Our upcoming cover story on the Aquabats and their new TV show for the Hub, The Aquabats! Super Show! debuting this weekend led to a ton of research on Christian Jacobs, aka MC Bat Commander, Aquabats frontman and co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba.
One of the more interesting things about him (and there are a LOT of little trivia tidbits to know) is that the 40-year-old father of four was a pretty busy child actor in the '80s and '90s.
He says, “Most of my childhood going on auditions for commercials and TV shows; I'd get home from school then drive to auditions…I know my way around LA really well because of …constantly driving in traffic and going to different auditions.”
After the jump, five of Jacobs' roles that you'll be surprised to see.
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5. Pretty in Pink
He was the record store shoplifter in Pretty in Pink that gets shot “two inches from his eye” with a staple gun weilded by Iona (Annie Potts), Andy (Molly Ringwald)'s boss and mother figure. I can't find a video of the clip on YouTube, but the scene is truly memorable. Jacobs says of working on Pretty in Pink: “Molly and I went to set school with each other everyday. We talked a lot … I was so stoked! She was basically the biggest star of the day.” Jacobs says John Hughes was such a great leader and creator that he learned many valuable lessons on the set, even as a 13-year-old.
4. Married with Children
Super cute clip of Jacobs as an employee at the fast food joint that Al Bundy worked at…with Pauly Shore as the manager! (Jacobs is the kid in the red baseball cap.)
Jacobs starred as Sally Struther's kid in this spin-off of a spin-off of All in the Family that ran for a year. “The writers of that show all ended up working on Growing Pains,” Jacobs says. “That was a really great experience for me; as a kid working on something for that long, day in and day out…it leaves a big impression. The vibes were really good on the set,” he adds. Check him out in the credits at 0:33. He was so little and cute!
2. Gleaming the Cube
In this 1989 cult skateboarding movie, Christian Jacobs is part of Christian Slater's skateboarding crew. Stacey Peralta and other big skaters of the day were also in the cast: . (Check out Jacobs in 6:16–still hamming it up!)
1. The History of White People in America
This early, hilarious, made-for-HBO movie was created by the same people who produced This is Spinal Tap. It starred Martin Mull, with Fred Willard and Mary Kay Place, and Jacobs played the son. It hasn't been released on DVD, so your best bet is to watch all of them on YouTube!
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