Having first been announced two years ago, when the world was still in the early thick of quarantine-mode, Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head at last made its streaming debut for Paramount+ subscribers, and no one should consider it hyperbole when I say it doesn’t suck more than anything ever didn’t suck before. Which is to say, it’s an endearingly wonderful return to form for creator Mike Judge and his two most horned-up, self deluding creations. As the world around us gets increasingly more complex and disturbing, few are better than Judge at crafting comedic spaces where only inconsequential joy exists, even when his projects are merely reflecting the worst of us. And, uhhh, we all know what you like to do in front of a mirror, Beavis.
Watching the first two episodes was a delight, with the only drawback being that I hadn’t magically transported to the future where all of the Paramount+ eps were available for me to just marathon, but unpredictable shit like that probably would have presented its own problems. In any case, here are a handful of the thoughts that went through my head as I giddily watched Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head.
1. I’m Still Amazed The New Show Premiered So Soon After Beavis And Butt-Head Do The Universe
Okay, so my first thought might technically be a cheat, but Mr. Van Driessen left the classroom, and you better not rat me out, dill-munch. Before the show actually started, as soon as the title screen popped up along with that signature guitar lick, I was awash with a unique glaze of gratitude to be sitting down watching new Beavis and Butt-Head TV content not even six weeks after having giggled myself to lunacy with the release of Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe. And all after having spent the past eleven years without anything new.
2. I Want To Design A Beavis And Butt-Head Themed Escape Room
Given the premiere’s first segment is called “Escape Room,” there likely isn’t much confusion surrounding this non-random thought. I felt this to a slightly lesser degree with MTV’s 2011 revival, but with Beavis and Butt-Head back in the zeitgeist at a time when pop culture branding has stretched beyond already questionable limits, the world needs way more awesome shit with B&B on it. (And I don’t just mean 3,000 kinds of vinyl figurines, although I’m not leaving those on the shelf either.) Building on the surprisingly quality video games and books released in the 1990s, a Beavis and Butt-Head escape room would be a superbly ridiculous way to experience this dumbed-down universe. And if it happens to be themed specifically after the bathrooms and mummy room from the episode, and there were people to score with, that’d be, uh heh-heh, that would be pret-ty cool, too, Butt-Head.
3. Beavis And Butt-Head’s Immaturity And Stupidity Is So Much Easier To Swallow Than Anything Online
While fans already know the characters’ middle-aged versions will be back after showing up in their second feature, Beavis and Butt-Head start off the season in the same teenage form fans have known them as for almost 30 years now. And while I can easily understand why people from all generations could find this show to be severely grating to the nerves, I remain whole-heartedly more eager to spend time with this lovingly crafted low-brow inanity over rage-scrolling through the rampant stupidity and crassness on Twitter, YouTube, and elsewhere online. Mike Judge and the writers continue to excel at “shit-talking without hate-mongering” with Beavis and Butt-Head, where so many others would have long ago doubled-down on taking things too far.
4. Beavis And Butt-Head Commenting On YouTube And TikTok Videos Is The Smartest Example Of Pop Culture Evolving
Immediately after yelling at clouds about the demons of the Internet, I’d like to ASMR-whisper huskily right into a microphone to congratulate the Beavis and Butt-Head team on proving my decades-old hypothesis that Mike Judge deserves to be paid all the dollars to watch and comment on every form of visual media that exists. While I wasn’t so overtly enthused about the show further shifting away from music videos when plans were first announced, I understood why it was happening, and I’m more than pleased to say I guffawed harder watching them riff on the YT/TikTok videos than I did during the music ones. Smartest move ever, of anything. You hear that, hot water and sliced bread?
5. Fire! Fire! Fiiirrrre!
Arguments can be had about how much modern TV and film trailers give away, but I can’t think of a more genius move than the show’s first trailer revealing Beavis having a face-to-face with a dumpster fire. No other single word is more associated with the pyro-appreciating teen, I’d think — fire, not dumpster, or face, or having — and the trailer didn’t even tip its sauce-stained hat to the idea that the segment would be entirely focused on Beavis and the fire, without Butt-Head making an appearance at all. It was a fire, umm, fun surprise to see the fire, dammit, to see the show take a creative left turn so fire… quickly.
6. Episodes Should Be Way Longer, So That We Could Get 30 Minutes Of Just Video-Watching
By the time the third couch commentary came up in the premiere, I reached the point of wondering just how high I should set a crowdfunding campaign to capitalize on the aforementioned idea of securing Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head-voiced commentary on multitudes of video content. And also wondering whether or not any of it was legal or ethical without actually talking to Judge first, before landing on “Let’s seeeee here, no?” for both. But dammit, with the new episodes coming in at just over 20 minutes each, there’s just not enough time for all the things I want. And I realize the first two episodes are available now, and I can watch them both in a row, but… dammit, Butt-Head… it’s time to stand around, or to take a stand, or something, mmk. I’d probably complain if they cut out more of the storylines, too, since I will never get tired of hearing Beavis holler his way through wasp attacks.
7. Butt-Head Softly Slapping Beavis’ Face Is My New Favorite Sound
Not a whole lot of extra fluff to add to this self-explanatory entry. But the second episode delivered both true face-smacking scenes, particularly when Butt-Head lied about a bug being on Beavis’ face, and we also got the amazing new addition to face-smacking canon during the ASMR video commentary. My laugh when Butt-Head violently caressed Beavis’ face was easily louder than anything else in that segment. It shall become my new morning alarm.
8. I Just Love Beavis And Butt-Head So Damned Much
As awesome as it will be whenever the sorta-gestating King of the Hill revival finally happens (he says optimistically), I’m admittedly surprised by how much I’ve specifically enjoyed this once-in-a-generation brand of humor returning for a new generation, and without missing a beat along the way. While perhaps not seated in the same realm of the animated kingdom as Looney Tunes, Hayao Miyazaki, and Disney, there’s a similar timelessness threaded into Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head — for me, at least — in that it tickles my brain in exactly the same way the show did when I watched as a youth, despite both the creator and the viewer (me) being decades older now. There’s something magical about that, right? I don’t know if there’s a science to why Beavis’ fasciation with a power drill in “Boxed In” is such a damned delight, especially if that part was taught while there was a power drill around. Is it too late to shoehorn a Calvin and Hobbes comparison in?
Everyone should obviously check out Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head now that it’s made its on Paramount+, with August 4 also marking the day when more of the original MTV episodes will be available on the service.
