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Beavis and Butt-Head

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Beavis and Butt-Head
Created byMike Judge
Voices ofMike Judge
Tracy Grandstaff
Adam Welsh
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons7
No. of episodes199 (including 2 shorts and 1 Full-Length Feature film) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time18-20 minutes
Original release
NetworkMTV
ReleaseMarch 8, 1993 –
November 28, 1997

Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. After the success of Judge's short film entitled Frog Baseball, which starred the characters Beavis and Butt-head, the cable television channel MTV signed Judge to create a series with the same characters. The series aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997. It is rated TV-14 in the United States. Reruns of the series are occasionally shown on MTV2 and Comedy Central.

Each show contains short cartoons centering on a pair of teenagers, Beavis and Butt-head, who live in the fictitious town of Highland, Texas. There they while away time in sarcastic conversation, fantasizing about sex, and cynical, destructive behavior. They survive without serious consequences, and with a generally contented, though critical (not apathetic) worldview. Of course, in episodes the teens have to escape accountability in order to continue their lifestyle, which is a caricature of teenage sophomorism and, to a lesser extent, of juvenile delinquency. The episodes are broken up by short breaks in which Beavis and Butt-head watch and make fun of music videos.

Characters

Beavis and Butt-head are high school students whose lifestyles revolve around TV, junk food (usually nachos), Fruity Whips (a beverage similar to a Slurpee), shopping malls, heavy metal music, and trying to "score with chicks". Beavis typically wears a blue Metallica T-shirt (in some earlier episodes, a Slayer T-shirt), while Butt-head is usually seen wearing a gray AC/DC T-shirt. (On some merchandising items these shirts were changed to read "Skull" and "Death Rock" due to trademark and licensing legalities.) Both Beavis and Butt-head constantly snicker with their own distinctive laughs. Their surnames are never mentioned on the show.

Picture Name Description
File:Butt-headprofile.jpg
Butt-head
 Wears dental braces and has squinty eyes. His top gums are often exposed due to a small upper lip, and he speaks nasally with a deep voice and a slight lisp, repeatedly punctuating his speech with "uhh…." Calmer, cockier, and marginally more intelligent than Beavis, Butt-head is oblivious of subtleties, but is usually 100% confident in everything he says and does — no matter how ridiculous or frivolous it is. The designated "leader" of the duo, he derives pleasure from being regularly abusive to Beavis. In most episodes, when there is a problem, he says, "This sucks!" and then Beavis tells him what the problem really is. Mike Judge got the idea for the name Butt-head from two kids called "Iron Butt" and "Butt-head" whom he knew during his college years.[1]
File:Beavisprofile.jpg
Beavis
 Has an underbite and a fixated stare on his face, which is almost always shown in profile. Beavis grunts when he laughs and has a grainy, guttural voice. The more excitable of the two, he is oblivious of the obvious, obsessed with fire (also the one of the two who smoked at one point), and has a more passive demeanor that contrasts with Butt-head's more dominant personality. Beavis also has an alter ego named The Great Cornholio which usually surfaces after he consumes large quantities of caffeine or sugar. For unknown reasons, he particularly hates it when Butt-head calls him "Butt-knocker," eventually pushing him to attempt to kill Butt-head in one episode, though he takes his numerous (and very similar) other insults in stride. Beavis is named after Bobby Beavis, a kid who lived in the same neighborhood as Mike Judge during Judge's time in college. Judge states, however, that it was only the name that he gave to Beavis, and that Bobby was nothing like Beavis at all.[1]
File:Tom Anderson (Beavis and Butthead).jpg
Tom Anderson
 The nearsighted, elderly neighbor of Beavis and Butt-head. Most often, he hires them to do normal jobs, which result in them destroying his yard, home, or personal belongings. Due to his poor eyesight and mild senility, he never recognizes the two when they return for more chaos, and rarely, if ever, remembers their exact names. He served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War. Bears a nearly identical voice to the character Hank Hill, from Judge's following series, King of the Hill as they were both based on the same person from Judge's youth.
File:DavidVanDriessen.jpg
David Van Driessen
 A teacher at Highland High School, and arguably the only person who cares about Beavis and Butt-head. Van Driessen is a devoted hippie with a forgiving nature and gentle demeanor. His attempts to teach the duo useful life lessons typically end in disaster, as they almost always deduce the wrong message, and some situations nearly get him killed. He has been shown teaching classes on biology, art, animation, economics, health, history, and literature, among others.
File:Mrbuzzcut.jpg
Coach Bradley Buzzcut
 Another of the duo's high school teachers, and the antithesis of Van Driessen. Loud-mouthed, angry and volatile, Buzzcut is a former Marine and, with the possible exception of Principal McVicker, hates the duo more than any other character. He is often charged with administering discipline, making him feared by other students. Like Mr. Van Driessen, he teaches a number of classes, including physical education, health, math, and Driver's Education.
File:Mcvicker01.jpg
Principal McVicker
 Principal of Highland High and, arguably, Beavis and Butt-head's arch-nemesis. The two have unintentionally ruined his life, and have driven him so far to the edge of sanity that he has a drawer of stress medication, drinks while at school, occasionally wets his pants and in one episode was put in a mental institution. He often stutters, stammers and shakes, and regularly schemes with Buzzcut to come up with ways to either humiliate and/or eradicate the pair from their lives. Many episodes begin with Beavis and Butt-head in his office. They refer to him as "McDicker." He is possibly deceased, due to a heart attack during the final episode.
File:Daria (Beavis and Butthead).jpg
Daria Morgendorffer
 Daria is a sarcastic, vaguely alt-rockerish, nerdy girl who attends Highland High with Beavis and Butt-head, and is one of the few people who sees the two for what they truly are. She does not naively believe that they just need to be reached or disciplined — nor does she get frustrated by their idiocy. While not above taking jabs at them for their lack of intelligence, she also offers help and advice from time to time, and probably respects them a little more than most do. The duo nicknamed her "Diarrhea." She eventually went on to star in her own spin-off series, Daria.
File:Todd (Beavis and Butthead).jpg
Todd Ianuzzi
 Todd is a twenty-something hoodlum who is rude, arrogant, and violent. Beavis and Butt-head look up to him and aspire to be included in what they think of as his "gang". Todd despises the two, but will take advantage of them when he needs something, such as money, or a place to hide from other gangs or the police. Todd wears mirrored sunglasses, and has a tattoo on his right biceps of a flaming skull wearing an eye-patch clutching a knife between its teeth with a message around it reading "Life Sucks." He drives a primer patched green Plymouth Duster, often onto lawns, through garbage cans and over Beavis and Butt-head's bikes. He wears a mechanic's shirt with the sleeves torn off and his name on it. His blonde hair is cut in a mullet style. Todd's surname was revealed in the book Beavis and Butt-head: This Book Sucks, by Mike Judge.
File:281x211 stewart.jpg
Stewart Stevenson
 A nerdy, short kid who looks up to Beavis and Butt-head and thinks they are his best friends. In actuality, Beavis and Butt-head think little of Stewart, are only willing to hang out with him on their own terms, and usually do not appreciate it when he imposes himself on them. Stewart bows to peer pressure very easily, and usually suffers the brunt of consequence for what Beavis and Butt-head initiate. He usually wears a shirt with the logo for Winger on the front.

