50 Fun Facts About Mike Judge

In which country was he born?

His archaeologist father was working on agricultural development in Guayaquil at the time.

In which American city was he raised from age three?

He spent part of his youth working on a chicken farm there.

What subject did he study for his degree at UC San Diego?

He graduated in 1985 and soon grew bored with a science career.

He quit a Santa Clara video-card startup after less than three months, comparing colleagues to what?

Parallax Graphics had about 40 employees; the experience fed his later satire.

Which instrument did he play in a touring blues band after leaving tech?

He spent two years in Anson Funderburgh's band and later played with Doyle Bramhall.

What did he buy in 1989 to start making animated shorts at home?

He taught himself to draw and animate at home in Richardson, Texas.

Which 1992 short introduced Beavis and Butt-Head?

MTV bought it for its Liquid Television showcase and then commissioned a series.

On which MTV animation showcase did his early shorts air?

The show also launched Æon Flux.

In which fictional Texas town do Beavis and Butt-Head live?

Judge originally imagined them in New Mexico until a background artist put Texas on licence plates.

Why did Beavis and Butt-Head end up living in the Lone Star State instead of New Mexico?

The artist did it without Judge's knowledge, and he went along with it.

Which spin-off of Beavis and Butt-Head did Judge have no involvement in?

It ran for five seasons from 1997 to 2002.

Which band's song is the Beavis and Butt-Head theme descended from?

Judge composed the theme himself.

Where do Beavis and Butt-Head work?

Judge has said the pair are 'probably' 15 years old.

Which Beavis and Butt-Head episodes did Judge himself call 'awful'?

He singled out Blood Drive/Give Blood and Door to Door.

Which singer joined Beavis and Butt-Head on a 1993 cover of 'I Got You Babe'?

The single came the year the series launched.

What is the title of the duo's 1996 feature film?

A second film, Do the Universe, arrived in 2022.

Which streaming service launched the 2022 Beavis and Butt-Head revival?

Executives had wanted a live-action movie first; Judge auditioned actors over Zoom before talking them out of it.

Which former Simpsons writer did Fox pair him with to develop King of the Hill?

Daniels later created the American version of The Office.

Which two Arlen characters does he voice himself?

Dale Gribble is voiced by Johnny Hardwick, Bill by Stephen Root.

Which Dallas suburb did Judge say Arlen was most specifically based on?

He had lived in Garland too, and made his early shorts at home in Richardson.

What does Hank Hill sell for a living?

His boss Buck Strickland runs Strickland Propane.

How many seasons did King of the Hill originally run on Fox?

It briefly out-rated The Simpsons in the 1997–98 season.

Which Seth MacFarlane spin-off took over King of the Hill's Fox time slot in 2009?

Judge later voiced Hank in cameos on that very show.

Which streaming service revived King of the Hill in 2025?

Fox passed because it wanted full ownership of any new show.

What is the name of the animation company Judge and Daniels formed in 2022?

Its first produced show was Praise Petey for Freeform and Hulu.

His animated shorts about a mumbling drone named Milton grew into which 1999 film?

The Milton shorts ran on Liquid Television and later Saturday Night Live.

Which temp job helped inspire the Milton shorts?

He combined it with three miserable months as an engineer in Silicon Valley.

Which fictional software company employs Peter Gibbons and Milton?

Initrode is the rival firm Samir and Michael join at the end.

Which stapler company added a red model to its range because of Milton's stapler?

Milton's red stapler had been hand-painted for the film.

Who played the frustrated programmer Peter Gibbons?

Fox had pushed Judge to pursue the Good Will Hunting stars instead.

What cameo role did Judge play in his 1999 live-action debut?

Complete with hairpiece and fake moustache, he hounds Jennifer Aniston's character about her 'flair'.

Roughly how much did his 1999 office satire gross against a $10 million budget?

It found its audience on VHS and DVD and became a cult classic.

How many years in the future does Idiocracy's Joe Bauers wake up?

Average intelligence has collapsed and crops are watered with a sports drink.

Who plays Joe Bauers in Idiocracy?

Maya Rudolph plays Rita, the prostitute frozen alongside him.

What is Joe Bauers's job in the Army before the hibernation experiment?

He is chosen for being the most statistically average soldier in the armed forces.

What sports drink is used to water crops in Idiocracy?

Its parent company owns the FDA, the HHS and the FCC.

Who plays President Camacho in Idiocracy?

His full name is Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.

With whom did Judge co-write Idiocracy?

In 2016 the pair floated Idiocracy-themed election ads that never went ahead.

How was Idiocracy released by Fox in September 2006?

It was not screened for critics, fuelling speculation the studio wanted to bury it.

Where was his 2009 film Extract shot?

The plant was in the City of Commerce, south of Los Angeles.

Which network aired his short-lived 2009 animated series The Goode Family?

It satirised a liberal family and was cancelled after 13 episodes.

On which network did Silicon Valley air from 2014 to 2019?

It ran six seasons and 53 episodes.

What is the name of the startup at the centre of Silicon Valley?

Its compression algorithm is the show's MacGuffin; Hooli is the giant rival.

Who plays Richard Hendricks in Silicon Valley?

Kumail Nanjiani and Josh Brener rounded out the house.

Which tech giant does Gavin Belson run in Silicon Valley?

Its copycat product Nucleus flops at TechCrunch Disrupt.

Silicon Valley was co-created with which two King of the Hill executive producers?

Judge's theme for the show: the people most qualified to succeed are least able to handle it.

Which character did he voice unhooded in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut?

The cameo comes near the end of the 1999 film.

Which role did he play in the first three Spy Kids films?

He also had small parts in Serving Sara and Jackass Number Two.

With which animator did he found the touring festival The Animation Show in 2003?

It screened animated shorts around the US for several years.

Which animated series of his premiered on Adult Swim in 2025?

Common Side Effects debuted on Adult Swim in February 2025. He also produced Netflix's Exploding Kittens, cancelled after one season.