Making smartness seem incredibly stupid has become Mike Judge’s enduring cultural contribution. In the fourteen years since his Beavis and Butt-Head went off the air, the Austin, Texas, resident found an audience with Fox’s King of the Hill and cult success in films like Office Space and Idiocracy. For the reboot of his beacon of controversy—which returns to MTV this week—he sat down with Nisha Gopalan and (speaking of stupid) before long was discussing Snooki.
What do you think of what MTV has become?
I have teenage daughters, so I’ll walk into the room and go, “Oh my God, what is that?” Jersey Shore—yeah, I like that show. But the first time I saw 16 and Pregnant, I thought, “Really? Isn’t that illegal?” Then again, it’s ripe for Beavis and Butt-Head, so …
So the guys are no longer making fun of videos?
They’re still watching some, but over half of it is those shows. And then we’re doing UFC stuff from Spike TV.
And Snooki will be on the show.
She was really nice. She’s not a bad actor in the spot that we did. I think those people get used to being on-camera, and they get acting experience doing that.
Will Daria be back?
Boy, I keep getting asked that. Quentin Tarantino was asking me about [her]—I didn’t expect the guy who made Reservoir Dogs to be a Daria fan … I should do more Daria, I guess.
As someone who specialized in challenging the norm, what do you think about Occupy Wall Street?
They’re either really bad at getting their message out or they don’t have one—for the life of me, I cannot figure out what they’re asking for. If I knew what the agenda was, I might have an opinion.
I assume you’re left-leaning, though.
Both sides hated me [when Beavis was on]: left and right. Suddenly everything was about TV and violence. If it is truly having an effect, you’re going to see a statistic. But I have a statistic: Crime went down all the years Beavis and Butt-Head was on the air. Bringing the show back, I’m hopefully gonna [keep bringing it] down and improve the economy.
You’re Occupying MTV.
[Laughs] That’s right.
One last question: Jersey Shore is all about sex. Are Beavis and Butt-Head still virgins?
Yes. Always.
Beavis and Butt-Head Premieres October 27 on MTV.