Beavis and Butt-Head

Beavis and Butt-Head
File:Beavis and Butt-head.jpg Main title screen
Genre	Comedy / Music clips
Created by	Mike Judge
Written by	Mike Judge Joe Stillman
Directed by	Mike Judge Yvette Kaplan
Voices of	Mike Judge Tracy Grandstaff
Theme music composer	Mike Judge
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	200 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Mike Judge Abby Terkuhle
Running time	3–6 min (without music videos) 5–11 (with music videos) 12–21 min (specials)
Production companies	J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. (first season/launch) Judgemental Films Tenth Anual Industries (second season-seventh season/launch) Ternion Pictures (eighth season/launch) MTV Animation Inbred Jed's Homemade Cartoons (pilot only)
Original release
Network	MTV
Release	Original series: March 8, 1993 (1993-03-08) – November 28, 1997 (1997-11-28) Revived series:Summer 2011 – present
Related
Daria

Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. Judge's 1992 short film Frog Baseball was the first appearance of Beavis and Butt-head and cable channel MTV signed Judge to turn the concept into a series. Beavis and Butt-head aired from March 8, 1993, to November 28, 1997. The series has retained a cult following and is rated TV-14 when reruns are aired in the United States.

The show centers on two socially inept rock/metal-loving teenage boys, Beavis and Butt-head (both voiced by Judge), who live in the fictional town of Highland, Texas. They have no apparent adult supervision at home, are woefully undereducated, and seem quite dim-witted. Although they are teenagers, they are young enough that they are barely through puberty. They attend Highland High School, where their teachers are often at a loss as to how to deal with them, although in many episodes the two skip school altogether. They occasionally work part-time at Burger World and sometimes other side-jobs when people mistake their odd behavior as outgoing and assertive. Their recreational activities (besides watching television) range from chasing women to skeet shooting. They have little remorse for their actions, such as when Butt-head misfired a rifle, hitting a Boeing 747 (which had a number of pregnant women inside) and Butt-Head simply nudging Beavis with his shoulder and saying "Did you hear that Beavis? There's a chick on that plane who scored."

The comedic value is partly based on the pair's lack of conventional values: they are highly obnoxious, perverted, and rude to almost every other character in the show, including each other. However, they do not realize this and seem to function on an instinctual level. They survive their often hazardous misadventures without serious consequences, though others around them do not fare as well. Mixed within each episode are segments in which Beavis and Butt-head watch music videos and provide commentary improvised by Judge.

In 1996, the series was adapted into the animated feature film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. On July 14, 2010, it was announced that the series would be revived and begin airing on MTV with new episodes to begin airing sometime during summer 2011. The series is expected to keep its animation style, and to keep Beavis and Butt-head the same age as they were during the show's original run.

