Monikers
From This Might Be A Wiki
Over the course of their long and glorious existence, They Might Be Giants and its members have been referred to by some of the following names, sometimes mistakenly:
Contents
[hide]They Might Be Giants[edit]
In the Press[edit]
- The Johns
- The Giants
- They
- Them
- TMBG
- ZeiMai (ゼイマイ) - a Japanese nickname, contraction of the band's name after being transliterated into katakana (ゼイ・マイト・ビー・ジャイアンツ, Zei Maito Bii Jaiantsu).
- Singing Giants (from a newspaper article about TMBG suing an electronics store who stole excerpts of some of their songs)
Epithets[edit]
- Brooklyn's Ambassadors of Love - Introduction (Live NYC), Puppets Gonna Fuck You Up, theymightbegiants.com
- The Twin Quasars of Rock - Critic Intro, A 1990 TMBG Information Bulletin
- Aging Statesmen of Rock - The Giants Interview Each Other
- The Dorian Grays of Rock - WNYC Spinning On Air (segment 2)
- The Shitty Beatles - a quip from Linnell in Gigantic, in response to Lennon/McCartney comparisons.
- This name is also a reference to the movie Wayne's World: it's one of the bands playing at the nightclub where Wayne first meets Cassandra (Tia Carrerre)
- Makers of Music - subtitle on Bed, Bed, Bed (Book)
- From the old website's anagram list:
- The Big Steamy Thing
- My big teeth gnash it
- High tab, meet stingy
- Thy gig beneath mist
- Big hat, teensy might
- I might beget shanty
- Be at the mighty sign
- High time ants get by
- Seth, I'm in thy bat egg
- From They Might Be Giants (Song):
- They might be rain
- They might be heat
- They might be frying up a stalk of wheat
- They might be brain
- They might be washed
- They might be Dr. Spock's back-up band
- They might be bald
- They might be snow
- They might be something else in the snow
- They might be fake
- They might be lies
- They might be big, big, fake, fake lies
- They might be chewing on a pair of feet - (Demo version)
- They might be yelling out albatross - (Demo version)
- They might be something else down below - (Demo version)
Pseudonyms & Aliases[edit]
- Sapphire Bullets - TMBG's mysterious opening act.
- Count Drinkalot
- El Grupo De Rock And Roll
- Demchuk (see Cut The Strings)
- Spool 409 (see Kids Are Different Now)
- Too + 3 (see Too + 3 R One)
- Naykid Eyes (see Headless)
- The Disappointers (see Disappointing Show)
- Dump Truck, one of the original band name suggestions, according to an interview with John Flansburgh
- Circle Gets The Square (another early potential band name)
- We're Certainly Dwarfs - from Terry Pratchett's book "Soul Music"
Misnomers[edit]
- Jim and Jim - (from NASA's ISY press release)
- From Gloria:
- There Must Be Giants
- There May Be Giants
- They May Be Giants
- They Must Be Giants - from Severe Tire Damage, also said by Flans at the 2005-07-15 Cleveland show
- Ain't They Giants - Podcast 27A
- Might Be Giant - Podcast 27A
- Them Ain't Big Eye Ants
- From the Experimental Film video commentary:
- Supergiants
- Those Supreme Giants Guys
- We Are Giants Damn It! - as suggested by Syd Straw in Gigantic
- "Weird Al" Yankovic - the listed artist of some Ana Ng and Istanbul (Not Constantinople) MP3s. Weird Al has a history of songs being mistakenly credited to him on file-sharing sites.
- From Uncyclopedia:
- The Notorious G.I.A.N.T.S.
- WAFMNWANFG (We Apologize For the Misunderstanding, but No We Are Not in Fact Giants)
- Ain't They Gods (a mistake made by a person who called the band's record company in the 1980s)
John Flansburgh[edit]
Nicknames[edit]
- John F.
