Cool Cat

"Everybody wants to be a cat, because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at."

—Scat Cat, The Aristocats

Sometimes Cats Are Mean, sometimes cats are cute, (sometimes they're both) but if there's one thing all cats exude, it's cool. Cats stride around with a collected confidence and utter grace, always one step ahead of the curve without a care in the world. And why not? From their perspective, they run the world without ever having to get up from their nap.

And in fiction, this is no exception: evil or no, cats are graceful, collected and unshakably cool - the shades-wearing cool cat who never misses a beat is a popular version, as is the witty cat who never has to stop relaxing, or the impeccably collected feline, but the most dominant trait is that air of never having to lose their confident demeanor.

If combined with Cats Are Mean, this can result in cats being aloof. Even so, evil cats are often Affably Evil for precisely this reason. Cats are often associated with jazz music for this reason as well (as seen in The Aristocats for example), stemming from the fact that the word "cat" was used in 1930's and 40's jive slang to mean generally anyone who was cool.

For big cats with badass qualities, see Panthera Awesome.

Examples of Cool Cat include:

Advertising

Cheetos' shades wearing, fun loving mascot Chester Cheetah.
Tony the Tiger from the Frosted Flakes commercials, of a more "role model" sort of a "cool."
Morris the Cat, from the old 9 Lives commercials.
During the 1990s, in Jamaica, there was a soda ad on TV for the local Desnoes and Geddes (D&G) soft drink brand. The mascot for that series of cartoon ads was a cat aptly named Kool Kat, complete with shades and all. (Whenever he drank a soda, he got varying powers that ranged from invisibility to shape-shifting.)

Film -- Animated

A major theme in The Aristocats, from upbeat wanderer Thomas O'Malley, to collectedly refined Duchess, to swingin' hep cat Scat Cat, the moral of the story is "nothing keeps a good cat down."

Literature

Pixel from Robert A. Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and sequels.
Basically everyone from Warrior Cats.

Live-Action TV

The Cat from Red Dwarf
Salem the cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch - and he thinks he's even cooler than he is.
- And in the Animated Adaptation, he almost manages to be.

Music

Several songs on the subject:
- Squeeze had "Cool for Cats"
- The Cure had "Love Cats," which extolled many virtues of how cool cats are.
- Stray Cats had "Stray Cat Strut. "
Helloween's "Crazy Cat". Might or might not be about Fritz the Cat.

Newspaper Comics

Garfield, especially in situations where he's not either the aggressor or the guy being put down. His ability to sit around impassive with a smirk and a quip is often the funniest part of the strip.

Theater

Basically everyone from Cats.

Video Games

Sissel from Ghost Trick. He even has the shades to prove it.

Web Comics

Percy from Pooch and Percy is a perfect of the "cats are cool" via "cats are aloof," where he thinks he's too cool for everyone around him, and acts accordingly.

Western Animation

The Pink Panther is the quintessential example, of the "never has to lose his cool" variety - even in cartoons where he's the Butt Monkey, he always keeps his silent wit and rhythmic step.
There actually was a late-'60s Looney Tunes character named Cool Cat - a beatnik tiger who was a very obvious Expy of the Pink Panther.
Looney Tunes' Sylvester Cat occasionally plays with this, particularly in cartoons where Tweety isn't involved.
Heathcliff, from the newspaper comic of the same name and the animated series Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats (which featured an entire gang of Cool Cats as a supporting feature).
On the note of a Cool Cat gang, Top Cat and Company, particularly Spook.
Tom (of Tom and Jerry fame) attempted to become a Cool Cat in order to woo a female in "The Zoot Cat".
Crazy Legs from Banjo the Woodpile Cat.