What's That Song in 'The Daily Show With Jon Stewart'?

Posted on Feb 26th 2008 3:00PM by James Sullivan
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'Dog on Fire,' by They Might Be Giants

A dippy little fanfare, followed by 20 seconds or so of spasmodic electric guitar. Four times a week on Comedy Central, year in and year out, it's been a Pavlov's bell for jaded news junkies: Come and get your absurdity biscuits!

Though 'The Daily Show With Jon Stewart' has been on the air for more than a decade, its anonymous intro music still attracts inquiries. The slap-happy riff that kicks off Stewart's nightly news spew is called 'Dog on Fire,' and it was originally written by Bob Mould, the ex-Hüsker Dü/ex-Sugar frontman and ex-World Championship Wrestling scriptwriter.

Mould's version, intended for a solo album he put out in 1996, was picked as the program's theme song by a fellow Minneapolitan who was a 'Daily Show' co-creator way back in the days of Craig Kilborn. It was later rerecorded by They Might Be Giants, the songs-for-hire kings who cover as much ground on television as a beer-drinking Saint Bernard marking his yard.

On the down-low, TMBG have contributed theme songs to Playhouse Disney and Adult Swim shows, among others. More up high, they won a Grammy for 'Boss of Me,' the theme to 'Malcolm in the Middle.' And they have a giant résumé of commercial work, most recently scoring more than a dozen Dunkin' Donuts ads, such as 'Fritalian' and 'Freezing at Pee Wee Hockey.' Safe to say, doing things is what they like to do.

Next: 'American Gangster'

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