Butt-head

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Butt-Head
First appearance	Frog Baseball (1992)
Last appearance	Jack Ass Live during Steve-O's rap. (2008)
Created by	Mike Judge
Portrayed by	Mike Judge (voice)
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Freshman @ Highland High School, Cashier at Burger World
Family	N/A

Butt-Head (b. 1979^[1]) is a fictional character from the MTV animated series Beavis and Butt-Head. He was voiced by the show's creator, Mike Judge.

Mike Judge got the name Butt-Head from his university days, when he knew a couple of kids who had the nicknames 'Iron Butt' and 'Butt-Head'.^[2] Some of the mispronunciations of Butt-Head's name by adults include Buffcoat, Headbutt, Butthole, Butter-head, Buttbrain, Tangpode, Nuthead and Bob-head. Senator Ernest Hollings actually first used the name 'Buffcoat' on the floor of the U.S. Senate — an incident believed to have inspired incidents of mispronunciation of the title characters' names.^[3]

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Relationship with Beavis 3 Spoofs 4 References

[edit] Characteristics

Of the title characters, Butt-Head appears to be the leader of the two. He is calmer, cockier, and marginally more intelligent than Beavis, but is oblivious of subtleties and still significantly less intelligent than the other characters in the show. Regardless, as the 'leader', he is usually 100% confident in everything he says and does — no matter how ridiculous or frivolous it is. Dan Tobin of The Boston Phoenix described Butt-Head as "ringleader, the devious visionary."^[4]

Butt-Head also seems to be the lazier of the two. In many occasions, he never seems to show much reaction to things unless they catch his attention, in which case, he always describes them as 'cool'. This is different from Beavis, who always has at least some kind of reaction or form of action, although his actions predictably end with bad results.

Butt-Head wears dental braces (which stemmed from his horrible dental hygiene coupled with his behavior completely irking his dentist) and has squinted eyes. His top gums are often exposed and he speaks nasally with a deep voice and a slight lisp, repeatedly punctuating his speech with his trademark laugh. He is usually shown wearing an AC/DC t-shirt. However, he is seen wearing a Metallica shirt for a few seconds in "Crisis Line". In merchandising appearances, his shirt instead displays the word 'Skull', to avoid licensing issues. He is also known to fashion his hair with his own phlegm as if it were hair gel as seen in rare footage during the music video segments.

Though Butt-Head is physically weak to the point of not even being able to lift a bar without any weights ("Buff n' Stuff"), he is still shown to be somewhat stronger than Beavis through dominating the majority of fights they've been involved with in episodes such as "TV Violence" and "Special Delivery" where Beavis does fight back against him.

Like Beavis, Butt-Head's parents are not seen, except for in Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, where his dad is a Mötley Crüe roadie voiced by David Letterman. It is implied that Butt-Head's parents are divorced; in the episode "True Crime", the two were watching the music video for Grace Jones's "Demolition Man". Beavis claimed the video was scary and thus asked Butt-Head if he could spend the night at Butt-Head's house, to which he answered "I'll ask my mom's boyfriend when he gets home." However, because the two have already practically lived together for the entirety of the show without any of their parents being seen, how literally or seriously this line should be taken is debatable.

[edit] Relationship with Beavis

The series appears to show both title characters living in the same house. It is still speculated whether Beavis and Butt-Head are related or not, but the movie Beavis and Butt-Head Do America gives viewers a quick glimpse of their fathers, telling the boys how their mothers got pregnant (however, both groups failed to make the connection of their kinship). Judge in fact calls the two men in the movie 'their dads' on the DVD commentary. The one who looks like an older Butt-Head claims that he is the only one who 'scored'. If it is true, however, it would make the duo half-brothers. This potential relationship is also hinted at in "Scientific Stuff" where Daria questions if the two share the same father, to which the duo reply that it was indeed possible.

On many occasions, Butt-Head is depicted as being abusive towards Beavis, often depicted slapping or insulting him. Most of the time, he receives no retaliation for these actions, with some exceptions ("Murder Site", "Nose Bleed", "Prank Call", and some music videos when Beavis kicks him in the testicles). In several episodes, Butt-Head has shown no affection for Beavis whatsoever, whether Beavis is being severely beaten ("Teen Talk", "Tired" and "Do America"), abandoned ("B&B vs The Vending Machine") or deported to Mexico ("Vaya Con Cornholio"). The feeling appears to be mutual, however, as seen in one episode where Butt-Head nearly drowns in a pool and Beavis remains indifferent to Butt-Head's near-death experience ("Water Safety"), and in another episode where Butt-Head chokes on a chicken nugget and Beavis takes his time when attempting to help him as if it were nothing serious ("Choke"), even telling the 9-1-1 operator that "he's not really my friend", as a reply to a question Beavis misconceived as a request to give Butt-Head a 'rim job'. However, usually when Butt-Head is in a situation where he may need Beavis' help, Beavis' reluctance to help Butt-Head can also be viewed as an example of Beavis not being as smart as Butt-Head, in that he has a hard time focusing, and he may not be helping Butt-Head simply because Beavis doesn't realize that Butt-Head needs help. In the episode "Choke", where Butt-Head chokes, Beavis' inability/reluctance to help Butt-Head may consist of both Beavis' inability to focus and the fact that he couldn't understand what Butt-Head was saying and couldn't tell that he was trying to tell him that he was choking, even though it was obvious that Butt-Head was choking. Contrary to Beavis, when he gets a nosebleed (which was caused by Butt-Head punching him in the face), Butt-Head 'tries' to help him, resulting in Beavis losing a great deal of blood. On another occasion, when Beavis has knocked himself out after crashing into a wall of the house, Butt-Head revives him by dumping a bucket of cold water on him.

The two characters spend most of their time with each other. Butt-Head in particular is scornful of Stewart Stevenson, a nice if nerdy overweight kid who for some reason wants to be friends with the duo. The two greatly admire Todd, an older bully who takes advantage of and pushes around the duo. They both share the same occupation, and usually compliment each other when one makes any sort of endeavor, especially if it involves their life-long goal to 'score with chicks'.

[edit] Spoofs

In the 1996 Paramount and MTV movie, Beavis & Butthead Do America, at the beginning during the King-Kong/Godzilla-like scene, Butt-Head is known as Butt-Kong, but when Beavis appears, they are referred to by their real names.

[edit] References

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