- JF (on Tumblr, Twitter, and newsletter communications)
- Flans
- Flansy
- Flanso
- Flansbobota (in a 1982 classified ad)
- Jack (according to Jamie Kitman in Our Roadies, Ourselves)
- The Japanese katakana spelling of his last name (フランズバーグ) phonetically spells "Furanzubaagu."
Pseudonyms & Personas[edit]
- Rolf Conant
- Cecil Portesque (The They Might Be Giants Podcast)
- Tyler (See Sapphire Bullets)
- Blue Avatar
- Momma TMBG (or occasionally, Poppa TMBG) (during the occasional live phone call segment of Older)
- Ajax Digital Design (The name under which several Dial-A-Song (2018) videos were made)
- An unidentified man holding a stick (TMBG Info Club Fall 1991)
- From the Friday Night Family Podcast:
- Computer!
Epithets & Banter[edit]
- Guitar John
- The Big John
- "That one with the glasses" (Strong Bad)
- "The big, fat guy who looks like Danny Aykroyd, only fatter" (from a notorious message left on Dial-A-Song)
- "A motherfucker guitarist" (from an anecdote about being confused with Jamie Kitman in Gigantic)
- "The angry one with all the swear words" (from a banter break on Mar. 13, 1999)
- The mean one
- The nice John (what Flansburgh called himself while talking to a fan after one 1998 show)
- "Immensely huggable" (Sassy Magazine 1990)
- John Limburger - Uncyclopedia
- Johnny Flansburgh (introduced during Graveyard as such by John Linnell in some shows)
- Rabbi Flansburgh (Oct. 2, 2010 during Doctor Worm)
- Syndrome (from September 2004 live show at The Egg, Albany)
- Matthew - from Gunnar and Matthew's Answering Machine Message, referring to Matthew Nelson, son of Ricky Nelson.
- Jump Little Chicken (see Raleigh)
- Professor P.F. (see AM FM Announcement - possibly short for Professor Psychofuckup)
- Professor Flans (see L M N O)
- Crybaby (Previously M.C. Crybaby, see Complete Paranoia)
- Doctor Octopus (see Announcement A)
- Agent Double-0-Soul
- Mr. Kissyou - See PODAS
- Lieutenant Glue (From Paste Culture Club Podcast)
- The Floatation Device (see Radio Sweepers)
- John "56k Modem" Flansburgh - From Podcast 5A newsletter
- John "Abzug" Flansburgh
- John "Boom Boom" Flansburgh
- John "Contrecoup" Flansburgh
- John "Crashes Bashes" Flansburgh
- John "Guitar Wizard" Flansburgh
- John "Honey" Flansburgh
- John "light, no sugar" Flansburgh
- John "Magog" Flansburgh
- John "MC Landfill" Flansburgh
- John “Cougar” Flansburgh (120 Minutes 1987)
- Joan Jett of They Might Be Giants (a frequent gag self-introduction, for instance in KMSU's station identifier)
John Linnell[edit]
Nicknames[edit]
- John L.
- JL (on Tumblr and newsletter communications)
- John Sid
- Professor (according to Jamie Kitman in Our Roadies, Ourselves and a 2003 New Yorker article. Though, according to Flansburgh, "No one ever called him that.")
- The Japanese Katakana of Linnell's last name (リンネル) comes out as "Rinneru."
Pseudonyms & Personas[edit]
- Jared (See Sapphire Bullets)
- Green Avatar
- Johnny Hart
- Mr. Lips (On Rolling O, Letter Shapes and Hovering Sombrero '05)
- Cecil Portesque, briefly.
- From the Friday Night Family Podcast:
- From (She Was A) Hotel Detective In The Future Commentary:
- Anne Hathaway
- David Remnikopf
Epithets & Banter[edit]
- Accordion John
- The quiet one
- The one without the glasses (in the Clarissa Explains it All pilot episode)
- The little, scrawny guy (See Fat Danny Aykroyd)
- Terence Trent Linnell (From Record Guide '88 performance)
- Professor Griff (From Paste Culture Club Podcast)
- The Tangled Web (see Radio Sweepers)
- Emily Dickinson (see Gigantic)
- Gunnar - from Gunnar and Matthew's Answering Machine Message, referring to Gunnar Nelson, son of Ricky Nelson.
