Yo Gabba Gabba! Is Conquering America
First CD, New Live Tour Heighten Excitement for Hit Children's Show
Oct 16, 2009
The popular children's series, airing at 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. EST daily on the cable channel, launched its third season Oct. 12, 2009, attracting such notable guest stars as Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg, skateboarder Ray Barbee and musical group The Roots alongside series regulars Biz Markie and former DEVO composer-leader Mark Mothersbaugh.
They join the show's outlandish host, DJ Lance Rock (Lance Robertson) and a wildly colorful cast of characters that includes Brobee, the little green one; Foofa, the pink flower bubble; Muno, the red Cyclops, Toodee, the blue cat-dragon, and Plex, the yellow robot, to "get the sillies out" with a half-hour of lively retro-style music, comedy and fun blended with simple life lessons for kids. For the past two years, the show has won the award for Best Children's Programming from the Television Critics Association.
From TV to Multimedia Domination
This fall, however, Yo Gabba Gabba! (a name possibly derived from the chant "Gabba Gabba Hey!" coined by punk rock legends The Ramones) will be exploding across North America on multiple media fronts. The show's first spinoff CD, Yo Gabba Gabba! Music Is Awesome! showcasing 21 original songs from the series, hits shelves on Oct. 20, 2009; an all-new, feature-length DVD, Yo Gabba Gabba! Meet My Family, will be available in retail stores the same day; and its first-ever live U.S. stage tour, Yo Gabba Gabba Live! There's a Party In My City, kicks off Nov. 14 at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles.
The limited three-city tour, which also will stop at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Nov. 21 and suburban Chicago's Rosemont Theatre Dec. 5, sold out almost immediately in LA and New York, necessitating the scheduling of additional shows in both cities (Nov. 15 and 21, respectively).
This is all pretty heady stuff for a couple of guys who simply wanted to find something on TV they could watch with their kids.
"Being at the center of the storm, so to speak, it just feels really strange," admits Christian Jacobs, who created and writes Yo Gabba Gabba! with longtime friend and bandmate Scott Schultz and voices the character of Plex on the series. "It's like, 'Is this for real?' It's that kind of a feeling, as I'm waving to my kids going off to school and thinking about live shows selling out, it's pretty insane."
Thank 50 Cent for Generating Dollars
Jacobs says the inspiration for the show – in a reverse sort of way – came from watching music videos on MTV.
"We just started noticing the things we were watching with our kids, there was something missing," he says. "There was a bit of a generation gap between our generation and what was being broadcast to kids. And the idea to do the show just kind of snapped one day while I was watching TV and my daughter (Penelope) was playing in the room.
"I was flipping from channel to channel and I clicked to 50 Cent on MTV," Jacobs recalls. "She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at what was on the TV because she heard the beat. Then I had to turn the channel really quick, because whatever was on was not very appropriate for my 2-year-old. I did it a few more times, and sure enough whenever she heard that beat she would stop to see what that was.
"And so realizing that modern music and just simple dance beats can really capture a child's attention, if you can just couple that with some colorful characters they can relate to and put some songs together that can help them learn and grow with music, music that I was listening to, why couldn't it work? It isn't as easy as that, but that was the nucleus of the show."
Music, Music Everywhere
It's difficult to tell which of the new Yo Gabba Gabba! ventures excites Jacobs, 38, the most. "We're really pumped about the CD, because we're now in our third season of production and we've written close to 700 songs in that time," he says. "The show is all about music and fun, so just getting the tip of the iceberg out there, finally, is really exciting for all of us."
As to the live shows, "In the spring we did a small run of shows in Australia, to kind of test the waters a little bit, and it did really well," he says. "So we're putting together this pretty ambitious show for the fall that's going to be pretty insane. I don't want to spoil any surprises, but we're pulling out all the stops for these three initial shows and hopefully we'll get a good response. Then next year we're hoping to do the full U.S. tour and really blow it up."
Jacobs doesn't have to look far to be reminded of the motivation behind his series. That would be his four children, Penelope, now 11; Oskar, 7; Bruce, 4; and Russell, 3 months.
"Our motivations were that exactly, to do something for our kids and try to package up, cobble together the best things that we like and put them into this show, with music and art and animation and fun. Then to see that it's working so well, and that other people are responding to it and parents are saying, 'Thank you for making the show, my kids really love it and we watch it together,' that's really what it's all about. We wanted to create that bonding moment where we could actually watch these shows with our children."
Yo Gabba Gabba! is almost certain to keep its creators young at heart. "I will always be a kid, for sure," Jacobs says with a laugh. "I feel like I stopped growing at about 12. My body just got older."
For more information on the CD, DVD and concert tickets, visit www.yogabbagabba.com.
