The Top 10 Weirdest Things On "Yo Gabba Gabba"

UPDATED: CORRECTION TO #3 BELOW

Yo Gabba Gabba is our favorite kids' show.

We didn't start out loving it, of course. We started out with the reaction everyone has when they first see it: What...the...hell? 

Um?

But we kept watching because our child was mesmerized by its splendor, and it took only about two episodes before we experienced The Transformation.

The Transformation. Where you go from thinking it's the weirdest show that's ever existed to embracing it. From being all "these characters look suspiciously like sex toys" and "that whiney green thing seems to have some very special needs" to loving that, in Gabba Land, God is basically a gay black DJ who wears an orange jumpsuit and matching fuzzy hat.

Instead of complaining about the pitiful rhyming scheme of the characters' songs (it's like they make up the words as they go along), you start singing them yourself all day, all night.

And if you're anything like us, you go from being the parent who's never heard of The Ting Tings or Mates of State to being grateful for the one thing in your life that connects you -- however tenuously -- to music and bands relevant to people under the age of 35.

Thanks to Yo Gabba Gabba, I was excited to hear that MGMT was at Outside Lands. Even if the only song I know is "Art Is Everywhere."


Yes.  I could easily make a list of the best things YGG's ever done because there are lots of them -- probably my favorite bit is Weezer singing "All My Friends Are Insects" while dressed like bugs, but Biz Markie, Mix Master Mike, everything Mark Mothersbaugh has ever drawn, and Marshall's cool spoon trick rank right up there, too. The entire "Dress Up" episode is epic.

But. There are still a few things in the YGG canon that give me pause. A few things that still make me squint at the television and wonder if my daughter's gonna make it out of toddlerhood okay. And, having seen every episode a bazillion times, I feel I am as qualified as anyone to make a list of the strangest things that have ever happened in Gabba Land. So here it is.

The Top Ten Weirdest Things That Have Ever Been On Yo Gabba Gabba

10. Leslie

I can see why anyone involved in the making of YGG would see Leslie and think SHE HAS TO BE ON THE SHOW. That's not the weird part.

This makes as much sense as anything.

The weird part is kind of everything else about her. I want to think it's awesome that she champions gold lamé jumpsuits with excessive fringe, but I can't quite bring myself to be 100% behind her artistry. Almost. Just not quite.

Maybe it's because I saw this video of her (entirely unrelated to Yo Gabba Gabba) and is one of the strangest things I have ever seen in my whole life. Watch even just five seconds of this and you'll never be the same.

9. Super Martian Robot Girl: The Pink Monster Edition

Super Martian Robot Girl is great, if for no other reason than she's a female comic book/cartoon superhero who's neither half-naked with boobs the size of her head NOR a Japanese school girl.

She's just a feisty thing who runs around and solves problems. I look forward to the day when my little girl wants to be Super Martian Robot Girl for Halloween.

But the episode where there is a small monster made of pink globs is just a little uncomfortable. I don't know if it's because we don't know what the wavy pink globs are made of (bubble gum? vomit?), or if it's that the poor thing can't tell the difference between a picture of ice cream and its own mother.

But between the lost baby glob-monster and the cowboy and the man in a suit and bowler hat...I don't know. It deserves mention.

8. Shrinking The Cast To The Size Of Oski Bugs

There's a lot that's odd about the "Bugs" episode of YGG, but okay. I can get behind teaching kids that bugs are interesting and worthy of respect.

But we move from "Bugs, okay" to "EWWW BUGS EWW" when, at Muno's behest, Plex shrinks the whole cast down to the size of "Oski" bugs so that they can visit with the Oski bug world. Which I guess sort of makes sense in a fantastical "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" kind of way...

...except that somewhere between them crawling into a bug-infested log and the bug-birthing scene, you lose me.

This is the Oski bug queen who sings faux-operatically
and deserves reverence despite her Play-Dough eyeglasses.

Maybe I just don't like bugs.



7. The Fairy Tale Song About A Princess And Her Magical Tooth

Above all, Yo Gabba Gabba is a show about music. Between the background music, songs the characters sing, guest songs on The Super Music Friends Show, various Dancey-Dances, background music and the final episode remix, there is a LOT of music packed into each episode. My husband and I know all the words to many of the songs, but some of them sort of blend into the background.

I paid no attention to this particular princess-dragon-story song until I found myself asking, "Wait. Did she just say the princess had a magic tooth?"

