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American adult animated series

Beavis and Butt-Head
Logo for the 2022 revival
Also known asMike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head
Genre
Created byMike Judge
Voices of
Theme music composerMike Judge
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons10
No. of episodes270 + 2 pilots (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Abby Terkuhle (seasons 1–7)
  • Mike Judge (seasons 7–present)
  • John Altschuler (season 8)
  • Dave Krinsky (season 8)
  • Yvette Kaplan (season 8)
  • Michael Rotenberg (seasons 8–present)
  • Tom Lassally (season 8)
  • Lew Morton (seasons 9–present)
  • Chris Prynoski (seasons 9–present)
  • Shannon Prynoski (seasons 9–present)
  • Ben Kalina (seasons 9–present)
  • Antonio Canobbio (seasons 9–present)
Producers
  • John Andrews (seasons 1–7)
  • Matthew Mahoney (seasons 9–present)
Running time
  • 4–11 minutes (seasons 1–8)
  • 22 minutes (season 9–present)
  • 12–21 minutes (specials)
Production companies
Original release
NetworkMTV
ReleaseMarch 8, 1993 (1993-03-08) –
December 29, 2011 (2011-12-29)
NetworkParamount+
ReleaseAugust 4, 2022 (2022-08-04) –
June 29, 2023 (2023-06-29)
NetworkComedy Central
Release2025 (2025)
Related
Daria

Beavis and Butt-Head is an American adult animated sitcom created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor and love for hard rock and heavy metal. The original series juxtaposes slice-of-life short subjects—in which the teens embark on low-minded misadventures in their Texas town—with the pair watching and commenting on music videos.

Judge developed the pair when financing and making his own animated shorts; two of these films, including Frog Baseball, were broadcast by MTV's animation showcase Liquid Television. The network commissioned a full series, which over its seven seasons became its most popular program. The original series ended in 1997, but has been twice rebooted, first in 2011 for MTV, and again in 2022 for Paramount+. Starting in 2025, new episodes will air on Comedy Central.

During its initial run, Beavis and Butt-Head received critical acclaim for its satirical, scathing commentary on society, as well as criticism for its alleged influence on adolescents. The characters became pop culture icons among Gen. X viewers, with their sniggering and dialogue becoming catchphrases. The series was adapted into a theatrical film, the commercially successful Do America (1996), as well as a sequel, Do the Universe (2022). The franchise also spawned a comic book series, video games, books, an album, and more.

Premise

See also: List of Beavis and Butt-Head characters

Beavis and Butt-Head are unintelligent teenage boys who live in the town of Highland, Texas. Rolling Stone described them as "thunderously stupid and excruciatingly ugly". They spend time watching television, drinking unhealthy beverages, eating, and embarking on "mundane, sordid" adventures, which often involve vandalism, abuse, violence, or animal cruelty. According to The Baltimore Sun, Beavis and Butt-Head are "at their most incorrect when it comes to sexuality and matters of gender. The nicest thing you can say about them in this regard is that they are budding misogynists." When Beavis consumes too much caffeine or sugar, he becomes Cornholio, a hyperactive alter ego. Over the course of the series, Beavis and Butt-Head developed more distinct personalities; Butt-Head is the leader and "devious visionary", while Beavis, the sidekick, is the "loose cannon".

Most episodes integrate sequences where Beavis and Butt-Head watch music videos and offer commentary. They prefer videos with "explosions, loud guitars, screaming and death", and favor rock bands such as the Butthole Surfers, Corrosion of Conformity, and Metallica. Judge said he saw Beavis and Butt-Head as "pretty positive characters, generally speaking ... They usually think everything's pretty cool. Or, in one way or another, everything sucks." He said his perception of the characters changed over the years: "When I first started out with the first show, which was Frog Baseball, they were just two guys that I would definitely want to keep my distance from ... But, by the end of the series, I would think that two guys like that would at least be fun to sit and watch TV with." Judge composed the program's theme song, which is descended from AC/DC's "Gone Shootin'". Judge later claimed that the central guitar riff of the theme is that song played backwards.

Voice cast

See also: List of Beavis and Butt-Head characters

Development

Mike Judge (pictured 2011) created Beavis and Butt-Head and voices most of the characters.

