Encyclopedia
Beavis and Butt-head is an
American animated television series that originally aired on the
cable television channel
MTV from 1993 to 1997, and can now be seen in re-runs on
MTV2 and
VH1. It is rated
TV-14 in the
United States.
Each show contains short cartoons centering on a pair of post-pubescent teenagers by the names of Beavis and Butt-Head who live in the town of Highland,
Texas. These cartoons are broken up by short breaks in which Beavis and Butt-Head watch music videos and comment on them, often in a humorous fashion.
Origins
The characters were first created in 1989 when
Mike Judge was working on several independent animated films. Beavis and Butt-Head were based on a slacker student that Judge knew in high school. The two characters made their debut in a 1990 low-budget short film Huh? The 40 second animated film was featured in Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation that same year.
MTV had then become interested in Mike Judge after seeing his popular 1991 short film,
Office Space . MTV hired Judge to work on animated segments for their new TV series,
Liquid Television. The two animated shorts Judge created for the show were two pilot episodes for the show Beavis and Butt-head. The animated segments became the most popular animated segments of
Liquid Television's entire airing. That would lead to the TV series.
Mike Judge has said that he imagined Beavis and Butt-Head as slacker students at the real-life Highland High School on Coal Avenue in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he lived. Specifically, he first created Butt-head as his idea of the archetypal slacker high school student, incorporating the look, name, and voice of a friend who invited anyone to kick him in the rear-end, calling himself "Iron-butt."
When attempting to conceive of the look for a companion to Butt-Head, it is rumoured that Judge combined the look of a nerdy classmate he knew from
high school and his own bad artistic rendering of Barry Manilow. He named him "Beavis" , and modeled the voice after his own interpretation of what a typical "frybrained teenager" would sound like, incorporating the raspy laugh of the aforementioned classmate.
It is a popular myth at the
University of California, San Diego that the appearances of Beavis and Butt-head were modeled on faculty at its Department of Physics. Their real-life models are said to be David Kleinfeld and James Branson.
The characters
Beavis and Butt-Head are high school students whose lifestyles revolve around
TV,
nachos, Fruity Whips,
shopping malls,
heavy metal music, and trying to "score with chicks". Beavis wears a blue
Metallica T-shirt , while Butt-Head wears a gray
AC/DC T-shirt . Both Beavis and Butt-Head constantly snicker.
Their full names are never mentioned on the show. In an episode of the TV show, he mentions having a cousin named Richard Head, a play off of the term 'Dick Head.' Additionally, when listening to
Nitzer Ebb's song
Godhead in the episode
Heroes Beavis says: "
Hey, Butt-Head, this guy has the same last name as you!" in reference to the song's title. In another episode, he forges his mom's signature on a permission slip as "Mrs. Butt-Head."
| Picture | Name | Description |
|---|
| | Beavis | Has an underbite and a fixated stare on his face which almost always looks to the side. Beavis grunts when he laughs and has a nasal voice. The more excitable of the two; he is oblivious of the obvious, is obsessed with fire, and has a more passive demeanor that contrasts with Butt-head's more dominant personality. Beavis also has an alter-ego named Cornholio which usually surfaces after consuming large quantities of caffeine or sugar. |
| | Butt-Head | Wears dental braces and has squinted eyes. His top gums are often exposed 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 insane it is. The designated "leader" of the duo, he also 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. |
| | Tom Anderson | The near-sighted, elderly neighbour of Beavis and Butt-head. Most often, he hires them to do odd jobs, which results 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. He often refers to the duo as "Beaver" and "Buff-coat". He served in World War II and in the Korean War as part of the Navy. Judge reused some of Anderson's characteristics for Hank Hill in his next show, King of the Hill is a satirical American [i] animated television series [i] created by ...
. |
| | 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 hippie with a forgiving nature and gentle demeanour. His attempts to teach Beavis and Butt-head useful life lessons typically ends in disaster, as they almost always deduce the wrong message. He has been shown teaching classes on Biology, Art, Animation, Economics, Health, History, Literature, etc. |
| | 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. Like Mr. Van Driessen, he teaches a number of classes, including P.E., Health, and Math. |
| | Principal McVicker | Principal of Highland High and, arguably, Beavis and Butt-head's arch-enemy. 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. |
| | 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 doesn't 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 was an American [i] animated television series [i], created by Glenn Eichler [i] ...
