If Beck and Deee-lite teamed up to make a kids show, it would probably be a lot like Yo Gabba Gabba. Featuring a freaky DJ named Lance Rock and a cast of colorful creatures who (seriously) live in his boom box, the Nickelodeon show is packed with references aimed straight at 30-something ex-hipster parents: a drop-in from the Shins, an extended riff on 2-Tone ska, regular segments featuring Biz Markie and Mark Mothersbaugh, etc. Today’s episode, which airs at 1:30 p.m. ET, is especially packed, with appearances from Roots drummer ?uestlove and SNL’s Rachel Dratch, along with a performance from excellent ’80s R&B revivalists Chromeo (pictured).
My 2-and-a-half-year-old son is absolutely obsessed with the show (his favorite phrases, in order of importance: "No," "I want Yo Gabba," "I don’t like that"), so this morning I threw on a DVD of today’s episode and had him weigh in. Overall, his reaction was mixed. An early segment with some nasty-looking cartoon germs scared the hell out of him ("I don’t like that, Daddy. Turn it off!" he said, burying his head in the chair), but he went nuts for a hair-washing sequence with a talking shampoo bottle ("that’s funny, Daddy!"). As for the celebrity guests, well, he thought they were okay. ?uestlove’s drumming demonstration was short enough to keep his interest, and he managed to tolerate Dratch’s "dancey dance" (less so his father).
Oddly, he didn’t have much of a reaction to Chromeo, whose typically funky tune about hand washing — performed, naturally, inside a sink floating in outer space — was easily the episode’s highlight, at least for those of us less easily amused by animated bathing products. "Nice and Clean" boasts vintage beats straight out of a Klymaxx song and a funny breakdown moment when one band member chastises the other for forgetting to wash his hands before touching the keyboard. Maybe you had to have been into Midnight Star in 1983 to get it (did I just admit to that?). Or maybe my son’s just more interested in funny creatures than bearded old-school beat-crafters. Either way, it’s his loss. Now he’s downstairs throwing plastic balls at his mother’s head. I’m gonna go watch that Chromeo song one more time without him.
Who else enjoys Foofa, Plex, and the gang, with or without their kids as an excuse?
More ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’:
Jack Black rocks ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’ and more first looks
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HA! my husband almost dressed up as one of these guys for halloween. He figured no one would know who he was. Other parents might have anyway. My daughter, who is four, is almost grown out of this show, but she still likes to catch it if it’s on.
This show is hysterical. My 3 yr old is addicted. we tivo it all the time. i am a teacher and i talk about the characters with my students all the time. My son remembers the lessons and the messages. He watches it over and over–tells me to be quiet when its on lol. I can watch it too- great music. We searched all over to find the Brobee t-shirt! We are addicted. Why does dj lance look familiar?
My 3 year old daughter LOVES this show! I have DVR’d about 21 episodes so far and she wants to watch them over and over again. I do enjoy some of the songs and that the kids are learning alot with these characters. It is a cute show and I love that they have guests like the Roots and Laila Ali on.
My 2 year old saw an episode last week and it kept his attention, but I hated it. I would rather watch Handy Manny anyday.
Our favorite, because it was available on demand for so long, was the one featuring Paul Williams, dressed in powder blue tuxedo, singing Rainbow Connection. My 2 1/2 year old son LOVES this show and has a book that opens just like DJ Lance’s boom box. He imitates the opening perfectly!
A post about Yo Gabba Gabba with no mention that it was co-created by a member of The Aquabats!?
this show creeps me out. i’m all for trippyness and good music in children’s programming, but those monsters, creatures, whatever they are, freak me out. i prefer the sesame street brand of cuddly-looking muppet monsters, not the kind that look like they lived under your bed and in your closet when you were a kid.
ever see the Elijah Wood episode– I still have that song in my head: “raise your kneee, raise your other knee, raise your foot, raise your other foot, walk in a circle, do the PUPPET MAAASTER!”
I’ll stick with Nick’s Backyardigan’s my 2-year old loves her daily Pablo & Tasha fix.
Haven’t tried this show on my 2 1/2-year-old daughter yet – but she’s currently enjoying a balanced diet of Pixar films, High School Musical and A Hard Day’s Night.
I hate that show but I will play it over and over again if it means that I can pee in peace.
