As any parent will tell you, small children are easily entertained. If something is sufficiently colourful or tuneful, it will hold a preschooler’s attention, at least for a little while. And when kids of that age find a favourite television program, they will happily watch it again. And again. And yet again. Which means that moms and dads who don’t want to be driven to the brink of madness can either learn to love The Wiggles and The Backyardigans or hope their young’uns get hooked on Yo Gabba Gabba!

For parents of a certain type—can you still be called a hipster after you have kids?—Yo Gabba Gabba! is must-see TV. At the beginning of every episode, host DJ Lance Rock (Lance Robertson) opens up his magic boom box and brings to life five dolls: Muno, a friendly Cyclops; Brobee, a little green whatsit with comically long arms; Foofa, a bubbly pink flower child; Toodee, a cat-dragon hybrid; and Plex, a helpful robot. As live-action characters, they sing, dance, and learn life lessons aimed at the not-quite-ready-for-kindergarten set.

Scott Schultz says that he and his friend Christian Jacobs were inspired to create Yo Gabba Gabba! when they didn’t see anything on TV that seemed on par with the shows they watched as tykes, which included The Electric Company and ’70s-era Sesame Street. “The spark was that we both had preschool kids at the same time,” Schultz tells the Straight in a telephone interview. “We both had babies. And when you have your first baby, it’s such a life-changing experience. And for us, being dads that are connoisseurs of kids’ entertainment and all that, we were just so excited to be a part of their television and what they watch, and we wanted to be right along with them, and maybe recapture our own youth at the same time. That was the genesis. We were just kind of naive dads, like: ”˜We could do something better, more awesome, than is currently being shown on television. Why don’t we just do it?’?”

Of course, it turned out to be a lot more work than either of them anticipated. Schultz and Jacobs conceived the show in 1999, but the first episode didn’t appear on Nickelodeon until 2007. (In Canada, Yo Gabba Gabba! is broadcast by Treehouse TV.) Now in its third season, the half-hour program has won a dedicated following, and not just among the Huggies crowd and their parents. There are childless college students and indie rockers who have seen every episode. What’s in it for them, or any other grownup? Plenty. For a start, the list of musical guests reads like the lineup of an impossibly cool festival: Hot Hot Heat, Ladytron, MGMT, Datarock, of Montreal, the Roots, Chromeo, the Flaming Lips, and the Shins have all appeared, as has Jacobs’s own ska-punk outfit, the Aquabats.

The genius of Yo Gabba Gabba! is that its makers have realized what most creators of kiddie TV seem to miss: adults and children can be entertained by the same things. Which means that the parents in attendance when the Yo Gabba Gabba! Live!: There’s a Party in My City! tour hits the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Saturday and Sunday (September 11 and 12) will probably be just as excited as their offspring. The tour features appearances by DJ Lance Rock and the costumed characters, along with legendary rapper and beatboxer (and series regular) Biz Markie.

Schultz sounds genuinely enthusiastic about the tour, the TV show, and life in general, and why wouldn’t he be? Making Yo Gabba Gabba! has allowed him to meet and work with many top-tier talents, including some of his idols. “Having Paul Williams come on the show was just a huge deal for me, from my whole childhood—the Muppets and all that,” Schultz says. “And he even sang ”˜Rainbow Connection’. But there are still a lot of amazing people that I’d love to have come on. I would be excited if Bill Murray came on and did something funny with us, or, like, one of the Beatles. What if Paul McCartney came on? How amazing would that be?”

Pretty amazing. McCartney, after all, is the man who wrote that perennial kids’ favourite, “Yellow Submarine”. Sir Paul, the ball is now officially in your court.