SNL Crew Reveals Viral Beavis and Butt-Head Sketch Was in the Works Since 2018 and Initially Starred Jonah Hill

Saturday Night Live hair stylist Jodi Mancuso and makeup artist Louie Zakarian revealed in a new conversation with The Ankler that the team has been toying with the idea of a Beavis and Butt-Head sketch for around six years before it finally came to fruition on April 13.

During the episode, guest host Ryan Gosling and castmember Mikey Day transformed into the titular characters of Beavis and Butt-Head. Not only were fans and audiences entertained by their looks, but castmates Heidi Gardner and Kenan Thompson struggled to stay in character as a moderator and professor discussing artificial intelligence.

How did Mancuso and Zakarian manage to transform the actors into the animated MTV characters?

The sketch was first proposed and then tabled in 2018 when Jonah Hill hosted the variety show, the pair said.

“Even at that time it was late coming into the show, so there wasn't a lot of prep time and I wasn't fully happy with the wigs. Then I think we tried it again, and again I wasn't happy with it,” revealed Mancuso, 49. “So we fully gave up on it, this is not going to happen.” 

The sketch was later pitched again, and Day and the sketch’s writer Streeter Seidell disagreed with Mancuso about the wigs, noting they wanted the first iteration but she wanted to “make them a little more human.”

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Zakarian, 56, added that there were braces on Butt-Head, but he, too, wanted to overhaul the look. 

“I made this crazy little bridge that goes into his mouth and the first time -

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it didn't lift his lip up enough,” he explained. “This time I went in and redid it and made it a little more prominent and made it pop a little more. Just having his lip have those braces and those teeth exposed, it really did help.”

The pair's adjustments drew the audience’s attention, but Gardner’s reaction heightened the humor. 

The Emmy-winning duo spoke to Gardner's break. “People love when the cast breaks because it's funny, right?" Mancuso said. "But when you have a moment like Heidi did, I mean, come on. It was funny, and it made everybody else enjoy that moment even more."

“You always want it to be a genuine break. They genuinely just lost it. There was no controlling it,” Zakarian added.

Mancuso also noted how Gardner “really didn't get to fully see” the “full costume” until the live show. “Mikey didn't really have the bald cap on. She saw it, she kind of had an idea, but it wasn't full,” she explained.

“Even at dress rehearsal, I think he was only like 85 percent there. I tweaked the makeup a little bit, I think Jodi moved the wig back a little bit on him,” Zakarian added. “For air, it was dead on.”

“It was golden,” Mancuso concluded.

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Saturday Night Live’s latest season is available to stream on Peacock and Hulu.

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