The New Wiggles.

Given my son’s (and, admittedly, my own) slight obsession with everything Wiggle, you would think that we would have sussed out the ‘new’ Wiggles line-up by now. We haven’t. It’s not so much a matter of preferring vintage Wiggles to contemporary Wiggles. It’s more been a matter of access. I know that there are a new batch of replacement Wiggles. I know one of them is a girl. I know it’s possibly sexist of me to even mention that (checking my privilege, and all that jazz).

I just haven’t seen them perform. And it’s kind of difficult to imagine.

Anyway. Curiosity got the better of me when I was offered a Wiggle interview over the phone, to promote their performance at the launch of the new-look Westfield Eastgardens.

I speculate slightly on Twitter over which Wiggle I will get to talk to. I doubted it would be Anthony. To be quite honest, if I were him, I’d pass the phone interview jobs to the plebs, too. Simon, the new Red Wiggle, was probably too famous for the likes of me, too. And he would have left me slightly starstruck with his booming, overly-projectable voice. So that left the relatively unknown factors of Emma, the new yellow Wiggle, or Lachlan, the new purple Wiggle.

When the call came in, it was the purple Wiggle on the phone. Lachlan became the purple Wiggle in 2012, taking over from Jeff. He was a lovely bloke and really enthusiastic and passionate about what the Wiggles do. And he answered my annoying questions in order for me to put this together.

The RRSAHM Guide To The New Wiggles.

While I keep calling him a ‘new Wiggle’ (sorry Lachy) Lachlan’s actually been in the Wiggle-verse for a while. In 2009, he was a struggling musical theatre actor working at a Bakers Delight in Melbourne. He got word of auditions being held in Sydney to play the part of Captain Feathersword for the Dorothy Show. He jumped on a plane, and a week later he was in Auckland, on stage with Wiggle Productions.

Fairy Clarissa drives the Big Red Car. Once upon a time, Emma the yellow Wiggle was Fairy Clarissa on the Dorothy the Dinosaur Show. Being the yellow Wiggle, and the Wiggles checking their own privilege, Emma drives the Big Red Car. Which she is suited for, because she used to be a champion rally car driver when she was younger (Really. How cool is that?).

American Wiggles fans dress up far more than we do. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing… or a bad one.

Lachy accidentally mistook a boy for a girl at one of the Wiggles shows, because the boy was wearing the new yellow Wiggle’s trademark yellow bow on his head. Lachy promises it wont happen again, and thinks it’s awesome that kids see no difference between the ‘boys’ costume, and the ‘girls’ costume.

The Wiggles have a song about everything. Everything. But their favorite song to perform is Rock Your Bear. Because watching little tiny kids trying to do the actions is just so adorable (agreed).

The purple Wiggle still falls asleep all.. the … time. As it turns out, it’s the purple skivvy that’s the problem, not some awful undiagnosed medical condition.

4000 out of 8000 kids can’t tell the difference. Around half the audience still yell “Wake up, Jeff!” instead of “Wake up, Lachy!”. And Lachy, being the lovely guy he is, doesn’t mind at all. But he’s hoping the new Wiggles TV show, coming to Australia in September, will fix that. Because, having seen them in action, we’ll finally be able to pick all four Wiggles out of a colored skivvy line-up again.

***

And that’s that. The new Wiggles, wrapped up. Kind of. Just to let you know, I haven’t been paid for this post. I just thought it would be kind of cool to talk to a Wiggle, and provide you all with a Wiggle-love cheat sheet. And I’ve got a handful of DVD’s to be won, too. (Read on).

If you want to see the new Wiggles live, they are performing on Monday 22 July as part of five days of events (running July 18-22) to celebrate the launch of the new-look of Westfield Eastgardens. Lachy tells me that the atmosphere at these live shopping centre performances is brilliant. I’m going to assume he’s telling the truth.

If you can’t make it to Westfield and you’d still like to get acquainted with the new Wiggles, I’ve got five copies of the Wiggles Furry Tales on DVD to be won. Just fill in the form and tell me- Could you pick the new Wiggles out of a line-up? Are your kids fans, or not? (I know, I know… it’s Sam versus Greg all over again). 

The closing date is midnight AEST Wednesday 24th July, and the winners will be drawn and contacted by email soon after. You’ve gotta have a valid email address to go with your entry, mmmkay? This one’s open to Australian residents only (sorry again, OS readers). The answers that tickle my pickle at the time of the comp being drawn win. No bitching, whinging, nor circle-jerking shall be entered into.

No form? Click here.

Tagged as: children, mothering, my head is an awesome place to live, Wiggle Love, WIn Stuff