Contents

1. Some History About The Show
2. Comments From Various TV Critics
3. Cast of Characters
4. List of B&B Terminology
5. Questions & Answers
6. List of Commercial Products Available
7. Internet Sources for B&B Material
8. Credits
9. Revision History

Part One - Some History About The Show

• "I don't think anybody said, 'We're making fun of the people who watch MTV'. It just happened."
• "Every once in a while they get their comeuppance in the end, but it's funnier when they get away with it."

History: Spinoff from Liquid Television. Premiered for two weeks in March '93. Returned full time in May '93.

Popularity: Most popular show on MTV with ratings twice as high as anything else on the channel. Recent winner of California lottery (7.5 million) wants to use his money to pressure MTV to take Beavis and Butthead off the air because he thinks the show is in 'bad taste'. Janet Reno (U.S. Attorney General) thinks that shows like B&B are causing the "Decline of the Youth in the Western Civilization".

Format: Coarse characters matched by the appropriate crudeness of rudimentary animation. Seen in various scenes at high-school, part-time jobs, regurgitating TV commercial jingles, but mostly sitting around watching and commenting on music videos.

What makes it funny: Lampoons not just the performers who are the MTV channel's lifeblood, but mercilessly depicts the many real-life B&B's planted in front of the set watching them.

When:

• On Monday-Thursday, it's on MTV at 10:30PM Central/11:30PM Eastern, and later at 2:00AM Central/3:00AM Eastern.
• On Friday nights, it's on at 9:30PM Central/10:30PM Eastern.
• On Saturday nights, it's on at 9:00PM Central/10:00PM Eastern, and later at 10:30PM Central/11:30PM Eastern.
• On Sundays, it's on at 9:00PM Central/10:00PM Eastern (two half-hours back-to-back).
• On MuchMusic (in Canada), it can be seen at 12:00PM Central/1:00AM Eastern, Tuesdays through Saturdays.
• In Europe, it's on MTV Europe on Mon-Fri at 22.30 CET, and RTL2 on Fridays at 23.25 CET.

Part Two - Comments From Various TV Critics

- "The bravest show ever run on national television." -Time

- "The decline of Western Civilization continues." -Variety

- "Postmodernity, once the plaything of smarty-pants French guys, in truth belongs to the engagingly stupid." -Newsweek

- (That was cool. -Butthead)

Part Three - Cast of Characters

The Main Characters:

• Beavis: Beavis has blond hair which he wears in a pompadour, vacant reptilian eyes, grinding predatory teeth, gray shorts, and a blue Metallica T-shirt. He is a psycho with no attention span and only the most vague perceptions of reality. He is the reactionary half of the duo. Favorite saying: "Heh heh hmm hmm heh heh".
• Butt-Head: Butt-Head has tall brown hair which is combed back, beady eyes, braces on his teeth with a a receding lip, red shorts, and a gray AC/DC T-shirt. He is basically your average idiot teen without a future. He is the instigator. Favorite saying: "Huh huh huh huh huh huh".
• Mr. Buzzcut: Hygiene, Physical Education, and Drivers Ed. teacher at Highland High. An ex-military zealot who usually yells rather than talks, Buzzcut hates Beavis and Butt-Head, and isn't the least bit shy about showing it. He'd just love to use a little corporal punishment to reform our moronic heroes, but of course school policy prevents that.
• Mr. Van Driessen: English and History teacher at Highland High. A classic liberal and aging hippie, complete with long hair and beard, and a purple t-shirt with a big peace symbol on it. He tries to be understanding and compassionate to his students, but can never seem to reach Beavis and Butt-Head. His attempts to teach them respect for women and appreciation for human rights, art, nature, and culture always invariably fail.
• Stewart Stevenson: Nerd. Neighbor of B&B. The boys put up with him because he has Pay-Per-View. Plus Stewart's dad has dirty magazines. Stewart is short and kind of overweight, has blond hair, and always wears blue shorts and a Winger T-shirt.
• Daria Morgendorffer: Smart. Student at 'Highland High'. B&B usually call her 'Diarrhea' and greet her by chanting 'Diarreah, cha-cha-cha.' She's the girl with the black leather jacket and glasses in some of their classes at school. Daria's smart, and she's just trying to get through high school so she can go to college with people who actually want to learn something. Says smart things like, "Butt-Head, why don't you go measure the friction caused by digitally oscillating your wiener?", which confuse Beavis and Butt-Head.
• Tom Anderson: Anderson's this really old guy who lives in the same neighborhood as our heroes. He is also ex-military and he sometimes drones on about his life experiences, even though Beavis and Butt-Head never listen. He pays B&B to do odd jobs for him, but always end up trashing his place. Frequent customer at 'Burger World': "Large Fry, Pie, Large Coffee. PRONTO!"

