MTV: Can you tell me about hooking up with Harvey Danger?

FLANSBURGH: Well you know we did...John and I have just been touring around the country for the last two months and we did a bunch of festivals as well as like headlining at shows. And we did this Bumbershoot Festival in this big theater which I don't even remember the name of.

LINNELL: It's part of this complex in Seattle where they have the Bumbershoot every year and there's like a million large venues where there's all sorts of acts going on at the same time and you have to pick which one you'd want to see.

FLANSBURGH: Yeah it was like Joan Baez and the Enormodome next door and us and Harvey Danger opened the show and I saw their show, and we would just like hang out in this giant sort of locker room area you know, we got along and they seemed like really nice guys. At the end of a night of bar hopping, I was like, 'Well, if you need anybody to direct your video, I'm available.' I sort of figured that they would already have done their, you know, finished their next video because the 'Flagpole Sitta' song had been out and huge for a while. And right at the end of this tour when I jumped off I just had the chance to shoot it so it's been very exciting. [28.8 RealVideo]

MTV: Can you tell me about that concept because [Harvey Danger's] Sean [Nelson] had said to me, "Well, you better ask John."

FLANSBURGH: Ah you know, what are video concepts you know? Pipe dreams. It's basically them like rocking out in the subway talking, being in a helicopter.

MTV: And are there helicopters?

FLANSBURGH: There is a helicopter but you don't really see it. You just see the shots from the helicopters, some really nice aerial photography of New York City. But I've actually seen the actual finished footage and I'll see that tomorrow so I'm kind of in the midst of it.

LINNELL: You weren't interested in riding in the helicopter?

FLANSBURGH: Actually you know what? The insurance would not cover me to ride in the helicopter.

LINNELL: How convenient.

FLANSBURGH: Yes. Yeah I would never have done it anyway. I mean, I was not interested. It's funny because cameramen are a different breed of people than directors and they're really into the cowboy life.

MTV: So tell me about this online poll that you're apparently beautiful...

LINNELL: Oh hey, I have some news for you.

FLANSBURGH: Oh yeah, how am I doing?

LINNELL: You are now number four. I just checked in on...do you know about this?

FLANSBURGH: Explain to the people out there about how exciting this news is.

LINNELL: Last year, I'm sorry this year, I had the honor of being voted ninth most beautiful person of 1998 on the "People" Online Poll. You could still go visit and there's a picture of me and they really make it seem legitimate, which is pretty hilarious given that the number one, the winner by an enormous margin is this guy named Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf and then followed I think by Leonardo DiCaprio and some other more likely people. Somehow, I wound up as number nine and I'm pretty sure that this is mostly attributable to the members of our audience who know enough about the Internet to be able to effectively stuff the ballot without it being noticed by the people running the poll. That's all I could say about that cause I think it would be very difficult for our fans to actually vote that many times without some kind of mechanical help like that. Now the latest thing is that my partner, Mr. Flansburgh, is seriously in the running for "Time" magazine Person of the Century Poll, which is actually a much longer running poll. The poll will be closing at the end of 1999 so we have quite a long hall to go but currently Mr. Flansburgh is number four behind...

FLANSBURGH: Really, I'm moving up.

LINNELL: That's right, he's behind, I think number one is I believe Jesus Christ, number two, person of the century, is Adolf Hitler, number three is the wrestler Ric Flair, and Flansburgh is at number four. And then behind him are some very serious notables.

FLANSBURGH: If I find that Ric Flair, I'm gonna kick his ass. I'm warning you Rick Flair, it's me Jesus and Hitler. There's no room for you. Get out. [28.8 RealVideo]

LINNELL: So we're, needless to say, very excited because that would be a major coup for us to be recognized for Mr. Flansburgh's importance in the century to be recognized.

FLANSBURGH: The Internet Trinity. I'll settle for three if it's Jesus, Hitler and me.

LINNELL: That's right. I don't think you need more than that.

FLANSBURGH: Yeah, that pretty much says it all [about] the value of this new technological tool.

LINNELL: In fact that will probably be the name of our 1999 album -- "Jesus, Hitler and Me."

FLANSBURGH: Yes, well I hear that this controversy thing really works.

LINNELL: That's right.

FLANSBURGH: It really sells records.

MTV: Are there any other Giants' projects in the works?

FLANSBURGH: Well, you know we just got off a really big tour, but we're taking a short break and we'll be going to...we have this...there's this sort of strange kind of bump in our career which is that we are inexplicably more and more popular in Australia. "Dr. Worm," they tell us is a hit in Australia, which is like finding out that you know, "Sex Farm" (Spinal Tap song) is hitting Japan. So we're off to have a really excellent time in Australia some time in the winter or spring and we'll probably also do some European stuff and go to Japan. We're stuck on the road as per usual, but we're also working on our next studio album and simultaneously working on this children's album which is a new idea that we've been batting around. It's tentatively titled "No." N-O.

LINNELL: That's not getting a big reaction in the room. I think kids understand maybe better than adults the meaning of no.

FLANSBURGH: You obviously have a very distant relationship to the word no. You probably weren't a child that was told no very often. But as children I think both John and I really remember, "No!"