My Name is Dave…I Like to Dance!

My favorite new TV show is fun, bouncy, hip, weird, and nearly impossible to get out of your head. It’s had guest stars as diverse as Elijah Wood, Mya, Rahzel from the Roots, the Shins, Sugarland, and Tony Hawk. Members of Devo and the Aquabats form the house band. Biz Markie has a regular spot.

So why haven’t you heard of this show? Maybe because it’s for two year olds. The show is Yo Gabba Gabba and my son, who is two, loves it. Due to this fact, it’s been on nearly constant rotation on our Tivo, and I have to admit that I kind of love it, too.

The first thing I noticed about Yo Gabba Gabba was how much better the music was than the rest of the kids shows. It’s a low barrier, I’ll give you that, but with musical roots from Devo through the Aquabats, and a strong awareness — or maybe a better word is “acceptance” or “embrace” — of hip hop, Yo Gabba Gabba is one of the few kids shows that seems like it was made in this century. Hip hop beats flow throughout just about everything, from the moment the host, DJ Lance Rock, ambles onstage with his boombox, until he packs the little monster guest-stars into their little portable stage.

In between, the show is really all about music and dancing. One of my favorite segments is when they have kids jumping up and down and yelling, “My name is Dave…I like to dance!” Other segments, clearly aimed at Gen X parents like me, feature brief, pixelated visions of what look like old video games, a snatch of Frogger, for instance (although it’s not Frogger, it looks just like it).

Each show features musical guests that range from everybody mentioned above to some Japanese hardcore band that sang a song composed of these lyrics: “one to three four five six! One two three four five six!”

And of course, there’s The Biz: