The Roberts family knows one thing for certain: kids say hilarious things.
Put their voices into the mouths of lip-syncing adults, and you’ve got a bona fide YouTube sensation.
The Utah Valley crew is getting quite famous on YouTube for its "Kid Snippets" series, in which kids create the stories and voice the dialogue for scenes which are then acted out by adults.
The effect of hearing children's voices while watching adults mouth the words in videos like "math class," "driver's ed" and "proposal" is both hilarious and bizarre, and the videos regularly nab over a million views.
The stars of the videos are brothers Brett, John, Randy and Dave Roberts (four of six brothers in the Roberts family), and they aren’t professional actors — just a tight-knit family who make their living as entrepreneurs, dentists and marketing execs.
Their first YouTube series, Kid History, began when youngest brother Randy took first prize in a New York City film festival with a short piece titled “Troubles.” Kid Snippets is the shorter, more web-friendly evolution of Kid History.
Brett, 41, spoke to TODAY about the inspiration for the series, saying, “I did stand-up comedy for about six months just to see if I could do it. It was a blast. It was that experience that made me want to reach larger audiences through video.”
Filming takes place at their homes so the kids are relaxed and their creativity can really take flight. When the brothers first started filming Kid History videos, the Roberts' own kids provided the zany plot lines, but eventually they brought in even more pint-sized talent.
“We tried our best not to give them too much exposure once the videos started getting really popular,” Brett explains, “So we started rotating in other kids.”
And the series has turned the brothers into local celebrities. While they used to premiere new videos in their homes, the turnout eventually got so big that they started renting out local spots and inviting the public. The first public viewing of a Kid History installment attracted 2000 attendees!
So enjoy the latest Kid Snippets video, “Food Allergies,” and marvel at the Roberts’ brothers’ comedic genius and insane lip-synching skills. Oh, and be on the lookout for the next one. They’re posted every Monday, much to the delight of their nearly 238,000 subscribers.