Beavis and Butt-Head was created by the American animator Mike Judge. He graduated with a degree in physics but struggled to connect with his work in computer science. In the late 1980s, he began making short animated films on his own; he taught himself how to draw and animate and would shoot his projects with a cheap Bolex 16mm film camera. He made several shorts, including Frog Baseball, which marked the first appearances of the characters. Judge cold-called networks to pitch this concept, and would send out VHS tapes with prints of his films. The voice of Beavis was based on a kid in his high school calculus class, who would always snicker in a distinct way at their attractive female teacher.

The art style of what became Beavis and Butt-Head was intentionally disruptive and ugly; Judge wanted it to look like "it was drawn by an insane person." The comic strip Peanuts was an unlikely influence: Judge stated that Schulz's line work and sketchy sensibility worked its way into his as well. He was also inspired by the work of John Kricfalusi, and fellow Texas animator Wes Archer and his film Jack Mack and Rad Boy Go! Aesthetically, Judge likened the program's best episodes to comfort food: "I think there’s something kind of relaxing about it," he noted. He claimed the wacky comedy of The Beverly Hillbillies was an influence on the show. Other elements of the setting are left up to the viewer's imagination: there is little said of the characters' backstories, or their parents, and it's unclear whose house the characters are couch-surfing. This aspect of the show was also inspired by Peanuts, where the characters also seem to inhabit a liminal world without parents.

MTV bought Frog Baseball and two other films to air as part of its late-night animation showcase, Liquid Television, from which it commissioned the series.

Production

1993–1997: First seven seasons and first film

In September 1992, MTV flew Judge to their New York headquarters to commission a full series of the concept. Executives initially approved 35 episodes; the show's seven-figure budget floored Judge, who had only made the films on his own for $800. The original series aired from 1993 to 1997. The show hired four staff writers, who would work up a treatment to present to Judge, who would then revise it to capture his artistic voice. One early writer, David Felton, found it best to write the characters from a primitive state of mind: "You go to that place in your mind where thoughts begin and then just stay there." The music video commentary was more-or-less improvised by Judge, who recorded them alongside an engineer in Austin. Judge had also tried to have the duo comment on the network's other programs, like The Real World, but found that recording dialogue on top of dialogue too confusing for viewers.

After writing, the episodes were storyboarded and went to the layout phase of animation, before being transferred to cels and photographed. Judge estimated it could "take anywhere from five months to a year before it's on the air." To save time, the animators made a stock selection of different movements like head turns to simplify editing the program. Though many early seasons were made at MTV's midtown Manhattan campus, Judge preferred to produce the show from his Austin home; in a Los Angeles Times piece from 1994, it observes: "Judge makes occasional trips to New York to approve the music videos that will be used in the series and to take care of other business, but generally works by fax, FedEx and video conferencing from Austin." Animation was also partially handled by studios in Korea.

The show's first season was animated by J. J. Sedelmaier Productions, while the rest was handled by an in-house animation unit for MTV. Initially, the show's animators condensed the show's art style down to the industry standard of limited animation, which Judge likened to a Saturday morning-type style. He was specific about the show looking intentionally off-kilter: "there's something kind of interesting about seeing drawings animated that look like they were done by a 15-year old in his notebook," he later said. In describing the show's style, Elizabeth Kolbert from The New York Times wrote: "They are drawn with purposeful crudeness and their motions have the jerky, seasick quality of marionettes."

Getting the show to a place to where Judge felt it was running smoothly was difficult. He was particularly embarrassed by the first five episodes of the show, with its crude animation style, and was ready to end the show after the second season, when he felt like he was running out of ideas. He claimed he got a "second wind" in the series' third season, which is where he felt like it hit its stride, and he also felt particularly inspired during the series' fifth season. The relentless pace in making the show was wearing him down, which is why he chose to end the series after its 1996 film adaption.

2011: Eighth season

Judge returned to the characters to develop an additional season of the program, which aired in 2011. John Altschuler, formerly a writer for King of the Hill, told a Rolling Stone reporter that he saw signs 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 in the old series, Beavis and Butt-Head are high school students who, among other things, criticize contemporary music videos. In updating the show for its millennial-era audience, the duo also watch episodes of Jersey Shore, Ultimate Fighting Championship matches, and amateur videos from YouTube. Some characters like Daria Morgendorffer did not return. According to TMZ, MTV had not asked Tracy Grandstaff to reprise that role; Judge confirmed that the character was limited to a cameo appearance. As the animation business had switched to digital tools in the time between, this version utilized digital ink and paint, with each drawing simply scanned into a computer and colored.

