Mike Judge Was A Big Fan of the Live-Action ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ Sketch on ‘SNL’
Ahead of Beavis and Butt-Head’s season premiere today, Mike Judge reflected on his series’ SNL legacy.
“I was so pleased to see what a great reaction that got,” Judge recalled of the “really cool” experience of watching Highland High’s dumbest students take on 30 Rockefeller Plaza back in 2024.
The sketch, which was the most-watched of SNL’s 49th Season, starred guest host Ryan Gosling as a pompadoured Beavis lookalike and longtime cast member Mikey Day as a gum-bearing Butt-Head doppelganger. Judge said he “had no idea” that SNL planned on centering a skit around his iconic ‘90s characters.
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“I found out later that it was something they wanted to do for a long time,” he explained. “None of the hosts wanted to do it until Gosling came along.”
The concept of a Beavis and Butt-Head-themed segment was initially pitched back in 2018 with the intention of featuring then-guest host Jonah Hill as one of the titular characters. But according to SNL hairstylist Jodi Mancuso, it was wig challenges, not a dearth of willing guest hosts, that stopped the segment from making it to air.
“There wasn’t a lot of prep time, and I wasn’t fully happy with the wigs,” she told The Ankler back in 2024. “Then I think we tried it again, and again I wasn’t happy with it.”
Mancuso said she initially gave up on the sketch, but decided to give it another go after Day and writer Streeter Seidell pitched it again ahead of Gosling’s episode. Equipped with slightly more realistic wigs, the segment was now ready for a dress rehearsal.
Previewing Day’s full Butt-Head getup, however, wasn’t enough to prevent Heidi Gardner from experiencing one of the most infamous breaks in SNL history. “When I looked and saw Mikey in the dress rehearsal, I lost it,” Gardner explained to Vulture after the sketch aired.
“I just couldn’t prepare for what I saw,” the actress remembered, noting that she “really tried” to keep it together during the live show. “I even saw Mikey out of the corner of my eye seconds before I went live. I saw the red shorts. I knew I couldn’t look over there again.”
Or to put it in Beavis and Butt-Head terms, she just couldn’t stop doing this:
