[4] 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.

[10] They spend time watching television, drinking unhealthy beverages, eating,[11] and embarking on "mundane, sordid" adventures, which often involve vandalism, abuse, violence, or animal cruelty.

[10] They prefer videos with "explosions, loud guitars, screaming and death", and favor rock bands such as the Butthole Surfers, Corrosion of Conformity, and Metallica.

[14] 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.

[14] 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!

[17] 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.

Though many early seasons were made at MTV's midtown Manhattan campus,[21] 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.

[14] 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.

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.

[26] 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.

According to TMZ, MTV had not asked Tracy Grandstaff to reprise that role;[28] Judge confirmed that the character was limited to a cameo appearance.

[30] As part of a promotional campaign, cinemas screening Jackass 3D opened the feature film with a 3-D Beavis and Butt-Head short subject.

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.

[46] 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.

[47][48][49] 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+".

[52] 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";[52] around the same time, he also suggested that "Seann William Scott's kinda got Butt-Head eyes.

Judge found it hard to replicate the characters' onscreen stupidity: "It was just sort of like watching teenagers imitate Beavis and Butt-Head.

[11] 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.

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.

[61] 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.

Karen Olsson from The New York Times found it "dumber and funnier" than the original run,[66] and Brian Lowry of Variety "still a rowdy, guilty hoot.

[72] The New York Times's Jason Zinoman extolled the revival: "[the show] remains singular [...] they all hit comic notes ‌with moseying cadences you can’t find elsewhere.

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.

[79] The creators found a censorship loophole and took delight in sometimes making Beavis scream things that sounded very similar to his previous "Fire!

[17] 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.

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").

[88][89] 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).

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.

[51] 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.