Series / Yo Gabba Gabba!

Let's all come and play with DJ Lance Rock today!
^{Left to right} Toodee, Foofa, Plex, Brobee, Muno, and in the center DJ Lance Rock.

YOOOOOO GABBA GABBA!!!
MUNO! (Yo, right!)
He's tall and friendly!
FOOFA! (Ooh, heeheehee!)
She's pink and happy!
BROBEE! (Wow!)
The little green one!
TOODEE! (Yeah, whoo!)
She likes to have fun!
PLEX! (Whoa!)
A magic robot!
Let's all come and play with DJ Lance Rock today!
Yo Gabba Gabba, Yo Gabba Gabba!
Yo Gabba Gabba, Yo Gabba Gabba!
Yo Gabba Gabba, YOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

— Theme song

Yo Gabba Gabba! is a kids' show co-created by Scott Schultz and Christian Jacobs, also known as MC Bat Commander of The Aquabats!. It originally ran on Nick Jr. from August 20, 2007 to November 12, 2015, with a total of 65 episodes over four seasons.

Each episode focuses on DJ Lance Rock's magical toys (Muno, Foofa, Brobee, Toodee and Plex) playing together and learning new things. Their adventures are loosely connected by a single theme, and are separated by trippy filler segments, including:

• Jingle: Once per Episode music video related to the episode's theme, usually done in Adobe Flash.
• Story Time: A Flash-animated or Stop Motion segment where a child reads off a short story, usually leading up to An Aesop. Occasionally done as a comic book featuring a character named Super Martian Robot Girl.
• Dancey Dance Time: A celebrity is beamed in by Plex to teach the Gabba Gang a new dance.
• Super Music Friends Show: The Gabba Gang watches a show where an artist or band performs a music video according to the theme.
• Biz's Beat Of The Day: Biz Markie beatboxes to a different rhythm each time.
• The DJ Lance Dance: DJ Lance makes up a simple dance and tells how to do it.
• Cool Tricks: Featured kids (and sometimes adults!) show off their talents.
• Mark's Magic Pictures: Mark Mothersbaugh shows how to draw a simple picture, which comes to life.
• Numbers: Photorealistic or live action music video similar to the jingles, usually featuring kids' voices counting.
• Other segments have the main cast asking you to join in an activity: Color With Brobee, Listen With Toodee, Learn With Plex, et cetera.

The series is largely music based, with frequent musical numbers and rhythm-driven activities. Once per Episode the characters watch a music video, with guest appearances by popular indie rock acts like The Killers and Taking Back Sunday. This has helped it build up a Periphery Demographic of college kids.

In 2021, it was announced that Apple TV+ had ordered a new season of 20 episodes for its streaming service while also acquiring the entire back catalog of old episodes. The new series, Yo Gabba Gabbaland, will premiere August 9, 2024.

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Yo Gabba Gabba has examples of:

• Actor Allusion: When Mark Mothersbaugh draws a pirate, the pirate then wants to play Peek-A-Boo with him. "Ready? PEEK-A-BOO! Harr harr harr harrrr!"
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: In "Big", Muno and Toodee scruff Brobee's head a bit at the end of the song "Big and Small".
• All There in the Manual:
  • The names of Muno's parents are not mentioned in the show, but a trading card reveals their names as Bruno (Dad) and Una (Mom).
  • The official Facebook and Twitter accounts name the members of the Yo Dazzlers Riffington (the guitarist), Jean-Pierre (the keyboardist), Chip (the drummer) and Big Bitz (the bassist).
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Most animals in Gabba Land, the birds for instance, are pink and purple. Also the bugs; the mosquitoes are blue, the beetles are turquoise, the wasps are blue and yellow striped, and so on.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Anything in Gabbaland can suddenly sprout a face... flowers, trees, rock formations, even the big white room where it all takes place.
  • The animated characters get even more strange... Talking toast with wings, anyone?
  • Everything Talks
• Art Shift: The characters' thought sequences shift to flash animation.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Downplayed with DJ Lance who is life-sized, as well as any other human who visits (usually Leslie Hall). Played straight with Brobee in "Big", when he is accidentally beamed to life-size by Plex.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: In the "Space" episode, when the Gabbas and DJ Lance visit the sparkly planet Brobee spotted through Plex's telescope, the Gabbas manage to breath its atmosphere without spacesuits on.
