They Might Be Giants perform "The Guitar" and "The Statue Got Me High" on Leno

[@kellywalker1664]

I made my dad tape this while I was at work. I came home and he said "What bunch of nerds."

[@Belgand]

Nice to hear that he gets it.

[@Andrew_Erickson]

You lie.

[@kellywalker1664]

@@Andrew_Erickson They were on Carson? Or was it Letterman, I forget. 92, I think.

[@samkniffen4760]

I love how Leno is always passively on their case, like he never quite buys that these guys are actual popular musicians who aren't just enjoyed for being weird

[@otmq]

Classic old-school alpha male move, outwardly giving a hard time to those you truly respect and love.

[@Jllyrol311]

That’s so odd, because everyone loved and respected Jay Leno as a comedian, host , and all-around human so much.

[@siractionslacks890]

Yeah, like the first time on for Flood, he said he bought the album and the likes them, then says, they’re pretty good.

[@sheekaloca]

I love how we can tell they are actually quite good friends with Conan when they are on his show. Conan has the upmost respect and adoration for these guys.

[@thebasedgodmax1163]

@@sheekaloca Conan is a fucking legend

[@finethehuman1821]

I might be gay

[@snakes7303]

Mayhaps

[@Metqa]

Perbrably

[@Vileplume87]

quite possibly

[@4darin5]

I had a feeling you were. We are proud of you! 🎉

[@treeguyfly]

Same bestie

[@yay_darny]

Linnell has a mesmerising gaze

[@daviddobsch]

These guys have had my heart since forever.

[@b0tterman]

Overlooked positive about TMBG--the JOHNS dress the same no matter what era. Kudos.

[@MFISH801]

Linnell's eye contact at 2:19 -2:27 honestly has me in tears

[@ZoeAlexa11]

Emilynn Wettengel same

[@theclumsymoose]

SAME

[@WibblyPigNZ]

OK. Could he turn me? Maybe.

[@snerp9699]

I was on the verge of crying

[@oliviaisgod]

Sploosh.

[@kornobi_3165]

They might be giants is always amazing with live horns.

[@h00liganismo1]

Forgot what a banger "The Statue Got me High" is, and what a savage evisceration of unthinking religious conformity

[@lordravenxx]

I want to be whatever Linnell is looking at during his closeups on "The Statue Got Me High" cuz, DAMN. Nobody's ever looked at me like that. Damn. lol.

[@rattyeely]

I love how this live version of The Guitar uses more of the Lion Sleeps Tonight sample, it sounds really good

[@lauraeagle9364]

*melts* How do Linnell's eyes always know where the camera is?

[@einootspork]

they see the cameras, because they are eyes

[@jessicah3450]

There's a little red light that comes on the camera in studios when it's the one currently recording.

[@otmq]

@@jessicah3450 yep, and Linnel is extremely intelligent, so he’d know that! :D

[@matthewjeffery6481]

He looks for the red light. Like I do on a Friday night

[@Brentttilda]

@@einootspork this comment has me dying it's perfect. You could have convinced me you were a giant

[@ZoeAlexa11]

2:21 look at him I’m internally screaming

[@snerp9699]

As am I!

[@DanOsmundson]

love that syd straw is singing with them on this!!

[@NillKitty]

[@DanOsmundson]

@@NillKitty too funny! thanks for that reference-- i didn't know about that!

[@notanotherjamesmurphy5574]

she sounds bad

[@ZandoFox]

"The freeform jazz odyssey", I love that LMAO

[@RadicalCaveman]

Spinal Tap, Mach 2

[@robadams8057]

Apollo 18 was my first They Might Be Giants CD. My friend played "Turn Around" for me some weeks previous. I didn't like it at first, but I soon changed my mind and became a big fan.

[@danielhill3597]

So you "turned around", as it were.

[@chulumpthebigmoneywizard851]

@@danielhill3597they were working all night in their office no doubt

[@WilliamMoore-p4g]

It's a great album, but I can imagine it to be a hard listen to newbies. I was fortunate to get in on the "ground floor" with TMBG. Back in the 80s, a friend took me to a club in Williamsburg and they played a set there. I was hooked. I bought one of their "demo tapes" and played it almost constantly until it got worn out. I wish I made a copy of it in the beginning. I still keep the case as a treasured item.

[@jeffk9268]

I first heard TMBG in ~1995.. was given a tape by a friend and I wasn't sure if I liked them.. until I heard the lyrics "MUST STOP... SPIDER" and I never turned back. A fan for life 🫡

[@WilliamMoore-p4g]

"STEP ON SPIDER!!!"@@jeffk9268

[@ZandoFox]

Two all time classic TMBG songs.

[@rayscotchcoulton]

This was the first time I saw them perform any songs outside of their videos, and it was a huge deal. Still kind of blows my mind they got to play two songs, and have a sit-down interview.