Minor characters

See List of minor characters in Beavis and Butt-Head article for descriptions of many characters who played less prominent roles than those mentioned above.

Recurring themes

The series has a number of recurring elements.

  • They cause havoc at their place of employment, Burger World. Beavis and Butt-head spend little time working, and when they try to work, they are often too incompetent to even take a customer's order. Their antics at work include frying things other than food (such as earthworms, dead mice, the store's electronic devices, and their own fingers); attempting to cause "accidents" to collect worker's compensation; heckling customers via the drive-thru speaker; and hurling food at the store's ceiling fans. The boys have also had unintentionally brief stints as secretaries, telemarketers, and radio personalities.
  • They cause trouble at school. They are usually pitted against their teachers and other school officials. Principal McVicker is visibly agitated by the duo's antics. At the end of the final episode, Beavis and Butt-head's antics exasperate McVicker to the point where he suffers a heart attack. It is unknown if he died or not.
  • One of their most prominent goals in life is to "score" (have sex) with chicks. Throughout the series neither of them meets with any success. They occasionally spend Friday nights at the local Maxi-Mart, attempting to flirt with any female they encounter, until the manager runs them off. They have come close on a few occasions, though they are too stupid to take advantage of the situation. They often completely misinterpret the signals or advances of women, and seem unable to distinguish between a woman who genuinely expresses interest and those who find them irritating. Butt-head usually makes his intentions clear, approaching women by saying "Hey baby".
  • Beavis transforms into his alter ego, The Great Cornholio. His transformation is indicated by pulling the back of his T-shirt over the top of his head, holding both arms up, pacing back and forth, and proclaiming largely nonsensical utterances in an exaggerated Spanish-sounding accent, such as "I am the Great Cornholio!", "I need TP for my bunghole!", and "Are you threatening me?" This transformation is caused by Beavis's rapid consumption of a large amount of sugar, caffeine, or other stimulants. In one episode, the duo wanders into a bohemian coffee house, where an open-mic poetry slam is in session. Beavis takes a turn at the mic after ingesting a large amount of cappuccino, and the audience hails his antics as performance art. In another episode he transforms into Cornholio while at Burger World, as an INS official visits for a surprise inspection, searching for illegal aliens. Beavis' pseudo-Hispanic ramblings prompt the INS officer into thinking he is from Mexico, and Beavis is deported. Beavis also assumes the Cornholio persona for the climactic scenes of Beavis and Butt-head Do America.
  • They cause trouble for neighbor Tom Anderson. They have sold most of his possessions, destroyed his house, and even gotten him arrested by the ATF. Because his poor vision results in him being unable to consistently recognize them, he continues to hire the two for odd jobs.
  • They frequently point out double-entendres-- in fact a large part of the show's humor derives from their propensity to derive some crude or sexual reference from virtually any situation or verbage. For example, in Beavis and Butt-head Do America, Mr. Van Driessen says the sentence "We don't need TV to entertain us", from which the boys extracted the word "anus". Or in Speech Therapy, Ms. Jenkins (the speech therapist) procured an image of lungs and a larynx (to which Butt-head noticed were similar to a pair of breasts and a vagina, respectively), or the test sentences she recited; "Speaking slowly as such, can say just as much" ("ass-munch"), or Half-haste helps, but whole-haste hinders" ("Butt-hole"). Butt-head is usually the one who points these out.
  • In earlier episodes, they would sometimes try to find ways to obtain hallucinogenic or mind-altering substances or engage in an activity that would simulate the effect. An example of this can be seen in the episode "Sick" where they attempt to obtain the leading prescription cough syrup with the excuse of healing their ailment after seeing an advertisement that says it is nearly 70% alcohol. A rather dangerous example was in the episode "Stewart's House," in which they filled up his kitchen with natural gas and lit a match, thinking that it would make all the oxygen disappear and make them light-headed, but only resulted in an explosion. Other instances of this can be seen when they lick a toad ("No Laughing"), sniff paint thinner ("Home Improvement"), drink morphine ("Bedpans & Broomsticks") or getting inside a washing machine during a cycle ("Washing the Dog"), all in an effort to get "wasted". This gag was dropped in later episodes, most likely to avoid controversy.
  • Mr. Van Driessen periodically plays a guitar. This is usually a bad idea, since whenever he does, bad luck follows shortly. On "Canoe Trip" he sings "Men have feelings too," and midway through, is attacked by a bear. In "Bus Trip" as the bus drives through the mountains, he starts to sing. The driver misses a turn and slams on the brakes, propelling him through the windshield, and down the canyon. In "Do America" he sings "Lesbian Seagull" and is arrested and assaulted by the ATF, who smash his guitar.

