History Funny / TheyMightBeGiants

* The Creator/ElektraRecords promo videos for ''Music/{{Flood|TheyMightBeGiants}}'' and ''Music/Apollo18'', which both tweak music industry hype in distinctly different ways.

* There was an anecdote about falling for a SnipeHunt-like trick that John Linnell used to routinely tell between songs during a tour in 1999: While in Rhode Island, someone recommended he go out to a particular deli and try a local delicacy called baby fingers. The deli existed, but "baby fingers" did not - the punchline was a breathlessly exclaimed "...it was a trick, there's no such thing as baby fingers and the guy thought I was a ''freak''!"

-->'''Linnell:''' Now you're just repeating the word "dog"
** This particular passage is made funnier by the music video, where dogs materialize with every repetition of the word dog... Then one of the dogs promptly [[ToiletHumour lifts its leg...]]

''[[LiteralMinded Linnell moves his head in front of the camera to reveal that he has painted himself green.]]''\

** The song itself: already funny as a straightforward ode to an extremely quirky girl ("melting down some army guys to make green tea"), ''hilarious'' once you look up the word "cephalophore" and find out that CloudCuckoolander [[ExpospeakGag doesn't cut it]]. [[spoiler: "The way you swing your head" is more literal than you'd think.]]

--> No one in the world ever gets what they want
-->And that is beautiful
--> Everybody diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiies!

-->''Seems like only yesterday, our D-I-V-O-R-C-E,''\\

-->Hi, this is John [Flansburgh] of They Might Be Giants, and you're listening to the Frank O'Toole radio show on WFMU. If you're driving your car now, we urge you to sit back, relax, close your eyes, and drive really fast.

-->Hey, how come the big fat guy never talks? How come it's always the little scrawny guy who gives the information at the end of the tape? I wanna hear the big fat guy, who looks like... [[Creator/DanAykroyd Danny Aykroyd]], [[BrutalHonesty only fatter.]]

--> ''No, you can't park there''\\

--> "PLEASE, for the love of all that is holy, only use this as directed! I ignored the directions and figured it would make a good lighthouse and now my beaches are covered in shipwrecks. The countless screams of the Argonauts will forever haunt my dreams. Well, at least they would but for my only friend, my little glowing friend, who watches over me."

-->'''Flansburgh:''' Gurb long trom flom dim fim lim
-->'''Linnell:''' Pretty sure that’s gibberish
-->'''Flansburgh:''' Dog dog dog dog dog dog dog
-->'''Linnell:''' Now you’re just repeating the word "dog"
*** This particular passage is made funnier by the music video, where dogs materialize with every repetition of the word dog... Then one of the dogs promptly [[ToiletHumour lifts its leg...]]

-->I'll need a ton of mops and glue\\

'''Flansburgh:''' (''calmly'') [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry This makes us angry]].
--->'''Linnell:''' But instead of cursing the darkness, John and I have decided to do something about it. We've put out a record with nineteen songs on it.
--->'''Flansburgh:''' And that's why our record is better.

--->'''Narrator''': All tempos have been tested in our sound laboratories from 10 to 500 beats per minute to create that indescribable vibe we call the music of They Might Be Giants. The wind tunnel is the final testing ground. If the recordings can survive this test, they are ready for the public. They Might Be Giants has done everything within the limits of what is possible to create a product which surpasses all previous standards of enjoyability.

-->'''Flansburgh''': Knock knock.\\
'''Linnell''': Who's there?\\
'''Flansburgh''': I am.\\
'''Linnell''': John... "I am"'s not a name.\\
'''Flansburgh''': Knock knock.\\
'''Linnell''': Who's there?\\
'''Flansburgh''': I am.\\
'''Linnell''': John, that's not a name.\\
'''Flansburgh''': Knock knock.\\
'''Linnell''': Who's there?\\
'''Flansburgh''': I am.\\
'''Linnell''': Oh, oh, hello, "I am." Nice to meet you. Come on in, right this way. You got here so early. Have they added another bus out of Crazytown?

-->'''Flansburgh''': You know, these days I think everybody’s concerned about the environment, and what we can all do to be a little bit greener.
''[[LiteralMinded Linnell moves his head in front of the camera to reveal that he has painted himself green.]]''
-->'''Linnell''': You mean like this?

'''[[LiteralMinded Linnell moves his head in front of the camera to reveal that he has painted himself green.]]'''

'''Linnell moves his head in front of the camera to reveal that he has painted himself green.'''

'''Linnell''': Oh, oh, hello, "I am." Nice to meet you. Come on in, right this way. You got here so early. Have they added another bus out of Crazytown?

* The Amazon release of ''Here Come The [=ABCs=]'' features a version of [[Music/MinkCar "Hovering Sombrero]]... [[MoodWhiplash as performed by]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkelht5pbbM Mr. Lips.]]

* On the Amazon release of "Here Come The [=ABCs=]," there is a re-recorded and re-worked version of their song "Hovering Sombrero" (originally of their "Mink Car" album). The original song is slow and relaxing. Their new version is fast, cacophonous, and only one original verse is kept. Every other lyric is replaced with Linnell, singing gibberish in a comically deep voice, and several overdubs of Flansburgh in the background shouting "B!" and "BO!" whenever the other John is silent.

--->'''Flansburgh''': Knock knock.\\

--->'''Narrator''': All tempos have been tested in our sound laboratories from 10 to 500 beats per minute to create that indescribable vibe we call the music of They Might Be Giants. The wind tunnel is the final testing ground. If the recordings can survive this test, they are ready for the public. They Might Be Giants has done everything within the limits of what is possible to create a product which surpasses all previous standards of enjoyability.

** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4ir6dTP-Rg All the Lazy Boyfriends]] shows various boyfriends getting 'sign-shamed'; the transgressions listed start with reasonable bouts of laziness like "I clip my toenails in bed" and "I never make reservations" but soon turn to absurd things like "I pay someone to shell my pistachios" and "I don't double-check my logarithmic functions". Also included are boyfriends who "[[SantaClaus worked 15 days in the last 15 years]]" or "[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros always use the warps]]". Even on some of the more normal ones, the visuals are still fairly ridiculous.

* From ''The Spine Surfs Alone,'' there's "Skullivan," a hilarious inversion of their usual take on LyricalDissonance. It features Linnell's distorted voice wailing such lines as "I'll make you a pot of tea, how does everyone like their tea" and "I rented ''Film/{{Tootsie}},'' you gotta check this out" as Linnell chants the refrain over a tense, powerful instrumental.

** The song itself: already funny as a straightforward ode to an extremely quirky girl ("melting down some army guys to make green tea"), ''hilarious'' once you look up the word "cephalophore" and find out that CloudCuckoolander [[HeadlessHorseman doesn't cut it]]. [[spoiler: "The way you swing your head" is more literal than you'd think.]]

* The Creator/ElektraRecords promo videos for ''Music/{{Flood}}'' and ''Music/Apollo18'', which both tweak music industry hype in distinctly different ways.

--->'''Linnell:''' Some records that come out today only have ten songs, or less.
--->'''Flansburgh:''' (''calmly'') [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry This makes us angry]].

* In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anWrcmKsYI8 video for You Probably Get That A Lot]], Linnell goes completely mute near the end, leaving the rest of the band to play on. He then comes back to say the "-ly" in the word "spontaneously."

'''That's all the questions that time will permit\\
I'm afraid we'll have to leave it right there\\
Be assured that there's nothing more that can be done'''\\

[[IgnoringBySinging Doodly-doodly-doodly-doo, doodly-doo-doo, doodly-doo-doo]]