Successful cartoon series Beavis and Butt-Head has had some reinventions since its debut in 1993, but the show still provides laughs, thanks to April 13 Saturday night live skit that spoofed the main characters.
In the skit, SNL cast member Heidi Gardner depicts a NewsNation anchor leading a town hall discussion about artificial intelligence. She’s interviewing a professor who studies AI, played by co-star Kenan Thompson. Things get weird when he can’t stay focused because of two audience members who bear an unmistakable resemblance to Beavis and Butt-Head.
What makes the play funny is that Ryan Gosling, as Beavis, and Mikey Day, as Butt-Head, play audience members who are oblivious to their disturbing stares.
The play was so funny, in fact, that several actors broke character, with Gosling and Gardner finding it particularly difficult to contain their laughter. The YouTube video now has over 11 million views and is still trending on search engines.
“It was a draft that had been put out in table readings and rehearsals for about five years before that,” Gardner told Vulture. “Previously, I was in the sketch, but as an audience member. I can’t remember the other castings. It never made it to a dress rehearsal.
She said that Day and sketch co-writer Streeter Seidell were committed to that part in particular and continued to perform it.
Michael Chavez Booth, Marketing Specialist and Veteran Beavis and Butt-Head fan, told Yahoo Entertainment that he has watched everything from the “OG,” or original, seasons of the show to the movies, as well as playing the video game on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Living in “a SNL family”, Booth also said it was the best of both worlds.
“This play is random and bold, built around a nostalgic yet resurgent piece of pop culture, features key cast members and a notable fan-favorite guest host, and is set on a sophisticated stage in that SNL construction goes,” Booth, founding partner of marketing firm POV Agency, told Yahoo Entertainment.
Heidi Gardner was hard on herself for breaking character
Gardner, an alumnus of the leading improv school Groundlings, told Vulture that an instructor once had a “conversation” with her and a classmate about breach of character. Since then, she said she has made it her mission to keep a straight face, no matter how funny the material.
But this skit was awesome.
“It makes me feel even worse and unprofessional,” she said. “When I looked over and saw Mikey at the dress rehearsal, I lost it. I was shocked.”
She later told the channel that she left the stage “a little in shock” from laughing so hard.
“Then the anxiety set in and I was like, ‘Oh my God, is everything okay?’ I had some friends in my dressing room and they said, ‘Sure, it was fine.’ A lot of other writers and cast members came out and said, ‘Good job.’ I’m like, ‘What? In fact, I didn’t do my job.’”
As much as Gardner felt this was unprofessional, the SNL the audience seemed to like the characters, loving their own work so much that they couldn’t help themselves.
“It was so good,” she said, referring to the audience’s applause when the cast dropped character.
“I can’t help what I saw, but people agreed with it,” Gardner added. “Not just OK, but encouraged.”
How Kenan Thompson managed to stay in character
Thompson, the longest-serving cast member in SNL With 21 seasons under his belt, he used the dress rehearsal to get the laughs out of his system.
“It’s hit or miss. Sometimes I can hold it, sometimes I can’t. I was lucky on ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ that it cracked so much in the dress rehearsal,” Thompson told Variety.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had a break like this, where I cried and couldn’t speak. It was really funny to me and what I was about to say next was funny to me. And I was frozen. I was literally shaking and then I started to panic. Because I was like, I can’t talk without crying. I don’t want to waste the line! It could ruin everything. It was three seconds of chaos,” he added.
Is this sketch cemented in history as a part of legend?
So the sketch now has legendary status?
“I think so,” Blair Huddy, founder and CEO of Hudson Davis Communications, told Yahoo Entertainment.
“From a marketing and PR perspective, it’s memorable and that makes it a classic. From the cast members and host to the content and throwbacks to an era we are so desperate to relive/remember, there is so much to love about the play,” he said. “From a technical social media point of view, it is something that is easily shareable and has achieved a lot of virality due to the large number of shares, which also gives it that ‘classic’ ability.”
“I think it has staying power,” Booth added. “I would put it up there with the ‘Super Showcase Spokesmodels‘ season 37 skit or “Lisa From Temecula”from last season.”
However Beavis and Butt-Head ended its eighth season in 2011, Paramount+ has revived it with the June 2022 film Beavis and Butt-Head make the universe. Then a new TV series was released in August 2022, with the second season premiering in April 2023 on the streaming platform.
