Citizen Butt-head



Citizen Butt-head is an episode of Beavis and Butt-head which aired on October 18, 1993. It features the final of three known speaking appearances of Daria on Season 3 of Beavis and Butt-head. It was a special two-part episode.

Synopsis
The boys' TV watching is interrupted by a news segment that President Bill Clinton will be visiting Highland High School that very day holding a town meeting called "Youth: The Next Generation". The newscaster says that President Clinton will be taking questions from students at Highland High picked at random. As they watch Clinton jogging accompanied by Secret Service agents, the two comment "the President is fat".

At 8:30 am, a special faculty meeting is held by Principal McVicker. The hand-picked honor students (including Daria) have been practicing their "random" questions and security is in place. McVicker, however, is concerned about the arrival of Beavis and Butt-head. McVicker scoffs as a teacher surmises that Beavis and Butt-head might not show up - today is "Taco Day" in the school cafeteria, "they'll be here". The status of both the school and his professional career is at stake: "Beavis and Butt-head must not be allowed within three miles of the president!!"

One instructor suggests that Beavis and Butt-head could be kept from the school if they were killed. Another remarks "that would be cool" and all the teachers laugh just like Butt-head... but McVicker, while viewing the suggestion as tempting, has a better idea.

At 9:18 am, McVicker addresses Beavis and Butt-head in the principal's office. He gives them a 24-hour pass that excuses them from being at Highland High, and gives them $50 to buy tacos at a local tacqueria. The two are ordered out of McVickers's office, both happy to leave.

Outside of Highland High, the two think of all the things they can do with the pass and the money. (Well, they try to think, but the gigantic thought balloons over their heads remain empty, amid the sound of an engine making a dying splutter.) Beavis believes the pass makes them "cooler than other people", and Butt-head decides that they should go back into Highland High to show others how cool they are.

At 10 am, in the crowded principal's office, McVicker is having second thoughts: maybe, he thinks, they should have killed Beavis and Butt-head after all. An instructor is sure that with a 24-hour pass and $50 that Beavis and Butt-head must be miles away.

At 10:05 am, Beavis and Butt-head are addressing Mrs. Dickey's class - with Butt-head explaining how cool the pass from "Principal McDicker" makes them and receiving catcalls in response. At 11:05 am, the two then go to the Metal Shop class, where Beavis explains to the students that they can touch his pass for a quarter. By 12:30 pm, Beavis and Butt-head are at the cafeteria, claiming they have money to get their own tacos (but eating the school's tacos anyway).

By 2 pm, the two are walking around the Highland High gymnasium where they are confronted by a Secret Service agent. Butt-head gives the Secret Service agent the pass and he assumes that Beavis and Butt-head should be with the other honor students, dismissing Butt-head as "...bunghole." The two are marched into the gymnasium.

The two are marched behind a roped-off section of the gymnasium where the bleachers are occupied by a handful of students. They sit next to Daria, who is aghast that they are even there.


 * Daria (shocked): Beavis and Butt-head?
 * Butt-head: Hey...it's Diarrhea!
 * Beavis: Yeah! Mweheheh....
 * Daria: They picked you guys to meet the President?
 * (The two look back, puzzled.)
 * Daria: The President of the United States?
 * (Still puzzled.)
 * Daria: The guy who runs the country...who's here right now to talk to us on national television?
 * Butt-head: Uh...we got a pass.
 * Beavis: Heheheh.

At 3 pm, McVicker is speaking with a Secret Service agent in his office. He gives the photographs of Beavis and Butt-head, and tell the agent that the two are not students, but dangerous psychopaths that wish to harm the president. If they are seen, they should be 'taken out'. The agent tells him that the two are already on campus...with the honor students.

At 3:01 pm, McVicker runs screaming out of his office.

At 3:02 pm, as the honor students practice their questions, Beavis and Butt-head are goofing off - Beavis refuses to pull Butt-head's finger again - while McVicker runs full tilt down the hallways.

Tabitha Soren introduces the live broadcast, interrupted only by bowel gas as Butt-head cheats and pulls his own finger. McVicker reaches the gymnasium as Bill Clinton is introduced to the audience. McVicker bursts through the outside doors, making a bee-line for Beavis and Butt-head in the honor students section, but two Secret Service agents tackle McVicker and proceed to beat him. (Beavis calls for the "chokehold" as another 'Secret Cervix' agent arrives.)

At 3:10 pm, Clinton chats with the audience. He states that he wishes to hear "what you (the students) have to say". This is Daria's cue to step to the microphone, and she asks her question:


 * Daria: Mr. President...in your campaign you promised to help every young person get a college education. Did you mean that...or were you just jerking us around?
 * Butt-head: Daria's cool.

The audience applauds. As Clinton tells Daria that he meant it and gives a three-point response, Butt-head notices that microphones make your voice real loud. After Clinton finishes, Butt-head grabs the microphone.


 * Daria: Butt-head!
 * Butt-head: Whoa! "It's 10 pm! Do you know where your wiener is?"

As Beavis and Butt-head goof off, Clinton is amused at their shenanigans while everyone else is shocked. The Secret Service rushes the honor students section, and Clinton asks Beavis and Butt-head if they have a question. Butt-head and Beavis ramble about whether Clinton could "invade a country and, like, set it on fire", further angering the Secret Service agents.

Daria takes control of the situation. She grabs the mike-stand.


 * Daria: Uh!...forgive them, Mister President! Um, Beavis and Butt-head are emotionally...uh...you know...special!
 * Butt-head: Yeah! We got a pass!

Clinton is happy that Highland High offers 'hormonally challenged' students opportunities. "Because of your ability to surmount all obstacles, I proclaim you, Beavis and Bum-head 'America's Students of the Year'!" He presents the two with a honorary plaque. Highland High's band plays a crappy version of "Hail to the Chief" and Butt-head comments the band sucks.

The next day, the plaque rests in the Highland High trophy case, along with a picture of Beavis and Butt-head with President Clinton. McVicker returns to school, with crutches and a cast. He hopes that the two young men have learned something. They have...they know that if you don't have a pass, you get the crap beaten out of you.

Trivia

 * This episode was released on the "Law-Abiding Citizens / There Goes the Neighborhood" DVD, which is now out of print, and was not released on the "Mike Judge Collection" DVDs. However, a promo for the episode appeared on the first Mike Judge Collection DVD.
 * This is the only time when Beavis or Butt-head say something outright positive of Daria, rather than a backhanded complement or a diss.
 * This is one of several episodes where Daria is actually trying to assist Beavis and Butt-head, saving them from a beatdown and sounding panicked on their behalf. Near the end of the series, she'll not be so bothered (and in "Sprout" is only interested because she wanted to see how badly they'd failed), and in the final episode she isn't concerned by their alleged deaths.
 * When Clinton hands over the award to Beavis and Butt-head, he's completely blocking Daria from the cameras.
 * Mr. Van Driessen isn't present at the staff meeting.
 * The scene of Daria speaking was redrawn for her trading card.