Jordan Firstman Directs and Stars in the New York Underground Comedy Club Kid

Jordan Firstman shifts from viral Instagram and TikTok comedy sketches to feature-film direction with Club Kid, a raw party-scene comedy that secured standing ovations and an intense bidding war among Hollywood studios and streaming services after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, filmstarts.de reported. The project adapts the classic accidental-fatherhood premise seen in box-office hits like Three Men and a Baby—which ranked as the fifth-highest-grossing U.S. film of 1987, finishing ahead of Lethal Weapon and Predator after Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson found a baby on their New York penthouse doorstep—and Til Schweiger’s Kokowääh, blending hedonistic nightlife culture with an unexpected parental crisis.

Nightclub Hedonism Meets Unplanned Paternity

In the film, creator Jordan Firstman stars as Peter, a legendary figure in New York City’s sex-and-drugs nightlife circuit who runs elite parties alongside business partner Sophie, played by Cara Delevingne. Peter’s lifestyle involves heavy substance use, including regular lines of cocaine and ketamine while hosting diverse crowds under an electro-beat soundtrack. That dynamic shatters when a British visitor named Edison, played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste, arrives at Peter’s penthouse with a young boy named Arlo, played by Reggie Absolom. Edison explains that Arlo is Peter’s son—conceived a decade prior during a drug-fueled threesome at one of Peter’s parties—and demands that Peter take custody after Arlo’s mother dies by suicide and her stepfather exhibits abusive behavior. Even if Peter successfully transforms his lifestyle, he still faces the hurdle of keeping a son who remains officially registered in Great Britain.

Analog Film Captures Authentic New York Underground Scene

Unlike polished, mainstream tearjerkers, Firstman shot the production on analog 35mm material while utilizing original locations within the queer New York underground scene. The resulting atmosphere maintains the authentic sex-positive, all-is-welcome attitude of the city’s party culture without slipping into a bleak social drama. Despite incorporating MDMA crashes and hedonistic settings, the narrative positions Peter as an eager guardian who immediately commits to reshaping his life for Arlo, supported by strong onscreen chemistry between Firstman and 14-year-old newcomer Reggie Absolom.

Kokowääh brought in more than 4.3 million ticket sales in German cinemas, establishing a durable local precedent for commercial comedies built around reluctant caregivers 24 years after Three Men and a Baby debuted.