• Big "NO!":
  • In "Scary", Plex screams "NO!" when Brobee is about to eat a slice of bread that has fallen on the ground and got dirty as a result.
  • In "Super Spies", the Gabbas scream "NO!" in unison (preceded by a Big "WHAT?!") when they see their balloon art has been stolen.
  • Foofa and Toodee also scream "NO!" in "Shopping" when Plex announces there will be no pancakes for them.
• Birthday Episode: Brobee turns four years old in "Birthday".
• Blank White Void: The show's universe is set in a blank white room.
• Blue Means Cold: Toodee the cat dragon is blue and she lives in an icy environment.
• Body Screen Fill Up: In "Doctor", when Muno, Foofa and Brobee start singing "Help Your Friends", Muno runs toward the camera and his tummy fills the screen before it changes to Foofa.
• Bookends: Every episode starts with DJ Lance arriving with his magic boombox, shouting the magic words "Yo Gabba Gabba!", and one by one takes the characters out of the boombox and shouts their names, which brings them to life. At the end of every episode, DJ Lance says the magic words one more time, the characters de-animate, he puts them back in the boombox, and leaves.
• Borrowed Catchphrase:
  • In "Big", right after the Super Music Friends Show ends, Brobee says DJ Lance's "Listening and dancing to music is...AWESOME!!!" phrase in a bored, dejected manner.
  • In "Differences", Plex and Mr. Lizard say Muno's catchphrase "Razzle dazzle" a few times during the first song.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In the "Talent" episode, when the Gabbas are trying to guess Brobee's talent, Muno thinks it's doing a handstand, while Foofa suggests it's stacking blocks. Plex, of all the Gabbas, thinks it's flying like a bird.
  • In "Big", when Brobee is dejected at still being small, Plex tells him, "Some people are small, some people are tall. And some people are robots!". He then bursts into laughter, only to abruptly stop himself.
• Broken Aesop: In "Differences", Muno gets glasses (or rather, a glass, because he has only one eye) and learns that it's okay to look different. At the end of the episode, he decides to use a contact lens instead because the glasses keep falling off his face, so he looks no different than he did before.
• Callback / Continuity Nod: Several songs are reused or at least referenced in later episodes, and minor characters such as the Spooky Toast continue to get cameos throughout the series.
• Captain Ersatz: Plex bears a strong resemblance to the original Getter 3, particularly the design of his head and arms.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • DJ Lance has several, "Hello, friends!" and "Break it down!" to name a few.
  • "Razzle dazzle!" for Muno.
• Color-Coded Characters:
  • DJ Lance = Orange
  • Muno = Red
  • Foofa = Pink
  • Brobee = Green
  • Toodee = Blue
  • Plex = Yellow
• Color Motif: Each section of Gabba Land is tinted in a different color: purple for Muno Land, green for Foofa Land, orange for Brobee Land, and blue for Toodee Land.
• Colorful Song: "Mixing Up Colors" from "Art", as Foofa is blending colors to create new ones for her picture.
• Confetti Drop: Used in the live shows, generally used at the beginning to introduce the characters, and at the end for everyone to say goodbye. A balloon drop appears in the first show - There's a Party in my City! during the “Balloons” song.
• The Conscience: DJ Lance and Plex both play this role (as well as Foofa every once in a while).
• Costume Evolution: While the looks retain the same, the noticeable difference from the earlier costumes is when the characters' eyes are closed.
• Crossover:
  • One with The Fresh Beat Band.
  • They also showed up in True Jackson, VP once.
  • As well as Big Time Rush.
  • They even appeared in episode 7 of WandaVision, marking their first non-Nickelodeon crossover.
• Cute Little Fangs: Muno and Toodee.
• Dance Party Ending/Surreal Music Video: Every episode ends with one of these which recaps what everyone did.
• Dancing Theme: The theme song ends with DJ Lance and the Gabbas dancing.
• Deadly Sparring: In one episode, the protagonists are having a snowball fight. When they hit Plex the robot, the snow gets into his circuits and he blacks out. They feel guilty about it and worry that they've permanently damaged him, but DJ Lance is able to fix him.