Lesser Seen Characters:

• Lolitta and Tanqueray: Chicks. B&B have had many chances to score with these two, but something always happens before they actually get to do it.
• Todd: He's the leader of a local gang that Beavis and Butt-Head would desperately like to join. Todd knows this, but he hates them and doesn't want them around. Even when he says so and kicks their asses, they still think he's cool.
• Mr. McVicar: The principal at Highland High, where our boys go to school when there's nothing good on TV. He's always really stressed out, and Beavis and Butt-Head never help matters an Usually called "Mr. McDickar" by the boys.
• Billy Bob: Fat guy. Would like nothing better than to see Beavis and Butt-Head's head on a stick. But he would probably eat it.
• Stewart's Mom and Dad: No first names have been given for them. Stewart has like, a relationship with his parents. His dad is a teacher at Highland High, but it's not clear what his mom does.
• Mrs. Dickey: Science teacher at "Highland High".
• Clark Cobb: Owner of Cobb's Family Hardware, Mr. Cobb is an overzealous member of the Christian Businessmen's Association. He's gotten Beavis and Butt-Head to participate in a couple of his projects, but never for the reasons he's intended. Cobb seldom appears in public without his good friend Socko the sock-puppet.
• Cassandra: A modern-day hippie chick, sensitive and emotional. She's also in Beavis and Butt-Head's class, and she attempts to give them an understanding of art and beauty. Like Daria and VanDreissen, though, she only serves to confuse our inept heroes.

Who is Cornholio?
Cornholio is the name of Beavis' alter-ego, who surfaces and replaces Beavis' own personality when Beavis consumes far too much sugar. The name Cornholio is derived from "cornhole," an American slang term for anal sex. When Beavis turns into the Great Cornholio, he pulls his shirt up over his head and wanders around proclaiming, "I am Cornholio! I need TP for my bunghole!"

Cornholio made his first appearance in the episode "Generation in Crisis." Mike Judge and voice director Kristofor Brown realized that the character of Cornholio was funny enough to carry an entire episode, and proceeded to write "The Great Cornholio," in which Beavis' alter-ego becomes the central plot point. This episode is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the Beavis and Butt-Head show.

More recently, the Cornholio character has re-emerged in "Buttniks," where our boys visit a coffee shop and the "Crappuccino" again puts Beavis in Cornholio mode. Also, in "Screamers," both Beavis and Butt-Head pull their shirts over their heads in one scene, although none of the standard Cornholio lines are present in this episode.

Will we see much of Cornholio in future episodes?
Most certainly. There's also a good chance that he will make an appearance in the B&B movie. One other note: When asked if there would be any new characters introduced on the show (on the AOL forum), Mike Judge responded with "Son of Cornholio." Interesting...

Okay, so Beavis can turn into "The Great Cornholio" when he pulls his shirt over his head. But what about when Butt-Head does it?
To date, Butt-Head has done this twice ("Generation in Crisis" and "Screamers"), while Beavis has done it in a total of four episodes. The show's creators have yet to give an official name to the character Butt-Head becomes, although I've seen several people on the net affectionately refer to him as "The Great Buttholio."

Part Four -List of B&B Terminology

Bunghole: Your butt-hole. Where turds and stuff come from.

