'Sandlot' star is 'killin'' us with his hobby as a dancing TikTok dad
At 14, Patrick Renna hit a home run as Ham in the beloved classic "The Sandlot." Two years later, he got a kick out of playing goalie in "The Big Green." And now, at 44, this father of two is scoring major points as a dancing machine.
Alongside two of his best friends, brothers Caige and Cru Moore, Renna puts on his game face and boogies to everything from Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison" to the NFL theme songs from major sports broadcasts.
So, why did these three dads decide to put their sweet moves on camera?
"One of my Gen Z friends who keeps me feeling young helps me with TikTok," Renna tells TODAY.com. When she suggested that dancing on TikTok was "a big deal," Renna responded, "There's no way I'm going to dance on TikTok, at least alone. But you know what I would do? I'd get a couple of my 'Chubby Ginger' friends and that would be fun."
The group's NFL dance, recorded in 2022, has been making the rounds on social media again recently, racking up 6 million views to date. The moves were originally choreographed by viral sensations Austin and Marideth Telenko (better known as Cost n' Mayor).
And when the NFL on Prime Video asked why their theme song wasn't included, the boys got back on their feet to perform their most difficult routine yet. "We're very red and sweaty in this one," Renna says.
Dance life
Though the trio generally selects their routines from dances that are already trending on social media, that choreography is just a starting point.
Actress Lynsey Moore, Renna's childhood friend, uses her dance training to adapt the established choreography to the mens' talents — and then she helps them rehearse.
Or, as Renna puts it, "She will either dumb down some of these dances so that we can actually physically do them, or she kind of alters them a little and then is the one yelling at us for an hour straight to get it together and be in sync."
Nicknaming themselves XL (Renna), XXL (Caige Moore) and XXXL (Cru Moore), the men seem to have an easygoing chemistry. But things don't always run smoothly.
"Caige tries to upstage me constantly," Renna jokes. "And I have to constantly have words with him that I'm the lead dancer and to stay in his lane." On the other hand, Renna cites Cru as being "lackluster half the time" and receiving much-deserved reprimands from the choreographer ... who also happens to be his wife.
The group generally rehearses and films while their combined seven kids are in school, but Caige's oldest daughter will "watch and laugh at us and sometimes brings us some of the trends to do. She's very 'with it' on TikTok," Renna says.
This lead dancer may be onto the social media game more than he lets on.
The group's dance to Lizzo's "About Damn Time" got 10 million views — and even the attention of the singer herself. In a follow-up video, Lizzo attempts to give Renna some personal coaching on the choreography. He's still working on it.
Dad life
Renna has garnered a lot of attention for portraying a sports-playing kid in beloved movies. And now he has two sports-playing kids himself.
He and his wife, Jasmin Renna, are the parents of Flynn, 6, and Liam, 3. Even though they "roughhouse constantly," Renna says "they won't go anywhere without each other."
Liam is "already starting to kick the soccer ball hard and he's got that sort of aggressive nature you need to have to excel in sports," Renna says. And when Flynn started playing T-ball, Renna stepped in to coach the team. Even though Flynn has moved up to the next age bracket, "he won't go now to baseball unless I'm coaching. So now I'm just locked in forever."
Renna doesn't mind, though. Being involved with kids' sports "forces you to stop working early and make that a priority. I don't want to look back and wish I had spent more time with them," he says.
Plus, through watching his kids play sports, Renna gets to relive some of his favorite movie moments, like slapping a giant steak on Flynn's face when he gets a baseball-induced black eye. #iykyk
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