The episodes debuted in the United States and Canada on October 27, 2011, and its premiere was a ratings hit with an audience of 3.3 million total viewers. This number eventually dwindled to 900,000 by the season's end, mainly due to its challenging time slot pitted against regular prime time shows on other networks. As part of a promotional campaign, cinemas screening Jackass 3D opened the feature film with a 3-D Beavis and Butt-Head short subject. The revival encompassed 24 episodes (12 half-hour programs), but only lasted one season. In a later interview, Judge confirmed "Things didn’t quite click. There were a lot of problems on the animation side of things, trying to get it to look right. I don’t know if that played into it. But it actually did pretty well — the ratings were good. MTV just didn’t want to do anymore." The network's demographic had also shifted to include more female viewers, complicating the show's appeal. In an interview with Howard Stern in 2014, Judge mentioned that while the show's ratings were high, meeting this key demographic was a factor in its cancellation. He also said that MTV was close to selling it to another network, but it became "lost in deal stuff". Judge remained outwardly open to producing more shows, suggesting in 2014 that there was a chance of pitching Beavis and Butt-Head to another network. Conflicting with the actual season number, MTV incorrectly refers to this season as "Season 9", even though it is technically the eighth season. Later reruns of this iteration of the program were broadcast on MTV Classic in the mid-2010s.

2022–present: Second film and revival

Over a decade after the last iteration of the series, the series was again revived, this time in the streaming era for Paramount+. The concept of relaunching the show a second time came from Judge, who created a concert intro for the band Portugal. The Man using the characters. He had not intended to return the characters again, but found performing the voices fun. He entered discussions with Paramount Global, which was met with more "enthusiasm" than its previous MTV incarnation. The show was originally set to debut on Comedy Central, but was moved to help launch Paramount+. This revival also encompasses additional spin-offs and specials; a second feature film entitled Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe premiered on June 23, 2022, to kick-off the new series. The new season followed on August 4, 2022, with its second season debuting on April 20, 2023. In addition, in 2022 Paramount+ announced they were to host the full library of over 227 original episodes, newly remastered, with music videos intact for the first time. As of 2024 only some of these episodes have been hosted.

In the new series, Beavis and Butt-Head enter a "whole new Gen Z world" with meta-themes that are said to be relatable to both new fans, who may be unfamiliar with the original series, and old. This iteration has several episodes that depict the characters settling into middle-age, which is a concept Judge had suggested might be amusing over the years. While promoting his film Extract in 2009, Judge noted: "I wouldn't mind doing something with them as these two dirty old men sitting on the couch." Season 9 continues the concept of the Beavis and Butt-Head multiverse initially explored in its film predecessor; Teenage Beavis and Butt-Head and Smart Beavis and Butt-Head all get their own dedicated episodes in the revival as well.

To promote the revival, Paramount+ attempted to break the world record for the largest serving of nachos at S. Alameda St in Los Angeles to celebrate the return of the show. They were successful and were given a ceremonial plaque from the Guinness World Records representative which stated "The largest serving of nachos was achieved by Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head and Paramount+".

On June 5, 2024, it was announced that the revival had been renewed for a third season, which is expected to air sometime in 2025 on Comedy Central.

Live-action adaptation

The concept of taking the teens to the silver screen has been floated since the program was taken on the air. Paramount approached Judge at the start of the show's run to produce a live-action adaption; David Geffen reportedly wanted to cast unknown actors for the role, but Judge refused. Judge has also suggested on more than one occasion directing a live-action adaption of the program. He revealed that Johnny Depp had once expressed interest in the role of Beavis, having imitated the character while Marlon Brando imitated Butt-Head during the production of Don Juan DeMarco (1995). He initially disliked the idea of bringing the characters to the real world, but by 2008 had come to believe that "maybe there's something there"; around the same time, he also suggested that "Seann William Scott's kinda got Butt-Head eyes." A decade later, Judge told Radio Times "maybe it could be a live-action someday", then went on to speculate that Beavis might be homeless by now. In developing the series' second revival for Paramount+ in the 2020s, executives for the streamer had wanted a live-action Beavis and Butt-Head movie. Judge held auditions over Zoom for the project. He eventually talked the company into doing an animated movie instead to reestablish the characters first, with a future live-action movie still a possibility. Judge found it hard to replicate the characters' onscreen stupidity: "It was just sort of like watching teenagers imitate Beavis and Butt-Head."