Episodes

Main article: List of Beavis and Butt-Head episodes

Holiday specials

Four holiday specials were produced -- one for Halloween, two for Christmas and one for Thanksgiving.

One of the most well-known aspects of the series was the inclusion of music videos, which occurred between animated segments. The duo would watch and make humorous observations (about the band, a song's lyrics, and/or a video's visuals), or simply engage in nonsensical dialogue. Mike Judge improvised the video comments, and they were never scripted. Also, almost all the animations of Beavis and Butt-Head during the videos were re-used from earlier episodes. [1]

At times, the criticism reflected their young age and ignorance of music history. Upon seeing a video by Black Sabbath, they decided that the band's vocalist couldn't be Ozzy Osbourne, because "Ozzy's an old fart!" (the video was recorded in the early 1970s, but the pair thinks it is new). Butt-head mistook their raw sound for grunge and inquired if they were from Seattle; Beavis replied "No, they're American", even though Seattle is located in the United States and Black Sabbath were from England. Similarly, the pair described Paul Simon as "that old dude from Africa who used to be in the Beatles." However, at other times they seemed almost respectful and willing to learn about music. A Led Zeppelin video was dismissed with the remark, "This sounds like folk music." "Yeah", came the reply, "but it gets cool later."

Negative critiques

When confronted with a song/video they didn't like, they usually watched it anyway, commenting on how bad it was. However, if they couldn't stand it, their solution was to change the channel. Mostly, they would come across a video they deemed better, but there were times when they came across a video that, in their opinion, was just as bad, or worse. One memorable occasion showed them watching a video by Frank Zappa, then after a long moment Butt-head said it sucked, so he changed the channel to find an even worse video. After a long while, Beavis asked Butt-head why they were watching it. Butt-head said he didn't know, so he changed the channel to find that the Frank Zappa video was still on.

They showed a particular disdain for many generic 1980s hair bands (with the exception of Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Van Halen and to a lesser extent, Aerosmith). Their epitome of "wuss bands" was Winger, of which Stewart was a big fan. They had no tolerance for new wave or electronic music (except for industrial music, and Devo's "Whip It"). Nu-metal bands such as Korn were also criticized for lacking originality. They also hated most death metal such as Cannibal Corpse and Death, and mocked their singing style (although they praised Ministry, GWAR, Pantera, and other bands that are considered to be death metal by some). They didn't take kindly to foreign bands and artists ("We've got enough crap in this country, why would we need to go to Europe to get more?"), and particularly hated English bands, claiming that the Beatles ruined music.

A band who received considerably large amounts of criticism during the tenure of the show was Grim Reaper. Videos for "See You in Hell," "Rock You to Hell," and "Fear No Evil" all featured on the show with notable criticism from the duo. During one review, they believed at first that they were watching a Spinal Tap video ("Tap is cool", says Beavis), but then realised that it sucked. Butt-head claimed that their videos were funny (the bad kind of funny) and that the armoured vehicle seen in the "Fear No Evil" video was for protection from haters. They especially hated the lead singer, who, according to them, won a blue ribbon in the pig contest because he's fat. All this considered, it is possible that Grim Reaper were the duo's least favourite band.

Beavis and Butt-head had especially severe reactions when confronted with videos they found particularly awful. As soon as Butt-head realized he was watching a Michael Bolton video, he announced that he had soiled his pants. Sometimes, while giving a harsh review of a music video, they would deal harshly with another musician or band, or threaten to end their lives... as rumor has it, even if the video wasn't theirs to begin with; Ace of Base suffered this fate while the boys were watching a video from another Swedish act (Stakka Bo's Here We Go). The ultimate put-down was to simply give each other a horrified look and then switch the channel without saying a word. Only Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" and Milli Vanilli's "Don't Forget My Number" earned this reaction.

The famous pianist Yanni also earned a very harsh critique from the boys, so much so that during their viewing of the video for "Reflections of Passion" , Butt-head jokingly told Beavis that Yanni was his dad, causing an alarmed Beavis to let out a terrified scream while a generic horror movie jingle played in the background.

Even bands they liked weren't spared. They were disappointed by an AC/DC video despite being fans of the group, and Beavis initially didn't recognize Metallica when "One" came on because of the slow first part. Judas Priest's video for "Breaking The Law" also drew a negative reaction from the two ("I like Priest and everything, but this sucks!"), despite the fact that they sang the song itself numerous times throughout the series. Ozzy Osbourne was also criticized when the boys viewed the video for his Lita Ford duet song, "Close My Eyes Forever" (Butt-Head: "Ozzy shouldn't have done this").

Beavis was generally less tolerant of bad videos than Butt-head. Butt-head would sometimes tease Beavis by turning up the volume on particularly bad songs, or try to convince Beavis that the song wasn't all that bad.

It is interesting to note that the rock musician Meat Loaf was also strongly disliked by the boys, even though they have never actually viewed a video of him on the show. They expressed this hatred for him in the episode "Right On" when they were on the Gus Baker show, while discussing the topic of music videos, Butt-Head exclaimed; "'Specially that Meat Loaf. He sucks!" which inspired shock and disgust among the talk show's audience for the slang use of the word "sucks" which they deemed "profane".