Well, yes. She did. And so this story -- sung by I don't even know who -- makes this list. The lyrics:

Listen to a fairy tale about a princess who was up in a tower
A sneaky dragon flew along with a plan to take her back to his castle
But he didn't know she had a magical tooth [ed. note: CAN YOU BLAME HIM?]
And after she smiled he turned into a golden goose
The village bandit heard the news about this golden goose and decided to steal him
Buckled up his flying shoes and he floated up to the top of the tower
But to his surprise, the magic princess so wise
Took her golden goose and disappeared before his eyes
And drifted away
To a new forest
And a new castle
Now the princess and her goose live in a land of love and peace and flowers
In a new village with their friends
And they lived happily ever after
The end

It's just that ASIDE from the crazy magical tooth, this princess has to escape both a sneaky dragon AND a village bandit, which basically lands her in Witness Protection.



6. Sukho 

Like everything on this list, Sukho is so progressively cool that he, and his theremin, cross over into totally bizarre.

Oh, it's totally cool that he is playing air! I just...he is playing air!



5. The Creepy Circus Ringleader Looking For Performers

In a "weirdest" of Yo Gabba Gabba list, I'd be remiss not to mention the episode featuring Weird Al Yankovich. He does not disappoint.

Essentially, Weird Al plays a circus ringleader who comes to town in search of...um...a circus? I don't know, it's not exactly clear. He has a circus, but there's no one who actually performs in it, so kind of he appears in Gabba Land asking if there are any freaks for his show.

HE'S IN LUCK.

A few weird scenes later (including Sarah Silverman teaching Muno how to be a MIME and the most terrifying clown song ever), Weird Al has collected quite a few performers for his "circus."

The lesson, kids, is that when a weird man wanders through town and asks you to join his non-existent "show," you should say yes without question. If there's a calliope in his white van, all the better.



4. Gooble

The rumor is that "Gooble" was actually a Muno costume design gone awry, but they decided to bring him into regular character rotation. He's always sad and always crying, and there's never any explanation given. Whenever he appears he's largely ignored.

Making Gooble an emotionally challenged albino cousin for no known reason.



3. Worm Babies

The fact that they're called "worm babies" should be qualifier enough.

In the episode where we're teaching the YGG cast "Don't be afraid, don't be scared; all of us are different," one might think no outside help would be needed. The cast is plenty diversified as-is.

And yet.

Muno has this weird relationship with a giant worm named <s>Armand</s> Archibald. (Note to self: Yes, I just typed that.)

Then Archibald asks Muno to babysit his "worm babies" while Archibald tends to adult worm business.

Image SHOULD say "Armand & Annie: Worm. Babies."

And if you stop for even two seconds to think about any of these things (Why is there a giant worm? At all? Do worms HAVE babies? Where could a giant worm NAMED ARCHIBALD be going? Especially since Gabba Land is the size of one three-foot-long table?) you are clearly not a sleep-deprived parent of a baby and have no business watching this show.

Anyway,  Muno agrees to watch the worm babies and Toodee and Brobee are afraid of them and the worm babies are afraid of Toodee and Brobee. And then they say "hi" to each other and everyone gets over their fears and there is more singing.

Worm. Babies.


*UPDATE: I was wrong in my original post. I called the adult worm Armand, but Archibald is the dad. Armand and Annie are the worm babies.



2. Every Interstitial

Yo Gabba Gabba is a many-layered show. Once you get over the initial shock and awe and start appreciating it for the wacky, lovable freak show it is, you don't even pay attention to the scene changes.

But you should. Because they are quick and colorful and where YGG secretly sneaks in the weirdest shit of all. These four-second clips are happy bits of transition you totally ignore until you realize there's a child sitting atop a half-trophy, half-frog-bulb, and no amount of sleep-deprivation can reconcile these images for you.

1. Brobee Cake

::SPOILER ALERT::

In the episode about Brobee's birthday, the cast DIDN'T actually forget about Brobee, they surprise him with a big party with a Brobee Cake at the end.

::END SPOILER ALERT::

I'm not sure what the proper etiquette is for making a cake that's supposed to look like the person the cake is for. Probably Martha Stewart is against this. We can all agree it's highly questionable.

But then not only does Brobee Cake LOOK like Brobee, it walks and talks. It's fully animated.

And in the most uncomfortable scene of all Yo Gabba Gabba episodes, Brobee Cake asks Brobee, "YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME?"

Which would kind of be cute if it weren't for the cannibalism.

Here, we witness Brobee eating a piece of his
cake-doppelganger who is still alive and talking to him.

What birthday party isn't complete without a little happy cannibalism?

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And there you have my round-up of the 10 Weirdest Things on Yo Gabba Gabba. What do you think? Did I get it right? Did I miss any glaring weirdness?

Don't be afraid, don't be scared. All of us are different.