“dj lance” is an old friend. not freaky, just the most wonderfully sweet man! and i LOVE the show!
My three year old princess loves Yo Gabba Ganba!!
You know, I’ve watched some clips of this on YouTube, and I want to like it, I really do, but I just don’t get it. I loved Sesame Street, I’m a college student. I should love everything it stands for but…I just don’t. It’s kinda boring and shrill and irritating. Am I right, or just uncool and missing some salient point that makes this show a work of genius?
anyone who hates this show is LAME. it’s funny, has cool music, and actually teaches kids without hitting them over the head with a message.
My almost-3-year-old LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba. She is also a HUGE fan of Chromeo (hearing her sing along to “Momma’s Boy” it a particular thrill of mine). She’s going to have to wait until I get home from work to watch this particular episode – her head will explode with the fun!
The thing that bugs me most about this show is that DJ Lance is supposed to be this really musical guy, but the music on this show is awful! My 2-year-old could write better music than this. It has no melody and it’s all mindless droning repeated ad nauseum. I’ve never seen a children’s show with such horrible music, and believe me, I’ve had to watch them for 11 years now!
I have tried to get into it, and it makes no sense to me, that’s not to say that my 3 year old doesn’t LOVE DJ Lance & all his corniness, and that he won’t do the DJ Lance Dance, and walk around singing “There’s a party in my tummy (so yummy, so yummy!)” Some things are just NOT on our adult level – we have to just move past it!
I love children’s programming, but I think this show is a total miss. It’s so intolerably hipstery. If kids are liking it, then great…my daughter was just not that intrigued. I find that it’s trying too hard to cultivate some sort of memorable HR Pufnstuf type brand.
We stick to our DVDs. We watch the usual Nogging/Disney/PBSKids stuff, when we watch, but my kids’ favorites remain old Tom & Jerry and the Gummi Bears.
My (almost) 6-year old and I think it’s great, but we don’t just sit and watch it – we have it on while we do other things. We like the music, and she lines up her nosemaking toys to try and make her own electronic songs, with varying results
As an ex-hipster parent myself, I think this show is shameful in its pandering and execution. If you want to entertain the whole family, do more than throw hipsters in it…make it entertaining for the whole family, not just an exercise in scenesterism. Sesame Street and old Looney Toons cartoons, or even the Animaniacs, appeal to grownups and kids, at once, correctly.
It smacks too much as a way to indoctrinate your kids in your idea of “cool” – which is always a bit lame and embarrassing. Sorry, we’d rather take in the Jonas Brothers music and shows than any of this, these days. For me, that feels more rebellious than clinging to the now-embarrassing trends of my twenties.
Our children should meet. Our 2 1/2 year old has a similar favorite word list. As kids’ programming goes, I think Yo Gabba Gabba is great. There’s something endearing about the combination of hip references and guests with such low-tech production. I definitely see a Plex costume in our Halloween future.
Ellen – yes, you are uncool. Liz – I hate to say it, but your kids are uncool.
Thos show is great! It encourages kids to dance and be silly, you know, act like kids! I got my 2 year neice the Yo Gabba Gabba dance pad and my brother said he had never heard her laugh like that! The indie rockers and cool guests just add to the awesomeness of this show.
I just love this show and so does my 4 year old. It’s so cool and silly. We sing the songs all the time and we also do the DJ Lance Dance “The Eagle has Landed!” She wants me to be Brobee for Halloween next year – and I just might do it!!!
I just love this show and so does my 4 year old. It’s so cool and silly. We sing the songs all the time and we also do the DJ Lance Dance “The Eagle has Landed!” She wants me to be Brobee for Halloween next year – and I just might do it!!!
I just love this show and so does my 4 year old. It’s so cool and silly. We sing the songs all the time and we also do the DJ Lance Dance “The Eagle has Landed!” She wants me to be Brobee for Halloween next year – and I just might do it!!!
The Elijah Wood episode is visible evidence that the prophet is no longer beholden to the fangirls. Yea,he hath condemned them. In his wrath, he hath called a drought upon them, doing only voice-overs and dancing the Master of Puppets upon YO GABBA GABBA! Lo, he lay waste to their dreams of his hotness. They must live only in memories,just as Elijah the Prophet called drought upon the children of Israel for seven years.
“Wheel of fire in the air”-The Grateful Dead,”Estimated Prophet”