Choad: There seems to be some difference of opinion, but it is either a euphemism for 'penis' or a reference to the area between the testicles and anus. In the L.A. region, 'choad' is a surfer term for penis and the region between the testicles and anus is called a 'grundle'. This makes sense, because if choad meant grundle, what would a choad-smoker do?

Cut the Cheese: To fart. Break wind. Pass gas. Let one rip. Crack a rat. You get the idea.

Homeowner: Butt-Head uses it in a few of the older episodes as a synonym for "homosexual" when he insults Beavis. It is NOT meant to imply that the house in which they watch TV is Beavis' house.

Medieval: In a couple of the video clips, our boys use the term "getting medieval on your ass." All it means is to go crazy and beat the hell out of someone. And no, it's NOT a reference to the film "Pulp Fiction." Although the term was used in the movie, it existed long before it came out.

Pull My Finger: A game Beavis and Butt-Head play sometimes. One of them will ask the other to pull his finger, then let loose a fart when he does. (See also: Cut the Cheese)

SBD: "Silent But Deadly." A really raunchy fart that makes no noise, slipping out undetected by the unfortunate victim.

Spanking your Monkey: Masturbation. (Also "choking your chicken," "shining your helmet," and many others.)

Tazer: A stun gun, used to shock people and knock them out.

TP: Toilet paper. You know, that stuff you use to like, wipe your butt.

Woodrow: An erection. Other terms are "Morning Wood" (waking up in the morning with an erection), "Stiffy", "It's high noon on my sundial", and "Our pencils are hard". When they are talking about getting an erection, they say things like: "Pitching a tent", "I'm getting a boner", and "I'm getting a stiffy!".

Part Five - Questions & Answers

Q: Are "Beavis" and "Butt-Head" their real names, or nicknames, or what?
A: This is something that Mike Judge hasn't revealed. Butt-Head has said before that his last name is "Head," so his first name might be "Butt." (He's also mentioned that he has a cousin named Richard Head.) Then again, this may only be a joke. Or perhaps no one remembers his real name, but they call him Butt-Head because he's always thinking about butts. It's hard to tell without knowledge of their family.

The name "Beavis" means "smelly hair," and is one of the few truly derogatory first names a person can have. Again, this is only his first name, and the show doesn't give enough information to figure out his last. And despite what you may have heard, Beavis' first name is not, I repeat, NOT "Brian." The recent confusion over this issue stems from Butt-Head saying "Settle down, Brian," while they are watching a video. But he's not saying it to Beavis, he's saying it to Brian Setzer, the guy in the video. Hope this clears things up.

Q: Do they have a job?
A: They are employed at a fast food joint called "Burger World" when they remember to show up. Basically, Burger World is just another place where they can screw around and cause trouble. Note that the emblem for Burger World (a "W") is simply the emblem for McDonald's (an "M") turned upside down.

Q: But they do go to school right?
A: They go to 'Highland High'. They are in the underachiever class with most of the other rejects in the school.

Q: Where exactly do they live?
A: It has never been mentioned on the show or in print, but Ohio, Texas, and New York have all been suggested by the fans. On October 25, 1994, Mike Judge was on an on-line conference on America On-Line and was asked this very question. His answer: "They live in a FICTIONAL town somewhere on the border of western Texas and eastern New Mexico." The following evidence in the show supports this, although NO ONE knows for sure exactly where they live:

New Mexico Evidence:

1. Mike Judge lived and went to grade and high school in the city of Albuquerque.
2. There is in fact a high school named 'Highland High' in Albuquerque.

1. When walking along the street in "Madame Batavsky", the boys pass a car with Texas plates.
2. In "Trouble Urinating", when the boys are outside, there is a water tower in the background. It looks just like the big ol' water towers in the suburbs surrounding Dallas (esp. north of Dallas). In general, things look more like near-Dallas than Albuquerque. ABQ has mountains and hills. Dallas is pretty much flat. B&B-land is largely flat.
3. In 'Tornado!', the boys deal with a tornado. Tornados are common in North Texas.
4. It is also very possible that there is a 'Highland High' in North Dallas. There is the upscale town of Highland Park, closer in to Dallas. Anyway, the word "Highland" is all over the place in and around north Dallas.
5. Mike Judge created the boys while living in/near Dallas.
6. There is a "Highland Park High School" in Highland Park and a "Highland School" in Irving. I don't know what the "Highland School" is, but Irving would be an appropriate north Dallas suburb for the boys to be in...