• A Day in the Limelight: Each of the Gabbas have had an episode or two that completely revolves around one of them:
  • Muno: "Teeth", "Differences", "Family", "Adventure", "Dinosaur" (shared with Toodee and Brobee)
  • Foofa: "Pets", "Mermaids" (shared with Toodee)
  • Brobee: "Birthday", "Talent", "Big", "Dinosaur" (shared with Muno and Toodee)
  • Toodee: "Mystery" (shared with Plex), "Doctor", "Nature", "Mermaids" (shared with Foofa), "Dinosaur" (shared with Muno and Brobee)
  • Plex: "Robot", "Mystery" (shared with Toodee)
• Disease-Prevention Aesop:
  • One episode has a talking bar of soap named Super Soapy Pal tell Muno and Toodee to wash their hands, because Muno had a cold and coughed into his hands, and then high-fived Toodee.
  • At one point, Brobee tries to eat bread off the ground, prompting a song about how he should not because it's covered in "tiny, ugly germs".
• Disney Acid Sequence:
  • The remix at the end of each show feature the characters dancing in front of various trippy backdrops. The Jingles and most Super Music Friends Show numbers are these, too.
  • Foofa's song "I Love My Pet" has a bunch of these.
  • As well as the "Dreams" song, which keeps changing from the sleeping Gabbas in the real world to their animated dreams.
• Distant Duet:
  • One occurs in "Birthday" during the song "It's A Party For Brobee"; while Brobee's friends are happily working on getting ready for his surprise party, Brobee himself is sulking and thinking everyone forgot his birthday.
  • There's also the "Making Presents" song from "Christmas", which shows each Gabba making a present for a specific someone in their respective realms.
  • A similar manner occurs with the "Gotta Practice" song from "Band", where the Gabbas are practicing their instruments.
  • "Chasin' Down the Bad Spy" from the "Super Spies" episode has the Gabbas chasing after Bateman the bad spy while singing from three different places - Plex, Muno, and Foofa in their spy car, Brobee flying over them, and Toodee staying in Muno Land in case he comes back.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The Gabba characters were a little bigger in proportion to DJ Lance at first. It's particularly evident in the "Greetings" episode, where the characters seem to change size between segments.
  • In the first season, the main plot was split into four parts separated by the various skits as shown above. By Season 2, once the episode recap was added before the end-of-episode remix, the main plot was reduced to three parts which were a few minutes longer than they were back then.
  • Certain Season 1 episodes didn't have the Super Music Friends Show.
  • The Gabbas had their own in-between episode sketches (see above), but were dropped when Season 2 got underway.
  • In Season 1, when the Super Music Friends Show begins, an offscreen announcer would announce the guest band of the day. Season 2 introduced the Music Swami.
  • Episodes didn't have proper storylines throughout Season 1, each segment consisting on the "Slice of Life" formality. Beginning in Season 2, full storylines became prominent, with each Gabba getting at least one focus episode.
• Eating Contest: During the western play in "Dress Up", Muno (the good cowboy) and Brobee (the bad cowboy) have a banana-eating showdown to see who stays and who leaves.
• The Eeyore: Gooble, who is always sad or crying.
• Enchanted Forest: Brobee Land is a magical forest full of talking trees.
• Episode Title Card: Each episode has a title card that is a photograph of a scene against the model set that matches exactly the same in a main segment of that said episode.
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • Brobee has one in "Car" when he realizes where his pillow socky has been thrown to after recounting what happened.
  • Brobee has another in "Talent" when he happily discovers his talent is playing his drums.
• Extendable Arms: Plex can stretch his arms to any length he wants.
• Every Episode Ending: The last segment of each episode features DJ Lance remembering what the Gabbas did, followed by everyone dancing, then they say goodbye before DJ Lance de-animates them.
• Fake Interactivity: A few Season 1 segments hosted by the characters.
• Family Theme Naming:
  • Muno has his baby brother Gogo, his older sister Chibo, his father Bruno, and his mother Una.
  • Foofa has her brother Foofle.
  • Plex has his niece Plexee.
  • Toodee has her brother Keedee.
• Fish out of Water: Jack Black in "New Friends".
  • Look, even My Chemical Romance performed on this show, of all shows they could perform on!
• Five Stages of Grief: Brobee manages to hit all five stages throughout "Big" — he gives up playing with Toodee and Muno because he is upset at being too small (denial), he expresses his thoughts at wanting to be bigger (anger), he is accidentally beamed to life size by Plex, making his wish come true (bargaining), he is unable to play with his friends because he is too big now (depression), and finally he is beamed back to normal size so he can get a ball out of a log, and accepts being small (acceptance).