- Captain Snar (from 120 minutes 12.25.88)
- Dave (During live performances of Robot Parade in 2000.)
- BoomCar (from September 2004 live show at The Egg in Albany)
- Garrison Keillor (from the WXPN show)
- The Prince of Darkness (Shows/2007-07-20)
- DJ (or MC) Squiggles (During 2008 shows for kids and adults.)
- The Band Liar (Shows/2009-01-31a)
- The Keith Richards of the bass clarinet
- John "Mr. Fleece" Linnell (See I've Got A Fang)
- John Beep Linnell (from Meet The Mundanes News Article)
- John "black, sugar" Linnell
- John "Doodles" Linnell
- John "End of Days" Linnell
- John "Impressed" Linnell
- John "LaGuardia" Linnell
- John "Mashes Gnashes" Linnell
- John "MC Doodles" Linnell
- John "Patches" Linnell
- John "Prometheus" Linnell
- John "Rocket Seed" Linnell
- Johnny “Devil” Mundane
- John "Step Back in Wonder" Linnell
- John “Cougar” Linnell (120 Minutes 1987)
Marty Beller[edit]
Epithets & Banter[edit]
- The one that doesn’t drink coffee
- Undisputed King of the Drums
- The Next President of the United States of America
- Marty "Big 80's" Beller - (Sept. 30, 2004 - TLA, Phila. The Spine Tour)
- Marty "Time-Out" Beller - (Jan. 31, 2009 - Le Poisson Rouge, Adult Show)
- The Next Supreme Court Justice - (May 30, 2009 - Le Poisson Rouge)
- The Next American Idol Winner - (May 30, 2009 - Le Poisson Rouge)
- Marty "Strong Enough For A Man But Made For A Woman" Beller - (October 15, 2009 - Beachland Ballroom)
- The 2012 American Idol - (Oct. 2, 2010 - Kennedy Center)
- The Princess of Rhythm - (May 17, 2015 - Newport Music Hall)
- 100 Phil Collins' - (Jan 25, 2018 - The Beacham in Orlando Florida)
- Marty "On The Drums" Beller
- Marty "Sharpton" Beller
- Marty "Super-drums" Beller
- Marty "Tantalus" Beller
- Marty "Bashes, Smashes" Beller
- Marty "Bang-Bang" Beller
Dan Miller[edit]
- Solder
- Dylan (See Sapphire Bullets)
- Stormy Black (See Sapphire Bullets)
Epithets & Banter[edit]
- MC What-Not (During 2008 shows for kids.)
- MC Back-The-Fuck-Up (During 2008 shows for adults.)
- The Billy Squier of They Might be Giants
- "Careful" Dan Miller
- Dan "Cambodia" Miller
- Dan "It Doesn't Have to Be This Way" Miller
- Dan "Johnny Chops" Miller
- Dan "Prison Break" Miller
- Dan "Slash" Miller
- Dan "Tinglus" Miller
- Dan "Wah-Wah" Miller
- Dan "Eupatrick" Miller
- The H.M.S. Dan Miller
- The Unknowable Dan Miller
- They Might Be Giants' Official Cry Baby
- Dan "God-Fearing" Miller
Danny Weinkauf[edit]
- Parker (See Sapphire Bullets)
Epithets & Banter[edit]
- Danny "Bass Boy Genius" Weinkauf
- Danny "Ladies He's Taken" Weinkauf
- Danny "Mas Sabor" Weinkauf
- Danny "Mesopotamian" Weinkauf
- Danny "Pangu" Weinkauf
- Danny "Pops" Weinkauf
- Danny "Rangel" Weinkauf
- Danny "Viet Nam" Weinkauf