Episodes

Main article: List of Beavis and Butt-Head episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast airedNetwork
Pilots2September 22, 1992 (1992-09-22)November 17, 1992 (1992-11-17)MTV (Liquid Television)
13March 8, 1993 (1993-03-08)March 25, 1993 (1993-03-25)MTV
226May 17, 1993 (1993-05-17)July 15, 1993 (1993-07-15)
331September 6, 1993 (1993-09-06)March 5, 1994 (1994-03-05)
432March 14, 1994 (1994-03-14)July 15, 1994 (1994-07-15)
550October 31, 1994 (1994-10-31)October 12, 1995 (1995-10-12)
620October 31, 1995 (1995-10-31)March 7, 1996 (1996-03-07)
Do AmericaDecember 20, 1996 (1996-12-20)—
741January 26, 1997 (1997-01-26)November 28, 1997 (1997-11-28)MTV
822October 27, 2011 (2011-10-27)December 29, 2011 (2011-12-29)
Do the UniverseJune 23, 2022 (2022-06-23)Paramount+
923August 4, 2022 (2022-08-04)October 13, 2022 (2022-10-13)
1027April 20, 2023 (2023-04-20)June 29, 2023 (2023-06-29)
11TBA2025 (2025)TBAComedy Central

Reception

Original run

Beavis and Butt-Head are so stupid and sublimely self-absorbed that the exterior world has little reality except as an annoyance or distraction. It would be easy to attack B&B as ignorant, vulgar, depraved, repulsive slobs. Of course they are. But that would miss the point, which is that Mike Judge's characters reflect parts of the society that produced them. To study B&B is to learn about a culture of narcissism, alienation, functional illiteracy, instant gratification and television zombiehood.

— Roger Ebert (1996)

During its original run, Beavis and Butt-Head was MTV's highest rated show. It was one of the most popular series when it premiered in 1993. In 1993, Rolling Stone described Beavis and Butt-Head as the "biggest phenomenon on MTV since the heyday of Michael Jackson". In Time, Kurt Andersen wrote that Beavis and Butt-Head "may be the bravest show ever run on national television". In 1997, Judge said the show was "my reaction to the whole fringe aspects of the political correctness movement".

Over its run, Beavis and Butt-Head received 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 some social critics such as Michael Medved, while others such as David Letterman and the 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 attention of many young television viewers and is often considered a classic piece of 1990s youth culture and Generation X. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, cite the series as an influence and compared it to the blues.

In 1997, Dan Tobin of The Boston Phoenix commented on the series' humor, saying 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 the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik said that Beavis and Butt-Head was "intelligent social satire that especially speaks in a meaningful way to a generation of teenage boys who are going through a uniquely complicated socialization at the hands of their baby-boomer parents". He said that its popularity may have taught audiences about male adolescence in the 1990s; he wrote that they were the postmodern descendants of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, who were the "exemplars of males coming of age in American popular culture".

In December 2005, TV Guide ranked the duo's distinct laughing at #66 on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases. In 2012, TV Guide ranked Beavis and Butt-Head as one of the top 60 Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time.

Revivals

The show's millennial-era revival saw mixed reviews. Karen Olsson from The New York Times found it "dumber and funnier" than the original run, and Brian Lowry of Variety "still a rowdy, guilty hoot." Others found it tiresome: Slate's Troy Patterson called it a "grim" rehash, and James Poniewozik writing for Time found it not as "innovative" but still amusing. Matthew Gilbert from the Boston Globe felt television was now too dumb for them: "The problem is, there actually isn’t much of a need for the two dopes and their anti-wisdom anymore." Conversely, Tom Carson for GQ found it "just right Judge anticipated the trickle-down version of popland's Age of Meta."

