Mike Judge

This article is about the cartoonist. For the billiards player, see Michael Judge. For the Roman Catholic priest, see Mychal Judge.

Mike Judge
Mike Judge at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2011.
Born	Michael Craig Judge October 17, 1962 (1962-10-17) (age 49) Guayaquil, Ecuador
Education	Bachelor of Science in physics, University of California, San Diego
Alma mater	University of California, San Diego
Years active	1990 – present
Known for	Film: -Extract -Idiocracy -Office Space -Beavis and Butt-head Do America Television: -Beavis and Butt-head -King of the Hill -The Goode Family

Michael Craig Judge (born October 17, 1962)^[1] is an American animator, film director, writer and voice actor, best known as the creator and star of the animated television series Beavis and Butt-head (1993–1997, 2011–), King of the Hill (1997–2010), and The Goode Family (2009).

He also wrote, directed and in some instances produced the films Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996), Office Space (1999), Idiocracy (2006) and Extract (2009). Judge is also known for his role in the Spy Kids movie franchise.

Early life and education

Born in Guayaquil,^{[citation needed]} Ecuador,^[1] where his archaeologist father worked for a nonprofit organization promoting agricultural development, Mike Judge was raised from age 7 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, the second of three children of Jim Judge and librarian mother Margaret Blue.^[2] He attended St. Pius X High School (Albuquerque),^{[citation needed]} a Roman Catholic high school. He was a trombonist in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program.^{[citation needed]} Judge graduated with a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1986 from the University of California, San Diego.^[3]

Career

In 1991, Judge's short film "Office Space" (also known as the Milton series of shorts) was acquired by Comedy Central, following a Dallas animation festival.

In 1992, he developed Frog Baseball, a short film featuring the characters Beavis and Butt-head, to be featured on Liquid Television, a 1990s animation showcase that appeared on MTV. The short led to the creation of the Beavis and Butt-head series on MTV, in which Judge voiced both title characters as well as the majority of supporting characters. Beavis and Butt-head visited Wilson Middle School and attended Highland High School in their series, which are the names of schools in Albuquerque, Judge's hometown. The series ran from 1993 to 1997 and is currently running on MTV (2011- )and also spawned the feature-length film, Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996).

In 1997, Judge created King of the Hill for the Fox Network. Many of the show's characters were based on people he had known while living in Texas. Judge voiced characters Hank Hill and Jeff Boomhauer.

In 1999, he wrote and directed the live-action comedy film Office Space, which was based in part on the Milton series of cartoons he had created for the NBC's Saturday Night Live. In the film, he made a cameo appearance as Stan (complete with hairpiece and fake mustache), the manager of Chotchkie's, a fictionalized parody of chain restaurants like Applebee's and TGI Friday's. The film, for which the budget was approximately US$10 million,^{[citation needed]} grossed only $10.8 million in initial release.^{[citation needed]} However, as of mid-2006, Office Space had sold nearly six million home-video copies. The movie has a large cult following, as most people can personally relate to the dialogue.

Since fall 2003, Judge and fellow animator Don Hertzfeldt have run an animation festival, "The Animation Show". Judge created an appearance for Beavis and Butt-head^{[clarification needed]} featured in The Animation Show 2007.^{[citation needed]} "The Animation Show" tours the country every year, screening animated shorts from mostly independent animators.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Mike Judge was presented with the Austin Film Festival's Outstanding Television Writer Award by Johnny Hardwick.

Judge's film, Idiocracy (2006), a dystopian comedy starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph, was given a limited release theatrically by 20th Century Fox in September 2006, two years after production. The film was released without a trailer or substantial marketing campaign.^[4] In the U.S., the film was released to DVD in January 2007 and later aired on premium-television, multiplex channels: Cinemax in September 2007 and HBO in January 2008. Since then, it has gained a cult following.^[5]

He has made cameo appearances in numerous films, including the comedy Jackass Number Two (2006), in which he can be seen during the closing credits. An extended version can be seen in Jackass 2.5 (2007) which was a direct-to-video release. Judge also created a video clip of Beavis and Butt-head ripping into Steve-O for his video Poke the Puss, where the two try imagining if they would like the video better if they were black. The clip aired as a part of Jackassworld.com: 24-Hour Takeover, a February 23, 2008 television special on MTV to coincide with the official launch of jackassworld.com.

Judge's comedy film Extract, in which he makes an uncredited appearance as Jim, a union organizer, was released on September 4, 2009.^[6]

His newest animated series, The Goode Family, debuted on ABC and was canceled after one season. It was confirmed on The Goode Family Facebook page that Comedy Central had picked up the reruns of the series,^[7] and was to be evaluated for a chance of being renewed for a second season. Comedy Central first aired the series on January 4, 2010. However, the series was pulled off of the schedule shortly thereafter. It was officially confirmed by the production team on The Goode Family Facebook page that the show would not continue on Comedy Central.^[7] It was later announced that Judge had begun outlining new episodes of Beavis and Butt-head for MTV's revival of the show.^[8]

Currently, he is working on producing the next feature, Brigadier Gerard, adapted from short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.^{[citation needed]} The film is to be produced by Judge and directed by frequent collaborator John Altschuler. Judge is also slated to reunite with the co-creator of King of the Hill Greg Daniels by directing an upcoming episode of The Office.