Positive critiques

Beavis and Butt-head rarely expressed complete enjoyment about any video; but a few bands did draw more favorable attention from the two than others. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain is said to have been ecstatic at having the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" praised by Beavis and Butt-head, and deemed it a great compliment. Indeed, even when drummer Dave Grohl's next band Foo Fighters was reviewed (the song was I'll Stick Around), the two were positive about the song because Grohl "was the drummer from that band, Nirvana". White Zombie, Type O Negative, Onyx, Iron Maiden, the Violent Femmes, the Beastie Boys, Coolio, Suicidal Tendencies, Primus, Tool, Slayer, Pantera and Iggy Pop were also among the groups for whom Beavis and Butt-head expressed appreciation, and the two groups that earned their fondest reviews were GWAR and the Butthole Surfers. Beavis voiced his estimation that every video should be like a GWAR video. Butt-head once complimented Lou Reed after watching the video for "No Money Down" (dubbed "the coolest of all videos" by the boys) by stating that Lou belonged in GWAR. The video which the duo declared to be officially the 'best ever' was Ministry's 'Just One Fix'. The crass uber-metal video, The Damned by Wendy O Williams and The Plasmatics received obvious praise from the duo since it featured all the themes of their interest (loud metal music, a semi-naked woman, destruction and explosions). Interestingly the duo had mixed feelings about a rock band The Jesus Lizard, when Beavis exclaimed in response to a video "If you're gonna suck, you might as well try kick ass, like, Jesus Lizard, they suck, but they kick ass."

A band who received considerably large amounts of praise during the tenure of the show was Alice in Chains. Videos for "Man in the Box," "Them Bones," "Again" and "I Stay Away" all featured on the show with notable praise from the duo. In fact, Butt-head claimed during "Them Bones" that "this is the coolest thing I have ever seen." The two were seen violently headbanging during "Man in the Box". During the episode "Be All You Can Be" Butt-head is seen singing the Alice in Chains song "Rooster," stating that "war songs are cool." All this considered, it is possible that Alice in Chains were the duo's favorite band (no other band had four videos played on the show). Members of the band (most notably Sean Kinney) were fans of the show, and were flattered that the band received such a direct thumbs up from the show, arguably more so than all of the other "Big Four" Seattle bands.

Both Beavis and Butt-head seemed excited in the Smashing Pumpkins's video "Today" when they saw the people "making out", when the band painted the ice cream truck, and when the band started throwing things at Billy Corgan, the lead singer. Even the videos by Radiohead that have appeared on the show have been praised; "Creep" got a positive review because of its heavy guitar riffs, while they claimed that they liked to mellow out to "Fake Plastic Trees" (usually they hated soft songs). Beavis was also excited over the Replacements video "Bastards of Young", which ends with a stereo being destroyed. The duo showed favor towards the video for Milla Jovovich's "Gentleman Who Fell," though it may have been due to the fact that Jovovich appeared in various stages of undress throughout the video. One of the strangest and most unexpected positive reviews they ever gave was for "Jive Talkin'" by the Bee Gees, which they mistook for the Black Crowes (in the end, they realised they weren't the Black Crowes, but danced to the song anyway). Motörhead is also a band that they seemed to love, but they only seemed to compliment Lemmy. In fact, on a Ramones video where Lemmy makes an appearance, Beavis asked what Lemmy was doing there and Butthead responded by saying "He's Lemmy. He can go into any damn video he wants."

Despite heavy metal and hard rock being their favorite forms of music, Beavis and Butt-Head have a fondness for hip-hop, especially gangsta rap. Rap groups and performers such as Snoop Dogg, The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Run DMC, Sir Mix-A-Lot and Dr. Dre received positive responses from the boys. This can be noted with Beavis's occasional mimicking of "gangsta" jargon ("We jus' kickin' it... in tha hang-outs", "Imma straight "G"", "Droppin' plates on yo ass, beotch"). Beavis even went as far as to say "You know when Coolio says I can see myself in the pistol smoke? He stole that from Snoop Dogg".

Funk music was likely another genre they liked. They were seen dancing to various funk songs, and especially liked some bands that incorporated elements of funk into their music.

Although Beavis and Butt-Head share the same musical tastes, there were some rare occasions where opinions largely conflicted. An obvious example can be seen during the video review for "Something for the Pain" by Bon Jovi (a musician whom the duo refer to as a "wuss band") in which Beavis claimed to enjoy the song causing Butt-Head to smack him repeatedly, claiming to do it for "[Beavis]' own good". However, Beavis insisted on enjoying the song and singing along to the main lyrics, and eventually retaliated against Butt-Head by kicking him in the testicles - twice - and praising Bon Jovi ("Dammit Butt-Head, Bon Jovi rules! I like this song, So blow your ass dammit!"). Another less dramatic example can seen during R.E.M.'s video for Shiny Happy People where Beavis sings along to the lyrics provoking another repeated smacking by Butt-Head. Also, during the video for Rush's Stick it Out, Beavis seemed to like them, even going so far as sing a bit of The Spirit of Radio, but Butt-Head seemed to dismiss guitarist Alex Lifeson as a wuss. In another episode, during the review for Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" Butt-head repeatedly claims that Metallica sucks, much to Beavis' annoyance. However, in an earlier review, Butt-head shares Beavis' love of Metallica. This can imply that by the time they were watching the former, Butt-head had either grown to dislike the band, or was just criticizing them to annoy Beavis.

The duo also had a liking of vocalist Mike Patton and his band Faith No More. Beavis and Butt-head both agreed that Mr. Bungle "sucked", however Butt-head said he liked some of the riffs in the song Quote Unquote, and both were seen headbanging for a few seconds towards the end of the video.

