Alternate Aesop Interpretation: A handful of fans, including some high-profile entertainers like Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have argued that the show is actually in favor of Moral Guardian beliefs, saying that the duo's sociopathic antics aren't merely Kafka Comedy but a semi-genuine commentary of how poorly the youth of America turns out in a society that won't give them a proper education.
One might think Sterculius, the Roman god of feces, was something Judge made up. Not so. There really was a Sterculius, or at least the Romans thought so. He's more often called the god of fertilizer or god of fertilization in English, but "god of feces" is not at all inaccurate.
Some viewers might consider the yogurt shop in "Yogurt's Cool" not being a 'participating location' to be a bit of an Ass Pull to spur the title characters to vandalize the shop, but it's actually not at all unusual in Real Life for certain states' franchisees of stores like Dairy Queennote in Texas or 7-Elevennote in Oklahoma to have their own exclusive menus, promotions, etc. separate from the rest of the country.
In "Dumb Design", Beavis and Butt-Head are approached by the Positive Acting Teens, who tell them that evolution shouldn't be taught in schools because "if you can't understand it, then it must not be true." Many were surprised to learn this is a real creationist argument against evolution; the episode goes out of its way to show how this mindset could be applied to any other subject by having Beavis and Butt-Head refuse to attend classes or do their schoolwork on this principle alone.
The last montage of the final (at the time) episode clip show had a compliation of the two wreaking havoc set to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" with Beavis and Butt-Head's vocal air-guitar riff dubbed over it.
They've played plenty of great music videos, but The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" is one of the few songs to get the boys to just shut up and rock out.
The video for Black Sabbath "Iron Man" begins playing, Butt-Head can only manage "Whoa! Hey Beavis!" while Beavis freaks, saying "Check, check it out! It's...it's...it's...ahhh...ahhh....GRAHHHHH!" and then the two get to sing the signature riff IN context.
The video for "Sober" by tool impressed them so much that, aside from briefly snickering over the name of the band, they had nothing negative to say about the entire thing, repeatedly exclaiming that it was "cool!"
Another episode began with them in school and with random school supplies and trash being thrown around the classroom by the students. While Beavis repeatedly hits Butt-Head with a ruler, Butt-Head is seen hitting Beavis with a book. Then the class begins and they go about like nothing ever happened.
Broken Base: The 2022 revival for various reasons:
The boys' stupidity has been exaggerated, to the point where a lot of the plots have them mistaking something for something else. Either it's still funny, or a major downgrade from the original series and 2011 revival.
Introducing supernatural elements, such as a sentient dumpster fire who talks to Beavis, or the two meeting several mythical figures during yoga. Either it's funny and a nice addition, or it's too out there for a show that's typically Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane.
The Art Evolution is also rather divisive; either it's clean and an improvement, or takes away from the doodle-like feel, especially given how most minor characters are now more Archer-like in design.
Catharsis Factor: Anytime Beavis manages to get one over Butt-Head, especially in the 2022 revival series where Butt-Head's abuse of Beavis went through the roof. Special mention happens in the episode "Are You There, God? It's Me, Beavis" — after contracting rabies, Beavis acts like a feral animal, and not only does he viciously attack Butt-Head, but he manages to scare him off. A lot of fans consider this an awesome moment since Butt-Head has been more of a jerk to Beavis in the second revival series.
Common Knowledge: People often "remember" that they watched only heavy metal music videos and entirely riffed on them hating all of them, others "remember" that they loved only the heavy metal videos and hated everything else. In actuality not only was the genres of music videos watched pretty varied, so was their reviews, and they did enjoy some videos that weren't metal, or even heavy music at all (such as Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" or The Bee Gees).
Crack Ship: Ignoring the fact that these two pairings have little to no romantic/sexual chemistry, aside from Daria being one of the extremely few girls who willingly talk to the duo, quite a few people in the fandom support Butt-Head/Daria. Same for Beavis/Daria.
Crosses the Line Twice: Really, this show lived on this trope, but "Way Down Mexico Way" was its apotheosis.
