'Naked Brothers' enjoy ride

By Terry Morrow, Scripps Howard News Service

Published May 28, 2008 at 6 p.m.

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Miles Aronowitz / Nickelodeon

Nat, left, and Alex Wolff nicknamed themselves the "Naked Brothers" because they used to call themselves that as tykes coming out of the tub.

This is how Naked Brothers Band star Alex Wolff rolls.

"I'm wearing the same pants as yesterday," admits the 10-year-old Nickelodeon actor, recalling something he said to his mother earlier in the morning.

Turns out that during the cross-country trip he and his brother, Nat Wolff, 13, have been taking to promote The Naked Brothers Band series and new CD (I Don't Wanna Go To School), a tube of toothpaste exploded in their suitcase. Their clothes had paste all over them - as well as a minty taste that most dentists recommend.

Ah, that's life as a young rock star.

One minute, you're sleeping in your hotel room before meeting the fans. The next moment, you have toothpaste all over your favorite T-shirt.

Naked Brothers came out of an idea from the siblings' mother, writer-actress Polly Draper. She penned a script about her sons becoming huge rock stars.

The project ended up as a mockumentary for Nickelodeon. It got such a great response that Nick executives turned it into a series.

From there, The Naked Brothers Band series has emerged as an out-of-the-box hit for Nickelodeon. The show's popularity has translated in other ways for the brothers Wolff: The boys, who sing their own material and play their own instruments, have become real-life pop stars.

In real life, Nat and Alex aren't that different from other boys their age. Alex, in particular, has a quick wit. Nat is more focused and a natural straight man for his brother's one-liners.

The boys nicknamed themselves "Naked Brothers." They used to call themselves that as tykes coming out of the tub. During a recent trip to Tennessee to meet fans and plug their new CD, the guys greeted thousands of admirers.

"I am obsessed with them," says 15-year-old fan Celina McManus of Farragut, Tenn. "They are so talented and adorable. I love them so much."

Draper says the appeal of the show is "aspirational." Kids "feel like they know them. They like them," she says.

The Wolffs write their music when they can fit it in - between filming and going to school. "We mainly do it late at night," says Nat. "I usually do it when I am supposed to be doing something else."

Nat wrote I Don't Wanna Go To School one day when he said that very line to his mother. She said he could stay home if he wrote the song. He did. She made him go anyway.

A third season begins production this summer in New York. Polar Bears, a made-for-TV movie starring the Naked Brothers, premieres June 6.

The movie has the boys getting anxious about the state of the world's environment.

Undoubtedly, this will keep the hearts of their easily excitable fans fluttering more.

As Nat witnessed at their recent signing:

"The girls are yelling and crying. I'm thinking, 'What is going on?' . . . It's pretty cool."

'Naked' updates

* The series: The Naked Brothers Band, 6:30 p.m Saturdays, Nickelodeon

* The new CD: I Don't Wanna Go To School, Sony

* The made-for-TV movie: Polar Bears, premieres at 5:30 p.m. on June 6, Nickelodeon

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