Characters

Main characters

• Beavis - Voiced by Mike Judge. Has an underbite and a fixated stare on his face, which is almost always shown in profile. Beavis grunts when he laughs, has a more guttural voice and has a penchant for picking his nose. He is the more excitable of the two and though he is oblivious to what should be obvious he is also prone to moments of insight (another source of humor) and is nicer and more optimistic than Butt-head. He often suffers physically in the show, either by Butt-head or various other characters or situations. He usually takes the beating and screams in pain before quickly reverting to his trademark laugh. Before controversy erupted (see below) he exhibited an obsession with fire and his trademark phrase was "FIRE! FIRE!" which he would render with a maniacal gaze in his eye. One episode showed that he has voices in his head telling him to engage in destructive activities; however, generally he has a passive demeanor in contrast to Butt-head's more dominant personality. Beavis also originally wears a blue Metallica shirt with grey shorts. When Beavis consumes large amounts of caffeine or sugar products, he transforms into his hyperactive alter-ego, Cornholio. Beavis' laugh was based on a "straight A" classmate of creator Mike Judge's, who had a guttural laugh.
• Butt-head - Voiced by Mike Judge. Wears dental braces has squinty eyes and a drooping nose with prominent nostrils. His top gums are often exposed due to a small upper lip and he speaks nasally with a deep voice and a slight lisp. He begins almost every statement with "Uhhhhhh..." and ends with his short trademark laugh "Uh huh huh huh". Calmer, though cockier, and marginally more intelligent than Beavis, Butt-head is oblivious to subtlety of any sort and is usually 100% confident in everything he says and does no matter how ridiculous or frivolous it is—unless it has to do with females, in which case he either wavers or comes on too strongly. His trademark phrase when approaching women is "hey baby". Created the terms buttmunch, butt dumpling, and ass wipe. As the more dominant personality of the duo it seems he derives pleasure from regularly abusing Beavis. Butt-head also originally wears a gray AC/DC shirt with red shorts. Judge has stated he got the idea for the name "Butt-head" from two people he knew during his childhood called "Iron Butt" (who would encourage people to kick him in the butt to demonstrate his strength) and "Butt-head".
• Tom Anderson - Voiced by Mike Judge. The nearsighted, elderly neighbor of Beavis and Butt-head. He often hires them to do chores which results in them destroying his yard, home, or personal belongings. Due to his poor eyesight and mild senility he never seems to recognize the two and he never remembers their names (in one episode the two wore horn rimmed glasses in an absurd disguise which Anderson did not notice). He served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War. His character is a big influence on the look and voice of the character Hank Hill from Judge's subsequent series, King of the Hill as both were based on the same collection of elderly men from Judge's youth.
• David Van Driessen - Voiced by Mike Judge. 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 repeated attempts to teach the duo useful life lessons typically end in disaster as they almost always deduce the wrong message. He often plays songs on his acoustic guitar which typically end in him being severely hurt and in some cases almost killed. He has been shown teaching classes on biology, art, animation, economics, health, history, and literature, among others. He also owns a substantial 8-track tape collection, which is ruined in one episode by Beavis and Butt-head. His voice and personality are similar to and may serve as a basis of sort for the character of Gerald Goode in Judge's latest animated series The Goode Family. He was probably a base of the character "Mr. Mackey" from South Park, Due to his "Mmkay"s, and he's always trying to bring peace to people (as Mr. Mackey is a Counselor). Mike Judge has stated Van Driessen was his favourite character after Beavis to voice. He based it on an interviewer he overheard during his time in a band.
• Coach Bradley Buzzcut - Voiced by Mike Judge. Another of the duo's high school teachers and the antithesis of Van Driessen. Angry, impatient and short-tempered Buzzcut is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Marine Corps and, with the possible exception of Principal McVicker, hates the duo more than any other character. He is shown substitute teaching regular classes but usually teaches physical education. It has been implied that he has on occasion committed assault and battery against the duo.
• Principal McVicker - Voiced by Mike Judge. Principal of Highland High; hates the duo. The two have unintentionally ruined his life. Many episodes begin with Beavis and Butt-head in his office. They refer to him as "McDicker." He is constantly stressed out due to having to deal with Beavis and Butt-head: he shakes when he speaks, he is frequently rummaging through his desk for prescription medications and Maalox, and in one early episode he is shown guzzling a bottle of Old Crow. In one episode, when he thought that Beavis and Butt-head were dead, he immediately stopped shaking and became much calmer and more cheerful. It is currently unknown if McVicker will return to the series since he suffered a heart attack and may have died at the end of the original series finale "Beavis and Butt-head Are Dead". His mannerisms were based on a band director for Judge's ninth-grade class.
• Daria Morgendorffer - Voiced by Tracy Grandstaff. Daria is a sarcastic, vaguely alt-rockerish, nerdy girl who attends Highland High with Beavis and Butt-head and she is one of the few people who sees the two for what they truly are. While not above taking jabs at them for their lack of intelligence, she also offers occasional help and advice. The duo nicknamed her "Diarrhea" but once said she was cool after she asked President Clinton a poignant question during a school assembly. Indeed, she is one of the few characters they respect at all. She eventually went on to star in her own spin-off series, Daria. It is unknown if she will return to the series since it could take place after she moves out of Highland. She was the only character created on the request on MTV, who wanted a female character who could tolerate and handle the duo - Judge agreed with the idea, and worked on her with series writer David Felton.
• Todd Ianuzzi - Voiced by Rottilio Michieli. Todd is a trashy deadbeat and violent criminal. Although Beavis and Butt-head greatly admire him and aspire to join his "gang", Todd despises the two and frequently beats them up and takes advantage of them when he needs something, such as money, or a place to hide from other gangs or the police. In the episode "Steamroller" it is said that Todd had dropped out of school two years before. Even though Todd's last name "Ianuzzi" was never revealed in the series, it was revealed to be "Ianuzzi" in This Book Sucks. Writers Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil suggested the idea of a character that the lads idolise even though he beats them up; Judge would base Todd on a teenaged bully that lived near him and terrified him as a kid.
• Stewart Stevenson - Voiced by Adam Welsh. A nerdy, wimpy, short kid who admires Beavis and Butt-head and mistakenly believes they are his best friends. Beavis and Butt-head relate to him mostly as Todd relates to them. They bully Stewart and regularly take advantage of his attempts to befriend them usually resulting in Stewart getting in trouble with his parents for something actually done by Beavis and Butt-head. Stewart wears a Winger t-shirt as a not-so-subtle reinforcement of his wimpiness (as opposed to the "coolness" of Beavis and Butt-head wearing Metallica and AC/DC t-shirts).