Beavis's alter-ego, The Great Cornholio is incredibly popular. He only appeared in a few episodes and The Movie, but he is one of the most notable characters in the entire show, to the point where he showed up in the duo's appearance in Celebrity Deathmatch, where he actually manages to kill Butt-Head.
Tom Anderson is generally loved for the fact that he was a proto-Hank Hill.
Coach Buzzcut has become one over time because of his Love to Hate nature, memorability, and the sex-ed week scene from "No Laughing", which has become a meme.
"Buffcoat and Beaver", after a confused politician refers to them as such while railing against them publicly.
In a behind-the-scenes documentary about King of the Hill, Judge says he came up with Boomhauer's distinctive voice after hearing a man's voicemail about how much he hated Beavis and Butt-Head, which he referred to as "Porky's Butthole".
"Beaver and Buttface", referencing an infamous porn parody of the show released during the peak of its popularity.
Franchise Original Sin: The 2022 revival has introduced multiple supernatural elements to mixed reception, such as having Beavis and Butt-head interact with a talking dumpster fire or different deities across the world. However, back in the day, the few times the duo interacted with the supernatural like in "It's a Miserable Life" didn't court such controversy. This was likely because that episode was clearly a parody of It's a Wonderful Life, supernatural episodes back then were so few and far between in those days to make much impact, and Charlie the angel didn't act too over-the-top back in the day as opposed to the 2022 revival where God is portrayed as smacking Archangel Michael in the groin for His own amusement and Jesus is portrayed as getting angry enough that He begins to physically pummel Beavis and Butt-head.
In early episodes, the duo didn't go through the range of jokes as later seasons, and most of the time they were just playing pranks or causing all around mischief. When the show started to get popular (and when MTV got scared that kids may be imitating the duo's destructive behavior), their personalities changed into the way most people recognize them now by. Of course, this made everything a hell of a lot funnier.
Most agree that the 2011 revival is even better than where it left off, mostly thanks to Judge being able to apply a lot more years of experience on perfecting the comedy.
"Incognito", where Beavis and Butt-Head anger a student who carries a gun to school, and everyone treats the whole issue as an Unusually Uninteresting Sight. In light of the many widely-televised school shootings that would ensue in The '90s and Turn of the Millennium (most notably, Columbine), it got a lot less funny.
"Supersize Me", where the boys attempt to get women by repeating Morgan Spurlock's experiment from Super Size Me (eating nothing but fast food for a month), becomes less funny after Spurlock's admission to sexual misconduct in 2017.
The 2022 revival featuring middle-aged, battered by life Beavis and Butt-Head still acting and living like the dumb teenagers they were can leave a bitter aftertaste for many viewers, namely gen-Xers and millennials, who have aged together with the characters and who similarly aren't quite where they imagined they would be when they were younger. In other words, Beavis and Butt-Head being like us when we were teens was relatable and funny. Finding similarities between them and us in their middle age feels downright depressing.
Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Some fans who support Beavis/Butt-Head simply refer to it as "Buttshipping" rather than just going for "Buttvis".
Jerkass Woobie: Beavis; he's rude, stupid, selfish, perverted, and extremely hot-headed, but he's also subject to countless abuse from his only friend Butt-Head, is secretly very insecure about himself (especially his inability to "score"), and one segment from the 2011 series implies that he was apparently molested as a kid.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Due to his unchecked bullying and manipulation of Beavis and Butt-Head, Todd stands out as the most dislikable character in the series. Coach Buzzcut is equally brutal, but he is also thought to be highly entertaining to watch owing to his overdramatic tendencies, in contrast to Todd, who comes off as mean-spirited in a realistic fashion.
"This sucks more than anything that has ever sucked before."
"Damn it! Damn it! Son of a bitch!"
"We're gonna be talking about the (INSERT HERE)* Explanation An edited clip from the episode "No Laughing" where Butt-Head is snickering at Buzzcut's sex-ed classes, which went viral in 2021.
"Step aside, please. We have white privilege."
"Oi! I got me finger stuck in me bum!"
Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Despite the titular characters being idiotic stereotypes of metal fans, many metalheads loved the show.
Misaimed Fandom: The show garnered a cult following of the very slack-jawed teen morons and stoners that the show intended to make fun of.
