Kyle Gass and Jack Black met for the first time in Edinburgh, Scotland, at a theater festival "Edinburgh Fringe". Gass was then about 24 and Black 16 years old, both at the time were members of the theater company The Actors Gang in Los Angeles. Gass brought Black to play guitar and jam, struck by Black's good singing ability, he planned to start a band.

The band name was derived from an expression with which the sports reporter Eaven Harter's stubborn defense ("tenacious defense") described the New York Knicks basketball team. The name was on their first live performance in 1994 finally chosen by the audience.  They were discovered by David Cross, who hired them for his sketch comedy television series Mr. Show.