![]() The new show’s look is a mite slicker and the comic situations are set up and executed better, including Episode 1 in which Beavis and Butt-Head mistake an escape room’s bathroom for the place they need to escape. The reboot, now called “ Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head,” drills down on this point and updates the content they critique to include TikTok videos, YouTube how-tos and A.S.M.R. In a running joke from the beginning of the series, nothing seemed real or important to these guys unless it was on a screen - even moments you would expect them to find hilarious, like walking in on the principal getting spanked. Music videos matter less today, but certain themes from the show are only more relevant. Judge realized years before Jon Stewart did on “The Daily Show” that showing something absurd, then making a face, is all you need for television comedy. ![]() The boys could be withering, as when Butt-Head asked of an Amy Grant video, “Is this a Clearasil commercial?” And they could surprise you, as when they were won over by the Bee Gees. But there was a catchy music to their stammering (the way Butt-Head said “hey baby” sticks in the mind), betraying an unmistakable love of the sound of words. In the rare moments that Beavis made a point eloquently, Butt-Head slapped him. When television children were still speaking in zingers, these guys were defiantly inarticulate. So was the perspective that identified some things that were cool (explosions, lizards, breaking stuff), others that sucked (college, words, alt rock) and nothing in between. When Butt-Head tittered at a vaguely sexual-sounding word (“He said ‘hanging’”), it was juvenile but familiar. As it happens, he also created one of the most memorable acerbic girls of the era, Daria, who started on “Beavis and Butt-Head” before getting her own show. What mattered to him was capturing the language and attitude of a specific kind of bored, nihilistic boy. Mike Judge would never smuggle in a satire of Gilbert and Sullivan, as “The Simpsons” did, and his plotting was pointedly indifferent. It can be done well, but there’s a price, because kids can tell when you’re talking over their heads. Most ambitious animation, including Pixar movies, tries this trick of telling jokes for one generation layered with references for another. “Beavis and Butt-Head” was always much smarter than its characters, but it resonated with young people because it pulled this off without trying to appeal to their parents. (“Are you threatening me?” “Fire! Fire!”) It’s why Paramount+ made a major investment in his dormant animated creation, putting old seasons online while rolling out a solid new movie, “ Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe,” and an even better rebooted series that captures just enough of the original delirious spirit to make you want to imitate the old catchphrases. Mike Judge, who created the cartoon along with directing cult movies like “Idiocracy” and “Office Space,” is a master of the moronic. Sometimes life (and thus comedy) is stupid. Can I explain why Beavis pulling his T-shirt over his blond bouffant and declaring himself the Great Cornholio made me laugh louder than anything Bart Simpson has ever done? No, but it’s true. This was no provocation but a considered take - one I don’t regret. Yet if you talked to me back then, I would have told you with sniggering teenage confidence that the critically ignored “Beavis and Butt-Head,” a crudely drawn cartoon about two idiots chuckling over music videos, was clearly better. “Beavis and Butt-Head” didn’t make the cut. the Monorail” (written by Conan O’Brien), building a reputation that earned it second place on a recent Rolling Stone list of the 100 greatest shows in history. Beloved by critics and comedy nerds, it was producing classic episodes like “ Marge vs. ![]() When “ Beavis and Butt-Head” premiered in spring 1993, “The Simpsons” was finishing up what many now consider not just its greatest season, but perhaps the greatest ever.
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