They Might Be Giants

From a 2004 interview in the Tucson Weekly:

TUCSON WEEKLY: I wanted to ask you about the Homestar Runner collaboration. How did that come about?
JOHN FLANSBURGH: It was very circuitous. ... A photograph was taken of me wearing a Homsar shirt, which is one of the more obscure characters in Homestar, and somebody made them aware of it — "Hey look, they're wearing your shirt, you guys," and so [the Brothers Chaps] knew that we were fans. And I guess Linnell kind of reached out to them and said, "You know, if there's anything you want us to do, if you have any musical needs for your site or whatever, we'd be certainly happy to help you guys out," and they took us up on that offer. We did a bunch of things with them— we did a jam session with the Homestar puppet, and they did this video for "Experimental Film"— and it's kind of a mutual admiration society. We really enjoy what they do.

They Might Be Giants is an alternative rock band, formed by John Flansburgh on guitar and John Linnell on accordion and keys, that has collaborated with The Brothers Chaps on several occasions.

Collaborations

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The Johns jamming with Puppet Homestar

Homestar Runner

• They composed and performed the music for the Strong Bad Email different town. Linnell's vocals for the song appeared on the DVD commentary.
• The Johns and backing drummer Marty Beller jam with Homestar Runner in the Puppet Jam series.
• They performed intro song 200 Sbemails for email thunder, with Linnell as the voice of The Poopsmith. It was later released on TMBG's 2011 B-sides compilation Album Raises New and Troubling Questions.
  • Linnell reprises his role as the voice of the Poopsmith in Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 17.2.
• They collaborated on a song with the Brothers Chaps called Crystal Fortress. The song features Strong Bad and Limozeen-style vocals and guitars, and has a Powered by The Cheat music video.
• Henry Linnell, John Linnell's son, playtested Trogdor!! The Board Game and is credited in the instruction manual.

TMBG

• The Brothers Chaps animated the official music video for Experimental Film, the lead track on their 2004 album The Spine.
• The Brothers Chaps also animated the video for Figure Eight for the band's 2008 children's album, Here Come the 123s.
  • A preview of the video was presented at the Georgia Tech event on April 26, 2007.
• Puppet characters have joined TMBG onstage during several of their shows in Atlanta:
  • September 25, 2004: Puppets Homestar Runner and Marshie
  • May 3, 2006: Puppet Strong Bad
  • March 15, 2008: Puppet Homestar
  • March 5, 2010: Puppet Homestar

Fun Facts

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Flansburgh & Linnell, powered by The Cheat!

TMBG Song References

• In Thy Dungeonman 3, there is an excerpt from "Fingertips" from the 1992 album Apollo 18 when you type something that doesn't compute with the game (beginning with "I don't understand you...").
• Strong Sad quotes lyrics from "Don't Let's Start" from their 1986 self-titled debut album in his blog: "Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful".
• In Halloween Hide & Seek, Strong Bad makes a reference to "They'll Need A Crane" from the 1988 album Lincoln saying "YOU'LL NEED A CRANE" when you try to find him without using the skateboard.

TMBG Referencing Homestar

File:Linnell Homsar.jpg File:Magnify-clip.png John Linnell wearing a Homsar T-shirt

File:Marty Beller Coach Z.jpg File:Magnify-clip.png Marty Beller wearing a Coach Z T-shirt.

• On January 30, 2008, They Might Be Giants "took over" Y-Rock on WXPN 88.5 as DJs, and featured An Important Rap Song.
• At TMBG concerts on February 23, July 29 and October 5, 2008, drummer Marty Beller wore a Coach Z T-shirt.
• On April 28, 2022, They Might Be Giants put a drawing made around 2004 of Homsar and Homestar as the Johns in an installment of the mailing list for the Instant Fan Club that introduced the song "Gab On".
• On December 1, 2025, They Might Be Giants released a t-shirt with the design from the previously mentioned mailing list, now updated to have more detail and a different font.

See Also

• Nicknames of John Flansburgh
• Puppet Jam

External Links

• They Might Be Giants — Official site
• This Might Be A Wiki — Unofficial knowledge base