• "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: In "Big", Brobee hates being small and wants to be big, and when he is accidentally beamed away by Plex, his wish comes true and he is overjoyed until he realizes he can't play with his friends anymore since he's too big.
• Free-Range Children: The Gabbas all live on their own, and their family members visit often.
• Friendship Song: A lot of them, "Find a Friend" and "I Love You", to name a few.
• Forest of Perpetual Autumn: It is always Autumn in Brobee Land, given its orange color scheme and falling leaves.
• Forgot About His Powers:
  • In "Superhero", the Gabbas come across Armand the worm who is stuck in a tree. Muno can't reach him, so the Gabbas use Foofa's cape as a trampoline so Armand can jump into it to safety. Plex, if he knew better, would've used his super long arms to reach Armand, but for some reason he didn't.
  • Plex also forgot about his super long arms in "Big", since he didn't use them to get the ball out of the log. Though it's possible this was done on purpose so Brobee wouldn't feel left out.
  • In "Mystery", Plex pointed out he has a flashlight in his head, which he oddly did not use in "Gooble" while on the way to Gooble's house.
• Forgot I Could Fly: A Running Gag with DJ Lance. Characters will periodically have to remind him that he can fly, which he'll then demonstrate. This has no bearing on the plot.
• Forgotten Birthday: In "Birthday", Brobee is upset, believing his friends forgot his birthday (DJ Lance was the only one there who tells him he remembered), unaware they are actually planning a surprise party for him in Muno Land. When he comes to the party near the end, he gets a wonderful surprise.
• Funny Background Event:
  • In "Share", right before Toodee swipes Brobee's ball away, Muno and Plex can be seen playing "Miss Mary Mack" in the background.
  • In live shows, right when Muno returns to the magic boombox during the final song, sometimes he kisses Foofa's hand, as opposed to biting it in "Together".
• Gentle Giant: Muno, a huge fanged cyclops with a friendly and overly enthusiastic personality. Also, DJ Lance, who is quite literally a giant next to the main cast.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: In “Super Spies”, Brobee used a pair of Ziggly Zoom Sunglasses to see things from a faraway distance.
• Got Me Doing It: In "Move", Foofa and Brobee are watching the birds, and Brobee keeps getting loud and scaring them away. Foofa then proceeds to teach him to be quiet. When he finally becomes quiet, Foofa ends up getting loud herself. Cue laughter from both.
• Gratuitous Disco Sequence:
  • Jack Black's "Disco Roll" dance.
  • The song "Everything is More Fun" from "Clubhouse", which features a heavy throwback to disco age.
  • Also "Be Yourself", which has a lot of disco moves.
  • "Nice To Meet You" has Plex doing Tony Manero's famous two-step finger point several times.
• Growling Gut: Brobee's stomach growls loudly in "Boat", complete with whale noises.
• Hammerspace: Apparently, Plex can fit anything inside the little door on his belly.
• Halfway Plot Switch:
  • The first scene of "Sleep" features the Gabbas playing "Hold Still" to get their wiggles out and settle down. For the rest of the episode, they take a nap and have dreams.
  • In "Imagine", each scene has a different plot; in the first, Foofa and Toodee play pretend. In the second, the Gabbas bring Brobee some balloons to cheer him up. In the third, Toodee lies and says she has magic beans and can fly so her friends will think she's cool. In the fourth, Plex shows Muno the things inside his body that help him work. To top it all off, only the first scene alludes to the topic of using your imagination.
  • The first scene of "Mystery" has Muno looking for his missing hat. The rest of the episode has Toodee and Plex searching for Foofa after she disappears.
  • In "School", the first scene involves Brobee and Toodee reluctant to go to school because they're nervous at what they have to do. After this, the rest of the episode has the Gabbas enjoying their school day together.
• Height Angst: "Big" - Brobee is upset at being the little one and wishes he were big. When Plex accidentally beams him to life-size when attempting to send DJ Lance back, Brobee becomes big and is overjoyed, until he realizes it's difficult being big and cannot play with his friends anymore. He is reverted to normal size at the climax, and declares he likes being small after all.
• Honesty Aesop: In one episode, Brobee is searching for magic beans, when Toodee claims that she owns magic beans and has several powers including flight. When she's revealed as lying, they ask her why and chew her out in song.
• Hospital Hottie: Anthony Bourdain shows up as a doctor on one episode who's supposed to be ideal for a female monster.