It can be assumed that the pair may have attempted to give some videos the ultimate compliment. The ultimate compliment would likely have been parallel to the ultimate put-down (see above) and would have consisted of them simply being silent for the video's duration. An example of this is where they were watching "California" by Wax, which featured a man running around on fire. Butt-head praised the video, but Beavis, being a pyromaniac, chose to stare at the video and say nothing. Butt-head got annoyed by this, and tried to snap Beavis out of his seemingly catatonic state. Another example was the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated", where they did not praise the band verbally, but headbanged for the video's duration (along with occasionally humming the main riff). In other reviews, during particularly good videos, Butt-head has told Beavis to shut up because he wanted to see the video.

It can also be noted that while they did not review any videos by Pearl Jam, they liked the band to a degree. The reason they never reviewed any videos by Pearl Jam was most likely because they had refused to make videos after the video for Jeremy, which was made before the show debuted, and didn't make another video until the Do the Evolution video, which was made after the show had been canceled.

Other antics

The duo would occasionally engage in physical humor during the videos. These antics ranged from simple comic violence, such as slapping, punching, and kicking one another, to the duo's memorable dances, which ranged from a few simple arm motions, to the dances listed below. Other antics included Butt-head masturbating, a card game, the pair sleeping, and Beavis getting seizures. A particularly memorable moment of their famous dance sessions can be seen during the viewing of the video for Step Down by the hardcore punk group Sick of it All, where the names of Beavis and Butt-head's dance moves are named on the screen in a blatant parody of the video itself. The dance moves included:

Headbanging while making the sign of the beast/playing air guitar.
"The Dillhole" - Butthead makes pelvic thrusts while Beavis punches and kicks in the air.
"The Bunghole" - Butthead shakes his butt while Beavis jumps up and down with a gyrating motion.
"The Double Inverted Fartknocker Nad Twist" - Butthead jumps back and forth across the room while Beavis sways his arms.
"The Monkey Boy" - Beavis humps the couch while Butt-head just stares at him in shock.
Swaying their heads in unison to the beat of softer or slower songs.

As well as dancing, they also sang during some music video reviews. This ranged from imitating the instrumentation, singing along with the lyrics, or even mocking the singing style of some singers (Butt-head particularly liked to imitate death metal vocalists). If they weren't familiar with some songs, but they knew the band, they would sing one of their more famous songs (one occasion involving Beavis noticing that they were watching a Primus video and sang a part of "My Name Is Mud"). If they weren't familiar with the song or band at all, they would sing something that sounded similar to the song. One instance is when a video for a song called "F-Sharp" by Nudeswirl came on, and Beavis started singing "Paradise City".

They showed some sign of intelligence when it came to some bands and artists, despite the fact that they didn't know much about even their favourite bands. On one occasion, they claimed that "Pantera" had an abusive upbringing, but they meant lead singer Phil Anselmo, not the whole band. They knew practically nothing about the band Hole, and thought that Hole was the name of the lead singer. However, they could recognize James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich from Metallica, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bono and The Edge from U2 (although they referred to Bono as "Boner") and Axl Rose from Guns N' Roses. During a Foo Fighters video review, Butt-head recognizes the lead singer as Dave Grohl, referring him to "that dude from Nirvana". Beavis thought Butt-head was referring to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and pointed out that "he's no longer with us".

Sometimes they mistook some bands for others. They believed they were watching a Red Hot Chili Peppers video when they were really watching a Faith No More video. In another review, they were watching a video by a band called Sausage (a side project of Primus' Les Claypool). Beavis thought this band was actually Primus (ironically, he was close to correct, since Sausage comprised of the original members of Primus), while Butt-head believed they were a fictional band called the Seminefrious Tubloidial Buttnoids.

There were times where the critiques about the videos were quite minimal, or even nonexistent. Some videos were only praised or criticized once, usually at the start, and then they would start engaging in conversation related to something in the video. Some videos didn't even get any critiques at all, be it positive or negative. It can actually be assumed that they deliberately ignored some videos, citing Butt-head's comment during a Ween video ("Quit talking about this video and do something funny!") and some reviews where they played a card game, slept, or even left the room instead of watching the video.

Controversial content

File:BB Swallowing drugs.jpg
Swallowing condoms with drugs in Way Down Mexico Way

Over its run, Beavis and Butt-head drew a notable amount of both positive and negative reactions from the public with its combination of lewd humor and implied criticism of society. It became the focus of criticism from social conservatives, such as Michael Medved, who depicted it as "the epitome of mindless and amoral entertainment", while others, such as David Letterman, and the conservative magazine National Review, defended it as a cleverly subversive vehicle for social criticism and a particularly creative and intelligent comedy. Either way, the show captured the imaginations of many young television viewers in the United States and abroad and is often considered a classic piece of 1990s youth culture.

In one episode, Butt-head, speaking in a slightly halting, mock-philosophical tone, states: "Sometimes I get morning wood, even in the late afternoon."

The duo lent popularity to slang terms including "assmunch", "woodrow", "stiffy", "bunghole", "buttwipe", "butt dumpling", "butt burglar", "buttwagon", "fartknocker", "Taint", "choad", "dillhole", "buttknocker", "dillweed", "schlong", "buttnugget", "butt bricker", and other assorted insults.

Gay rights groups accused the show of promoting homophobia as the two characters would often make fun of music videos that featured effeminate or androgynous performers and the thought of anything same sex related seemed to horrify the duo.

Fire! Fire!