Minor characters

Main article: List of minor characters in Beavis and Butt-Head

Holiday specials

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

• The Halloween special, entitled "Bungholio: Lord of the Harvest (Butt-O-Ween)", involved them attempting to trick-or-treat in ridiculous costumes--i.e. Beavis dressed up as a giant nad by wearing underpants on his head and Butt-head becoming nachos by pouring hot cheese-sauce over his head, although at one point he said he was dressed up as a dumbass. When Beavis eats all of Tom Anderson's candy, his Cornholio persona emerges and embarks on a rampage to acquire more from other trick-or-treaters, while Butt-head is taken on a "ride" to the countryside in Todd's trunk, where he encounters a strangely pale old farmer. When Beavis finally comes down from his sugar high, he is hanging on a meathook in the farmer's barn, where the old man and a similarly pale Butt-head seemingly attack him with chainsaws as the episode fades to blood red. (The duo, of course, both re-appear unharmed in future episodes.)
• The first Christmas special featured the pair sitting in front of the television providing crude commentary on various aspects of Christmas, and commenting on Christmas-themed music videos from various artists.
• The second Christmas special was simply entitled "Beavis and Butt-head Christmas Special", or alternately "Beavis and Butt-head Do Christmas". It consisted of two segments that parodied A Christmas Carol directed by Tony Kluck and It's a Wonderful Life directed by former DreamWorks Animation director Mike deSeve, as well as Christmas-themed music videos (taken from the first Christmas special) and several segments in which Butt-head answered fan mail dressed as Santa Claus while whipping a reindeer-costumed Beavis.
• The MTV Thanksgiving Special "Beavis and Butt-head Do Thanksgiving" aired on November 27, 1997, the day before the series finale Beavis and Butt-head Are Dead written by Andy Rheingold and Scott Sonneborn The bit featured Kurt Loder as the show's host, half-reluctantly and half-resigned, trying to teach the two characters the meaning of Thanksgiving as they report live from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, where they take more interest in people's butts and porn-shops than anything else. Among others, the special featured appearances by Adam Sandler, LL Cool J, Jay-Z, R.E.M., Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Tori Amos, and the Beastie Boys. Also featured were two music videos ("Long Hard Road Out of Hell" by Marilyn Manson and "Criminal" by Fiona Apple) not included in any of the show's regular episodes. The Thanksgiving special only aired once, and its inclusion in the Mike Judge Collection DVD set shows it in a heavily edited format without the music videos or the celebrity appearances.

Critiques of music videos

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 dialogs. Mike Judge improvised the video comments, and they were never scripted. Almost all the animations of Beavis and Butt-Head during the videos were re-used from earlier episodes. At times, the criticism reflected their young age and ignorance of music history. Upon seeing a video for "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath, they decided that the band's vocalist couldn't be Ozzy Osbourne, because "Ozzy's an old fart!" Butt-Head said "That's not Ozzy--that's his son!" Beavis mistook their raw sound for grunge and inquired if they were from Seattle; Butt-head replied "No, they're American," even though Black Sabbath's members were from England. During one episode, Butt-head remarked, "You know those asswipes The Beatles? Those guys ruined music." Similarly, the pair described Paul Simon as "that old dude from Africa who used to be in the Beatles," and Butt-head once observed of Frank Sinatra, "I think he used to be in the Eagles." However, at other times they seemed almost respectful and willing to learn about music.

When confronted with a song/video they did not like, they usually fart on the T.V., commenting on how bad it was and how much it sucked. However, if they could not stand it, their solution was to change the channel. Most of the time, they came across a better video, but there have been instances where they found a video they perceived as worse than the previous one. One particularly memorable moment was when they were watching Frank Zappa's video, "You Are What You Is", and changed the channel during the video to come across The Europeans' "The Animal Song" video, which they perceived as even worse. Eventually, they forgot why they were watching it, and changed back to the Frank Zappa video, much to their chagrin ("This is still on? That pisses me off!").

They showed a particular disdain for many generic 1980s "hair bands". They had almost no tolerance for new wave or electronic music (e.g. "Two Tribes", "Cars", and "Scatman" were all instantly shown contempt by the duo). Korn's song "Blind", as an example of Nu metal, was criticized for lacking originality (although they did claim they sounded "kinda cool"). Bands who received considerably large amounts of criticism during the tenure of the show included Poison and Grim Reaper.