• I Can't Dance: Tony Hawk fudges his Dancey Dance and does a skateboarding demo instead.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episode titles sum up what the episode is going to be about, almost always in one word.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: They're Shout Outs to 80's video games, with featured kids as the players.
• I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham: Now and then, one of the Gabba Gang comes across a food they hate but never tried, which in turn cues the song "Try It, You'll Like It". Once they try the food, they admit they indeed like it.
• Inevitably Broken Rule: In "Pets", the rules for caring for a Magic Mokicho pet are to feed them twice a day with only Mokicho food, give them lots of love and hugs, and only hatch one Mokicho. Unfortunately, Foofa ends up breaking all three of those rules at once.
• Insomnia Episode: In one scene of "Sleep", Muno can't take his nap because he's afraid of sleeping alone. His rock friends sing to him to think of happy things to feel better so he can sleep.
• Instant Costume Change: DJ Lance can change his outfit just by spinning around.
• Invisible Backup Band: This happens pretty much every time the Gabbas sing.
  • Lampshaded in a few episodes which show the music coming from Plex's speaker.
• Invisible Parents: Muno is the only Gabba whose parents have been shown. It's clearly unknown whether the other Gabbas have parents or not.
• It's Always Spring: Subverted. While the seasons in Gabba Land do change, each realm represents one particular season; Summer for Muno Land, Spring for Foofa Land, Fall for Brobee Land, and Winter for Toodee Land.
• "I Am" Song: Plex has "The Robot Song", which is about how he enjoys being a robot and friend to DJ Lance and the Gabbas.
• "I Want" Song:
  • Brobee's song "Big and Small" is about his frustration at being little and wants to be big.
  • Brobee has another, "Let's Fly", an upbeat song about his desire to fly.
  • The "Adventure" song by Muno, Foofa and Plex, which shows how much the first loves adventure and wants to go on one.
  • The Super Music Friends show song "I Wish I Was a Spy" by Peter Bjorn and John about how they want to be spies.
• Jerkass Ball:
  • In "Art", Foofa snaps at Muno when he accidentally ruins her art. Foofa is normally the nicest character in the cast. This prompts Plex to lecture her not to say mean things to him.
  • In "Differences", Brobee and Toodee tease Muno for wearing glasses. While Toodee is a bit understandable given how brash she normally is, Brobee is supposed to be Muno's best friend.
  • In "Clubhouse", Brobee and Muno become rather misogynist out of nowhere, not letting Toodee and Foofa join their club because they are girls.
• Job Song: "Doctor, Doctor" is a song about what doctors do.
• Ladies and Germs: A variation occurs in "Show":
  Swami: Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Robots and monsters!
  Gabbas: That's us!
• Large Ham: DJ Lance. Being played by Lance Robertson doesn't hurt either.
• Later-Installment Weirdness: By the final season of the show, there are quite a bit of changes from how the first three seasons were structured.
  • The theme song was shortened.
  • The Storytime segments are normally placed at the end of the show, but some episodes would place it earlier, or they would be absent entirely.
• Left the Background Music On: In the "Circus" episode, the ringmaster Al is checking on the Gabbas practicing their acts as calliope music plays in the background...then he gets to Plex and it's revealed to be coming from the calliope he is playing.
• Let's Meet the Meat:
  • Recurring musical number Party in My Tummy. Would you like to go to the party?
  • In one episode Brobee's birthday cake looks just like him, can walk and talk, and offers guests pieces of itself.
• Liar Revealed: In the third scene of "Imagine", after Plex asks Toodee if she really has magic beans and can fly, Toodee utters, "No...I don't." Cue shocked reactions from her friends.
• Lilliputians: The Gabbas are these. Plex has a special laser that shrinks DJ Lance and others to their size and vice versa.
• Limited Social Circle/Minimalist Cast: Gabbaland does only have 5 citizens.
• Limited Wardrobe: DJ Lance Rock only ever wears his signature orange jump suit.
• Loose Tooth Episode: In the episode "Teeth", DJ Lance Rock recalls the day Muno lost his baby teeth. He is later paid a visit from the tooth fairy.
• Magitek: Plex is described as a "magic robot" in the opening. His powers are occasionally attributed to his "magic ray".
• Magnetic Plot Device: When the Dancey Dance segment begins, Plex usually has an alarm that goes off as he announces, with his laser sometimes flashing.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Muno has only one eye. Also, he lives in a desert-like realm that resembles the moon.
