History Funny / TheyMightBeGiants

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

* From ''The Spine Surfs Alone,'' there's "Skullivan," a hilarious inversion of their usual take on LyricalDissonance. It feature's Flansburg'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.

* At one point in their 1989 hit "Birdhouse In Your Soul", the [[AnimateInanimateObject nightlight]] singing describes some of the other decor in the room. There's just something adorably comical about the mental image of a tiny canary-shaped nightlight trying to be helpful as a lighthouse only for [[RealityEnsues reality to ensue]].

** The second verse is something to behold

* "Did you say... what I think you just said -- my hat looks good on me? I agree! I agree!" It makes an especially good ChewOutFakeOut because the song sort of dies down to create tension and then kicks back up again when it turns out the narrator is still happy. The music is being funny as well as the lyrics.

--->'''Flansburgh:''' (''calmly'') This makes us angry.

-->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... Danny Aykroyd, [[BrutalHonesty only fatter.]]

[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I think my hand is broken]]

[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I think my hand is broken]]
* In the video "Some Crazy Bastard Wants To Hit Me", the two characters in it resemble [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy Edd and Ed]] a great deal.

[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I think my hand is broken]]

** Speaking of the night light, thanks to this song [[https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002SLGNJG/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8 it exists!]] And as you can imagine, the reviews are full of references to the song, most of which are pretty funny.

* In at least one performance of "Don't Let's Start", John Linnell has humorously abbreviated part of the second verse ("everybody dies frustrated and sad / and that is beautiful"), leaving it as simply:

** Another constant source of hilarity at the band's live shows: Whenever They play "Snowball In Hell," John and John tend to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIBefcMoSp8&t=1m22s improvise a routine]] (or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06t7NJ1pCbk&t=1m6s record one in advance]]) in which they mercilessly lampoon the sample that appeared on the studio bridge.

** "Oh You Did." Robin Goldwasser, John and John are pitch-perfect in their roles as a beleaguered mother and her admonished sons respectively, even though the latter two were in their mid-fifties and the former is six years younger. The song starts out pretty straightforward, with the kids getting in trouble for insulting their father or wrecking the house, but quickly gets into ridiculous territory, such as them shaving the family pet and stuffing its hair into the milk carton for reasons unexplained.

[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I think my hand is broken]]
* In at least one performance of "Don't Let's Start", John Linnell has humorously abbreviated part of the second verse ("everybody dies frustrated and sad / and that is beautiful"), leaving it as simply:
--> No one in the world ever gets what they want
-->And that is beautiful
--> Everybody diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiies!

** "Oh You Did." Robin Goldwasser, John and John are pitch-perfect in their roles as a beleaguered mother and her admonished sons respectively, even though the latter two were in their mid-fifties at the time (and are both ''older'' than Robin). The song starts out pretty straightforward, with the kids getting in trouble for insulting their father or wrecking the house, but quickly gets into ridiculous territory, such as them shaving the family pet and stuffing its hair into the milk carton for reasons unexplained.

** "Oh You Did." Robin Goldwasser, John and John are pitch-perfect in their roles as a beleaguered mother and her admonished sons respectively, even though the latter two were in their mid-fifties at the time. The song starts out pretty straightforward, with the kids getting in trouble for insulting their father or wrecking the house, but quickly gets into ridiculous territory, such as them shaving the family pet and stuffing its hair into the milk carton for reasons unexplained.

[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I think my hand is broken]]

** One of the few incoming Dial-A-Song messages the band ever made public appears in this radio special:

[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I think my hand is broken]]
* One of the few incoming Dial-A-Song messages the band ever made public (albeit in a far lesser capacity than "Untitled"):
-->'''Caller:''' 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... Danny Aykroyd, [[BrutalHonesty only fatter.]]

* One of the few Dial-A-Song answering machine messages the band ever made public (albeit in a far lesser capacity than "Untitled"):

* One of the few Dial-A-Song answering machine messages the band ever made public, albeit in a far lesser capacity than "Untitled:"

* The never officially released track "Fat Danny Aykroyd" consists of a recording left on the Dial-a-Song answering machine of a caller asking why "it's always the little scrawny guy who gives the information at the end of the tape?" and insisting he instead wants to hear from "the big fat guy, who looks like... Danny Aykroyd, [[BrutalHonesty only fatter.]]"

[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I think my hand is broken]]

** "I Made A Mess," whose completely dramatic delivery would be a textbook case of FelonyMisdemeanor--except the lyrics combine NoodleIncident with the SerialEscalation of each passing verse.

** "I Made A Mess," whose completely dramatic delivery would be a textbook case of FelonyMisdemeanor--except each passing verse suggests the eponymous NoodleIncident is far worse than last implied.

** Whenever they play "No One Knows My Plan," they prelude by kicking up a conga line the way only they know how. Lines vary between performances, but include such gems as "I'm not fucking kidding, put your hands on the hips of a stranger," exaggerated claims about the size of the conga line, and Flansburg's attempts to get the line careening at speed through the audience.

** Right as the intermission ended during concerts for the band's 2018 tour, fans were routinely greeted with [[https://vimeo.com/253025437 this video.]] It features a demo track of "Last Wave" that takes the LyricalDissonance of the original all the way into CrossesTheLineTwice territory. The demo is a Music/BadLipReading-style spoof of [[Music/RunDMC "Walk Th]][[Music/{{Aerosmith}} is Way,"]] wherein John Linnell mocked up the final version's call-and-response by singing several tracks through a pitch-shifter.

** Right as the intermission ended during concerts for the band's 2018 tour, fans were routinely greeted with [[https://vimeo.com/253025437 this video.]] It features a demo track of "Last Wave" that takes the LyricalDissonance of the original all the way into CrossesTheLineTwice territory. It's a Music/BadLipReading-style spoof of [[Music/RunDMC "Walk Th]][[Music/{{Aerosmith}} is Way,"]] wherein John Linnell mocked up the final version's call-and-response by singing several tracks through a pitch-shifter.