Beavis and Butt-head

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Butthead or Butt-Head redirects here. For the element in shipbuilding, see Butt (sailing).

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. It was rated TV-14 in the US.

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 fictional town of Highland, Texas. These cartoons are broken up by short breaks in which Beavis and Butt-head watch music videos and poke fun at them.

Contents

1 Origins
2 The characters

2.1 Minor characters
2.2 Recurring themes
2.3 Locations

3 Holiday specials
4 Music videos
5 Controversial content
6 ''
7 ''The Beavis and Butt-head Experience'' album
8 Other appearances
9 Spin-offs
10 Video and DVD
11 Books
12 Social influence
13 See also
14 External links

Origins

The Beavis and Butt-head characters were created by Mike Judge. 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 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" (after a local kid called Bobby 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 (where Judge attended college) 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

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Beavis and Butt-head are high school freshmen 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 (in some earlier episodes, a Slayer T-shirt), while Butt-head wears a gray AC/DC T-shirt (on some merchandising items these were changed to shirts saying "Skull" and "Death Rock" due to trademark and licensing legalities). Both Beavis and Butt-head constantly snicker.

Their full names are never mentioned on the show. However, it was suggested, in the feature-length film Beavis and Butt-head Do America, that Butt-head's name is actually "Butt Head". When one of the elderly female characters asks him his last name, he tells her it's "Head", adding "My first name's Butt". In an episode of the TV show, he mentions having a cousin named Richard Head, a play off of the term 'Dick Head.' In the episode 'Pregnant Pause' during a musical segment, Butt-head says he has an Uncle Mike. In another episode, he forges his mom's signature on a permission slip as "Mrs. Butt-head." Also in the episode "No Laughing", Principal McVicker referes to one of them as "Mr. Schirman". (This, however, could be the name of the history teacher McVicker refers to in this segment.)

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.
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 served in World War II and in the Korean War as part of the Navy. This character would be re-tooled as the basis for Hank Hill in Judge's next show, King of the Hill.
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 biggest 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, and occasionally wets his pants. 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.
Todd Ianuzzi Todd is a twenty-something hoodlum who is rude, arrogant, and violent. Because of this, Beavis and Butt-head look up to him and aspire to be included in 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 drives a primer patched green hot rod, 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.
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. May be the inspiration for Clark Peters or Andy Maynard on King of the Hill.
Mr. Stevenson Father of Stewart. He too despises Beavis and Butt-head, but occasionally becomes side-stepped by exasperating situations that subsequently render him more tolerant of them for the moment. His love of pornography provides Beavis and Butt-head with most of their access to naked women while they pillage through the Stevenson home. Mr. Stevenson was, at one point, shown as a teacher at Highland High. However, as the series progressed he was removed from this role.

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.
	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 served in World War II and in the Korean War as part of the Navy. This character would be re-tooled as the basis for Hank Hill in Judge's next show, King of the Hill.
	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 biggest 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, and occasionally wets his pants. 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.
	Todd Ianuzzi	Todd is a twenty-something hoodlum who is rude, arrogant, and violent. Because of this, Beavis and Butt-head look up to him and aspire to be included in 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 drives a primer patched green hot rod, 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.
	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. May be the inspiration for Clark Peters or Andy Maynard on King of the Hill.
	Mr. Stevenson	Father of Stewart. He too despises Beavis and Butt-head, but occasionally becomes side-stepped by exasperating situations that subsequently render him more tolerant of them for the moment. His love of pornography provides Beavis and Butt-head with most of their access to naked women while they pillage through the Stevenson home. Mr. Stevenson was, at one point, shown as a teacher at Highland High. However, as the series progressed he was removed from this role.

Minor characters

The show had many characters who played less prominent roles than those mentioned above; such characters and their descriptions can be seen here.

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. 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.

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!?"

Locations

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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: A parody of both McDonald's and Burger King, this is 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.

Turbo Mall 2000: A preferred loitering spot for the duo. The Turbo Mall 2000's name was dropped as the series went on, 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

At least three holiday specials were produced -- one for Halloween and two for Christmas.

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.

The second Christmas special consisted of two segments that parodied popular Christmas stories. The first was a parody of A Christmas Carol, featuring Beavis as Ebenezer Scrooge. The second was a send up of It's A Wonderful Life, 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.

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. 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(except for industrial rock); 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 (evidenced during a video by Alien Sex Fiend, when they hit the mute button but continued to watch the video).

