The show opened with a "cold intro" featuring The Threatening Bears, hand puppets manipulated by The Umbilical Brothers. The sketch normally involves one bear hurting the other, or being disgusted by the other's actions. This segued into the opening credits, during which musical director Cameron Bruce (formerly of GUD) and house band "The Bearded Ladies" played the show's theme song. For a short period during the second half of 2007, Clayton Doley stood in as musical director, and the band was known as "The Sideshow Misfits". As well as the opening and closing themes, the house band played walk-on music for guests, riffs between segments, and sometimes accompany guests, musical or otherwise, as they performed.