. |
| | 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 always wears mirrored sunglasses. He has a tattoo on his right bicep of a flaming skull clutching a knife between it's 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 blond hair is cut in a mullet hairstyle.
Todd's surname was revealed in the book Beavis and Butt-head: This Book Sucks, by Mike Judge. |
| | 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 don't usually 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 initiated. He wears a shirt with the logo for Winger on the front . |
Minor characters
See List of Minor Characters on 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. They often enjoy frying things other than food such as earthworms, dead mice, and their own fingers. They like hurling hamburgers and milkshakes at the ceiling fan above the cash registers. The boys have also unintentionally had brief stints as secretaries and telemarketers.
- 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.
- One of their most prominent goals in life is to "score" 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.
- 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 prompted when Beavis rapidly consumes a large amount of sugar, caffeine, or other stimulants. In one episode, the duo wanders into a bohemian coffeehouse, 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 México, and Beavis is deported. Beavis also assumes the Great Cornholio persona for the climactic scenes of Beavis and Butt-head Do America. In a scene archetypical of the Great Cornholio's manic genius, he finds himself alone in the White House, confronting a portrait of Richard Nixon in his famous 2-armed "V for Victory" pose. His response epitomises a first impression of President Nixon, "Are you threatening me!?"
- 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 of his poor vision, he continues to hire the two for odd jobs.
Locations
There are several prime locations featured in the series. All these locations are located within the fictional town of Highland.
- Living room: Located at Butt-head's house, much of the action, and all of the video segments, take place or begin here, with the two sitting on the couch, watching TV.
- Highland High School: Probably the most visited location in the series. Based on a real Highland High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- Burger World: The fast-food restaurant where Beavis and Butt-head assume grill and drive-through/front register duties. It is regularly damaged or completely demolished by the duo. Aside from the manager, it seems that Beavis and Butt-head are the only employees.
- Tom Anderson's house: Anderson's house, a typical middle-class suburban home, is continually vandalized and destroyed by Beavis and Butt-head.
- Maxi-Mart: A convenience store. In contradiction to the continuity of the series, it has been shown as being called "Qwik-Mart" in a few episodes.
- Open field: A grassy field, backdropped by a large water tower, where Beavis and Butt-head carry out destructive experiments or set things on fire.
- Mall: A preferred loitering spot for the duo. It was seen as being called Turbo Mall 2000 and Highland Mall, and it also seemed to grow bigger as the series progressed.
- Stewart's House: Beavis and Butt-head occasionally visit Stewart's house. Their visits often entail damaging something in the house.
Holiday specials
Four holiday specials were produced -- one for
Halloween, two for
Christmas and one for Thanksgiving.
The Halloween special involved them attempting to trick-or-treat, in ridiculous costumes. Butt-head pours melted cheese on his head and becomes "nachos", while Beavis wears a pair of underwear on his head and is a "
'nad". After eating all of Tom Anderson's beggars' candy, Beavis turns into his alter ego the
Great Cornholio, at which point he starts freaking out on Anderson's lawn, and wanders away from Butt-head and goes on another hyperactive rampage, threatening trick-or-treaters for their candy and, in the case of some Halloween pranksters, their toilet paper. Butt-head attempts to follow Beavis, where they meet up with Todd when he nearly runs over Beavis. Todd threatens Cornholio, but the bluster and seeming confidence of Beavis' alter ego is enough to get Todd to back down and throw Butt-Head into the trunk instead, takes him to the country and deserted by Todd and his gang, where he is confronted by a crazy farmer. Beavis continues his hyperactive rampage, ending up at the crazy farmer's place. Eventually Beavis wakes up after his sugar high to find himself hanging in the farmer's barn. At the end of the episode it is implied that he is killed by a now blue-skinned Butt-head and the farmer who are both wielding
chainsaws.
The first Christmas special featured the pair sitting in front of the television providing crude commentary on various aspects of Christmas, and commentating on Christmas-themed music videos from various artists.
The second Christmas special consisted of two segments that parodied popular Christmas stories. The first was a parody of
A Christmas Carol is Charles Dickens [i]' "little Christmas Book" first published on December 19 [i] ...
, featuring Beavis as Ebenezer Scrooge. The second was a send up of
It's A Wonderful Life is a 1946 Frank Capra [i] film, produced by his own Liberty Films [i] and rele ...
