This weekend, MTV2 is showing a marathon of Beavis and Butt-Head episodes. Airman is watching them and laughing like a hyena. I, on the other hand, am staring at the television blankly, wondering why a show about two teenage boys who haven’t the brains to pick their own noses could be so popular.
So why is this show so popular? What about it is so charming?
Robin
Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh.
It just works on so many different levels.
Well, actually, I suspect it’s the lack of charm that makes the show appealing.
First of all, there is the glory of the malaprop, the misplaced statement, the mangled phrase. This is funny. Ghod knows we laugh when a child mispronounces a word or wildly misunderstands a situation.
Secondly… well… there seems to be something funny about people far, far stupider than oneself. At least most people seem to think so. That’s the only reason I can see for films like Dumb And Dumber and Dude, Where’s My Car?
And lastly, it’s fun to see old music videos given the MST3K treatment, even if it’s by a couple of pinheaded morons…
its funny because it has jokes.
jokes are funny.
Cf. Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, scene ii, Romeo & Juliet, Act 2, scene iv.
The critical social commentary that underlies every B&B episode appeals to me; the show examines the shortcomings of public education, popular entertainment, language, and the modern American family from the oblivious perspective of two kids who’ve fallen through just about every crack. I think the show would likely be much more mean-spirited if this sort of commentary was not what Mike Judge intended. Heh heh heh.
Beavis is dead and entering heaven, and St. Peter is looking over his “permanent record” at the Pearly Gates.
Pete- “And when you were thirteen, you violated your action figure with your weiner”
Beavis-“No way- you saw that?”
Pete-“We see everything, Beavis”
Beavis-“But I was under the covers!”
For a while that was the most amusing segment of television I’d ever seen. Granted, I was nine.
The Newlyweds bit the other day when Nick discovers Jessica has spend 1400 dollars on sheets may be my new favorite:
Nick- “For fourteen hundred dollars I better have a wet dream the moment I lay down”
Simply put, there is no explaining the allure of B+B. Either you get it or you don’t. It makes me laugh, so I like it.
I think it really captures something about a certain kind of teen age suc-culture. I was one of those potheads sitting around making fun of vidoes. I knew a lot of guys like that. The pothead laugh is perfect.
There’s really nothing that can be said here to convince you to enjoy it. It’s a niche brand of humor. FWIW, I never saw the appeal of Friends or Seinfeld, yet, I could watch a B&B marathon all day long.
Huh huh huh huh, you said “long.”
I agree, (especially Seinfield) but I wonder if age has anything to do with it. Did people who were older than middle or high school age enjoy the show the first time around?
I was in the 13-16 age range while the show was at the height of it’s popularity and my parents loved it.
My mom was probably one of the only 40-something mother three women in the world who would pull her shirt over her head and do a Cornholio impersonation in those days.
I find it amusing because I actually KNOW people like that in real life.
Or maybe because it’s so childish. Ehehehe…you said “hard”…ehehehe…it’s just being silly and goofy.
Several years ago I had a 19-year-old pothead roommate whose role models were Beavis & Butthead. He went around the apartment talking like Butthead and calling me Beavis all the time.
I finally threw his ass out when I figured out he was dealing weed out of my apartment.
I was 22-23ish when in first came out. Loved every minute of it.
B&B is like modern jazz and White Castle hamburgers; either you get it or you don’t.
I graduated high school in 1977. I liked Seinfeld (though I rarely watch a rerun) and also Beavis and Butthead. I was more partial to the “skits” though, than when they watched videos.
Incidentally, I had a friend, now deceased, who looked just like Butthead.
I was right about their age when it came on the first time. It was funny as hell because:
Pretty much everyone I knew was like that, including me.
I don’t mean terminally stupid. Just teenagers. Quite a few of us were obsessed with heavy metal. We were all obsessed with chicks and boobs. And scoring. And yea, we could be stupid. We were too young to really do anything besides watch TV and sit around.
Now I own the DVD sets because it’s still funny as hell because I can reminisce.
Some of my favorite moments:
“The Spirit of Christmas Future” (Mr. Buzzcut) is showing Beavis his tombstone. “Here…lies…Beev…Beavis…he…never…scored…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Mr. Buzzcut starts talking about Vietnam, really flashing back. As he gets more and more into it, they start headbanging cause it’s so cool.
Beavis is waiting to get into Heaven. St. Peter starts reading his sins and it goes something like, “…on March 3rd at noon, you touched yourself in an impure way. At 2pm on March 3rd, you touched yourself in an impure way.” Repeat until it’s several years later.
Plus Butt-head had several great lines. “I don’t like stuff that sucks.” “I have seen the top of the mountain.”
I hafta agree. Either you think it’s funny, or you don’t.
They’re the Gen X 3 Stooges.
It’s that simple.
Good one Bosda!
I found that there is an entry for them in Wikipedia!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beavis_and_Butthead
My favorite moment was in the “Animation Sucks” episode: Mr. Van Driessen teaches the class about animation; for the assignment, Beavis and Butt-head drew hundreds of people dying, but the drawings put in sequence only showed 2 people, “but, but, we did draw hundreds!” “Animation sucks!”
The sequence that had me rolling was the one at the beginning, were the teacher describes the wonders of animation for a couple of minutes: “The action! The movement!” etc… while he was talking, the “camera” just showed a still frame of B&B sitting in the classroom listening to the teacher, no animation whatsoever! (The teacher was animatedly talking to them “off camera”)