Cotter, 47, who became an overnight celebrity for Olive and Mabel’s parody commentary videos during the lockdown, gave fans an upbeat look into 2021 with a little help from both Labradors.
Her latest video, posted shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday, shows the puppies face-to-face in an intense Monopoly battle, before Olive – the eldest of the couple – huffed out in apparent boredom.
“Look, I know you both are fed up with this year, we all have to be entertained right now,” Cotter said in his voiceover.
Focusing on Mabel, he continues, “The worst year you remember? Well you can’t remember last week so it’s not a scathing assessment.
Turning to Olive, he said, “And you loved it, having everyone at home all the time.
“Well things are definitely going to get better so, Mabel first of all, what are you looking forward to in 2021?”
The action then switches to a montage – with an epic-style soundtrack – of dogs splashing the sea, hurtling down snow-capped mountain slopes, leaping through dark summer fields and chasing a tennis ball along the beach. .
“God, it’s like Black Beauty has undergone huge budget cuts,” Cotter says, adding, “But yeah, we all can’t wait to come back and explore the world.”
He then asks the same question to Olive, whose own imaginary desires show her greedily eating a bowl of dog food. That’s it.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, is that all you want?” asks its puzzled owner. “What? Is it all about achievable goals this year? And you just want to start doing normal things again? “
The video ends with the trio continuing their festive board game session, this time switching to chess, before Cotter says to Mabel, “Alright, go on then, go get the Twister mat.”
The video was viewed more than 250,000 times in less than 11 hours, with social media users thanking the 47-year-old for bringing his pets – and a much-deserved joy – into their lives in 2020.
One fan tweeted a snap of her own pet, writing: “Happy New Year to you, Olive and Mabel! What a year it has been for them. Thank you so much for bringing us endless joy, warmth and positivity this year in the form of these relentlessly adorable dog companions. Best wishes for 2021 from mine to yours. “
Another wrote: “Cotter, you, Mabel and Olive were THE winners in 2020. Wishing you an equally prosperous New Year which will be happier when we hear more comments about your daily work. Good luck.”
When the UK entered its first national stop in March, Cotter’s job as a sports commentator on television came to a halt and to pass the time he put his observation skills to work.
Just over nine months later, his videos of Olive and Mabel have been viewed by millions of people around the world and Cotter is a published author.
Le livre Olive, Mabel And Me: Life And Adventures With My Canine Companions, est sorti en octobre.
Cotter, of Scottish descent, said the inspiration for the videos came from the 1990s sketch show Big Train, in which acclaimed sports commentator Barry Davies seriously portrayed the Stare-Out World Championship.
“I had no idea it was going to turn out like this. I was going to comment on various mundane things from a sports broadcaster commenting on everyday life because I have nothing else to comment on, ”he said at an event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival earlier during this year.
“I finally decided to comment on the dogs. I was lucky it was the dogs because it took off with a lot of people and it resonated with them as dog owners.
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Cotter, who before the coronavirus pandemic was best known for his television coverage of golf, rugby, tennis and athletics, said he was concerned that now he could be seen as a joke commentator, so he is from the humorous voice-over of dogs to the setting in human situations.
“I was worried after the second, Game of Bones, because it was even bigger and you don’t want to be the joke commentator because you have to get back to work,” he said.
“This year was supposed to be the summer of Wimbledon, the Open, the Olympics.
“If you comment on the Olympic Opening Ceremony and everyone thinks he’s the guy who makes the dogs, then you’ve lost some credibility.
“You think you don’t want to be the joke commentator and that’s kind of why I wanted to move on to doing little sketches and putting them in human situations rather than just commenting on them.
Cotter said that after the videos were successful, he was approached by a “bigwig” from Hollwood whom he would not name and who was interested in “getting things done”.
“He’s a big dog lover and said he would love to do a series. I’m not sure that will happen, I think we’ve passed this moment now, ”said the 47-year-old.
“I will continue to make, if I can think of the ideas, films. If they (the dogs) continue to live the weird life they lead, I’ll keep filming. They make me laugh as much as anything.
“Everything is so serious, so dark and so low at the moment and if you have 90 seconds of laughing with dogs, that’s the most important thing.”
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