, with an angel named Charlie trying to convince Butt-head to kill himself for the good of all mankind . The special also contained short segments where Butt-head dressed as
Santa Claus and read letters from viewers, while Beavis was dressed as a
reindeer who Butt-head occasionally struck with a bullwhip. The running joke during these segments was that in every letter written by a girl, she wanted Beavis, which made Butt-head angrier and led him to hit Beavis even more with the bullwhip.
All of the letters read by Santa Butt-head were actually sent in by MTV viewers, as several months before the special aired, MTV had a commercial encouraging viewers to write letters to Santa Butt-head, and provided an address to which they could be sent.
The MTV Thanksgiving Special "Beavis & Butt-Head Do Thanksgiving" aired on 27 November 1997 and featured Kurt Loder as the show's host, half-reluctantly and half-resigned trying to teach the two cartoon characters the meaning of Thanksgiving as they report live from the Macy's Parade in New York, where they take more interest in people's butts and porn-shops than anything else. Amongst others, the special features appearances by
Adam Sandler,
LL Cool J, Jay-Z, R.E.M.,
Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson,
Ol' Dirty Bastard,
Tori Amos,
Beastie Boys. Also featured are two music videos not included in any of the show's regular episodes. The Thanksgiving special unfortunately only aired once and its inclusion in the Mike Judge Collection
DVD set only shows it in a heavily censored format without music videos.
Music videos
For a full list of musical artists on Beavis and Butt-head, see List of musicians appearing on Beavis and Butt-head.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, or simply engage in nonsensical dialogue.
They showed a particular disdain for many generic '
80s
hair bands. Upon seeing a video by
Def Leppard, Butt-head remarks that "Spinal Tap really sucks lately". Their epitome of "wuss bands" was Winger, which Stewart was a big fan of. During a
Poison video, Beavis made a remark about the band being chicks. Butt-head replied with, "Poison's not chicks!
Nelson's chicks!" They've also continuously said that Grim Reaper sucks.
Sometimes the pair responded to a song's lyrics, as with
Men Without Hats'
Safety Dance: "Why does that guy keep saying he can dance? His dancing
sucks!" At other times, they responded to the visuals; while watching a
Grace Jones video, Beavis objected, "This isn't Manute Bol!" "Yeah, Manute Bol sings better than this," Butt-Head replied. They had no tolerance for new wave or electronic music ; as Butt-head says, "I heard '
Depeche Mode' is French for 'we're wusses'!" They seemed to like the imagery associated with goth rock, but not the music itself .
Bands they liked were also mocked. They were disappointed by an AC/DC video, despite the fact that they were fans of the group. Midway through viewing
Judas Priest's cheesy "Breaking The Law" video, Butt-head remarks, "I like Priest and everything, but this sucks!" A video by
KISS received the backhanded compliment, "These guys are cool for a bunch of mimes."
At times, the criticism reflects their young age and ignorance of music history. Upon seeing a video by
Black Sabbath, they decide that the band's vocalist can't be Ozzy Osbourne, because "Ozzy's an old fart!" . Butt-head mistakes their raw sound for
grunge and inquires if they are from
Seattle, Beavis replies "No, they're American," even though Seattle is located in the
United States and Black Sabbath is 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." After Butt-head purposely misidentifies another video by
Stone Temple Pilots, Beavis objects, "That's not
Pearl Jam, dumbass!" A smug Butt-head shows a teacher's approval: "I'm glad to see you're learning, Beavis."
Beavis and Butt-head rarely expressed complete enjoyment about any video. 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. Hum appeared to be responsible for their favourite video even when they mistakenly thought the song "Stars" was over long before the actual end of the song. Beavis became hyper with joy saying "Yeah!,
Megadeth!" while watching the video "Sweating Bullets" and Butt-head told Beavis that Dave Mustaine's singing voice was similar to Beavis's speaking voice. During the video for
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's
Dang, Butt-head laughed so hysterically with both humor and joy to the point of almost losing his breath
The video which the duo declared to be officially the 'best ever' was Ministry's 'Just One Fix'. During
William S. Burroughs' appearance in that video, Beavis declares 'Even the old guy is cool!' Ironically, a large number of fans of the group Army of Lovers attest to having discovered the group from the appearance of a video of theirs on Beavis and Butt-head, in which both of the boys expressed frustration with the frequent shifts between scenes they deeply enjoyed and scenes they found disturbing. Beavis and Butt-head treat
Lemmy Kilmister, of
Motörhead fame, like a V.I.P. whenever he appears. One occasion of this was when Lemmy walked into a
Ramones video and Beavis says to Butt-head, "Whoa! Butt-head, look! It's Lemmy! It's Lemmy! What's he doing there?!" Butt-head responded, "He's Lemmy, dumbass. He can walk into any video he wants." They also once expressed if not love, a deep respect for "Weird Al" Yankovic. During the
Stray Cats video for "Rock This Town", a man who bears a resemblance to Yankovic appears, making Beavis scream in delight "Hey, It's Weird Al!" and Butt-head concurring "Cool, Weird Al!". As the Yankovic lookalike is dancing with a woman, Beavis declares "Cool, he's gonna get some!", Butt-head responds "Of course he is, dumbass! He's Weird Al!"
