Yo Gabba Gabba! Get the Sillies Out! + an Interview with Creator Scott Schultz

Yo Gabba Gabba has long been one of Harlan’s absolute favorite shows on television. It caught her eye from about nine months of age and she hasn’t been able to turn away since. Avery, now nearly nine months old, has recently found the “spark” that Yo Gabba Gabba undeniably has. I’ll start the show for the girls and immediately both will stop everything they’re doing to look up at the screen as if in a Gabba trance.

This might sound a little crazy, but because Harlan has loved Yo Gabba Gabba from a very young age, it has played an integral part in my parenting. The many lessons that our friends at Yo Gabba Gabba teach on their television shows have been used as examples in our household many many times. The songs “Don’t Bite Your Friends” (or sister in our case) and “Dangerous” are a few that are sung by myself to Harlan to try to teach her an important lesson in life. (Please tell me I’m not the only one that does this.)

The Yo Gabba Gabba following is not only huge with babies and toddlers, but many parents will admit (including myself) that it’s one of the few toddler shows that they actually enjoy watching with their children. When creators Scott Schultz and Christian Jacobs created the show in 2007 that was exactly what they had in mind. I had the chance to speak with Scott Schultz last week who told me that the inspiration behind the show was a combination of their fascination with children’s shows from the past, in Japan, and even well before they were born. When both Schultz and Jacobs became dads they wanted to create something that they could sit on the couch while watching and engaging with their kids. They realized that children’s programing wasn’t like it was back when they were kids. “Everything has gotten a little bland,” said Schultz. “We had an aha moment of wow we can really provide something for preschoolers.”

Christian Jacobs, who is also known as the frontman of the band the Aquabats, dabbled a little bit with childhood characters with the Aquabats (there was a menacing character created by Parker from the Aquabats who was the inspiration behind Brobee) and even pulled some of his cyclops (inspiration for Muno) drawings from when he was four of five years old to help get the characters together for the show.

“We started with the personalities,” shared Schultz. “We wanted to have very iconic personalities that let kids identify with certain traits. We also wanted to make the characters very distinct from one another. We had the older brother type that still interacts with one another (Plex.) We tried to make the characters so that there was each a different part of everyone. not just on the outside.” Once they came up with the personalities for each character, they wanted bright simple colors to accompany them.  “When we finally came up with characters, it was like the magic.” One little fun fact that Schultz shared with me during our interview was that Foofa is the only character that changed a little bit from the pilot (in terms of costume.)

After speaking with Schultz last week, it made me even more excited to take the girls to Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! Get the Sillies Out! at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. This was the third live show for Harlan and the first for Avery.

I knew that Harlan was excited for the show (she’s been talking about it all week.)

But I had no idea if Avery was going to be able to handle the full show. Much to my surprise, this girl was absolutely thrilled to be there. The show runs 80 minutes (with a 20 minute intermission) and we had not one fit or even a whimper from Avery. She was dancing, babbling, laughing, and had her eyes glued to the stage. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her this happy or excited.

It’s been so fun to watch how Harlan has changed from each live show that we have attended over the last three years. Rather than getting up and dancing during this show (she did for a couple songs) her eyes were glued to the stage watching every single moment that occurred. She didn’t want to miss anything. She loved getting Avery excited for the show and watching her enjoy it as much as she did.

Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! Get the Sillies Out! was jam packed with all of our favorite Gabba songs and Gabba friends.

After the show we had the chance to go and meet each character from the show. In the past Harlan has been completely freaked out by anything in costume. Although she had a little bit of hesitation this year, I am so proud of her for overcoming her fear and taking pictures with Foofa and Muno. 

There are still many shows scheduled throughout 2013, so make sure to see if  Yo Gabba Gabba! Get the Sillies Out! is coming to a town near you. This is definitely a show you don’t want to miss!

If you can’t make the live show, not to worry. Schultz shared with me that BIG things are coming for Yo Gabba Gabba!  There are 10 more episodes from season 4 that are unaired. Including one episode that takes place entirely in DJ Lance’s room. He also shared that they are always in some form of developing a movie. I think taking Yo Gabba Gabba! to the big screen is definitely something that would be big news for both kids and parents alike!

{Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. I did receive tickets to the show. All thoughts and opinions are my own.}