And we'll say it again just in case you weren't really listening before -- it's a 100% fictional, completely made-up city that is purely imaginary and doesn't really exist. (Apologies to old-timers for this, but the discussion of places where they might live has gone on long enough.)

Q: Is the house where they watch TV Beavis' or Butt-Head's?
A: Again, the show doesn't specifically say. Our personal guess is that it's Butt-Head's house, since, in the episode "Kidnapped," he tells Stewart to "get out of my house." On the other hand, in one of the video clips they watch, Beavis says to Butt-Head, "This is scary. Can I sleep at your house tonight?" This seems to suggest that it's Beavis' house. Or, on the third hand, it may not be either. There aren't enough clues in the show to come to an absolute conclusion.

Q: So why don't we ever see their parents?
A: Their parents are one of the show's great mysteries, as there never has been much said about them. If you take a look at their "family bush" in their book, "This Book Sucks," you'll see that Beavis' mom looks a lot like Butt-Head, and Butt-Head's mom looks a lot like Beavis, so they obviously got mixed up at the hospital where they were born. References to their parents in various episodes indicate that it's likely both boys have the same father. Also, Beavis' mom is a road slut, but we don't know much about Butt-Head's mom yet. Even Mike Judge hasn't said much about this ("They're the same place Charlie Brown's parents are."), so it's unlikely we'll see their parents anytime soon.

Q: Why is there a disclaimer run before the show?
A: To cover MTV's ass from people who may try to sue them because their dumbass kids did something stupid and they want to blame it on B&B. And this disclaimer is not just on the show, it is on everything associated with B&B. It appears in the books "This Books Sucks" and "Beavis and Butt-Head's Ensucklopedia", the CD "The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience", and the B&B game cart for the Sega and SNES.

Q: What is the exact wording of the disclaimer?
A: In the first and second seasons the disclaimer was "Beavis and Butt-Head are not real. They are stupid cartoon people completly made up by this Texas guy who we hardly even know. Beavis and Butt-Head are dumb, crude, ugly, thoughtless, sexist self-destructive fools. But for some reason the little wienerheads make us laugh." And yes, the word completely was mispelled as 'completly'. In the third and following seasons the disclaimer changed to "Beavis and Butt-Head are not role models. They're not even human. They're cartoons. Some of the things they do would cause a person to get hurt, expelled, arrested, possibly deported. To put it another way: Don't try this at home". The disclaimer was probably changed to make it even clearer that if your idiot kid does something stupid, it is not because of the B&B show.

Q: What's the deal with 'fire'?
A: Beavis (and Butt-Head to some degree) has an obession with fire, lighters, and explosions. In the first and second seasons, and part of the third, many episodes show him either yelling "Fire! Fire!" or stating that stuff needs to be burned. When the media reported that a 5 year old kid burned down the family's mobile home with matches after watching BnB, MTV, ball-less wusses that they are, decided to remove all references to 'fire' from the program, thus validating the media's claim. This is the reason why many episodes are now banned or severely edited. There has been no official comment from MTV about this that I know of, they just hacked up the show, and moved it to a later time slot. Mike Judge has also never commented about this, except to say that BnB "has always been targeted as an adult show".

We've learned a little more about this situation since we first wrote this. Apparently this fire occured in Moraine, Ohio, which is a suburb of Dayton. The fire was caused by a five-year old boy and his two-year old sister was killed in the fire. It appears the mother smelled a good lawsuit and decided to push it. There are a couple of interesting points in this situation:

1. The family did not have cable television.
2. The mother left the five year old alone with his younger sister in the mobile home for more than a half-hour while she socialized somewhere else in the trailer park.
3. The fire was started with a BIC lighter which the mother had left on a coffee table.

