Christian Jacobs

Scott Schultz and Christian Jacobs with the Yo Gabba Gabba! gang

Photo: Ben Clark courtesy of W!LDBRAIN

If you have a preschooler—or if you’re just a pop-culture-savvy adult—you probably know all about Yo Gabba Gabba! Nick Jr.’s colorful, music-packed kiddie show became an instant hit when it premiered two years ago, and since then it has spawned a CD, an upcoming live tour and a number of famous fans such as Andy Samberg, Elijah Wood, Jack Black, the Roots and the Shins, all of whom have appeared as guests. Even though Christian Jacobs cocreated this juggernaut with Scott Schultz, the former child actor has been surprised by—and, of course, pleased with—its immense success. Time Out Kids gabbed with the Los Angeles–based Jacobs about his signature series, being spoofed on The Soup and which A-listers he’d like to see appear alongside Brobee & Co. in the future.

Judging from your show—not to mention the noise in the background—I assume you have kids.
Yeah. I actually have four little ones. Two of 'em are at school and two of 'em are here with me now. I have a ten-year-old, a seven-year-old, a four-year-old and a three-month-old, so we're busy at home. [Laughs]

In addition to being a real-life dad, you’re the father of a cultural phenomenon. How does that feel?
I think it's amazing. You know, when we're in production and shooting, we don't think about how the show is actually getting out there and people are seeing it. It kind of still feels like it's our little thing that we're making in the garage. We're over the moon that so many people are into it. It's really cool.

How do you feel about being spoofed on E!’s hilarious and snarky TV show The Soup?
Really great. We actually appeared on their year-end wrap-up, and we brought Brobee with us and he danced with [host] Joel McHale. The producers of that show get our series—that we're trying to do something cool and fun for our kids—but they also know that there are these kind of funny, awkward moments that aren't really scripted. And they definitely pounce on those as quick as they can. And we're totally okay with that. [Laughs] It's pretty funny.

Seems like a lot of folks “get” what you’re doing.
Well, the show is fun and it's made by dads. We aren’t kids’ television scientists, but we're fans of music and television and pop culture. We grew up watching so many shows. We're not trying to be subversive, but we have a lot of music that you wouldn't expect to end up on a preschool show, you know? Biz Markie, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo, the Roots, MGMT. It's fun being a part of that.

How do you get all of your amazing guests?
We created a huge list of people that we wanted to have. Most of them were huge influences on us—Bill Murray, the Flaming Lips, the Pixies. All these bands and actors we love. It was a wish list, basically. From the get-go we had really good responses: Elijah Wood, and of course Mark and Biz. They all saw something in the show that they recognized as a kind of pure place of creativity. We weren’t trying to preach to kids. Our show embodies the spirit of that cardboard-box fort you build in your backyard when you're four. Last season, Jack Black called us and said he'd love to be on the show. Now folks are kind of coming to us saying, "Yo Gabba Gabba!, I love that show, let's do it!"

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Where did you find DJ Lance Rock?
[Co-creator] Scott [Schultz] and I were in bands [before] creating the show, and Lance and Scott's band toured together. When we were developing the show, Scott said, “I've got the perfect host.” So we went and met Lance in L.A. He had a giant beard and huge hair, and he was wearing rainbow-colored pants and crazy shoes. We were blown away just looking at him. And he had all this energy. It was like the planets lined up and there was our guy.

How would you respond to people who say DJ Lance is a little flamboyant?
I don't know how to respond to that. I think he's definitely enthusiastic. He's not a macho guy. You know what I mean? He's definitely right down in there with the kids. I've never really thought about that before, and you know...he's not wearing football pads, that's for sure. [Laughs] Just like the rest of the show, I don't think Lance fits into a specific box. Maybe people who are afraid of the show or hate the show [fixate] on that, and they just don't get it. They let society's rules box them in.

Why do you think so many adults are connecting with the show?
That was part of the design of the show from the get-go. We wanted to make a preschool show that would also please parents of our generation. The fact that teenagers and college kids are into the show is definitely not something we expected. But I think it makes sense because of the music and the guests. It kind of validates it to that generation. They're like, "Hey, this song sounds like something I'm listening to at the club or on my iPod." I know critics of the show complain that it’s loud at times, but, you know, so are kids. Kids have energy that they need to burn off, and so why not jump around and dance with them—parents, older siblings—and create a bonding time? That's really what we wanted to do with the show, pull in older audiences to celebrate that preschool age instead of coddle it or put it into this delicate box that, you know, it's supposed to be this way or that way.

As a child actor, you were in the Christian Slater skateboarding flick Gleaming the Cube. Can you still ride?
Actually that's my main mode of transportation on the set, so, fer sure. We also snuck a half-pipe into one of the episodes last season. It had to go somewhere when we were done with it, so it ended up at our offices. We skate during breaks all the time.

Tell us about the CD and the live show.
The CD, Music Is Awesome, comes out October 20. We've written almost 700 songs over our three seasons. Obviously, not all of them have made it onto the show [Laughs], but so much great music is on the show. Each episode has, like, ten songs. So we've got all this music and we've been dying to get it out there. The CD's got the Shins, the Roots, Chromeo, DJ Lance, Biz and all the characters on the show. And that kind of spins into our next thing, which is Yo Gabba Gabba! Live. We want to create a stage-show experience comparable to some of the great music festivals that we go to, like Coachella, but appropriate for the whole family.

There are a zillion remixes of Dancing Nathaniel on YouTube. What do you think of that?
That's awesome. I don't know if his parents were that excited about him becoming an Internet sensation. I think they thought people were, you know, having a go at him, so to speak. But really, the show's all about letting loose and being a kid. Some people want to interpret it and poke fun at it, but in essence it’s about being a kid and not caring, just dancing however you want. It might look dorky; it’s not choreographed by Paula Abdul, it’s just free. That’s what we’re celebrating.

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