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!" (despite the fact that they sing "Breaking The Law" numerous times throughout the series) 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!" (the video was recorded in the early 1970s, but the pair thinks it is new). 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!" (Scott Weiland's voice resembles Eddie Vedder's at times.) 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 ever 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 punchline being that he and Beavis were (or thought they were) high on nutmeg). White Zombie, Type O Negative, Onyx, the Violent Femmes, the Beastie Boys, Coolio, Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera were also among the few groups for whom Beavis and Butt-head expressed appreciation, and the two groups that earn their fondest reviews are GWAR and the Butthole Surfers. Beavis voiced his estimation that every video should be like a GWAR video.

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 guy who looks an awful lot like 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. (Although in a later episode, they did watch another Vanilla Ice video, giving it the full round of criticism.)

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.

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, and featured the two playing baseball with a living frog as the ball.

The duo lent popularity to slang terms including "buttwipe", "buttmunch", "fartknocker", "bunghole", "choad", "ass munch", "TP", "spank the monkey" and others. 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 parent's house killing his two year old sister. The houseowners blamed the show (despite not having a cable TV subscription) which sparked the ire of media watchdog groups.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} 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.

In February 1994, watchdog group "Morality in Media" blamed the death of an eight 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 eighteen-year-old boy arrested for the crime did not have access to cable. The show was eventually cleared of blame. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

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...heh...woah!"
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.
Beavis shouts "Fryer!" while working at Burger World in the same manner as he shouted "Fire!" before the controversy.

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 and The Simpsons, 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 (i.e. Rush Limbaugh's parody "Gus Baker" in the episode "Right On"). 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.

''

Poster for 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 (in an uncredited role), and David Letterman (credited as Earl Hofert). 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 (voiced by Dale Reeves). Tom Anderson, David Van Driessen and Principal McVicker have cameos.
[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
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 (the show alluded to Beavis and Butt-head being illegitimate and having never known their fathers). In the next scene, one of the older look-alike characters (voiced by Letterman) 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(s).
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.

Spoilers end here.

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 and Nirvana. 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).

Other appearances

Beavis and Butt-head reading a Beavis and Butt-head comic.

Two characters resembling the duo on Step By Step. Some like to consider this a live-version cameo of the "actual" characters.

Grandpa Simpson, and Jasper laughing like Beavis and Butt-head

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 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. When a radio DJ is taking call-ins, Beavis and Butt-head call. Mike Judge supplied the voices himself for the movie.
In two episodes of the ABC sitcom Step by Step, 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, 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.
Beavis & Butt-head appeared on the MTV series Celebrity Deathmatch, 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, 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 are misogynistic to Starfire 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 for unknown reasons this parody was cut from the Robot Chicken season 1 DVD but it Is still shown on television in reruns.
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, 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'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 Beavis and Butt-heads.
Beavis and Butt-head appear in the movie , when Dr. Evil has threatened the United Nations and attempts to end transmission, but has trouble ending it, so he accidentally switches to an episode of Beavis and Butt-head. Beavis shouts "Check it out Butt-head, this chick has 3 boobs!" Butt-head replies "How many butts does she have?"
A similar pair of characters, named "Porkhead and Wiener", appeared on the fictional network MVT (Music Video Television) in some episodes of Night Stand with Dick Dietrick.
In the Tiny Toon Adventures Spring Break Special, furry versions of Beavis and Butt-head called Beaver and Bighead appear at the beginning and end of the special. Beaver, as his name implies, is a beaver, while Bighead appears to be a pig. When the Tiny Toons head for Florida at the beginning, Beaver and Bighead appear for the first time, hitchhiking. Beaver assumes that their ride is coming, but Bighead corrects him, and goes on to say that the Tiny Toons "stink". Beaver and Bighead are then flattened by the bus. They again appear at the end, warning parody versions of Ren and Stimpy that they're about to be hit by the Tiny Toons bus, which is returning to Acme Acres. They ignore the warning and are promptly run over. Beaver and Bighead laugh at their misfortune before once again joining the roadkill by the same bus. Beaver and Bighead are voiced by Rob Paulsen and Jeff Glen Bennett.
In an early episode of the animated public broadcast show Arthur, Beavis and Butthead are redisigned into a peanut and walnut, going by the names of "Pea-Brain" and "Nut-Head". Arthur and Buster who are trying to become "cool" read the comic and do not understand them, or why they are funny. Arthur and Buster throughout the episode also do several 'B&B-like' stunts. They are again referenced in another episode, when fans were encouraged to write their own episode, turning Elmwood into a virtual Highland.
In the movie "Empire Records" a drawing of Butt-head can be seen on the white board multiple times in the stores back room.
On UK sketch show Punt and Dennis the two leads Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis appear in a brief animated short as "Dennis and Punt-Head", a very English take where the characters watch breakfast TV instead of music videos and rock while vacuming.