File:Beavis and Butthead horror.png

Beavis & Butthead reacting in horror to bad music videos.

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, although he later stated he was joking. The duo then commented on how he can "make any kind of music suck". Sometimes, while giving a harsh review for a video, the duo would give a review to another band or musician despite the video not belonging to them; this was the case for Ace of Base while the boys were watching "Here We Go" by Stakka Bo. When confronted with Milli Vanilli's "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby", the pair looked at one another in horror and changed the channel without speaking a word; this was effectively among the harshest commentary they ever gave a music video. The Europeans' video for "The Animal Song" was the most critically trashed by the duo, as Butt-head claimed, "This sucks more than anything I have ever seen."

Even bands they liked were not spared. They were disappointed by an AC/DC video despite being fans of the group. Also, during a Metallica video, Butt-head comments, telling Lars Ulrich, "Sit your ass down, Lars, and play drums like you're supposed to!" and by saying that James Hetfield resembled the Cowardly Lion. Judas Priest's video for "Breaking the Law" also drew a negative reaction due to the low quality of the video (Butt-head simply stated, "I like Priest and everything, but this sucks!")--despite this, the two would often sing the chorus from the video in other episodes. They would sometimes insult one part of a video, and praise another. This would often happen with songs with both quiet and loud parts, such as Danzig's "How the Gods Kill", Metallica's "One", and Radiohead's "Creep".

Beavis and Butt-head also shared a disdainful dislike of many bands from England; while watching a Pink Floyd video, Butt-head claimed that they were "Just another gang of wussies from England." Then Beavis claims that he would really like to go to England, explaining that, "Since everyone in England's a wuss, I could go around kicking everybody's ass and then I would be the only person that's not a wussy there". Other bands, such as The Shamen and Blur, were mocked for their British accents. The duo also made fun of performers who were effeminate or androgynous (such as Boy George or Marilyn Manson) and often evinced disgust or fear towards notions of male homosexuality (e.g. Butt-head would quip "he's smiling at you" which would result in an angry retort from Beavis).

Beavis and Butt-head rarely expressed complete enjoyment of any video; but a few bands did draw more favorable attention from the two than others. Their preference was heavy metal and 90's hard rock, such as Pantera, Alice in Chains and White Zombie. They also had a deep admiration for Ozzy Osbourne and sang "Iron Man" when they were excited about something or to celebrate. 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. GWAR were among the most highly reviewed bands by the duo, with Beavis once proclaiming that "every video should be like a GWAR video." Beavis and Butt-head lauded Bananarama's video for Venus, saying "these chicks should marry GWAR" and that "they would have offspring that would be the coolest people who ever lived." 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 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). One of the 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 realized they were not the Black Crowes, but danced to the song anyway). Hard rock band Guns N' Roses have also been praised by the duo, during their song "Paradise City", proclaiming "These guys kick butt", as well as headbanging to the songs solo. Motörhead was also held in high regard, but they only seemed to compliment Lemmy. On a Ramones video where Lemmy makes an appearance, Beavis asked what Lemmy was doing there and Butt-head responded by saying, "He's Lemmy, dumbass. 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 had a fondness for hip hop, especially gangsta rap. Rap groups and performers such as Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C., 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. One of their oddest reviews was that of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's video for "Dang", where they endlessly praised it seemingly only because it was a music video—in particular, Butt-head could be heard gasping for breath due to laughing uncontrollably. It was, however, implied at the very end of the review that they were both high on nutmeg, with Beavis remarking “Hey Butt-head, you got any more nutmeg?”

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 (whom the duo referred to as a "wuss band") in which Beavis claimed to enjoy one part of the song, causing Butt-head to smack him repeatedly, claiming to be doing 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 by proclaiming, "You can't tell me what sucks! I like this, so blow it up your ass!" A less dramatic example can be 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. In another episode, during the review of Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", Butt-head repeatedly claims that Metallica sucks, much to Beavis's annoyance.

The ultimate compliment would have been parallel to the ultimate put-down (see previous) and would have consisted of them simply being silent for the video's duration. An example of this happened very early on in the series when they watched "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" by the Butthole Surfers and remained completely silent throughout (only giving quips of praise at the very beginning and end of the video). Another example 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 (and Mike Judge having been instructed by the MTV higher-ups to not say the word "fire"), 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's "I Wanna Be Sedated", where they did not praise the band verbally other than Beavis saying "YES!" when the video starts, but headbanged for the video's duration (along with occasionally humming the main riff). In other reviews, during particularly good videos, Butt-head would tell Beavis to shut up because he wanted to see the video.

