Beavis and Butt-Head Comic-Con 2022 Panel Recap and Footage

Beavis and Butt-Head are back, and the idiotic duo are being celebrated at Comic-Con 2022 in proper fashion! Beavis and Butt-Head are coming in hot of the release of their new feature film Beavis and Butt-Head Do The Universe, which is currently streaming on Paramount+. Creator Mike Judge will also be bringing two new seasons of Beavis and Butt-Head to MTV, so we truly mean it when we say this franchise is back with a vengeance! 

Moderator Paul Scheer (The League, How Did This Get Made?) welcomed Mike Judge out for one-on-one conversation between the two. 

Beavis & Butt-Head Panel Comic-Con 2022

Mike Judge started by saying how much he loves the vibe at Comic-Con, a place where “super-geeks” are free to be their most creative and expressive selves. Judge went on to describe what it was like first creating Beavis and Butt-Head, and how the moment the animated characters came to life, with sound, they started entertaining the film engineers and animators in the room, letting Judge know he had something special. 

Scheer asked why now is the time for Beavis and Butt-Head to make a comeback. It wasn’t fate: Mike Judge was asked by a band he worked with on HBO’s Silicone Valley to do a B&B segment for their Coachella show. That got Judge creatively re-inspired, then Paramount/ViacomCBS (which owns MTV and Comedy Central – home of Beavis and Butt-Head) were looking for content for their Paramount+ service, so… 

Judge was asked how he makes his dumb characters so dumb, but still humorous and lovable. He describes the hardship of making dumb characters and sticking to the consistency of their level of dumbness. He goes on to describe how the new film (Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe) actually had some writers trying to do things that were too smart for the characters – and how much fun it was moving the duo from the 1990s to 2022 through some sci-fi hijinks. It’s just funnier to see Beavis and Butt-Head even more ignorant in the more woke era. 

Mike Judge states Beavis and Butt-Head are 15 years old. Paul Scheer (jokes?) that that’s crucial official canon!

Beavis & Butt-Head Reboot Footage: Special One

A segment of the Beavis and Butt-Head reboot show was shown. The episode is called “Special One” and it sees Beavis encounter a dumpster fire behind a fast food restaurant that speaks to him. The fire was the one who has been with Beavis all his life (including a flashback to an adorable 3-year-old Beavis first meeting fire), and it commands Beavis to be his disciple. Beavis listens, but it’s not the fun he expects: Fire wants him to run a mile on the track, clean up the recyclables in his neighborhood, and (the last straw) read Call of the Wild and do a book report. In the end, Beavis gets a manager and extinguishes fire in a big betrayal. 

The rebooted show will feature music videos like the classic series – but also new media. The “Special One” ep has a hilarious intermission where Beavis and Butt-Head comment on a TikTok about making your own prison tattoos. It’s classic B&B for the social media era. 

Beavis & Butt-Head Reboot Footage: Rooftop

A second B&B episode segment shows the pair going up on the roof of a house to drop a crystal bowl and smash it. Unfortunately, Beavis’s fear of heights makes him leave the bowl on the ground – and knock the ladder down before he and Butt-Head can climb down. Butt-Head gets Beavis to try and run and jump to grab a nearby tree branch, which goes horribly, and leaves Butt-Head dropping Beavis off the roof, and giving him a concussion. The segment ends with concussed Beavis hilariously losing the sense of what’s happening, and scrambling back up the ladder without the bowl, once again knocking the ladder to the ground, leaving he and Butt-Head back in the same precarious situation. 

Judge talked about finding a new way to do the show without moving away from the classic core. He also teases a new “Daria Universe” series that is in the works – as well as saying King of the Hill “has a very good chance” of making a comeback, as well. Smart Beavis and Butt-Head from the movie are teased to make a comeback – as will the boys’ teacher, David Van Driessen. 

Mike Judge says Rick and Morty, Big Mouth, and Barry are all current shows he truly enjoys watching. 

Q&A 

Mike Judge answered a fans’ question by saying two years (not necessarily four) of art school if you want to get into animation. He talks about how Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” book taught him about storyboarding. 

Judge also recounted the improv moment that led him to create Beavis’s iconic alter-ego, Cornholio. Something wasn’t working in a Season 3 episode, and Judge just spontaneously made the irreverent choice to to give Beavis a powerful alter-ego. He also admits that it’s based on his slightly manic obsession of doing characters as a kid – even when people wanted him to stop. 

Judge wouldn’t rule out the idea of a Beavis and Butt-Head prequel story – or something like a spinoff about Beavis’s mom. Paramount+ streaming makes it all possible. However, Judge is hesitant to blow out the B&B universe too much, as it would just create a lot more work for him, creatively and imaginatively. He cites the Charlie Brown model of animation (no parents, only certain location shots) for how he treats B&B 

Mike Judge ended the panel by teasing some new stories form the Beavis and Butt-Head reboot, including a jury duty ep, and one where Beavis and Butt-Head try out mediation – and stumble their way into enlightenment. 

The Beavis and Butt-Head reboot will be on Paramount+ starting August 4th.