They Might Be Giants have been making music as a band since 1982. Their odd but endearing mix of accordian, saxophone, and guitars coupled with witty lyrics earned them a huge college radio following from the mid-80's on. Songs like "Don't Let's Start" and "Birdhouse In Your Soul" even became hits, and the duo toured and recorded ad infinitum. A second chapter of their story is quite unusual: TMBG are now famous in children's circles. In 2002, the group released "No!", a kids' record they had recorded years earlier for fun. The record was a surprise smash, leading to deals with both Disney for a series of children's music CD's (such as this year's Here Come The 123's) and Simon and Schuster for the CD + book Bed, Bed, Bed (which also features a pre-Juno Kimya Dawson). Having conquered the grownups and the kids, They Might Be Giants have also become in-demand composers for TV, doing the themes for "Malcolm In The Middle", "The Daily Show", and even some Dunkin' Donuts ads. We're unsure when the group sleeps, because they seem to be awfully prolific.

Austinist recently spoke to John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants about kids crashing their grownup shows, working for the man, and podcasting to adults and little ones.

We see that your show here is 14+, which is an odd number. Were lots of people turning up at rock clubs expecting a children's show?

Not lots, just a very confused few. The age limit is just a simple way to keep kids out of harm's way. We know it's controversial, but we here at They Might Be Giants feel it's best to keep little kids away from drunk people, pot smoke, and broken glass. And to be fully honest, it's not simply a matter of not being able to guarantee the kids' safety -- we're doing an adult show. We swear a lot, play very very loudly, and talk spontaneously about highly adult stuff at our shows. It's just not family fare.

You guys aren't afraid to be unconventional: you've done whole albums of songs about venues you've played at, collaborated with McSweeney's, and written a children's story. What ideas are percolating right now that you'd like to try next?

Outside projects are cool creative challenges, and we like collaborating with artists and writers. For right now, the two podcasts we've taken on -- an audio one for adults and a video one for kids -- have really become the primary vehicles for our extracurricular musical energy. The reaction to both of them has been insanely positive. Maybe it's just because it's free, but the number of people who subscribe is just phenomenal. (Now if we could only persuade people to BUY our stuff!) But the primary thing for us is still performing or recording proper albums.

TMBG are often commissioned for TV themes and advertising work. Is it still entertaining to write that material, or does it feel like a day job?

Well, they actually are jobs, even though they are creative jobs. We're working for a client. The range of work is pretty huge, and that does a lot to keep it interesting. The biggest X factor is that some people are just much easier working for than others. We are in a pretty sweet spot compared to most composers in that world, because we get hired to be us -- whether that is for our versatility or our sensibility -- but either way, that is a great place to start. We have walked out on a couple of gigs where the client has just actually been too dithering for us to carry on -- you can really end up spending days chasing particles of smoke with an unfocused client -- but those were the exceptions.

Does the current live show focus on The Else, or is it a mix of everything TMBG have done?

It's a pretty healthy mix. It's a bit less Else-tastic than the early fall, and we've started playing some unusual songs from the back catalogue to keep things fresh for ourselves.

Is it baffling and/or surprising to have earned a living being creative and playing music for 25 years?

While I wish it were otherwise, it's not exactly like we're sitting at the side of the pool giving each other high fives and going "How did we get here, mahn?" We work hard enough that I'm not surprised we're making a living -- but I am grateful we've managed to keep on drawing new audiences in to what we're doing. That really is unusual.

Finally, for those unfamiliar with your music, where would you suggest a novice listener begin in your back catalog?

I think the They Might Be Giants audio podcast, which is free at iTunes, is actually a pretty good place to start. Even though it's mostly offbeat recordings; some new, some live and some from the vault, I think the overall balance will give the uninitiated a good idea of the spirit of the band. And it's just a click away.

They Might Be Giants perform at Stubb's (Outdoors) this Wednesday, March 5th.