The duo showed some signs of intelligence when it came to some bands and artists, despite the fact that they did not know much about even their favorite bands. On one occasion, they claimed that "Pantera" had an abusive upbringing. They knew practically nothing about the band Hole, and thought that Hole was the name of the lead singer. During a Foo Fighters video review, Butt-head recognized the lead singer as Dave Grohl, referring to him as "that dude from 'Nirvarna'." Beavis thought Butt-head was referring to deceased Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and said "Butt-head, I don't think that dude's with us anymore, you shouldn't say that." Butt-head patiently explained to Beavis that Grohl was the drummer with Nirvana and was now playing guitar for the Foo Fighters. 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, the duo was watching Marilyn Manson's music video for "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell" and initially thought that Manson was Cher. Beavis then confused Marilyn Manson for Charles Manson before being corrected by Butt-head. On several occasions, the two mistook musicians for other celebrities, such as Boy George as Debbie Gibson, The Clash guitarist Mick Jones as Jerry Seinfeld, a member of Japanese pop band Pizzicato Five as Ernie from "My Three Sons", members of Color Me Badd as Kenny G, Ofra Haza as Paula Abdul, and both Yanni and John Oates as Geraldo Rivera. They also sometimes made crude puns on the names of celebrities (believing the names they said were really the celebrities' names) who came to mind during a video they were watching; some of these included Connie Chung as Connie Schlong, Bette Midler as Butt Midler, Olivia Newton-John as Olivia Neuter-John and Steffi Graf as Stiffie Graf. They even mistook Rosie O'Donnell, in the video "(Meet) The Flinstones" by The B-52's, for Roseanne and called her Buttseanne.

Bands and videos were not the only subjects of which they were critical. They also engaged in conversation about films, television shows, certain people and other pop culture references. Occasionally, they praised the subject, but were more often derisive.

Critical assessments and controversy

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, 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 and the MTV generation. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, cite the show as an influence and compared it to the blues, and met Mike Judge before the show aired.

In 1997, Dan Tobin of The Boston Phoenix commented on the series' humor, stating that it transformed "stupidity into a crusade, forcing us to acknowledge how little it really takes to make us laugh." In 1997 Ted Drozdowski of The Boston Phoenix described the 1997 Beavis and Butt-head state as "reduced to self-parody of their self-parody." In December 2006, TV Guide ranked the duo's distinct laughing at #66 on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases.

Mike Judge himself is highly critical of the animation and quality of earlier episodes, in particular the first two - "Blood Drive"/"Give Blood" and "Door to Door" - which he described as "awful, I don't know why anybody liked it... I was burying my head in the sand".

Allegations of promoting dangerous behavior

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 a two-year-old's death which occurred in Moraine, 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 mother later claimed that her son had watched one of the fire-related segments shortly before he burned down the home, although, according to an article in the March 24, 1994 issue of Rolling Stone, neighbors claimed that the family did not have cable television.

As a result, the references were excised from further airings. The creators found a censorship loophole and took delight in sometimes making Beavis scream things that sounded very similar to his previous "Fire! Fire!" (such as "Fryer! Fryer!" when he and Butt-head are working the late shift at Burger World) and also having him almost say the forbidden word (such as one time when he sang "Liar, liar, pants on..." and pausing before "fire" (in the "Liar! Liar!" episode). There was also a music video where a man runs on fire in slow motion ("California" by Wax). Beavis is hypnotized by it and can barely say "Fire." References to fire were cut from earlier episodes — even the original tapes were altered permanently. Other episodes MTV opted not to rerun included "Stewart's House" and "Way Down Mexico Way". Early episodes with the controversial content intact are rare, and are traded on homemade video recordings made from the original broadcasts. In an interview included with the recent Mike Judge Collection DVD set, Judge denied being certain if some of the earlier episodes still existed in their uncensored form.

In February 1994, watchdog group Morality in Media claimed that the death of 8-month-old Natalia Rivera, struck by a bowling ball thrown from an overpass onto a Jersey City, New Jersey highway near the Holland Tunnel by 18-year-old Calvin J. Settle, was partially inspired by Beavis and Butt-head. The group said that Settle was influenced by the episode entitled "Ball Breakers", in which Beavis and Butt-head loaded a bowling ball with explosives and dropped it from a rooftop. While Morality in Media claimed that the show inspired Settle's actions, the case's prosecutors did not. Later it was revealed by both prosecutors and the defendant as well, that Settle did not have cable TV and did not watch the show.