Beavis and Butt-Head as "werewolves" in "Werewolves of Highland" note The result of being bitten by a bum with numerous STDs whom they mistook as a werewolf.
"Beaverly Buttbillies" features the two believing they struck oil in the show's take on the "(dumb) character mistakes sewer discharges for oil" plot. And they get covered in the stuff.
"I Dream of Beavis" shows Beavis becoming convinced that a dead, decaying rat in a bottle is a genie. And then he brings it to school...
"Sick" has Beavis and Butt-Head spend most of the episode with snot dripping from their noses (including a lovely close-up of Butt-Head eating cheese doodles with snot not too far from his mouth) and multiple scenes of Beavis blowing snot out of his nose.
"Burger World", pretty much in its entirety. While dumpster diving, Butt-Head finds a chicken sandwich with mold dripping from it and eats it. Then Beavis fries up a dead mouse and flies and gives them to Mr. Anderson. "Closing Time" also involved the duo frying up worms and selling them as curly fries.
No Yay: Despite the opportunity being handed to them on a silver platter, some fans refuse to support the pairing of the duo. This is likely due to the fact that Butt-Head physically abuses Beavis a lot of time and their ugly appearances.
Once Original, Now Common: The show was, back in the day, controversial. It was also one of the biggest boogeymen among Moral Guardians. Nowadays, compared to many adult animated shows thereafter like South Park and Family Guy, the show seems tame by comparison, and even corny at times.
Older Than They Think: The 2022 revival has gotten some flack for adding more supernatural elements like the sentient dumpster fire and showing multiple deities from different pantheons. However, there were some of those elements present even in the first run, particularly in the episode "It's a Miserable Life" where an angel, Charlie, appeared before Beavis and Butt-head and interacted with them for the length of the episode.
The Problem with Licensed Games: The SNES and Genesis games were mediocre (and veryNintendo Hard) platformersnote The Genesis one also has shades of Adventure Game and is actually somewhat decent, if not good, but the SNES one is just a straight mediocre platformer.
Sacred Cow: The show is one of the most beloved adult cartoons, lauded for the high quality of its writing and consistency, with criticsm being very rare. This extended to both movies and both reboots.
Shipping: Generally Beavis/Butt-Head (obviously), Beavis/Daria, Butt-Head/Daria and Mr Van Driessen/Coach Buzzcut.
Squick: Many instances within, such as the classic pre-series segment about a monster truck arena getting flooded with crap. Or Beavis' grievous dog bite wound and seeing individuals poke the exposed bone.
Word of warning, "Nose Bleed" is not for the squeamish. Neither are "Wood Shop" or "Tainted Meat".
Happens in-verse when Beavis and Butt-Head convince a female instructor and Van Driessen to let them watch an educational film about female reproduction, only to be utterly Squicked out when it comes to the part about giving birth.
In "Choke", Butt-Head regurgitates a chicken nugget he choked on, only for Beavis to pick up and eat it.
Due to the duo's famous music video commentary, the show has been considered one for Mystery Science Theater 3000 (in those segments only, the show itself is completely different).
Also, the show can be considered one to The Simpsons, as Beavis and Butt-Head make Bart Simpson look harmless with their destructive antics.
South Park can be considered one to this show since, before Cartman, the duo's voices and laughing were what teenagers loved imitating. Helps that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are friends with Mike Judge.
Strawman Has a Point: Just about every teacher or administrator besides Van Driessen is made to look like an overbearing bully (Buzzcut) or a risible incompetent (McVicker) when coming down on the two for their antics. But anyone who has ever tried to keep a classroom full of children on task will probably applaud every time they get thrown out of whatever classroom they're in, as things like sticking pencils up your nose, giggling uncontrollably at little things, and then throwing the pencils up into the ceilings are undeniably disruptive to the educational environment. To be fair, Buzzcut is bit of a bully in general and not just to the duo, and McVicker only ever really directs his frustration towards the duo in particular.