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. The ultimate put-down was to simply look at each other, each with a look of horror and then switch the channel without saying a word. Only
Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" and
Milli Vanilli were considered so egregious as to deserve this fate.
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 one dance where Butt-head jumps back and forth across the room, or Beavis humping the couch in parody of the dancing in a music video.
Controversial content
Mike Judge created the Beavis and Butt-head characters for an animated short for the
Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. This short, named "Frog
Baseball", was aired on MTV's independent animation showcase
Liquid Television was an early-1990s [i] animation [i] showcase that appeared on MTV [i]. ...
, and featured the two playing baseball with a living frog as the ball.
The duo lent popularity to slang terms including "assmunch", "asswipe", "buttwipe", "butt dumpling", "butt burglar", "dumbass", "fartknocker", "fartwipe", "
choad", "dil-hole", "dil-weed", "penis breath", "
schlong", and other assorted insults.
Early episodes gave them a juvenile
obsession with fire and dangerous behaviour. The show was blamed for child deaths as the result of fire and dangerous stunts, particularly the one in
Ohio in 1993 in which a five year old boy set fire to his mother's mobile home killing his two year old sister. The houseowners blamed the show 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. References to fire were cut from earlier episodes in reruns. Other episodes MTV opted to not rerun.
Jabs at the controversy were made in subsequent episodes.
- Beavis tries to light a cigarette but cannot get the lighter to work.
- In the episode "Liar, Liar", Beavis chants "liar, liar", saying it as "liar, liar, pants on....whoa!"
- Beavis shouts "water" in the same manner as that in which he would shout "fire".
- Beavis watches the video "California" by the punk rock band Wax. It includes slow-motion footage of a man running while covered in flames. Beavis remains sublimely transfixed throughout the video, capable of uttering nothing more than "Oooooh… Aaaaaah…"
- When the song "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis came up during a video, Beavis could not resist saying the last word for the title in his signature style.
- During the begining of the video for Suds and Sodas by dEUS, the two think the beeps are coming from the smoke alarm. Butt-head suggest they take out the batteries, but Beavis points out the idea of "what if there was a... oh. Nevermind."
- Beavis shouts "Fryer!" while working at Burger World in the same manner as he shouted "Fire!" before the controversy.
- The most significant jab was 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 and a censorship advocate named Betsy Weiner approaches them, and tries to use their plight to blame Howard Stern.
- In the theatrical motion picture "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" inside the Hoover Dam, Butt-head says "All they have is shows about water" Beavis replies with "They need some shows about fire" Beavis said fire in some scenes of the movie.
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
New Jersey highway on an episode in which Beavis and Butt-head loaded a bowling ball with explosives and dropped it from a rooftop. The 18-year-old boy arrested for the crime did not have access to cable. The show was eventually cleared of blame.
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 completly [sic] 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 wienerheads make us laugh.
Early episodes with the controversial content intact are rare, and are traded on home-made 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 game.
Beavis and Butt-head, along with
Ren and Stimpy,
The Simpsons is an Emmy [i] and Peabody [i]-winning American [i] animated [i] ...
and
South Park is a Peabody [i] and Emmy Award [i]-winning American [i] animated television series [i]...
, pushed the boundaries of cartoons away from clean material for small children. 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 mis-pronouncing their names . Such an example is a reporter calling them "Brevis and Headbutt". 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 Beavis and Butt-head as "idiots", Judge has responded that a show about straight-A students just wouldn't 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.
Beavis and Butt-head Do America
Beavis and Butt-head Do America was released in 1996. The movie features the voices of
Bruce Willis,
Demi Moore,
Cloris Leachman,
Robert Stack,
Eric Bogosian,
Richard Linklater, Greg Kinnear , and
David Letterman . The film's plot follows Beavis and Butt-head on a journey to retrieve their stolen television set. They travel across the
United States and become involved in a biological weapon smuggling scheme that they remain unaware of throughout the film. The journey takes them to
Washington, D.C. where they meet
President Clinton . Tom Anderson, David Van Driessen and Principal McVicker have cameos.
