They're the Doodlebops, oh yeah

NEW YORK — What's a Doodlebop?

More than one adult asked that question as a trio of sort-of clowns paraded through a Manhattan office building in full-on makeup and costumes one recent day.

But anyone with preschoolers at home knew the answer. Some of them were even star-struck and chased Deedee, Rooney and Moe Doodlebop down the hall, hoping to score an autograph. After all, The Doodlebops could potentially be the next Wiggles.

(If you don't know who the Wiggles are — Australia's top-earning entertainers last year, ahead of No. 2 AC/DC and No. 3 Nicole Kidman — then you may as well stop reading now. Clearly, you're not up on your pop stars of the next generation.)

The Doodlebops are singing siblings — or at least they play them on TV.

Stars of a Playhouse Disney cable TV show since spring 2005, the Canadian trio has become a favorite of the preschool set throughout the United States. The group, whose show follows them on crazy adventures and on to the concert stage, has just kicked off a national U.S. tour.

Wearing their signature mod costumes, colored hair and bright makeup, the Doodlebops wouldn't give up much about their offstage life. But here's what we did learn:

-- The Doodlebops hail from Toronto. They never listened to recorded music on road trips; instead, they'd sing — the whole way.

-- Deedee, who lists pink and purple as her favorite colors on her bio, is somewhat of a clotheshorse. She's the only one who has changed her outfit since landing on TV three years ago. "The one from the first year was too hula-hoopy," she explains. She's also into shoes and handbags.

When she's not listening to Doodlebop tunes, in her real-life guise as Lisa Lennox , she's probably listening to her "favorite girl divas" Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, at least when she was in her bubblegum-pop phase.

-- The group's members compare themselves to "The Monkees," appearing in a slice-of-life TV show about rock stars. The modern twist is that they're kiddie rock stars.

Everything they do is kid-friendly. The lyrics, while set to pretty catchy Top 40-style beats, are about things that children can relate to — such as friendship and sharing. And their dance moves can be easily mimicked by youngsters.

-- While they all like to dance, Rooney, the blue guy, is the one who pays the most attention to the moves of other performers. He cites Justin Timberlake and Usher as some of his inspirations. He's also the worker bee, spending most of his off hours (when he's also known as Chad McNamara) either testing new choreographies or researching the next city they're heading to. He says they like to incorporate a local factoid into each show to make it more personal.

-- Moe, the red one, is more of the brooding brother, with the most eclectic tastes. He says he's a really big fan of Ben Harper and James Brown (and sometimes goes by the name Jonathan Wexler).

-- When kids do get up close and personal with them, the children usually invite them to their birthday parties or announce how old they are.

-- "Get on the Bus" is their most-requested tune, but their fans also like to hear "Wobbly Whoopsy" — a classic from their first TV season.

-- Rooney thinks the biggest challenge of their 75-city tour will be staying healthy. They're sometimes doing three shows a day, spending extraordinary amounts of time with little ones and traveling en masse in a real rock star-style bus. He plans to drink a lot of orange juice.

-- People don't comment on their appearance as often as you'd think. "In New York City, a lot of things look strange here. We can be overlooked," Deedee says.

-- Moe is most excited about visiting New York and Las Vegas. Most of his downtime is spent on the computer, playing a lot of sports-style videogames.

-- Deedee likes to cook for the group.

"I like spicy foods, noodles, chicken, one-dish dinners," she explains. But since there isn't a lot of time to shop for groceries while she's on tour — and there isn't an oven on their bus — she settles for making a lot of appetizers.

"She makes a killer bruschetta," reports Rooney.

-- The secret of their success, according to Moe, is that they don't talk down to kids. "We can match their energy and we don't tell them to 'calm down.'"