Eurovision has been smuggling glorious weirdness onto television for decades. Monster costumes, a silver star hat, a puppet turkey, an oven: somewhere behind the scenes, a production manager has had to put each of these things on a perfectly serious list.
This is Pudgy Cat’s hall of fame for the acts that make the group chat stop scrolling. Our May 14, 2026 edition takes a look back, then returns to Vienna, where the second semifinal is scheduled for tonight. The final is still ahead. The imaginary award for “most likely to make the cat stare at the television” is already fiercely contested.
Lordi: The Monsters Took the Trophy
Finland’s Lordi won Eurovision 2006 with Hard Rock Hallelujah. The official Athens scoreboard records 292 points. Finnish broadcaster Yle’s archive recalls the spectacular staging and the record score at the time.
The costume department appeared to be preparing for a siege; the chorus was ready for a singalong. That combination remains excellent Eurovision logic. The monsters did not sneak through on a technicality. They won the song contest.
Verka Serduchka: A Star Hat With Staying Power
Ukraine followed in 2007 with Verka Serduchka’s Dancing Lasha Tumbai. Eurovision’s own retrospective celebrates the mirrored silver costume, star headpiece and relentless energy. Verka finished second in Helsinki.
Some outfits accompany a performance. This one seems capable of booking its own appearance. You can recognise the silhouette before the music starts, which is a fine achievement in a competition where practically everyone has brought something shiny.
Dustin and the Babushki: Never Underestimate a Prop
Ireland sent Dustin the Turkey to Belgrade in 2008 with Irelande Douze Pointe. The official participant archive preserves this important contribution to the diplomatic history of puppets. Eurovision is a place where “the turkey entry” can be a useful, unambiguous description.
Russia’s Buranovskiye Babushki brought a different kind of theatrical confidence in 2012. Contemporary rehearsal reporting described the oven and the serving of bread during Party For Everybody. They ultimately finished second.
An oven is a strong response to a room full of wind machines. Other acts are offering drama, glamour or heartbreak. This one appears concerned that you may not have eaten. Warmest staging is not an official category, but perhaps it should be.
The Feline Department: Baby Lasagna and Auri
Croatia’s Baby Lasagna gives us a much more direct cat connection. His 2024 song Rim Tim Tagi Dim makes missing a cat part of leaving home, as the published lyrics show. It is an extremely reasonable emotional priority.
For Vienna 2026, ORF introduced Auri, the official mascot. Eurovision describes a fluffy ambassador for creativity and togetherness, complete with a belt bag. Our feline delegation would like to claim honorary membership rights, but Auri’s job description does not establish that he is a cat.
That is fine. Mascots exist in a generous space between costume design and zoology. Auri looks equipped to handle a fan photo, a children’s story and a question about where the nearest coffee is. That may be more useful than a species classification.
Vienna’s Live Violin—and Thursday’s Lineup
Finland’s Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen supplied one of Vienna’s striking combinations with Liekinheitin. Yle reported before the contest that Lampenius received special permission to play her violin live, departing from the usual recorded instrumental backing. The rehearsal images also showed a window of flames. The title, meaning “Flamethrower,” had clearly reached the staging team.
Tuesday’s spectacle has its own first-semifinal roundup. Armenia belongs to Thursday’s show: the official running order puts SIMÓN’s Paloma Rumba in the second semifinal, alongside competitors including Cyprus’s Antigoni and Norway’s JONAS LOVV.
Host Austria’s COSMÓ and the UK’s LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER also appear in that show as automatic finalists. A rehearsal preview is a chance to pick something to watch for, rather than declare what the evening has already delivered. Our six-act preview takes that closer look.
Five Things to Send to the Group Chat
- Lordi, 2006: monster costumes, enormous chorus, actual victory.
- Verka, 2007: the silver star is practically a greeting.
- Dustin, 2008: sometimes the explanation really is “Ireland sent a turkey puppet.”
- The Babushki, 2012: a party with catering built into the staging.
- Baby Lasagna, 2024: a musical departure that remembers the most important household member.
For the other branch of this peculiar family tree, our history of cat memes follows the images that acquired lives far beyond their original setting. Eurovision has a talent for producing those too.
Keep the songs, enjoy the costumes, and leave a little space in the screenshot folder. A competition that has already accommodated monsters and an oven can probably still surprise us.