Its 2022 revival brought similar comments. The New York Times's Jason Zinoman extolled the revival: " remains singular they all hit comic notes ‌with moseying cadences you can’t find elsewhere." Jesse Hassenger from The Wrap wrote "Beavis and Butt-Head have a tendency to mold their environment in their image. Or are they just so timelessly American that surprisingly little adaptation is necessary?" Daniel Fienberg at The Hollywood Reporter called it "solidly amusing, if rarely remarkable." Lowry, now for CNN, viewed it "proudly stupid"; similarly Andy Greene, for Rolling Stone, "really loved" the new take. In contrast, Stuart Heritage writing for The Guardian, cast it as a symptom of a larger Hollywood reboot problem: "a tragedy of the Great Intellectual Property Plundering."

Controversies

In its heyday, Beavis and Butt-Head became a lightning rod for controversy over its content. "The downward spiral of the living white male surely ends here," John Leland wrote in Newsweek in 1993. The show was blamed for the death of two-year-old Jessica Matthews in Moraine, Ohio, in October 1993. The girl's five-year-old brother, Austin Messner, set fire to his mother's mobile home with a cigarette lighter, killing the two-year-old. The mother later claimed that her son watched an episode in which the characters said "fire was fun". However, the neighbors stated that the family did not even have cable television and would thus be unable to view the show.

As a result, all references to fire were removed from subsequent airings and prompted the show to a later time slot. 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"). 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". However, MTV eventually removed the episode entirely, leading it to be locked away in the MTV vault. References to fire were cut from earlier episodes—even the original master tapes were altered permanently. Other episodes MTV opted not to rerun included "Stewart's House" and "Way Down Mexico Way". Copies of early episodes with the controversial content intact are rare, and the copies that exist are made from home video recordings of the original broadcasts, typically on VHS. In an interview included with the Mike Judge Collection DVD set, Judge said he is uncertain whether some of the earlier episodes still exist in their original, uncensored form.

When the series returned in 2011, MTV allowed Beavis to use the word "fire" once again uncensored. During the first video segment, "Werewolves of Highland", the first new episode of the revival, Beavis utters the word "fire" a total of seven times within 28 seconds, with Butt-Head saying it once as well.

In February 1994, watchdog group Morality in Media claimed that the death of eight-month-old Natalia Rivera, struck by a bowling ball thrown from an overpass onto a highway in Jersey City, New Jersey, 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 "Ball Breakers", in which Beavis and Butt-Head load a bowling ball with explosives and drop it from a rooftop. While Morality in Media claimed that the show inspired Settle's actions, the case's prosecutors did not. It was later revealed by both prosecutors and the defendant that Settle did not have cable TV, nor did he watch the show.

MTV also responded by broadcasting the program after 11:00 p.m. and included a disclaimer, reminding viewers:

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 wienerheads 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 would 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 games as well as their Windows game Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity.

They were famously lambasted by Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) as "Buffcoat and Beaver". This subsequently became a running gag on the show where adults mispronounced their names. For example, one character on the show, Tom Anderson, originally called them "Butthole" and "Joe" and believed the two to be of Asian ethnicity (describing them to the police as "Oriental"). In later episodes, Anderson uses the Hollings mispronunciation once and, on at least one occasion, refers to them as "Penis and Butt-Munch". President Clinton called them "Beavis and Bum-head" in "Citizen Butt-head", as well as in the movie, where an old lady (voiced by Cloris Leachman) consistently calls them "Travis" and "Bob-head". In "Incognito", when another student threatens to kill them, the duo uses this to their advantage, pretending to be exchange students named "Crevis and Bung-Head". The bully, seeing through the disguises, calls them "Beaver and Butt-Plug". In "Right On!", when the duo appear on the Gus Baker Show, host Gus Baker (a caricature of Rush Limbaugh) introduces them as "Beavis and Buffcoat". And in the original series finale, "Beavis and Butt-head Are Dead", a news reporter refers to the two boys as "Brevis and Head-Butt". In the Season 9 episode "Locked Out" Tom Anderson mistakes Beavis and Butt-Head for honest and responsible boys, and blames "Buford" and "Bernardo" for the alleged damage to the paint on his new truck, though Beavis and Butt-Head lied about the damage.