[@snerp9699]

9:33 I shedded tears

[@LL-qh6gf]

that lil eyebrow waggle lol!

[@HarleyRowan]

I'd love to get my hands on that CD case! So Sweet when they made 'em in huge paper boxes! I loved the 90s...

[@jessicah3450]

Any song was a crowd surfing song in the 90's

[@NillKitty]

Miss Fingerwood on vocals of course makes this special.

[@MisterAppleEsq]

Flans's Chessmaster is so cool.

[@flg947]

Mister Apple 🍏 I love his chessmaster.

[@stanley-allen]

The Chessmaster is coming back in 2020!

[@nonverbal562]

@@stanley-allen 2020 was cancelled. The whole year.

[@phoenixmoon3]

Forever love this song.

[@finscontingencyplan7005]

It's such a small thing but I love the harmonised sax line from 3:40

[@mattmatros8710]

Absolute perfection.

[@sirmonster6438]

They were not speeding up like many bands do when they perform live. They know what they are doing.

[@finscontingencyplan7005]

They had Jay Leno's professional house band on this one, those guys were probably one of the tightest groups around at the time.

[@Metqa]

Yeah, that's something that bugs me with live performances, it makes me anxious. but its great when they keep the beat tight.

[@GlennTillema]

They sped up when they played on Carson with Doc Severinsen; google tmbg doc severinsen and there's an article about how doc and the house band loved birdhouse because of it's big brass section and the song was ten beats faster!

[@notjacksonshaffer3357]

If you were in college in the late 80s or early 90s and you didn’t listen to they might be giants then you’re lying

[@deanevangelista6359]

I was thirty, in ‘89 and a Beatles and prog rock fan, but this band spoke to me.

[@davidwilhelm4091]

What that guy said, except in reverse. I graduated from high school in 1999 and TMBG was my JAM! Seriously. I was disappointed about what musical idiots my fellow students were.

[@nybbleme]

It was a pretty niche band, that's like saying if you were on the internet in the 2000s and say you've never heard of homestar runner than you're lying.

[@lacquerware6962]

Man Jay is not on their wavelength even a little bit.

[@WalkerRileyMC]

That's because he's an arrogant prick who thinks everything revolves around himself. He always has.

[@siractionslacks890]

He just likes giving them a hard time. Watch them playing Birdhouse on the Tonight Show.

[@pandanurse]

I love how into it the bassist is

[@deanevangelista6359]

Isn’t that Tony Mamione? He played with them for a while. Before that he was with Pere Ubu, and later Soul Coughing.

[@ethanjones9383]

As a bassist, tmbg is a beautiful wellspring of amazing basslines, most of their tracks have outstanding groove

[@anotherlover6954]

Worth it just to see how uncomfortable it made Leno. When was this?

[@notanotherjamesmurphy5574]

The album was released on March 1992, so probably around then

[@Quagmire1771]

Love them!!!!!

[@lyoelin]

Before there was Weezer, there was Bernard from the Office's band. The godfathers of nerd rock.

[@p.taylor981]

Im a massive weezer fan and im so happy I started seriously listening to TMBG

[@siractionslacks890]

What does Weezer or the office have to do with TMBG?

[@jaxjax960]

@@siractionslacks890 TMBG's best fitting genre is geek rock

[@WilliamMoore-p4g]

I remember, watching this, when it aired. One of the few times I would sit through Leno. (I hate him) I was thrilled to see Syd Straw singing back-up for them. I really liked her album she had then too.

[@HarleyRowan]

plus isn't that Syd Straw singing?

[@thehouseofautumnspells258]

This tour was tha SHIT!

[@dreary_giraffe]

omg Syd's powerstance was amazing

[@PeterMcDowellArts]

AGREE!

[@notanotherjamesmurphy5574]

respectfully disagree

[@Boylieboyle]

I think Radiohead's The National Anthem owes a lot to this.

[@rhesreeves5339]

If you don't get this I feel sorry for you..I really do.

[@user-bp3up4fg9u]

How hyped do you think John was to whip out the bari sax?

[@dankauffmanmusic]

House band was playing "Love Rears It's Ugly Head" in the break....

[@RighteousBrother]

Now THAT is interesting.

[@HarleyRowan]

That was uber awesome to see!!! Does anybody know if all those other musicians that played the various instruments and vocals were indeed the same musicians who recorded the Apollo 18 album? they sounded spot on.... Wow!!

[@crescentfreshbret]

Harley Rowan Pretty sure they weren’t. I know that Laura Cantrell sang the “Lion Sleeps Tonight” parts on the album.

[@RareSpibs]

We were not.