Responses by writers and MTV

In one episode, the show parodied blaming actions on youth culture. When asked by a reporter why they were flying a kite in a rainstorm, the duo explained that they were inspired by a documentary about Benjamin Franklin. Not satisfied, the reporter continued asking them leading questions until they mentioned that they had watched some rock music videos earlier in the day. The following scene is the reporter on TV blaming the music videos for the duo's actions.

MTV also responded by broadcasting the program after 11:00 P.M., and made a disclaimer, reminding viewers that:

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

This was later changed to:

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 NES game as well as their Windows game Beavis and Butt-head in Virtual Stupidity.

They were famously lambasted by Democratic senator Fritz Hollings as "Buffcoat and Beaver." This would subsequently become a running gag on the show where adults mispronounced their names (Tom Anderson originally calling them "Butthole and Joe", and believing the two to be of Asian ethnicity. In later episodes, Tom Anderson uses the Hollings mispronunciation once, and on at least one occasion refers to them as "Penis and Butt-Munch". President Clinton called them "Beamis and Bum-head" in one episode, as well as in the movie, where an old lady consistently calls them "Travis" and "Bob-head").

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. With regard to criticisms of the two as "idiots," Judge responded that a show about straight-A students would not be funny.

Films

Main article: Beavis and Butt-head Do America

In 1996, a full-length movie featuring the duo entitled Beavis and Butt-head Do America was released in theaters. 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 film critics and a "two thumbs up" from Siskel and Ebert. The film earned over $60 million at the domestic box office, a strong return for a film that cost only $5 million to produce.

Also, in recent interviews, Judge claims that he is interested in producing a live-action movie. He said that previously he despised the idea, but now he thinks "maybe there's something there." During an interview for Collider on August 25, 2009, Judge told them, "I like to keep the door open on Beavis and Butt-Head, because it's my favorite thing that I've ever done. It's the thing I'm most proud of." However, he also added, "Another movie... the problem is it takes a year and half, two years, two and a half years - maybe - to do that right. And that's a pretty strong level of commitment. I'm going to look at that again. That comes up every three years." One of his ideas is bringing back the characters as old men, instead of teenagers. "I kind of think of them as being either 15 or in their 60s," he said. "I wouldn't mind doing something with them as these two dirty old men sitting on the couch." Judge added that he wouldn't completely ignore the time that has passed in between. "At one point I thought Butt-Head might do okay on some really low-level sales job.

Related media

• A CD, The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience, was released featuring many hard rock and heavy metal bands, such as Megadeth, Primus, Nirvana and White Zombie. Moreover, Beavis and Butt-head do a duet with Cher on "I Got You Babe" and a track by themselves called "Come to Butt-head". The track with Cher also resulted in a music video directed by Tamra Davis and Yvette Kaplan.
• In 1995 an adventure game based on the series was released called Beavis and Butt-head in Virtual Stupidity on the PC, with a PlayStation port being released in Japan. A CD-i port was planned but was canceled due to falling sales of the console. Atari also designed an arcade game in 1996, but it was never released (prototype cabinets exist).
• Many video games, including Beavis and Butt-head, Beavis and Butt-head in Virtual Stupidity, Beavis and Butt-head: Bunghole in One, Calling All Dorks, Little Thingies, Wiener Takes All, and Beavis and Butt-head Do U.
• A 1995 pornographic film exists called Beaver and Butt-face with Buck Adams and Tony Tedeschi portraying Beavis and Butt-head look-alikes complete with make-up.
• In 2010, Beavis and Butt-Head apps for both the iPhone and the iPad were released by MTV.
• Two characters named Larry and Garry resembles the duo on the ABC sitcom Step By Step. Some like to consider this a live-version cameo of the "actual" characters. They appear in three episodes, the two male actors even act in the same manner, even wearing AC/DC and Metallica t-shirts.
• AC/DC's Ballbreaker World Tour had an animated intro featuring Beavis and Butt-head, where the duo attempts to get into the band's dressing room, only to be chased away by a female security guard (resembling Taarna from Heavy Metal) sent by a crude caricature drawing of Angus Young.

Marvel Comics

From 1994 to 1996, Marvel Comics published a monthly Beavis and Butt-head comic by a variety of writers, but with each issue drawn by artist Rick Parker. It was also reprinted by Marvel UK, which created new editorial material.

The letter's page was answered by 'Beavis and Butt-head' or one of their supporting characters. Instead of reviewing music videos, they reviewed (custom-made) pages from other Marvel Comics - in one with Ghost Rider, Beavis tries to avoid using the word "fire" to describe the character's fiery skull.

In the comic, minor characters like Earl, Billy Bob, Clark Cobb, and Mistress Cora Anthrax would get repeated appearances; Earl was quite regular, and Anthrax was in two issues and got to answer a letter's page.