  • Brobee looks and acts like a little brother to the Gabbas, and has stripes on his body like a bee.
• Medium Blending: Live-action characters interact with Flash-animated characters on a regular basis.
• Midword Rhyme: One occurs during "Be Nice To Everyone":
  Dogs and cats
  Birds and bats
  Turtles and rab-
  -bits
  They are your pals
• Mood-Swinger: Brobee, at least compared to the other main characters, who are almost always in a good mood. Brobee is the one who most often gets upset, and is also the only main character who changes his facial expression. Though this changed when Gooble changed expressions.
• Mouse World: Averted; Not only are the cast displayed in public, Plex can easily shrink celebrities and DJ Lance down to their size.
• Mundane Made Awesome:
  DJ Lance: Listening and dancing to music iiiiisssssss AAAAAAAAWESOOOOOOMMMME!
  • The "Learn With Plex" segments: "It's fun to brush your teeth / wash your hair / put your toys away / etc."
  • In "Restaurant", the Gabbas are waiting for their meals to arrive and are bored. Their situation? Break into song as they think of something awesome they can do while they wait.
  • Most of Super Martian Robot Girl's problems subvert this, but the "Dance Party" comic takes it up to eleven.
• Musical Chores:
  • The song "Clean It Up", which the Gabbas sing as they clean up the mess they made with their food.
  • Also the addictive "Throw Us Away" as Toodee and Brobee throw away their trash after they unknowingly leave it on the ground.
• Musicalis Interruptus:
  • One occurs during the "Nap Time" song in "Sleep"; Plex and the Gabbas sing a repetitive lullaby as he tucks them in one at a time for their naps, but when he gets to Brobee, he stops singing halfway through when he sees Toodee didn't take her sleeping bag. After he convinces her to take a nap, the song continues from where it left off as he tucks her in.
  • In "Games", while the Gabbas are singing and playing Freeze Tag, Brobee is it, but cannot catch up to the others and gives up, which immediately stops the song. After he has a snack and drink of water which gives him more energy to play, the song restarts where it left off as he successfully chases and tags everyone.
  • "Party in My Tummy" abruptly stops when the leftover foods start crying due to not being eaten (the carrots and green beans in the main version, the eggs and fresh fruit in the breakfast version). Once the Gabbas agree to let them go to the party, the song resumes.
• Musical World Hypotheses: A mixture of the Alternate Universe and Diagetic types. The former is most used, though the Gabbas tend to lampshade such by asking someone to sing with them, showing they're aware they're randomly bursting into song. The Jingles and Super Music Friends Show segments, on the other hand, are full-on Diegetic.
• Never Say "Die":
  • In "Robot", when Plex suddenly shuts down due to running out of power, Toodee announces, "Oh no, I think Plex is broken!"; apparently this is close to the mention of robot death.
  • The Killers were introduced as "Brandon, Ronnie, Mark and Dave", avoiding mentioning their actual band name.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot:
  • Toodee is an arctic cat dragon.
  • Super Martian Robot Girl!
• No Antagonist: Played straight, though the germs that appear on anything dirty could come out as a minor version. There's also Bateman the bad spy in "Super Spies", before he underwent a Heel–Face Turn after revealing it was all an act.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Brobee is the only one of the gang who actually changes expression. Everyone else just is perpetually smiling no matter what they're thinking.
• Ocular Gushers: Gooble cries these in most of his appearances.
• Ode to Food:
  • "Party In My Tummy", Brobee's signature song for eating lunch.
  • "Snacky Snack Snack", sung by the Gabba Gang as Plex is handing out snacks for them.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Muno's voice sometimes becomes less-falsetto when he is singing, this is mostly noticeable in "Find a Friend".
• Our Spirits Are Different: Gooble. He goes between Gabbaland and his land Goobleland.
• Parental Bonus: The kids probably won't recognize the references to 8-bit video games or the many, many cameos.
  • In "Car", there was a creature on the moon that had a head shaped like that of a xenomorph.
• Pep-Talk Song:
  • The recurring song "Try It, You'll Like It", which encourages another Gabba to try a food they never tasted. Also another, "Keep Trying", which encourages someone to not give up.
  • The "Happy Thoughts" song from "Sleep", in which Muno's rock friends tell him to think of happy things when he can't sleep.