[@robadams5799]

@@crescentfreshbret I was always haunted by that beautiful voice. Did they duplicate it to make it sound like two or three singers?

[@HeyPuppetHead]

Yes please

[@nybbleme]

I dig the song with the female vocalists added in.

[@kylethor0]

At 7:28 Leno Band Plays Labi Siffre I Got The... 7 Years before it was sampled by Eminem!

[@snerp9699]

8:59 - 9:07 thank me later! ;)

[@sklegg]

Did I hear a little bit of Walk Like an Egyptian near the end of The Guitar?

[@paulsmartialarts]

Is that a gigantic drumming fuck-up just before the 'silver space ship' section?

[@MiguelPaulettePerez-bj8ml]

Ms Fingerwood moonlighting as a Giant

[@MimeSlayer1337]

Wow, leno's such a bad interviewer for such great artists

[@robadams5799]

Hey! Who's the playing? Hey! That odd angular guitar?

[@0okamino]

Is it John?

[@rattyeely]

​@@0okaminoI don't know

[@richardmichael5656]

Too many great songs to list, especially on Flood Album.

[@pauljohnson8847]

And they even got Elvira to get on board. Nice. Wow. Leno sucks.......always. And it's Hamburger Hamlet. Dean Martin was there ever day.

[@dankauffmanmusic]

The audience is still scratching their heads

[@glitchsister]

oh hey neat a wild KFOR indent at the end

[@kidkique]

hey today is July 8th

[@notanotherjamesmurphy5574]

you predicted my future

[@notanotherjamesmurphy5574]

today is Monday, July 8th, 2024

[@thekidfromiowa]

I see the longboxes were still a thing 0:12

[@silyknow]

I like this version of The Guitar a lot better than on the album, idk something about the album version feels like a kid song to me

[@teemorgan9282]

Tony Hinchcliff plays sax and builds birdhouses?

[@ClueSign]

Who wrote their horn charts?

[@hickorymccay2994]

I bet it was Linnell. He's playing baritone sax anyways.

[@ClueSign]

@@hickorymccay2994 Makes sense.

[@ltfringr]

Flan is no Nile Rodgers, that's for sure.

[@babydollsparkle1236]

Who is that? Nile

[@rattyeely]

Flans is super cool and badass and little sweetie and he could kill people if he wanted to

[@user-bp3up4fg9u]

The teacher from Pete and Pete?

[@confuseatronica]

omg CD longboxes, I forgot that was a thing. I bought Apollo18 then so I would have had one to rip off and put in trash.

[@Warios4Christians]

Lenno not funny .ever not once.

[@henryyancey1117]

what year is this?

[@siractionslacks890]

1992

[@ezekielbrockmann114]

Pre- John Henry... Before they retreated into their Snail Shells, thank you. Also, did they ever appear on The Tonight Show after Statue got me High? I'd think Leno would take offense at that song. Most religious Americans hate being shown such a mirror.

[@ThreadBomb]

What do you think that song is about?

[@williamking5506]

I'm also VERY interested in your interpretation of that song. I can see it as a parable about making an idol out of nearly anything, but a critique of religion as a concept, or a condemnation of faith itself? By all means, please go on!

[@ezekielbrockmann114]

@@williamking5506 @Thread Bomb Like statues of long-dead Confederate generals, worshiped as God-heads by klansmen who call themselves Christians on one day of the week but burn crosses on th other six. What do you think the song is about if not a critique of the act of worshiping false idols, golden calves, or other graven images?

[@williamking5506]

@@ezekielbrockmann114 I think that the song is a literal retelling of Pygmalion, but maybe I'm just silly that way.

[@ezekielbrockmann114]

@@williamking5506 Maybe you are.

[@danf4635]

Leno is the worst latenight host lmao how did he keep that gig for so long

[@KevinCatolster]

I've always enjoyed John's songs better than John's songs.

[@rattyeely]

No way, John's songs are the best

[@ThreadBomb]

Never liked that first song. Statue is great, though. 7:33

[@timothysoar1321]

Do you not Get funk?

[@PinstripeHourglass]

Can’t stand The Guitar but statue rules

[@notanotherjamesmurphy5574]

Linnell > Flans

[@LukeHennisch]

Leno’s the worst, no surprise he doesn’t understand the genius of the Johns

[@ayliniemi]

Kinda like Weezer but more simple, innocent.

[@siractionslacks890]

Weezer is as simple as it gets.

[@nolimit6377]

Nothing like Weezer because they don't fucking suck

[@kikivesz]

​@@nolimit6377 are you saying that weezer sucks or that tmbg sucks..

[@nolimit6377]

@@kikivesz weezer sucks.

[@Peepawpeep]

@@kikiveszi think they’re saying that weezer sucks. Imo weezer does not suck

[@gergesmerge1415]

Thrash metal rock number