Other appearances

• On the TV series Friends at the end of episode # 2.15, "The One Where Rachel and Ross...You Know", Joey and Chandler watch Beavis and Butt-head while acting and laughing very similarly to the cartoon duo.
• Beavis and Butt-head make a voice-only appearance in the 1994 film Airheads. The duo call a radio station to inform The Lone Rangers (a fictional rock band, and the protagonist[s] of the film) that their music sucks.
• A voice-clip of Butt-head is used in Duke Nukem 3D.
• Clips from Beavis and Butt-head appear in the films Clueless and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
• Beavis and Butt-head appeared in the "Fandemonium 2000" episode of Celebrity Deathmatch to fight each other; the fight ended with Beavis (as The Great Cornholio) winning.
• Beavis and Butt-head appear in Robot Chicken as two new members of the Teen Titans. Seth Green voiced Beavis and Dan Milano voiced Butt-head.
• In 2002, Beavis and Butt-Head cameoed in a Saturday Night Live TV Funhouse segment titled, "Colin Powell on MTV."
• During the Jackass MTV Takeover on February 23 2008, Mike Judge created a special Beavis and Butt-head review of Steve-O's new rap song. (The two hated it) This also included a brief clip of new animation, when Butt-head fantasises about what he and Beavis would be like if they were black; they find even if they were black, they'd hate Steve-O's rapping.
• Beavis and Butt-Head resurfaced in late August, 2009, presenting a clip from Mike Judge's latest film Extract, during Jason Bateman's appearance on Late Show with David Letterman to promote the film. This clip was also formerly used in the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, with the duo stating, "Vote to put Beavis and Butt-head back on MTV!". Ironically, Mike Judge stated on July 14, 2010 that he would in fact, bring back Beavis and Butt-head to MTV, with new episodes airing in 2011.
• The duo make an appearance at the start of Jackass 3D, explaining to the audience how the 3D segments of the film work by way of Butt-head punching Beavis repeatedly in the face, making him believe the punches were caused by his 3D glasses.

Daria spin-off

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 has 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 and originally designed by Bill Peckmann of J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. Eichler then became a producer for Daria. In the first episode of Daria, she and her family move from Beavis and Butt-head's hometown of Highland to Lawndale - the only references to the original show is a single mention of Highland in the first episode, with Daria saying Lawndale can't be a second Highland "unless there's uranium in the drinking water here too" and the duo are mentioned only once as "those two boys".

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 (Troubled Youth, The Final Judgment, Law-Abiding Citizens, Hard Cash, Butt-O-Ween, Beavis and Butt-Head Do Christmas, Innocence Lost, Chicks 'n' Stuff, Feel Our Pain) 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 (other than the feature-film).

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 six of the VHS editions was released in December 2002. The remaining five 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 11 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 owned 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 had been prepared without his knowledge or consent.

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 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 following (known to date) edits were all made in Vol. 1 to correct "animation mistakes" according to Mike Judge:

• Lawn & Garden: The part where Butt-head holds the chainsaw and screams "Welcome to the jungle...you're gonna die" while headbanging has been removed.
• 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: The 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 would not hurt to wipe once in while has been removed.
• Date Bait: Scene where Beavis and 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: The teacher's comment, about teaching a class on aromatherapy, is removed. Three or four lines (after Beavis and Butt-head rearrange the letters on the sign) have also been cut. Several other dialogue cuts were made throughout.
• Teen Talk: A 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 third grade, and will not 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: The middle section of the 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 defecating, 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.
• Butt-o-ween: A scene from when the duo are improvising costumes for trick-or-treating, Beavis walks up to Butt-Head while wearing a black "Winger" t-shirt (similar to the one Stewart wears) and sings a line from the song "She's only seventeen" provoking Butt-head to slap him across the face disapprovingly was removed, most likely as a result of a legal threat from the band's lead singer.

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 Mike Judge Collection, Volume 3 was released on August 1, 2006. 42 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 and Butt-head cut their teacher's chair in half was removed from "Woodshop," and a short line from Beavis from "Impotence."

The Mike Judge Collections have been the subject of heavy criticism among fans. This is mostly due to the DVD sets not being proper season sets and missing many episodes. All of Season 1 is missing and most of Season 2 is not included either. A number of episodes from remaining seasons have been excluded as well. This was explained via a note included in The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 1 in which Mike Judge writes "I've often said there's about a third of Beavis and Butt-head that I think is great and I'm really proud of, another third that is okay, and then another third that's really awful and embarrassing. A while back, I talked with the folks at MTV and we agreed to put out a DVD set that would contain the two thirds that didn't suck and call it The Mike Judge Collection." Despite this, proper season sets with all episodes intact remain highly coveted by fans.