  • Also the song "Let's Try To Remember" from "Car", where the Gabbas help Brobee try to think back to what happened when he cannot find his pillow socky.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Foofa is pink, while her brother Foofle is blue.
• Record Needle Scratch: One plays in "Summer" when Toodee cuts in front of Foofa when it's her turn for the pool slide.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Toodee (red oni) is hyperactive and cheerful, while Foofa (blue oni) is relaxed and calm most of the time. Ironically, the former is blue, while the latter is pink.
  • Muno (red oni) is comical and often gets into mischief, while Brobee (blue oni) is also funny but very sensitive.
  • DJ Lance (red oni) is the fun-loving DJ host while Plex (blue oni) is the serious robot leader of Gabba Land.
• Retool: Starting with the second season, a few things started to change with the show:
  • The main sketches are more structured on a proper story, unlike the first season where the segments are played are seperate segments.
  • The Knock Knock Joke of the Day segments were added in the second season.
  • The Super Martian Robot Girl segments disappeared and were replaced completely with Story Time. Although she comes back as part of the Story Time segment in "Superhero".
• Retraux: If the 8-bit sounding Chip Tune incidental music isn't enough, try playing "guess the games this filler section is homaging" with some of the Idiosyncratic Wipes in the show.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Andy Samberg made a cameo once, in a pretty ridiculous outfit.
• Running Gag: "A Very Awesome Christmas" has an ongoing gag of Brobee repeatedly wanting to get a race car for Christmas.
• Same Language Dub: For the long-forgotten UK dub, the Gabba cast are not just redubbed in British English, but DJ Lance Rock was redubbed as well, by The Gadget Show presenter Ortis Deley.
• Say My Name:
  • In "Animals", Muno screams Foofa's name when he finds tracks on the ground (and causing glass to break in the distance).
  • In "Bugs", Muno yells out Plex's name to make he and his friends small.
  • In "Imagine", when Toodee reveals she lied about having magic beans and flying, her friends shout her name in frustration before singing "Tell The Truth".
• Scary Flashlight Face: The Gabbas have these in "Scary" as they sing "Don't Be Afraid" when Muno is afraid of the dark. It's downplayed however, since spotlights were used to illuminate their faces because shining their flashlights up them would make it look too scary for young viewers.
• "Sesame Street" Cred:
  • Among the indie/alternative rock artists that have appeared on the show are Flaming Lips, Low, Mates Of State, The Shins, Jimmy Eat World, The Killers, Taking Back Sunday, Shiny Toy Guns, Ladytron, MGMT, My Chemical Romance, The Faint, of Montreal, Hot Hot Heat, Devo and Band of Horses.
  • And from outside of the indie rock world, they've had Amy Sedaris, Sean Kingston, Sugarland, Elijah Wood, Jack Black, Tony Hawk and Jack McBrayer and many more.
  • The circus episode deserves a special mention, featuring "Weird Al" Yankovic as the ringleader and Sarah Silverman leading the Dancey Dance.
  • My Chemical Romance appeared in the 2011 Christmas special. And it was awesome.
  • Former Jellyfish guitarist turned solo artist Jason Falkner contributed "Some Things Are Big, Some Things Are Small".
• Shaped Like Itself: In "Dress Up", Plex dressed up as a wizard, making him a magical magic robot, and Toodee dressed up as a dragon, making her a cat dragon dragon.
• Shifting Sand Land: Subverted with Muno Land, which is a purple desert that resembles the moon. Played straight with his own house, which is in a desert far from Gabba Land.
• Shout-Out: Lots of references to 80's video games.
  • In Adventure, Muno pushes a stone out of the way to unveil a stairway. The The Legend of Zelda "stairs revealed" music plays, and as they enter the dungeon, a few bars of the original Zelda dungeon theme plays.
    • In the same episode, Muno dresses up like his favorite adventurerer Montana Johnson.
  • The title is one, a variation of The Ramones' chant "Gabba gabba hey" (which itself was adapted from the 1930s horror movie Freaks).
  • In the episode "Space", Lloyd the alien boy wears a pair of socks with ET heads and eats ‘Wook’ cereal, with Chewbacca on the box.
  • The episode "Space" has a Shout-Out to Dr. Seuss: the Story Time is told in rhyme, and there is a photo of an alien with a The Cat In The Hat-esque hat.
  • In "Imagine", Toodee yells "Imagination!" while making a rainbow, which is a reference to a SpongeBob SquarePants meme, known as "Imagination" or "Nobody Cares".