Spin-offs

A spin-off show based on their classmate Daria Morgendorffer, Daria, was also 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. It is said that he has never even seen more than three minutes of the show. 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, although the title of episode 412, "Fire!", may be a reference to B&B.

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 spinoff, the main character, Hank Hill, sounds just like and looks 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.

Video and DVD

The First official home video releases of Beavis and Butt-head were two VHS tapes entitled There Goes The Neighbourhood and Work Sucks!, distributed by Sony Music Video and MTV Home Video in 1994. The VHS tapes contained approximately 8 episodes of Beavis and Butt-head, drawn from the first 4 seasons. Although most of the episodes were presented complete (but without Music Video segments-see below), a handful of episodes from Seasons 2 and 3 were edited for content similar to their broadcast runs. 9 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 Neighbourhood 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.

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.

A two-disc DVD set titled The History of Beavis and Butt-head was scheduled for release in September 2002, but was cancelled at the last moment. 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 creator Mike Judge, the History set was made up of episodes that Judge had previously rejected for home video release and was prepared without his knowledge or consent. Judge said in an interview, "it was basically all the worst episodes, with some exceptions." Judge owns approval rights for video releases of the series, and the History DVD set was recalled at his demand.

On November 8th, 2005, MTV and Paramount Home Entertainment released a three-disc DVD compilation titled , Volume 1. The DVD set includes approximately 40 Episodes and eleven 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 and last Time-Life set, presumably due to the difficulty involved in acquiring music rights for the videos. This last disc, entitled Hard Cash, appeared to have made room for four music videos since it contained half the episodes (one VHS worth) of most of the other volumes (typically the combination of content formerly occupying two VHS tapes).

23 of the 40 Episodes included on the Mike Judge Collection were advertised to have been director's cuts containing "previously censored material". However, shortly prior to the DVDs' retail date, a member of the DVD Talk Forums discovered that the majority of the "Director's Cut" episodes were 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 it has been speculated that the edits in question were made to adjust timing issues in the individual episodes. Lending credence to the speculation is a Houston Chronicle article on the DVDs in which Mike Judge states that he corrected certain animation mistakes on the DVD that he found to be troublesome. The edited episodes nonetheless angered many fans of the show, which led to the set being unfavourably compared to the similarly edited Ren and Stimpy DVDs and George Lucas' updated Star Wars DVDs on many websites and on Amazon.com. However, it should be noted that many of the affected episodes were previously released on the Time-Life and History DVDs complete and unedited.

The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 2 was released on June 13, 2006; The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 3 is planned for release in August 2006. According to TVShowsonDVD.com, the sets will also contain 40 episodes (including 17 DVD debuts), 13 Music Videos, "previously unaired segments", and other bonus features that have yet to be announced.

Contained on The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 2 (on disc 3, under "Previews"), is 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 upcoming DVD release of Mike Judge Collection, Volume 3.

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

Books

"Beavis and Butt-head This Book Sucks".
"Beavis and Butt-head Ensucklopedia". Published December 1994.
"Beavis and Butt-head Huh Huh for Hollywood". Published November 1996.
"Beavis and Butt-head 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.
"Beavis and Butt-head Chicken Soup for the Butt". Published November 1998.
"Beavis and Butt-head 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.

Social influence

The show 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.

ESPN Classic's series Cheap Seats updated the B&B formula in 2003 with a sports theme, with two misfit characters wisecracking on campy old sports broadcasts from the vantage point of their battered sofa. Cheap Seats is also widely seen as kin to Mystery Science Theater 3000 and has featured a cameo their famous wisecracking robots. The robots wisecracking and violent antics predates B&B's TV run.

External links

[Beavis and Butt-head Wiki]
[Beavis & Butt-head VIP-Hole] at MTV.com
[Beavis & Butt-head] at EPisodeWorld.com
[Beavis and Butt-head] at the Big Cartoon DataBase
[Onion A.V. Club] interview with Mike Judge in which the History of Beavis and Butt-head DVD recall is discussed
[Houston Chronicle article featuring Mike Judge]

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Beavis and Butt-head
Characters:	Beavis \| Butt-head \| Mr. Anderson \| David Van Driessen \| Coach Buzzcut \| Principal McVicker \| Daria Morgendorffer \| Todd Ianuzzi \| Stewart Stevenson \| Cornholio \| Musicians
Media:	List of episodes \| Beavis and Butt-Head (video game) \| \| Beavis and Butt-head Do America \| The Beavis and Butt-head Experience
Other:	Frog Baseball \| Daria \| Mike Judge \| Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation