John Flansburgh & John Linnell met in the 1970s as junior high students in Lincoln, Massachusetts. A decade later, their band—They Might Be Giants—would stand at the forefront of a burgeoning East Village NYC performance art scene as well as the college music revolution of the late 1980s. Filmed in 2001, ‘Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)’ is the acclaimed true story, tracing their independent and sometimes hilarious path through two decades in the pop music wilderness. From their legendary Dial-a-Song answering machine, to their Grammy Award-winning theme song for ‘Malcolm in the Middle’, fans and friends gather to tell the oral history of Brooklyn's finest alternative rock band.
05-23-2003
1h 42m
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
AJ Schnack
Production:
Plexifilm, Cowboy Pictures
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
John Flansburgh
John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar.
Commonly referred to by the nickname Flans or Flansy,[1] he is married to musician Robin Goldwasser, with whom he occasionally performs.
Black Francis (born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV on April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black. After releasing two albums with 4AD, he left the label and formed a backing band, Frank Black and the Catholics. He reformed the Pixies in 2004 and continues to release solo records and tour as a solo artist, having re-adopted his current stage name in 2007.
His vocal style has varied from a screaming, yowling delivery as lead vocalist of the Pixies to a more measured and melodical style in his solo career. His cryptic lyrics mostly explore unconventional subjects, such as surrealism, incest and Biblical violence, along with science fiction and surf culture. His use of atypical meter signatures, loud-quiet dynamics and distinct preference for live-to-two-track recording in his career as a solo artist give him a distinct style within alternative rock.
As frontman of the Pixies, his songs (such as "Where Is My Mind?" and "Debaser") received praise and citations from contemporaries, including Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. Cobain once said that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt at trying to "rip off the Pixies". However, in his solo work and records with the Catholics, he received fewer popular and critical accolades.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Black Francis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Janeane Garofalo (born September 28, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Janeane Garofalo, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Ira Jeffrey Glass is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series This American Life and has participated in other NPR programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Talk of the Nation.
Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician, record producer, and television host. He is the bass guitarist and one of the two lead vocalists of the punk rock band Blink-182 as well as the bass guitarist and lead vocalist of the alternative rock band +44. He is the co-founder of both bands. As of late, he has produced albums for groups such as Idiot Pilot, New Found Glory, The Matches, and Motion City Soundtrack. He hosts his own weekly television series, Hoppus on Music that premiered on September 16, 2010 on Fuse.
He became interested in skateboarding and punk rock in junior high, and received a bass guitar from his father at the age of fifteen. He played in various bands until his sister, Anne, introduced him to Tom DeLonge, who she had met while attending Rancho Bernardo High School. Hoppus and Delonge then formed Blink-182, which became one of the most popular bands of the 2000s. Blink-182 went on an indefinite hiatus in 2005, leading Hoppus to form the band +44 with fellow Blink-182 member Travis Barker. Blink-182 then announced their reformation in 2009. However, Hoppus states that he does not consider the +44 project to be "done".
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Michael McKean (born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for Laverne & Shirley, Spinal Tap and Better Call Saul.
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. He is known for being the host of the late night shows: Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-2009), The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009-2010) and Conan (2010-2021), he is currently the host of the podcast Conan O'Brien needs a friend.
O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He landed his first comedy job as a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News, after first serving as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote for several comedy shows, and later moved to New York City to work on the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, and later for The Simpsons. O'Brien went on to serve as host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, before going on to host the short-lived The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien for seven months. He is the only personality to ever serve as host for both the NBC Late Night and Tonight Show franchises.
In 2010, it was announced that O'Brien would begin hosting a new late-night talk show on TBS called Conan, which ran from 2018 to 2021. During the time this show was in hiatus, he started the podcast Conan O'Brien needs a friend, which he hosts with his producer Matt Gourley and his assistant Sona Movsesian. Besides this, Conan also starred in Conan O'Brien Must Go, a series on Max in which he visits countries from around the world and meets up fans whom he talked to on the podcast.
Paul Andrew "Andy" Richter (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and late night talk show announcer. He is best known as Conan O'Brien's sidekick on each of Conan's talk shows: NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, NBC's The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, and Conan on TBS.
He starred in the cult classic TV series Andy Richter Controls the Universe as well as Andy Barker, P.I.. He voiced Mort in the Madagascar film franchise and Ben Higgenbottom in the Nickelodeon animated television series The Mighty B!.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor, appearing in The Jack Benny Program, as well as the 1953 films Abbott and Costello Go to Mars and The Robe. In 1957, Shearer played the precursor to the Eddie Haskell character in the pilot episode for the television series Leave It to Beaver, but his parents decided not to let him continue in the role so that he could have a normal childhood. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member of The Credibility Gap, a radio comedy group. Following the break up of the group, Shearer co-wrote the film Real Life with Albert Brooks and started writing for Martin Mull's television series Fernwood 2 Night. In August 1979, Shearer was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live. Shearer describes his experience on the show as a "living hell" and he did not get along well with the other writers and cast members. He left the show in 1980. Shearer co-created, co-wrote and co-starred in the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap, a satirical rockumentary about a band called Spinal Tap. Shearer portrayed Derek Smalls, the bassist, and Michael McKean and Christopher Guest played the other two members. The film became a cult hit and the band has since released several albums and played several concerts. While promoting the film, Shearer was offered the chance to return to Saturday Night Live. He accepted, but left the show for good in January 1985 after just three months into the season. Since 1983, Shearer has been the host of the public radio comedy/music program Le Show on Santa Monica's NPR-affiliated radio station, KCRW. The program, a hodgepodge of satirical news commentary, music, and sketch comedy, is carried on many public radio stations throughout the United States. In 1989, Shearer became a part of the cast of The Simpsons. He was initially reluctant because he thought the recording sessions would be too much trouble. He felt voice acting was "not a lot of fun" because traditionally, voice actors record their parts separately. He provides voices for numerous characters, including Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, Kent Brockman, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Principal Skinner, Otto Mann and Rainier Wolfcastle. Shearer has been vocal about what he perceives as the show's declining quality. In 2004, he said "I rate the last three seasons as among the worst." Shearer also directed the 2002 film Teddy Bears' Picnic and appeared in several films, including A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration and Godzilla. Shearer has written three books, Man Bites Town, It's the Stupidity, Stupid, and Not Enough Indians. He has been married to singer-songwriter Judith Owen since 1993. He has received several Primetime Emmy Award and Grammy Award nominations and in 2008 it was announced that Shearer would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the radio category.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Harry Shearer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of The Daily Show, a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.
Stewart started as a stand-up comedian, but branched into television as host of Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, called The Jon Stewart Show, and then hosted another show on MTV called You Wrote It, You Watch It. He has also had several film roles as an actor. Stewart became the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-executive-producer of the show. After Stewart joined, The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, which led to his first Emmy Award in 2001.
Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the US media networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a double standard: he critiques other news shows from the safe, removed position of his "fake news" desk. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his show nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire and comedy. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, The Daily Show has been nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which was one of the best-selling books in the U.S. in 2004 and Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race released in 2010.
Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Eggers is also the founder of Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, a literary journal; a co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness; and the founder of ScholarMatch, a program that matches donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in several magazines.
Linwood Boomer is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and former actor. He is known for playing the role of Adam Kendall on the drama Little House on the Prairie, and for creating the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.
