Christian Richards Jacobs is an American musician, television producer, voice actor and former child actor. He is perhaps most recognized as the co-creator of the award-winning Nick Jr. children's television seriesYo Gabba Gabba!, on which he additionally serves as a writer, director, composer and voice actor. Under the stage persona of The MC Bat Commander, Jacobs is also well known for his work as lead singer for the Orange Countyrock bandThe Aquabats, which he co-founded in 1994. In addition to his musical work with the band, Jacobs also portrayed the character of the Bat Commander on the live-action comedy television seriesThe Aquabats! Super Show!, which he also co-created and produced, from 2012 to 2014.
Biography
Early life
Jacobs was born in Rexburg, Idaho in 1972, the second of five children. Following his family's relocation to Los Angeles at the age of 4, Jacobs and his siblings, namely his older sister Rachel and younger brotherParker, began working as child actors. Throughout the course of his childhood and into his late teens, Jacobs appeared in numerous productions, most prominently playing the role of Joey Stivic in the short-lived All in the Family spin-off Gloria, but primarily playing small roles in teen films such as Pretty in Pink and Gleaming the Cube and episodes of sitcoms like Married... with Children and Roseanne, before retiring from acting in the early 1990s, citing a dislike of the competitive nature of the business. While working on Gleaming the Cube, Jacobs befriended a number of well known and highly influential skateboarders and artists. In 1990, he worked alongside Mark Gonzales and Jason Lee on Blind SkateboardsVideo Days, and as an artist, Jacobs designed board graphics for Tony Hawks Birdhouse Skateboards and for the Jason Lee and Steve Berra pro models. The great-grandson of prominent Mormon leader LeGrand Richards, Jacobs is a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1991, he left the United States to serve as a missionary in the Sendai, Japan mission and lived in and around Tōhoku, Japan for two years. Upon returning to California, he began working different jobs and moonlighting in bands.
The Aquabats
In 1994, Jacobs, along with friends Chad Larson and Boyd Terry, formed the Orange County-based band The Aquabats, wherein he acted as lead singer and lyricist under the stage name of The MC Bat Commander. Noted for their matching costumes and theatrical stage shows centered around their superhero-themed alter-ego, The Aquabats initially formed as part of the burgeoning Orange County ska scene, though since 2000 have evolved into playing more punk and new wave-influenced rock music. Though The Aquabats are most recognized for being a cult act, the band experienced brief mainstream commercial success in the late 1990s during the height of the American ska revival, when their second albumThe Fury of The Aquabats! peaked at number 172 on the Billboard 200, granting the band national exposure on MTV and as part of the 1998 Vans Warped Tour. During this time, Jacobs was also active producing skateboarding videos with his friend and creative partner Scott Schultz. In 1999, Jacobs anonymously performed with other members of The Aquabats in the side project The Sandfleas, playing drums under the stage name "Fang". As of 2020, The Aquabats continue to tour and record, and the band's sixth studio album, Kooky Spooky...In Stereo is scheduled for release in June 2020. On March 3, 2012, The Aquabats! Super Show!, a live-action musical television series starring the band, premiered on cable channel The Hub, with Jacobs serving as co-creator, producer, writer and star. Despite accumulating six Daytime Emmy nominations over the course of two seasons, winning one for stunt coordination, The Hub declined to pick Super Show! up for a third season, effectively cancelling the series. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2018, Super Show! was retooled as a bi-weekly YouTube series which began airing in late 2019.
''Yo Gabba Gabba!''
In 1999, Jacobs and Schultz formed a production company which was later formalized as "The Magic Store" with the goal of creating family-oriented television entertainment. Together, the two independently created, wrote and directed two pilot episodes in 2005 for a preschooler-targeted children's television series called Yo Gabba Gabba!. The series was picked up by Viacoms Nickelodeon channel in 2007, eventually becoming an international success and winning numerous television awards. Yo Gabba Gabba! has since completed four seasons.
Personal life
Christian Jacobs is an avid surfer, skateboarder, Japanese toy collector and artist. He lives in Huntington Beach, California, with his wife and four children.