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

A theatrical film, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, released in the US 1996 and later in the UK and Europe in 1997. It 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 opened at number one at the US box office and grossed more than $60 million.

Legacy

On the April 13, 2024 episode of Saturday Night Live guest host Ryan Gosling, and cast regular Mikey Day, appeared in a sketch as live-action versions of Beavis and Butt-Head. The sketch went viral and received large media coverage and critical acclaim. The pair reprised the roles on the red carpet at The Fall Guy movie premiere.

Related media

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Merchandise

MTV marketed the program with a surplus of merchandise, with items as varied as clothing, hats, and aftershave. Judge found it difficult to extend his sensibility to the consumer products that bore his name; he noted that he had no involvement in the show's video games. From 1994 to 1996, Marvel Comics published a monthly Beavis and Butt-Head comic under the Marvel Absurd imprint 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.

Daria

Main article: Daria

A spin-off based on classmate Daria Morgendorffer premiered in 1997. Mike Judge was not involved at all except to give permission for use of the character (created by Glenn Eichler and designed by Bill Peckmann). The only reference to the original show is Daria's mentioning that Lawndale cannot be a second Highland "unless there's uranium in the drinking water here too".

Video games

  • MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head, a set of games released by Viacom New Media for the Game Gear, Genesis and Super NES in 1994. All three games featured music composed by Gwar.
  • Talking MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head: This Game Rules!!!, a handheld LCD video game released by Tiger Electronics in 1994.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity, a graphic adventure game released for Windows 95 in 1995. A PlayStation port was released exclusively in Japan in 1998 featuring dubbed voice acting by Atsushi Tamura and Ryō Tamura from Owarai duo London Boots Ichi-gō Ni-gō.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head in Calling All Dorks, a collection of desktop themes for Windows 95 released in 1995 by Viacom New Media.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head in Wiener Takes All, a Beavis and Butt-Head-themed trivia game by Viacom New Media. Released as a PC/Macintosh-compatible CD-ROM in 1996.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head in Little Thingies, a mini-game collection released for Windows 95 in 1996 featuring four mini-games from the previously released Virtual Stupidity and three new ones.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head, a coin-operated video game developed by Atari Games for a 3DO Interactive Multiplayer-based hardware. The game underwent location testing 1996, but was unreleased due to poor reception.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head in Screen Wreckers, a collection of screensavers released for Windows 95 in 1997.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head: Bunghole in One, a Beavis and Butt-Head-themed golf video game released for Windows 95 by GT Interactive in 1998.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head, an overhead action game released by GT Interactive for the Game Boy in 1998.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head Do Hollywood (originally Beavis and Butt-Head: Get Big in Hollywood), an unreleased 3D action game that was being produced by GT Interactive. It was announced for the PlayStation in 1998.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head Do U., a graphic adventure game released by GT Interactive for Windows 95 in 1999.

Books

Music

An album inspired by the series, The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience, was released on Geffen Records. The label's namesake, David Geffen, came up with the concept for the album. He was sold on the show's success upon its debut, and contacted MTV to make a deal to co-finance the album and later film. The album features 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. It sold over two million copies worldwide.

In 2015 the pair were featured in commissioned skits on the album Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven by Kid Cudi.

Chart success

Beavis and Butt-Head duet with Cher UK single which includes a Beavis and Butt-Head Experience sticker to promote the release

The Beavis and Butt-Head duet with Cher on "I Got You Babe" was released as a single in the UK, Australia, Europe and the US, the UK CD had a special limited edition sticker to promote The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience available with the release. On January 15, 1994, the song charted at number 35 in the UK charts and stayed on the charts for 4 weeks. On December 4, 1993, the song charted on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart in the US peaking at number 8.

The single also charted at number 69 in Australia, 19 in Belgium, 18 in Denmark, 69 on the European Hot 100, 9 on the Netherlands Dutch Top 40, 10 on the Netherlands top 100 and number 40 in Sweden.

Slot game

In 2019, Gauselmann Group's UK-based games studio Blueprint Gaming launched the Beavis and Butt-Head online slot game. The game features moments and scenes from the TV show and film.

The branded game was among the 10 most exposed slot games in UK online casinos days after its release in late May 2019.

Notes

  1. Credited as MTV Production Development on season 8.

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