Kids With Feet knock audience’s socks off

Chapman sketch comedy group Kids With Feet had their first live show of the semester on Nov. 3 with skits ranging from bad rap battles to Urban Dictionary reports. Photo courtesy of Rachel Othon

The only thing standing between loser, wannabe rapper Legacie and the girl of his dreams is her strict father. But now that her dad is deceased, Legacie doesn’t waste a second and proposes to the mourning daughter mid-funeral. On the one hand, the scene is a beautiful expression of love overcoming barriers. On the other, it's a reckless and facetious display of obsession. You decide. 

Luckily, Legacie’s morally complex actions live inside the world of a comedic sketch and are played for laughs. Authored by junior screenwriting major Adrian Afif and performed by senior television and producing major Jack Abramson, Legacie is just one of many the characters and scenarios that have emerged from student-run sketch comedy group Kids With Feet. 

On Nov. 3, Kids With Feet hosted their first live show of the semester. Photo courtesy of Adiran Afif

“As a screenwriting major, it's nice to have that break from normal writing where you have to take yourself seriously,” said Afif, who also serves as the social media manager. “(In Kids With Feet), you can have this guy who spells legacy wrong and crashes a funeral and stuff like that, where you don't take everything so seriously. Not everything has to have a deeper sort of connection or plot.”

Kids With Feet was established in the summer of 2021. Their name derives from the Instagram page Kids Getting Hurt, which is simply… videos of children being injured. Though the club refrains from harming any adolescents, they do focus on creating a collaborative experience for Chapman students from all sectors of film production looking for a laugh.  

“We aim to provide a space where people can come and learn about sketch comedy, learn how to work in a writers room, how to be collaborative and ultimately just create something that will make people laugh and have a good time,” said senior television and writing production major Rachel Othon, who also serves as the executive producer of Kids With Feet.

On Nov. 3, Kids With Feet hosted their first live show of the semester. The event consisted of a variety of acts including live sketches, digital sketches, stand-up comedians and musicians. 

Abramson, who serves as the creative director of Kids With Feet, co-wrote the first sketch of the night called “Urban Dictionary,” where children read the vulgar definitions from words on the website Urban Dictionary — such as The Cleveland Steamer or Dabsurbating. He even reprised his most notorious acting role Legacie in his rap battle against Virginity, a sex-driven church girl.

“It’s always nerve-wracking because from behind the wall, I can’t really hear how loud the laughs were or how often they were happening,” Abramson said. “But (with Legacie), I could say anything and it would be fine. He has free rein to be a weird, gross asshole. The whole point is that he’s not a good rapper, so I can do that.”

Abramson told The Panther he was pleased with how the show went. Although he thought the length was shorter than expected, he noted that he’d rather have a short and funny show than a long and boring one. Afif, who typically acts in sketches, took on the role of spectator and used the show as an opportunity to review his craft. 

“It was nice to not have to stress about memorizing so many lines and instead get to focus on the audience and their reactions — more specifically what jokes they laughed at and what didn’t land,” Afif said. “Overall, I think it went really well. I got to see a lot of new faces, along with some familiar faces, so it was really positive to see new audience members that might be interested in our group and our humor.”

For Othon, Kids With Feet has given her the ability to see her scripts produced as well as opportunities to direct and produce. Her sketch “A Beautiful Day for Baseball” was shown in a digital format, which revolves around a baseball announcer who keeps projecting himself and his issues onto a family in the crowd. She describes club meetings as chaotic and fun, where members brainstorm, edit and nail down how exactly the actors should “dabsturbate” during the show. 

“We get work done, but we also just have such a fun time with each other and I genuinely feel like we're just a group of friends who want to be creative and funny with each other,” Othon said. “Every week is a good stress reliever to go and just mess around for a few hours, write some good sketches and be with people who make you laugh.”

Afif echoes Othon’s testament about the tight-knit group dynamic by saying he was shocked how relaxed the environment was when he first joined the club. 

“It was really nice because I went in expecting a formality," Afif said. "Obviously there is a little of that, but there's also just moments to catch up, play YouTube videos, listen to music, talk to each other and make jokes, which I think helps that writers room dynamic.”

Since Othon and Abramson are both seniors, they’re looking to set the club up for success after their departure — relying on non-seniors like Afif to carry on their legacy. 

“(Kids With Feet) brings together a really interesting and fun group of people,” Abramson said. "I really want to get a couple of good people in the spring club fair and really put this in a place where the people who we took this fall can take on the leadership positions when Rachel and I graduate.”

You can follow Kids With Feet at their Instagram page for updates on application openings or future live shows. You can also check out their Youtube page for previous sketches.