Talking to the co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba – Christian Jacobs
Christian is in front of Brobee (green monster)
If you’ve been reading my blog you know I have a son who is in love with Yo Gabba Gabba, (LOVE!) like knows the songs, has the DVDs, Toys, Bedding, Shirts, ect… Watches it multiple times a day! ps. stop judging me that he’s watching to much TV. When I was offered the ability to have an interview with Christian Jacobs the co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba and the lead singer for the Aquabats. Naturally I said YES….
I had some questions for the man that created the show that my son is obsessed with… which also means I’m obsessed with, because one of my goals in life is to make my son happy…. Christian took this interview/call while home with his family and washing the dishes, which is pretty awesome for a Dad of four.
I started the interview by asking Christian about why did he make the show…
When Scott and Christian started making this show – they were just starting having kids and the shows on tv were driving them crazy. Yo Gabba Gabba was a product out of a need for better tv they could enjoy as well.
Of course I asked about the character design and how did they develop…
Christian is a major Japanese toy collector and that was some of the inspiration for Aquabats which is where Muno grew out of… Christian is legally blind in his left eye and that was his signature character always felt drawn to the cyclops. The aquabats used to fight a muno like character at the time there were horns and its name wasn’t muno. The bumps where added by some science which was to have some tactical response as well as the shapes. Brobee was also in the Aquabats universe as a monster they would fight on stage.
How about the story lines, they’re great and I know they’re not the typical sunshine and rainbows…
Scott and Christian’s kids wear glasses which is why they showed life lessons with its OK to be different and showing that its cool to wear glasses. While traditional values arent featured on many shows because its not popular, they wanted to tackle those issues and be responsible Dads it getting those lessons that would be hard for a 3 year old to wrap their head around.
I started picking on which season we’re up to on air… which is season 3 and there are still some episodes to air and a handful of season 2 that werent aired. I asked about the character development because we’ve seen Brobee celebrate birthdays hows the show long term goals working with development story lines.
Of course the idea of the show it be a long running show and issues like birthdays or haircuts are real life – Christian took his kid for his first hair cut and he was a wild man. Of course there is development because they want to show real life issues to kids. They don’t want to grow the characters up to much because its still based for younger demographics but clearly it connects with older kids, the bands, the animations, over all feel hits a wide age range. Its been the best job to create an alternative magic world that helps children learn in the milestone education years of 2-4.
When asked about the rumors of whats happening as we’re finishing up season 3 whats going on with season 4….
Here’s the breaking news part – a 4th season of 13 episodes is under way. The sky is the limit – Yo Gabba Gabba got picked up in France and a few other foreign countries and the live show is doing amazing, there is a movie script in the work. New line of Van shoes are rolling out, its a tricky state of things and there have been some missteps but learning from their mistakes.
I asked about video games because I’ve been on a tear of preschool video games and Christian voiced his concern as typically they’ve never sold well, but since Yo Gabba Gabba isnt the typical preschool show and they’re working on it, but its been a challenge.
After this point we started talking to Christian about Aquabats and that’ll be a post for another day….
I really want to say thank you to all the wonderful people who made this interview happen (it took a small team!) and thanks to Chistian for really taking the time to answer all the questions!