In the film, Beavis and Butt-head befriend two characters who are older look-alikes of themselves. A scene that follows shows the ATF, running 'samples' left by Beavis and Butt-head in Mr. Anderson's camper through a national prison sperm bank, establishing these characters as possible fathers of the duo . In the next scene, one of the older look-alike characters tells Beavis and Butt-head a story about how "he scored with these two chicks" fifteen years ago when they were in Beavis & Butt-head's hometown of Highland as roadies for
Mötley Crüe. He then dismisses the other look-alike's claim of having sex with either woman, and is met with no rebuttal. This scene leads to some debate as to whether or not it is revealed that Beavis and Butt-head are actually biological half-brothers, and that the two have lived their entire lives unaware of this fact. Nevertheless, Beavis and Butt-head appear oblivious to these clues that point out that they have finally met their father.
Despite the initial claims of many skeptics, the film was quite popular, and was quite well received by critics.
Siskel and Ebert gave the movie "two thumbs up." The film cemented its cult classic status with the announcement by Paramount of a 10th Anniversary DVD of the film due for release September 2006.
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 .
Other appearances
- Beavis and Butt-head made an "appearance" on the Late Show with David Letterman is an hour-long weeknight comedy [i] talk show [i] broadcast by CBS [i]...
. 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 characters were presenters during the 1997 Academy Awards telecast.
- Beavis and Butt-head have also appeared in a comic book series released by Marvel Comics, and many video games, like Virtual Stupidity, Bunghole in One and Beavis and Butt-head Do U.
- They appear in voice only in the live-action film Airheads is a comedy [i] film [i] released on August 5 [i], 1994 [i]. ...
. When a radio DJ is taking call-ins, Beavis and Butt-head call and hurl a torent of abuse at the The Lone Rangers with the band members, Rex, Chazz and Pip responding with similar insults to the pair. Mike Judge supplied the voices himself for the movie. - In two episodes of the ABC sitcom Step by Step was an American [i] television sitcom [i] which was aire ...
, there are two male actors who resemble Beavis and Butt-head and act in the same manner, even wearing AC/DC and Metallica t-shirts. - On a Christmas-themed episode of Saturday Night Live is a weekly late night 90-minute American [i] comedy [i]-variety show [i] ...
, the characters appeared on the show's Weekend Update sketch and conversed with Norm MacDonald. Situated outside of Rockefeller Center, Butt-head was dressed to resemble Santa Claus while Beavis donned a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer costume. - In the 1999 Hugh Grant film Notting Hill, Beavis and Butt-head's image is seen on a stained glass window.
- Butt-head made a brief cameo in the MTV animated series The Head.
- On an episode of the MTV animated series "The Maxx" Maxx is watching the episode "The Great Cornholio."
- Beavis & Butt-head appeared on the MTV series Celebrity Deathmatch is a claymation [i] parody [i] television show [i] spoofing professional wrestling [i]...
, in which both boys fought each other. When they enter the ring, they appear hand-drawn but, later on, they take up their own 3D clay figures. Beavis wins the fight when he becomes Cornholio. Their voices were not performed by Mike Judge. - On the Adult Swim sketch show Robot Chicken is an American [i] stop motion [i] animated television series [i] create ...
, a featured parody of the Cartoon Network animated series Teen Titans has Beavis and Butt-head joining the team. Their attitude lands them and the team in trouble. They make a rather risqué comment regarding Starfire's unusual skin pigmentation and insult Raven's gothic nature. They also sing the theme song from the Batman television series when Robin is around. Mike Judge did not voice the duo in this parody and was cut from the Robot Chicken season 1 DVD due to legal problems, but it Is still shown on television in reruns. At the 2006 comic-con, Robot Chicken co-creator Seth Green
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announced that the sketch would be included on the season 2 DVD.
- 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!" . The duo have made appearances at other VMAs during the series' run.
- In an episode of the TV show Friends was a long-running and widely acclaimed situation comedy [i] about a group of six friends in ...
, 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. - Beavis and Butt-head also appear in an episode of Saturday Night Live is a weekly late night 90-minute American [i] comedy [i]-variety show [i] ...
s TV Funhouse, where Colin Powell is