Early episodes gave them a juvenile obsession with fire and dangerous behavior (summed up with Beavis' chant of "Fire! Fire!"). The show was blamed for child deaths as the result of fire and dangerous stunts, particularly one in West Carrollton, Ohio in October 1993 in which a five year old boy set fire to his mother's mobile home killing his two year old sister. The homeowners blamed the show (despite not having a cable TV subscription)[citation needed] which sparked the ire of media watchdog groups. As a result, the references were excised from further broadcastings, being replaced to some extent with simply silly stunts, bad pick-up lines, etc. The creators took delight in sometimes making Beavis scream things that sounded very similar to his previous "Fire! Fire!", such as "Liar! Liar!". In other episodes, he tries to resist saying "fire", whenever the word is about to come up in a sentence (i.e. "What if there's a...uh, never mind."), implying aversion therapy. In one episode shortly after the "fire" controversy, Beavis exclaimed, "Water! Water!" References to fire were cut from earlier episodes - even the original tapes were altered permanently.[2] Other episodes MTV opted to not rerun (Examples include "Stewart's House" and "Way Down Mexico Way").

File:BB Stewarts House.jpg
Sniffing stove gas in Stewart's House; controversial despite warning

One could interpret some future jokes within the show as jabs about the controversy, despite the fact that their pyromania had already been an established character trait. One prominent potential jab is the episode "Lightning Strikes" where Beavis and Butt-head watch a PBS special on Benjamin Franklin's legendary electricity experiment during a thunderstorm, and try to capture electricity with their own kite. Needless to say, both are injured; while in the hospital, a censorship advocate approaches them, and after noticing they were watching something educational mutters to herself "No, that can't be it", and tries to use their plight to blame Howard Stern and Rock videos. Beavis later flicks his dinner against her image on the TV.

In February 1994, watchdog group "Morality in Media" blamed the death of an 8-year-old girl struck by a bowling ball thrown from an overpass onto a Jersey City, New Jersey highway near the Holland Tunnel on the episode "Ball Breakers", in which Beavis and Butt-head loaded a bowling ball with explosives and dropped it from a rooftop. The 18-year-old man arrested for the crime did not have access to cable. The show was eventually cleared of blame.[citation needed]

The original disclaimer in the first and second seasons shown before each episode was:

Beavis and Butt-head are not real. They are stupid cartoon people completely made up by this Texas guy who we hardly even know. Beavis and Butt-Head are dumb, crude, ugly, thoughtless, sexist, self-destructive fools. But for some reason the little wiener heads make us laugh.

Early episodes with the controversial content intact are rare, and are traded on homemade tapes made from the original broadcasts. In an interview included with the recent Mike Judge Collection DVD set, Judge says he is unsure if some of the earlier episodes still exist in their uncensored form.

MTV also responded by broadcasting the program after 11:00 P.M., and changing the original disclaimer to a new one, reminding viewers that:

Beavis and Butt-head are not role models. They're not even human, they're cartoons. Some of the things they do could cause a person to get hurt, expelled, arrested... possibly deported. To put it another way, don't try this at home.

This disclaimer also appears before the opening of their Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo game.

Beavis and Butt-head, along with Ren and Stimpy, The Simpsons, South Park,and Celebrity Deathmatch pushed the boundaries of cartoons beyond clean material for small children.[citation needed] They were famously lambasted by Democratic senator Fritz Hollings as "Buffcoat and Beaver", which would subsequently become a running gag on the show of adults mispronouncing their names (i.e., Rush Limbaugh's parody "Gus Baker" in the episode "Right On"). Critics, though split upon the cultural merits of the cartoon, often compared the dialogue to that of Samuel Beckett. Social commentary was a recurrent theme throughout the series.

Beavis and Butt-head have been compared to idiot savants, because of their creative and subversively intelligent observations of music videos. This part of the show was mostly improvised by Mike Judge and is considered by many to be the show's highlight. With regard to criticisms of the two as "idiots", Judge has responded that a show about straight-A students would not be funny. However, Daria, who academically excelled, then proceeded to star in her own critically acclaimed series though the show was marketed towards a different audience with a decidedly different sense of humor. Judge said in an interview he didn't even know it was produced until he saw it on TV.

Beavis and Butt-head Do America

Main article: Beavis and Butt-head Do America

In 1996, Mike Judge released a full-length movie featuring the duo entitled Beavis and Butt-head Do America. The movie features the voices of Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Cloris Leachman, Robert Stack, Eric Bogosian, Richard Linklater, Greg Kinnear (in an uncredited role), and David Letterman (credited as Earl Hofert). It gained mostly positive reviews from movie critiques and a two thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert.

The Beavis and Butt-head Experience album

A CD appeared, named The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience featuring many hard rock and heavy metal bands, such as Megadeth, Nirvana and White Zombie. Moreover, Beavis and Butt-head do a duet with Cher on "I Got You Babe" and a track by themselves named "Come to Butt-head". The track with Cher also resulted in a music video, which hints strongly at the end that Butt-head "scored" with Cher after telling Beavis to leave (despite that, at the end, the two are seen wearing virtual reality goggles)

Beavis and Butt-head in Virtual Stupidity

In 1995, an Adventure game based on the series was released, called Virtual Stupidity.

Other appearances

Beavis and Butt-head made an "appearance" on the Late Show with David Letterman. Prior to this, creator Mike Judge was a guest on the same show, and showed Dave a brief short in which Beavis & Butt-head were drawn with the physical characteristics of Paul Shaffer and Letterman. The short was later used in the episode "Late Night With Butt-head".

