Beavis and Butthead Return Impressions

Everyone remembers “Beavis and Butthead.” They were the critics and everything ’90s and people laughed with them and at their stupidity. Sadly, Mike Judge “killed them” in 1997 so he could work on his other projects. Now he’s brought them back with a great cheer coming from the fans. Sadly, they should have stayed dead.

Our first clue that something is amiss starts with the intro. It’s similar, but the laughs are not right. The second clue is how Mike Judge can’t do Beavis’s voice anymore. Beavis sounds like your drunken friend doing a really bad impersonation of Beavis just to get cheap laughs.

The actual episodes themselves are plain not funny. The first is “Werewolves of Highland” where B&B see “Twilight: Eclipse” and get the idea that they need to become undead to “score.” They do so by getting bit by a homeless person and they think they are undead, but instead are infected with syphilis, hepatitis A, B and C among other diseases. Not one chuckle is found in this episode.

The second episode, “Crying,” is a running gag of Butthead telling Beavis he cried after sniffing an onion. That’s the whole episode. Going from the next day, to one month later and then ending with 80 years later, where Butthead is still telling Beavis “you cried.” Ultimately, Butthead dies and then Beavis hits him with his wheelchair, the end. Running gags are nothing new in B&B, but the original series did it right and it was funny.

Because MTV no longer runs music videos, Beavis and Butthead now make fun of MTV programs and Youtube videos. This segment, which usually gets great laughs, just gets a few chuckles now.

The only video that was hilarious was Beavis and Butthead making fun of that one Jersey Shore episode where the crew are making pizza in Italy. B&B making fun of the cast, pointing out their bad jokes and their catch phrases is worth repeated viewings. This was the funniest part of the whole episode and was the highlight. This is also seems to be the only reason to tune in to the New B&B show.

A botched opening, unfunny jokes and Mike Judge’s inability to do Beavis’s voice make the new Beavis and Butthead series a letdown. The Jersey Shore part was the only funny part out of the whole show.

In the almighty words of Beavis, “this sucks. Change it.”

While I agree with the fact that the running gag in “Crying” was a tad weak, I think the overall flavor of the show has been kept in tact. The commentary during the “porn” skit was hilarious and the writing is as beautifully brainless as it ever was. The animation is straight from the old shows as well, with no added polish, which insures that the grit of the original. If you weren’t a fan of “Beavis and Butthead” the first time, you probably won’t be a fan this time around either. it hasn’t changed at all. The fact that it has embraced the changes that MTV has gone through in its absence and found a way to still induce pop culture hilarity is commendable and proves Judge has more talent than anyone acknowledges. So just shut your brain off and enjoy the absurdities. It’s been a long time coming.

-Patrick Hickey Jr.

The show is just as funny as it was back then, if not, even more humorous. Now with more music videos and things to make fun of, this show can go on for years to come. By the looks of last night’s episode, that’s a great thing for everybody.

Proof in point: the boys watch “Twilight” and aim to get “bitten by a werewolf” to “score.” Their charming stupidity kicks in and they mistake a bum for a werewolf and get bitten and catch the Hepatitis C the bum carried and become gravely ill. The boys actually think they become vampires. Simply hilarious stuff.

The humor doesn’t stop there.

They also poked fun at music videos from the likes of MGMT, LMFAO, and Skrillex and even clips from TV shows such as “Jersey Shore,” and “Addicted.” Beavis even shouts “Fire” again.

Always one of the show’s highlights, it’s nearly impossible to keep a straight face while you listen to the boys’ ridiculously hilarious input of what they deem as “cool.”

- Nicholas Jason Lopez