In fact, the heavy-metal morons are international superstars and the show is broadcast into 71 territories through MTV affiliates in Europe, Japan, Asia and Latin America, as well as via independent broadcasters in Europe, South America, New Zealand and Australia.
"MTV's Beavis and Butt-head" follows the adventures of Beavis and Butt-head, two teenage virgins who, with their signature, guttural huh-huh-huh, heh-heh laugh, have the uncanny ability to find sexual innuendo lurking in even the most innocent places, twisting common everyday words and phrases into sexual references (embarrass, bare-ass...heh-heh...) that are, well, funny.
Since their emergence into the living rooms of anyone with basic cable, Beavis and Butt-head have helped define the new pop culture. No subject or person is off-limits to these proudly politically incorrect arbiters of taste for whom all things fall neatly into two categories: they're either "cool" or "they suck."
"They're more nerdy than they are metalheads," explains Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butt-head, as well as the person responsible for their voices and the director/co-writer of the their great field trip onto the wide screen. "The guys are geeks without the advantage of being brainy. They're typical teenagers exploding with hormones. Problem is, if you're a lame guy like Beavis or Butt-head, there's no chance you're going to get anywhere near a girl. So there's this incredible amount of frustration, all the time."
The inspiration for Beavis and Butt-head came as Judge, who holds a degree in Physics, was trying to make that all-too-common shift from the world of math to comedy. "I was playing around with animation to try to break into comedy," recalls Judge. "I was trying to draw a guy I went to high school with and one of the attempts ended up being Butt-head. Then I drew Beavis and it evolved into a two-minute animated film called 'Frog Baseball' which was shown in the Festival of Animation in 1992."
For Abby Terkuhle, MTV's executive VP/creative director and the film's producer, as well as the man who is responsible for bringing "Beavis and Butt-head" to MTV, the appeal was immediate. "First and foremost, they made me laugh. When I first saw 'Frog Baseball,' which was being looked at as part of 'Liquid Television,' I just cracked up. And even though they were moronic and mischievous, there was something lovable about them. That part comes from Mike's breathing life into these characters. It's not like they're attractive to look at, but there's something in their voices that makes it easy to relate to them."
"I think one reason people like to watch them," says Judge, "is because they say things that most people would never be stupid enough to let out of their mouths. There's just something liberating about watching Beavis and Butt-head shamelessly spilling anything and everything that happens to be on their minds."
Co-producer John Andrews, who has been with the TV show since the beginning, agrees. "They're both extremely hormonal guys in their mid-teens who've never had any success with girls. They live in a world of misconceptions about how to attract or behave with women."
At the core of these characters is the universal awkwardness of adolescence. "l remember being thirteen, fourteen years-old really well," recalls Judge, "because it was a really awful period. I don't think you'll find many guys who'll say, 'Yeah, man, puberty? Best years of my life!' Adolescence is this huge, embarrassing transition because just a couple of years ago, you're a lime kid and now you're wearing Death Rock t-shirts, thinking you're so cool, trying to impress girls, but you've got zits on your face, your voice cracks, and you have to go in and get your braces tightened."
A large part of Beavis and Butt-head's appeal as characters is the perception that they are more "real" than most common cartoon characters. In fact, most of the fans think of "Beavis and Butt-head" more often in the category of sitcom or live-action than animation. The guys remind people of someone they knew or had seen—in one of their classes, at the local 7-11, in the mall—and in that sense, Beavis and Butt-head, have struck a familiar chord.
"It's true," explains producer Terkuhle, "people are always saying they know a guy like Beavis or a guy like Butt-head, and this is from fans of all ages, from all walks of life, who love the show and the characters. These guys are over-the-top, they're exaggerated, they're everything cartoon characters should be. But at the same time, it's important to remember that they're cartoon characters and we keep them in that fictional world."
That world has been described by the filmmakers as "crude realism." Mike Judge explains, "What I like to focus on is the energy, the subtle funny things about a character, like the way Butt-head's mouth moves, rather than the big, massive, full movement you find with classic animation."
At MTV we have a very rich tradition of animation, starting from our animated IDs to 'liquid Television,"' explains producer Terkuhle. "In some ways, with 'Beavis and butt-head,' we went counter to that. In fact, when we were developing the show, Mike asked at one point if we should improve the look of the characters and I said, 'No, don't touch a thing,' because it almost looks like a 14 year-old might have drawn these guys and there's something very real and pure in that. The art style fit the characters and, when given the choice, we stayed true to Mike's vision."
Actually, a large part of Judge's "vision" has little to do with things visual. "'Beavis and Butt-head' is writer-driven," he says."It's the characters and the humor. It's what you're hearing more than what you're seeing. You can listen to the track with no visuals at all and it's still funny."
It's that aspect of the show which accounts for the fact that Beavis and Butt-head's legion of fans cross boundaries of age, gender, race and class. "I get a lot of mail from women in their 40s who are fans of the show," explains Judge. "They write these thank-you letters saying they can watch the show with their teenage sons and find, among other things, that it's a really good way to approach the topic of sex with their kids."
And the success of this show, about two typically American teenagers, is not confined solely to American audiences. "Like music, animation tends to be universal," notes producer Terkuhle. "It's visual storytelling, which transcends language and, because of that, it translates around the world. I guess it just goes to show that stupidity is universal."
© 1996 Paramount Pictures & Five Star Publishing - All Rights Reserved.