File:BB Loogie.jpg
Hock-A-Loogie level from the game Virtual Stupidity.
Beavis and Butt-head as seen on Celebrity Deathmatch.
  • Beavis and Butt-head fought each other on the MTV series Celebrity Deathmatch. When they entered the ring, they appeared hand-drawn; later on, thanks to the use of a fire extinguisher, they were rendered in CDM's standard 3D clay figures. Beavis won the fight when he became Cornholio. Their voices were not performed by Mike Judge.
  • In a comic strip of FoxTrot, Peter and Jason are given Beavis and Butt-head stockings by Roger and begin to perform the infamous Beavis and Butt-head laugh.
  • On the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Beavis and Butt-head appeared in a couple of Viewers Choice award skits, pleading to "Vote to put Beavis and Butt-head back on MTV!" (even though that was not a choice). The duo have made appearances at other VMAs during the series' run.
  • In an episode of the TV show Friends, Joey Tribbiani and Chandler Bing dedicate themselves to not leaving two overstuffed recliners situated in front of a large TV; they are shown at one point watching Beavis and Butt-head and inadvertently imitating them.
  • The two appear in an episode of Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse, where Colin Powell is depicted fielding questions from teens on a MTV talk show. As he becomes increasingly irritated by the teenagers he begins to imagine that the whole audience has morphed into dozens of chuckling Beavises and Butt-head’s.
  • In an episode of the TV show Coach Hayden Fox and his wife are arguing about the maturity of todays youth. Hayden eventually says "Then how do you explain Beavis and Butt-head?"
  • In the movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, when Dr. Evil has threatened the United Nations, he has trouble ending transmission and accidentally switches to an episode of Beavis and Butt-head.
  • In the movie "Empire Records" a drawing of Butt-head can be seen on the white board multiple times in the store's back room.
  • In the episode of The Simpsons called D'oh-in in the Wind, a scene shows Abe Simpson and Jasper Beardley sitting on a bench and laughing just like Beavis and Butt-head would do, each holding a bottle of the vegetable juice made by Homer Simpson.
  • In the Duke Nukem original game for the N64, a stand-alone Duke Burger complex has a drive-thru section. When the player activates the drive-thru speaker, Butt-head can be heard saying, "Go away, we're like closed."
  • In The Method Man and Redman video for How High (song) Method Man and Redman are seen on their couches imitating Beavis and Butt-head.
  • Beavis and Butthead appeared in a short clip at the start of AC/DC's 1996 Ballbreaker tour.
  • In The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, when a bomb is detonated as a demonstration, a laugh resembling Beavis' can be heard, along with an exclamation of "Cool!"
  • Although they do not physically appear in it, a reference of them is in the video game NFL Blitz. When a player scores a touchdown, sometimes they would hold out the ball and spin around numerous times, then stop all dizzy and say, "Whoa. That's was cool." in a similar voice to Butt-Head.
  • In the PC CD ROM Hoyle Puzzle Games 2005, in the game named Anagrams, the two skulls on the poles sound identical to Beavis and Butthead and make Beavis and Butthead like comments ("Do you smell burning" "Heh Heh Heh Yeah").
  • the Earthworm Jim episode "Darwin's Nightmare" Bob the Killer Goldfish uses a EVO-belt on Jim & Peter Puppy so he can be human. Jim & peter become stupid beings resembling Neanderthals, they laugh & act like Beavis & Butthead saying "hehehe you said butt!" with similar voices.
  • On Robot Chicken, a show on the Adult Swim block of Cartoon Network, they were shown on a spoof episode of Teen Titans, fighting side by side with them (not really.)

References to pop culture in the show

  • In response to his car not starting, Coach Buzzcut yells "what is your major malfunction?!" in reference to Full Metal Jacket.
  • The two unseen individuals administering the polygraph tests in the "Liar, Liar" episode are named Mr. O'Brien and Julia, in reference to George Orwell's 1984.

Spin-offs

In 1997, a spin-off show based on their classmate Daria Morgendorffer, Daria, was created. Mike Judge was not credited as a producer of this series and said he was not involved with it at all, except to give permission for the use of the character. The Daria character had been created for Beavis and Butt-head by Glenn Eichler, who became a producer for Daria. In the first episode of Daria, Daria and her family move from Beavis and Butt-head's hometown of Highland to Lawndale. None of the other characters from Beavis and Butt-head ever appear on Daria.

King of the Hill was created by Mike Judge and at least owes its start to the success of Beavis and Butt-head. Lending credence to its status as a spin-off, the main character, Hank Hill, sounds just like, looks and acts rather similar to Mr. Anderson. Indeed, the show was preceded by rumors, before Beavis and Butt-head stopped airing, that Judge was going to do a spin-off show about Mr. Anderson.[citation needed]

Videos and DVDs

The first official home video releases of Beavis and Butt-head were two VHS tapes entitled There Goes The Neighborhood and Work Sucks!, distributed by Sony Music Video and MTV Home Video in 1994. Each tape contained approximately eight episodes, each selected from the first four seasons. Although most of the episodes were presented complete (but without music video segments), a handful of episodes from Seasons 2 and 3 were edited for content similar to their broadcast runs. Nine more VHS compilations were released from 1995 to 1999 for a total of 11, containing episodes from every season of the show except the first.

The Contents of the Work Sucks! and There Goes The Neighborhood VHS compilations were combined into a single LaserDisc compilation entitled Beavis and Butt-head: The Essential Collection, which was also released by Sony Music Video in 1994. This was the sole release of Beavis and Butt-head in the LaserDisc format.

All VHS collections of episodes are out of print. They were compiled into two sets of three multi-episode Time-Life DVD releases called The Best of Beavis and Butt-head, which are also no longer available. A set of three DVDs from Time-Life containing the same content as 6 of the VHS editions was released in December 2002. The remaining 5 VHS programs were also released on DVD soon afterwards but were not equally advertised (if at all) and are subsequently rarer.

Several more VHS compilations were also released exclusively in the United Kingdom, between 1997 and 2002, in addition to PAL versions of the eleven American tapes. Some UK-only compilations include a three-part series entitled History of Beavis which contained the all of the Season 1 episodes, as well as a "Too Dumb For TV" compilation dedicated to some of the banned episodes such as "Stewart's House" and "Way Down Mexico Way". A fourth volume of History of Beavis was scheduled, but pulled from release at the last minute. Unlike the American tapes, some of the UK-only tapes contained music videos.

