Rapid T. Rabbit was a very involved with local events in the New York City area, he was commonly mistaken as the "Easter Bunny"[5] by kids according to an interview with Richard in The New York Times.
Rapid also made appearances on various other television shows including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 1999[6] and with local fandoms including the Chuck E. Cheese and ShowBiz Pizza fandom (from 2004 until 2013) at "Cheesevention", as well as in the Furry Fandom at conventions such as Anthrocon and Midwest Furfest as a Guest of Honor in 2000.[7]
In 2011, the program was the subject of a featured exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image.[8]
Richard Concepcion, the producer and puppeteer of Rapid T. Rabbit, died on August 1, 2017,[9] in his apartment due to natural causes, thus ending the show's run.