  • In "Animals", when Plex is about to beam Lance down, he shouts, "DJ Lance Rock, come on down!".
• Showdown at High Noon: Muno and Brobee parody this during the "cowboy" segment of "Dress Up". They replace the gunslinging with banana eating to make it more age-appropriate.
• Sleep Aesop: The main theme of "Sleep" deals with the Gabba Gang taking naps and dreaming and showing how important sleep can help them regain their energy before playing again.
• Spell My Name With An S: The show's setting is often spelled as either "Gabba Land" or "Gabbaland". Same goes for the realms that are part of it.
• Start My Own: In "Clubhouse", when Muno and Brobee refuse to let Foofa and Toodee join their "super adventure club", they decide to build a clubhouse of their own. They even sing a catchy song about this.
• Theme Tune Roll Call:
  Muno! He's tall and friendly!
  Foofa! She's pink and happy!
  Brobee! The little green one!
  Toodee! She likes to have fun!
  Plex! A magic robot!
  Let's all come and play
  With DJ Lance Rock today!
• Title Scream: What precedes and immediately follows the above.
• To the Tune of...: The chorus of "Let's Be Awesome While We Wait" is to the tune of "London Bridge".
• Train Song: The "Train Ride" song from "Train" - "Chugga chugga, chugga chugga, chugga chugga, choo choo!"
• Transformation Sequence: The theme song has the Gabbas coming to life from their inanimate stuffed toy forms this way — DJ Lance places them in their respective realms and announces their names one by one, causing them to transform.
  • A similar version occurs at the end of every episode when DJ Lance turns them back into toys.
  • DJ Lance has his own whenever he changes into a costume.
• Tree Cover:
  • Brobee comes out from behind a tree in "Eat" as DJ Lance gives him his lunch, and in "Halloween" when he notices the leaves falling from the trees. He also does this in "Move" when Plex announces "Fun Game Time".
  • In "Find", during the "hide and peek-a-boo" song, Brobee's hiding spot is behind a tree.
  • Plex also comes out from behind a tree in "Imagine" when Brobee calls everyone after believing Toodee's lie.
  • As does Gooble in "Treasure" when the Gabbas run into him during their treasure hunt.
• Truncated Theme Tune: The theme song is shortened in the fourth season, removing the instrumental bit before Muno is brought to life and a portion of the final cheer at the end.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In the "Shopping" episode, the manager comes upon Muno and Brobee who have accidentally spilled one of the cereals on display and broke the rocket ship toy that came inside. She begins to address them ("Excuse me, young..."), only to take notice that they're monsters and awkwardly finishes her statement ("...men...?").
• Vague Age: Out of all the Gabbas, the only one whose age was mentioned so far was Brobee's (3 in Season 1, turns 4 in "Birthday"). In "Teeth", Muno and Toodee lost their front teeth, hinting they might be 6-7 years of age since your front teeth fall out around 6-7 years old.
• Verbal Tic: Brobee speaks with a lateral lisp.
• Very Special Episode: "Quest", which has to do with the issue of bullying.
• Visual Pun:
  • Whenever the Gabbas ride in their car, Muno always sits in the seat on the rear, facing away from the others. In other words, it's a literal backseat.
  • Brobee's drumset has two regular sticks used to bang the stump-esque drums — he is using literal drumsticks.
• Vocal Evolution: Brobee's voice became less raspy and more high pitched when Season 2 went underway. Also, Plex's became slightly louder and a bit nasal, while Foofa's became less babyish and smoother.
• Watch It Stoned: Stephen Colbert made a passing comparison between small children and stoners in that both drooled and watched Yo Gabba Gabba all the time. Nevertheless...
• What Is This Feeling?: In the "Fun" episode, Plex (the robot) has trouble comprehending the concept of fun... which leads to the "What what what is fun fun fun" song.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Toodee's friends give her this in the song "Tell The Truth" after she reveals she lied to them:
  Why, why, why,
  Why did you lie?
  We like you better when you tell the truth!
• Whole Episode Flashback: The main plot of "Teeth" is told in flashback by DJ Lance as he remembers when Muno lost his baby teeth.

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DJ Lance Rock: Thanks for playing with us, see you next time!
Gabba Gang: Bye!
DJ Lance Rock: Here we go... Yoooooo Gabba Gabba...!!!