Political orientation

Despite his King of the Hill protagonist Hank Hill being identifiable as a conservative^[9] and his The Goode Family being essentially a satire of many liberal precepts, Judge's avoids discussing his political leanings. The Goode Family has been called^[10] a conservative show, and it has been suggested by the conservative site Newsbusters that the show's negative reviews were a consequence of liberal institutions having a poor sense of humor.^[11]

In reviewing Idiocracy, Salon stated, "Judge's gimlet eye is so ruthless that at times his politics seem to border on South Park libertarianism."^[12] The libertarian Reason seems to agree, comparing King of the Hill to South Park and The Simpsons' anti-authoritarian point-of-view, though it calls the show more populist, noting the disdain King of the Hill seems to have for bureaucrats, professionals and big-box chains.^[13]

Still, Judge denies having political messages in his shows, saying in an IGN interview:^[9]

I try to not let the show get too political. To me, it's more social than political I guess you'd say, because that's funnier. I don't really like political reference humor that much. Although I liked the episode where Hank's talking to the mailman and he says, 'Why would anyone want to lick a stamp that has Bill Clinton on it?' To me that's just like more of a character thing about Hank than it is a political joke or anything. I don't want to do a bunch of stuff about the war, particularly.

Filmography

• Office Space (Milton/Saturday Night Live shorts) (director, actor, producer, animator, music) (1991)
• The Honky Problem (director, actor, producer, animator, music) (1991)
• "Frog Baseball" (director, writer, producer, animator, music) (1992)
• "Peace, Love and Understanding" (director, writer, producer, animator, music) (1992)
• Beavis and Butt-head (creator, director, writer, actor, executive producer, character designer, creative consultant, creative supervisor, musical theme) (1993–1997, 2011-present)
• Airheads (voices of Beavis and Butt-head on the radio) (1994)
• Beavis and Butt-head Do America (director, writer, actor) (1996)
• The Simpsons ("Bart Star" episode) (1997)
• King of the Hill (creator, actor, executive producer) (1997–2009)
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast (himself) (1997)
• Office Space (director, writer, actor) (1999)
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (credited as "Kenny's Goodbye") (1999)
• Serving Sara (motel manager)
• Spy Kids (played "Donnagon/Donnamight") (2001)
• Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (played "Donnagon Giggles") (2002)
• Frasier (played "Sexual harassment facilitator") (2003)
• Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (played "Donnagon Giggles") (2003)
• Idiocracy (director, writer, story, producer) (2006)
• Jackass Number Two (cameo) (2006)
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force (one episode) (2006)
• The Animation Show - Beavis and Butt-head introduction (animator) (2007)
• The Goode Family (creator, actor, executive producer) (2009)
• Extract (writer, actor, director, producer) (2009)
• Jackass 3D - Beavis and Butt-head introduction (voice over), cameo (2010)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Bozzola, Lucia. "Mike Judge". All Movie Guide via The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/213433/Mike-Judge/biography. Retrieved October 24, 2011. 
2. ^ Olsson, Karen (October 13, 2011). "The Eternal Adolescence of Beavis and Butt-Head". The New York Times Sunday Magazine. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/magazine/the-eternal-adolescence-of-beavis-and-butt-head.html. Retrieved October 24, 2011.  Print version, page MM40, titled "The Dumbest Guys In The Room"
3. ^ Brown, Chip (March 26, 1996). "He's the Father of Beavis and Butt-head, Huh, Huh". Associated Press via the Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1996-03-26/entertainment/ca-51537_1. Retrieved 2010-11-08. 
4. ^ Patterson, John (September 8, 2006). "Stupid Fox". The Guardian. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
5. ^ (registration required)http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/magazine/04wwln-consumed-t.html
6. ^ Staff writer (April 28, 2008). "Bateman, Judge Pair for Extract — Jason Bateman Will Star as a Flower Extract Plant Owner in Writer-Director Mike Judge's Third Feature Comedy Extract. The Hollywood Reporter (via Entertainment Weekly). Retrieved December 30, 2009.
7. ^ ^{a b} "Niet compatibele browser". Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/TheGoodeFamilyshow. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 
8. ^ Starr, Michael (July 15, 2010). "They're back!". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/they_re_back_PZVN8lcKHQYVIYx3xAJRtM. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Eric Goldman. "Interview: Mike Judge Reaches the Top of the Hill". http://tv.ign.com/articles/707/707158p4.html. 
10. ^ "The Top 25 Conservative TV Shows of the last 25 Years". http://exurbanleague.com/Home/tabid/40/EntryId/347/The-Top-25-Conservative-TV-Shows-of-the-last-25-Years.aspx. 
11. ^ Mitchell Blatt. "Newspapers Bristle at Thought of Liberalism Being Mocked in 'The Goode Family'". http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mitchell-blatt/2009/05/27/newspapers-bristle-thought-liberalism-being-mocked-goode-family. 
12. ^ Stevens, Dana (2007-01-12). "Mike Judge's Idiocracy reviewed. - By Dana Stevens - Slate Magazine". Slate.com. http://www.slate.com/id/2157486. Retrieved 2011-03-28. 
13. ^ Jesse Walker (2003-12-14). "Animated Discourse - Reason Magazine". Reason.com. http://reason.com/archives/2003/12/14/animated-discourse. Retrieved 2011-03-28. 

External links

• Mike Judge at the Internet Movie Database
• Gladstone, Neil (December 19–26, 1996). "Mike Judge" (interview). Philadelphia City Paper. Accessed December 30, 2009.
• http://kingofthehill.wikia.com/wiki/Mike_Judge
• http://beavisandbutthead.wikia.com/wiki/Mike_Judge

Persondata
Name	Judge, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 17, 1962
Place of birth	Guayaquil, Ecuador
Date of death
Place of death