A two-disc DVD set titled The History of Beavis and Butt-head was scheduled for release in September 2002 containing the program content of four of the UK-exclusive VHS tapes. However, its release was cancelled at the last moment at the demand of Judge, who owns approval rights for video releases of the series. Many copies were mistakenly put on store shelves on the scheduled release date, only to be immediately recalled. The set started selling on eBay at very high prices, sometimes over $300 USD. According to Judge, the History set was made up of episodes that he had previously rejected for home video release and was prepared without his knowledge or consent. [1]

On November 8, 2005, MTV and Paramount Home Entertainment released a three-disc DVD compilation titled Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 1. The DVD set includes approximately 40 episodes and 11 music video segments from the original shows. All prior VHS and DVD releases have lacked these segments except for the VHS release of Beavis and Butt-head Do Christmas, and the last disc of the second Time-Life set.

23 of the 40 episodes included on the Mike Judge Collection were advertised to have been director's cuts containing "previously censored material". However, the majority of the "Director's Cut" episodes are actually missing footage from their original broadcast versions, although two episodes ("Home Improvement" and "Lawn and Garden") did indeed have excised footage reinstated. The reason for these edits is unknown, although Mike Judge stated in a Houston Chronicle article on the release that he corrected certain animation mistakes on the DVD that he found to be troublesome[citation needed]. The following (known to date) edits were all made in Vol. 1 in order to correct "animation mistakes" according to Mike Judge:

  • 1-900-BEAVIS: The lines "She said something", "I think I just inoculated" and "Hey, maybe we'll hear some butt wind" have been removed.
  • Madame Blavatsky: Beavis and Butt-head's fighting scene at the end is cut short, also Madam Blavatsky's line, when she says "The end of the world" has been edited.
  • Late Night With Butt-head: First minute and a half of this episode has been removed, instead it starts with Beavis and Butt-head pitching the idea for their talk show. Letterman's cameo voice appearance has been removed. Also, Beavis and Butt-head celebrating with an air guitar chant after successfully pitching their show has been removed.
  • Right On: A scene where Beavis and Butt-head are doing their air guitar chant, after they found out they will be on the Gus Baker show has been removed. Also, at the very end, the part where Butt-head tells Beavis that it wouldn't hurt to wipe once in while has been removed.
  • Date Bait: Scene where Beavis & Butt-head are on the couch with a cold and Butt-head doing the "Handbanging-Sneeze" (also showing the Metal sign) has been removed.
  • Figure Drawing: Teachers comment about teaching a class on Aroma Therapy is removed. Three or four lines have also then been cut after Beavis and Butt-head rearrange the letters on the sign. Several other dialogue cuts were made throughout.
  • Teen Talk: Scene where Beavis and Butt-head do their air guitar chant, after Lolita and Tanqueray ask if they want to make out behind the risers has been removed.
  • Held Back: In the scene where Beavis and Butt-head are in 3rd grade and won't fit in the chairs, the lines "This desk is giving me a stiffie" and "I don't even have room for a stiffie" have been removed.
  • Safe House: A scene with Beavis, Butt-head and Todd watching a funny "World of Bikini Sports" segment has been removed, when the bikini girl tells the sports anchor to take his hands off her ass.
  • Tainted Meat: Middle section of news broadcast talking about "a fierce new parasite" has been removed. It, much like the deleted scene in "manners suck" (see below) was included as an easter egg on disc 2.
  • Manners Suck: The ending where Beavis and Butt-head are in the stalls politely pooping is removed. It was, however included as an easter egg on disc 1.
  • Dream On: The duo sings and makes up their own Brady Bunch theme song lyrics.

The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 2 was released on June 13, 2006. This compilation features 40 additional episodes, 13 music videos, and a Brokeback Mountain parody featuring Beavis and Butt-head, which uses a similar score and format as Brokeback's movie trailer. The parody functions as a commercial for the DVD release of Mike Judge Collection, Volume 3. Also included are segments from the Beavis and Butt-head "Butt Bowl" specials, traditionally aired during halftime of the Super Bowl; parodies of Calvin Klein advertisements are also featured. In Volume 2, edits on previous VHS/DVD releases of the episode "Bungholio - Lord of the Harvest" (then called "Butt-o-Ween") have not been reinstated. The edit deleted a scene where the boys are trying out Halloween costumes in their bathroom and Beavis appears dressed up like Stewart, i.e. wearing a Winger T-shirt saying "Look...I'm a Wuss".

The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 3 was released on August 1, 2006. Another 40 episodes are featured, as well as 15 music video segments. Bonus features include the original, uncut "Frog Baseball" episode, and many (if not all) of the Christmas-related clips. Despite the criticism received over severe episode censorship in Vol. 1, edits were again made on at least two episodes - a scene where Beavis & Butt-head cut their teacher's chair in half was removed in "Woodshop", and a short line from Beavis in "Impotence".

On January 26, 2006, MTV and Apple released Beavis and Butt-head, Vol. 1 on the iTunes Store.

Books

  • This Book Sucks
  • Beavis and Butt-head Ensucklopedia (published December 1994)
  • Huh Huh for Hollywood (published November 1996)
  • The Butt-Files: Beavis and Butt-head's Guide To Sci-Fi And The Unknown (published August 1997)
  • Beavis and Butt-head Travel Log (published December 1997)
  • Chicken Soup for the Butt (published November 1998)
  • Reading Sucks: The Collected Works of Beavis and Butt-head (published December 2005). This collection is a bundle of the four books listed above which are no longer in print separately.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Mike Judge Interviewed by John Kricfalusi". Wild Cartoon Kingdom. 1994. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Mike Judge interview". Goblin Magazine.
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