Of course, the show has never been afraid of laughing at itself, and now the writers love to get as close as possible to actually saying the word 'fire,' without actually doing it.

Q: Yeah, but didn't they kill a cat in one episode?
A: Nope. They did PAINT a cat's butt, but never killed one (although frogs are a different story :-). The killing part came about when the boys were bored and looking for something to do. Butthead suggested that they should stick a firecracker in a cats butt and see what happened but they never actually did it. Well, when two demented youths in California did kill a cat with a firecracker, the show was blamed for the kids actions.

Q: What about other changes that have been made to episodes?
A: Anything depicting animal cruelty has either been edited or removed altogether. MTV was pressured into doing this after being attacked by animal rights activists and reports of children being cruel to animals after watching the show. In the case of other revisions, there's no explanation whatsoever for their removal. Examples include the water dripping from Buzzcut's crotch in "Water Safety" and the telemarketers who once laughed at Beavis' 900-call in "Hard Sell." Go figure.

Q: What is this "Lake Titicaca" that Beavis keeps talking about?
A: Yes, Lake Titicaca is a real place. Specifically, it's located on the boundaries of southern Peru and western Bolivia, in the Andes Mountains, in South America. Once you realize that the name contains the words "tit" and "caca," it's easy to understand why Beavis has an obsession with it.

Q: Which of the two is smarter?
A: Mike Judge on the David Letterman show stated that Butt-Head is smarter, although no one can deny the fact that Beavis has his occasional moments of brilliance. There is much speculation in the newsgroups that Beavis may actually be a genius, yet remain eternally repressed by Butt-Head's demeaning remarks.

Q: What is cool?
A: Anything in or from Seattle, Washington is cool.

Q: What is the strongest BnB music video compliment?
A: A resounding and repeated, "Y E S S S ! ! !"

Q: What's the worse pan?
A: They stare at each other for a moment and wordlessly change the channel.

Q: Do they like ALL videos?
A: Nope. In the "early" days, they panned virtually everything, deservingly-so. Although in recent episodes they tend to watch even bad videos longer than they used to. Is this because MTV doesn't want to piss off record companies since B&B almost have the power to make or break a band (witness White Zombie), or does it just fill air time?

Q: So who is their favorite band?
A: Well, Butt-Head loves AC/DC of course, and Beavis rocks when Metallica comes on, but the consensus is that GWAR (which stands for God What A Racket) is their all time favorite band. Every time they come on, they both go into a fit, because everything about the video is cool. Also high on the list is White Zombie, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails, and Ministry.

Q: How about their most hated band?
A: Tough to say, because there are so many. Probably on the bottom would be Grim Reaper, Culture Club, and the "Super Suck Group" Color Me Badd. Only two bands to date have been given the infamous "stare-and-wordlessly-change-the-channel" pan: Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli. So one could argue that these two tie for B&B's most hated band.

Q: What makes a video cool?
A: If it has chicks (preferably half-naked or in sweaty t-shirts), fire, explosions, loud music, blood, accidents, bugs, or toilets, it's pretty safe to assume that the video is cool.

Q: Did a band ever kick Mike Judge's ass?
A: No. He once met a guy from the English band "Grim Reaper" that BnB ripped, and the musician said he was a big BnB fan and would have lost all respect for them if they had liked his video because it WAS really bad.

Q: So, like, who does the voices?
A:

   Mike Judge - Beavis and Butt-Head
                Mr. Van Driessen
                Tom Anderson
                Bradley Buzzcut
                Mr. McVicker
                Todd
                  
   Adam Welch - Stewart
     
   ?          - Cassandra
              - Daria

   Bob Goldthwait  - As a bum in "Party" and "Beavis, Can You Spare a Dime?"
   David Letterman - As himself in "Late Night With Butt-Head"
   Tabitha Soren   - As herself in "Citizen Butt-Head"
   David Spade     - Mr. Manners in "Manners Suck" and "Candy Sale"

Q: Is there a Beavis and Butt-Head movie in the works?
A: Yes. The movie is being produced by Viacom (MTV's parent) and David Geffen, and will be released by Paramount Pictures. There was a heated argument between Geffen and Mike Judge concerning whether to use live actors or keep it animated. Geffen wanted live actors with David Spade and Adam Sandler in the lead roles. Judge hated the idea saying that "Everybody seemed to want to do it live-action. I think some of the executives may not have known that the show was a cartoon." But money talks in Hollywood, and animation, which is cheaper and more recognizable, ultimately won out. The movie is budgeted at about $5 million.

