"Kick the kid with one shoe" commercial origin?

July 14, 2006 1:31 PM

There was a commercial that featured an older caucasian male (possibly Scottish/Irish) reminiscing not-too-fondly about a childhood game called "kick the kid with one shoe." What was that commercial advertising?

After he mentions the game, the commercial cuts to a flashback of a boy being chased down an alleyway. The other kids catch up to him and all begin kicking him. Cut back to our narrator, wearing a pained expression.

I seem to be the only person around (barring a scattered few mentions of the game itself on google) who remembers this commercial. My coworkers think it was broadcast on a channel that plays only on my television.

posted by precocious to media & arts (5 comments total)

I remember it - it was a Lycos commercial, I think.
posted by milkrate at 1:45 PM on July 14, 2006

Yeah, I think it was Lycos for online game selection.
posted by piratebowling at 1:50 PM on July 14, 2006

I found the following by searching google groups:

"I rather like the Lycos spot with the older Irish man describing his "Angela's Ashes" -like upbringing, where the only game he ever played was "Catch the Kid with One Shoe," and that was why he liked playing games on Lycos now. It never fails to make me smile."

That it? :)
posted by routergirl at 1:54 PM on July 14, 2006

Thanks, guys! That was in fact the commercial.

Still, no one I describe this to knows the commercial, and it seems to be nowhere to be found. I remember it was one of the most randomly hilarious commercials I've seen yet.
posted by precocious at 5:34 AM on July 15, 2006

Hooray, mystery solved! Fine work, everyone.

Let me piggyback on this question, if no one minds-- are there any good sites for watching old ads?

Specifically, I get the George Seifert versions of "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" and "Blame It on the Bossa Nova" from a Visa ad (aired I think during a runup to a Super Bowl with the 49ers in it) featuring his karaoke performances stuck in my head all the time. But whenever I sing those songs in Seifert's style, other people (well, pretty much my girlfirend, mostly) act like I'm crazy. But I'm not crazy-- she's the one who's crazy.

Anyway, does anyone know where I might find that sort of thing online? YouTube was a bust for me.
posted by ibmcginty at 10:00 AM on July 15, 2006