Suspiciously Similar Song: Judge has admitted that his theme song is the riff from the AC/DC song "Gone Shootin'" played backwards.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: In the second revival, the recurring cast is reduced to just Van Driessen, Tom Anderson and his wife while the ones who don't appear are replaced with bland extras, though Stewart shows up as an adult in a alternate universe, and some of the other characters' smart versions are shown in "Abduction".
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: From what little we've seen of her, Cassandra appeared to be a character with potential. Like Daria, she was one of the very few girls willing to talk to Beavis and Butt-Head. In contrast to Daria, she was actually nicer and more willing to give the two friendly advice. She was also subtly hinted to have hidden lesbian tendencies and may have had a crush on Van Driessen, in addition to some implied daddy issues. However, her speaking roles and appearances are extremely few and far between. As a result, Cassandra's character remained very much unexplored aside from the small kernels revealed to us in her brief appearances that never get further development.
The show's depiction of slacker culture and metalhead teenagers plants it firmly in the mid-90's. While the reboot tried hard to modernize the duo, even retconning a few of their initial traits for this purposenote In the 1993-97 series, video games are depicted as a "nerd" hobby Stewart is into. While, in the reboot, both Beavis and Butt-Head are fans of games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, it still couldn't escape the show's blatant "grunge era" roots. Though, to be fair, the reboot was very clearly made for people who were fans of the series in its heyday, rather than potential newcomers.
The first reboot itself fell into this. With the duo mocking pop culture hits of the early 2010's like The Twilight Saga and Jersey Shore.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: The eponymous duo can be this sometimes. While Beavis and Butt-Head tend to cause trouble a lot, most of the time, it's out of stupidity rather than malice. It doesn't help that a lot of the people that they upset jump straight to assaulting them rather than explain why what they did was wrong.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Principal McVicker. The viewers are supposed to feel sorry for him because of all the stress Beavis & Butt-head's antics cause him. However, his sympathy goes out the window when it's been implied that he's perfectly aware Buzzcut abuses his students and turns a blind eye, uses underhanded tactics in order to get rid of the duo, and has shown to be just as childish as they are like in "Wet Behind The Rears".
Unpopular Popular Character: Beavis and Butt-Head are characterized in the show as being the two most hated people in their town for their Chaotic Stupid behavior and any real teenagers who were as destructive and lethally stupid as they were would be just as unpopular... which is exactly what makes them so entertaining to watch! Series director Yvette Kaplan has said that part of their appeal is that, while troublemakers, Beavis and Butt-Head aren't malicious, just idiots, and admits that she finds most of their antics more cute than offensive.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Lost in the tragedy of a child burning down a house, or part of a house, is the question Why is a child watching Beavis and Butt-Head?!? It's animation, right? Must be OK for the children, then. The child in question watched the show because his babysitter let him watch it, but who cares? Moral Guardians in America certainly didn't.
Win Back the Crowd: The 2022 revival showed that Mike Judge still had it with the riffing of Cale Dodds and BTS’s music video, particularly the two accusing Cale of grooming the poor guy trying to get the girl and Butt-Head’s horrified reaction to Beavis dancing.
The Woobie: Stewart. Genuinely thinking Beavis and Butt-Head are his friends, he keeps trusting and forgiving them and worrying about their safety no matter how many times they screw him over. Not to mention his overprotective parents trying to pin the blame on him to save his own skin more than once.
Woolseyism: The Japanese dub of Beavis & Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity does a really curious (and funny) one with Principal McVicker's nickname, "McDicker", as it was translated to "Mara-Decker/マラデッカー". The Japanese nickname has many layers of meaning, since "Mara" is both the name of the same Buddhist demon who attempted to hinder Buddha in his path to enlightment, as well as being the Buddhist term for "prevention of enlighment" for the same reason. Likewise, Mara is a Japanese slang for "penis", making his nickname to sound like "Dick Decker" for Japanese ears. Also, "Decker" sound like "dekkaa" on Japanese phonetics; in the regular neutral accent, it sounds like the adjetive "dekai", which means "big", and in the Kansai dialect, it also means "is it?". With this into account, Mara-Decker would sound like "Big Penis or Big Dicker" (neutral) or "Is that really a penis", in context, in the Kansai dialect.
note or 7-Eleven