As for the plot, there is no set idea as yet, Judge proposed "Crisis in the Butt Zone", in which a rampaging virus makes everyone just like Beavis and Butt-Head. But Geffen's people balked and the idea was shelved. Another idea was "My Dinner With Butt-head", in which the pair sit and talk for an hour and a half at the Burger World. "I mentioned that and everyone looked at me with this nervous, constipated look," says Judge. "I started saying, 'Yeah, it could be like, "Pass the mustard, Beavis." "You said turd."' I was just joking."

Look for the movie next summer, and keep checking the FAQ for the most recent info.

Part Six - List of Commercial Products Available

There are also two video tapes, "Work Sucks" and "There Goes the Neighborhood." Here's what you'll find on them:

 "Work Sucks"          "There Goes the Neighborhood"     "Final Judgment"
 ------------          -----------------------------     ----------------
 Burger World          Home Improvement                  No Laughing
 Customers Suck        Lawn and Garden                   Scared Straight
 The BH Experience     Good Credit                       They're Coming to
 Be All You Can Be     Washing the Dog                     Take Me Away
 Cleaning House        B&BH vs. the Vending Machine      Manners Suck
 Sperm Bank            Mr. Anderson's Balls              The Great Cornholio
 Blackout              Pool Toys                         Liar! Liar!
 Closing Time          The Trial                         Final Judgment of Beavis

Part Seven - Internet Sources for B&B Material

Part Eight - Credits

This FAQ is the combination of ideas from a lot of people. The intial work was done by Will Leland and Tim Zickus in two different FAQ's. Because of circumstances in work and life, the FAQ has since been passed to us. We combined the material from the two original FAQ's, updated it, and added to it. Many thanks to all who have corrected or contributed material, either by posting it in alt.tv.beavis-n-butthead, sending it to us directly, or pointing us at existing files.

You are free to reproduce any materials herein, as long as the names of the original authors remain intact. If you change or delete these, we'll have no choice but to kick your ass.

Many thanks to the following people:
Joseph G. Adams, Eric Adriaansen, Jim Baines, Nick Bensema, Marshal Chaifetz, David Crowley, Jeff Ellwood, Mauri Haikola, Jack Herman, Patty Herron, Howard Hsieh, Cal Jewell, Douglas J. Kohn, Bill Linnane, Kenneth Mandell, Rodolfo Monterrosa, Mike O'Connor, Doug Riblet, Tobe Schultz, Murray Silverstone, Rob Synder, Tiri, Bobby Tribble, and Wilson Verardi.

Part Nine - Revision History

• Updated the times the show is on, and added a couple new stations.
• Added Cassandra to the list of lesser characters.
• Updated the "Cornholio" portion of the character list, to reflect the newer episodes, "Screamers" and "Buttniks."
• Added a "Who is cooler - Beavis or Butt-Head?" question.
• Changed the voices section to better reflect who does the voices now.
• Added an explanation of Butt-Head's change of voice from the first season to the second.
• Added "Final Judgment" to the list of episodes available on tape.
• Changed the section about "who does the animation" to better reflect how it actually gets done.
• Added to the "is there a movie coming" question. The info is from the August issue of 'Premiere' magazine.
• Changed the some of the internet stuff. Deleted beavis@mtv.com and butthead@mtv.com because I don't think these are real addresses. Added feedback@mtv.com. Updated the Web links section.

VERSION 3.0 - 5/8/95

• Pretty much a complete re-write, added new questions and changed format.
• Created new title picture.