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

Revival

On July 14, 2010, a spokesperson for MTV Networks informed a New York Post reporter that Mike Judge is creating a new Beavis and Butt-head series, that Judge will reprise his voice-acting roles for the show, and that the animation will be hand-drawn. However, according to TMZ, MTV has not yet asked Tracy Grandstaff to reprise her role as Daria Morgendorffer.

As in the old series, Beavis and Butt-head are high school students who, among other things, critique contemporary music videos. In an interview with Rolling Stone, MTV president Van Toffler said that the duo will also watch Jersey Shore, Ultimate Fighting Championship matches, and amateur videos from YouTube, as well as give movie reviews. "The biggest change is obviously the references are updated, it’s set in modern day, and there’s going to be a movie review segment," Linn said. "Otherwise they’re still true to their prior passions."

John Altschuler, formerly a writer for King of the Hill, told a Rolling Stone reporter of the signs he noticed that Mike Judge was thinking of reviving Beavis and Butt-head. On more than one occasion, Judge told the writers that one of their ideas for an episode of King of the Hill would work well for Beavis and Butt-head; eventually he concluded, "Maybe we should just actually make some good Beavis and Butt-head episodes." Later, a Lady Gaga video convinced Van Toffler of the tenability of a Beavis and Butt-head revival: "I felt like there was a whole crop of new artists—and what the world sorely missed was the point-of-view that only Beavis and Butt-head could bring."

As part of a promotional campaign for the new series, cinemas screening Jackass 3D opened the feature film with a 3-D Beavis and Butt-head short subject. Months later, in a media presentation on February 2, 2011, MTV announced that the series would premiere in the summer of 2011.

It was announced on June 29, 2011 that there will be a Beavis and Butthead panel at the San Diego Comic-Con International 2011 which will feature Mike Judge speaking and fielding question and answers. There will also be a sneak preview of the new series. The panel will take place on July 21, 2011.

Books

• Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil. Glenn Eichler (ed.). MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: This Book Sucks. MTV Books, Callaway, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-89034-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
• Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil, Guy Maxtone-Graham, Kristofor Brown, David Felton, Glenn Eichler, Mike Judge. Glenn Eichler (ed.). MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: Ensucklopedia. MTV Books, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-52149-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Doyle, Larry. Glenn Eichler (ed.). MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: This Sucks, Change It!. MTV Books, Pocket Books, Melcher Media. ISBN 0-671-53633-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
• Doyle, Larry. Glenn Eichler (ed.). MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: Huh Huh For Hollywood. MTV Books, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-00655-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
• Kristofor Brown (ed.). MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: Doodle (doodie) Book. Boston America Corp. ISBN 1-889647-00-4.
• MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: 3-D Poster Book. Boston America Corp.
• Brown, Kristofor. MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: Big Book of Important Stuff to Make Life Cool. Boston America Corp. ISBN 1-889647-15-2.
• MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: Doodle (doodie) Book #2. Boston America Corp. ISBN 1-889647-28-4.
• MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: Sticky Things. Boston America Corp. ISBN 1-889647-16-0.
• Judge, Mike. MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head Do America: The Official Script Book. MTV Books, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-00658-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
• Grabianski, Greg. Kristofor Brown (ed.). MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: The Butt-Files. MTV Books, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-01426-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
• Brown, Kristofor. Dave Stern (ed.). MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: Travel Log. MTV Books, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-01533-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
• Rheingold, Andy. Kristofor Brown (ed.). MTV'S Beavis and Butt-Head: Chicken Soup for the Butt. MTV Books, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-02598-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
• Reading Sucks: The Collected Works of Beavis and Butt-head (ISBN 978-1-4165-2436-6). This book is a bundle of four previous books (Ensucklopedia, Huh Huh for Hollywood, The Butt-Files, and Chicken Soup for the Butt) which are no longer in print separately.
• Sun, Douglas. [August 1998] “'Change It! This Sucks!': Beavis and Butt-head, Idiot Savants of Cultural Criticism.” in David E.E. Sloane (Ed.) New Directions in American Humor. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0910-1

External links

• Beavis and Butt-head VIP-Hole at MTV.com
• Beavis and Butt-Head at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Beavis and Butt-head at EpisodeWorld.com
• Beavis and Butt-head at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Houston Chronicle article featuring Mike Judge
• Beavis and Butt-head introduce the Mike Judge film Extract
• Beavis and Butt-head on iPhone and iPad