Deep in the Heart of Hank Hill
Sure, everyone talks about The Simpsons and Family Guy. But in the annals of animated sitcoms, has there ever been a show as gently funny and consistently on point as King of the Hill, which is returning for its 10th (and supposedly final) season on Sunday, September 18? (The time slot is 7:30 p.m. this year–one of countless Sunday times that Fox has given the show.) Creator Mike Judge, who voices the courtly leading Everyman, Texan Hank Hill, and who also was the brains behind Beavis and Butthead, spoke with U.S. News about humor, Texas-style.
Do you ever get mail from the Texas antidefamation league about King of the Hill stereotypes? I mean, squirrel quesadillas!?
If there isn't a Texas antidefamation league, I may start one. [Compared with] the way Texans are usually portrayed on TV and the news, I think we portray 'em nicer. We've hardly ever gotten any complaints.
How do the media typically depict Texans–gunslinging, shoot-'em-up folks?
Yeah, either that, or when the shuttle went down in Texas, it seemed like they were looking for the most country-bumpkin people they could find to interview. But Texas is where the integrated circuit was invented. And there was [pioneering] heart surgery at Baylor.
So what are you trying to show about Texas?
Before I pitched the show to Fox, I was thinking about what it would be. I was in Radio Shack in the mall, trying to buy a phonograph adapter. I asked the guy for one, and the guy says, "What is it you're trying to do?" I said, "I'm trying to buy a phono adapter." The guy was just so difficult. I was thinking, this is what it's really like all over the country. I thought it'd be funny to make Hank like a real Texan but put him in places like the mall, the Wal-Mart, whatever, against all these things that are really everywhere.
In the early years, the animation was pretty crude.
It takes a while to work all that stuff out. I've been really happy in the last years. But I think animators hate me because the way I originally drew the characters–and the style that I like–isn't anything that's going to get you a job on another show. All these kinds of cartoon conventions–exaggerated hands and mouths, very effeminate, too. Look at Scooby-Doo–the way the guys' wrists are always cocked. Those things drive me crazy with my characters. The first time they animated Beavis and Butthead laughing, they had them close their eyes, their shoulders going up–things you never do in real life. When people laugh in real life, the corners of their mouth don't go way up above their nose. To me, it's more interesting to make it realistic.
You're probably the only show in television history to have Laotian characters. Why Laotian?
I wanted some immigrant family from somewhere over there. I don't remember why I picked Laotian. When you're doing Asian, the go-to thing is Chinese or Japanese or Vietnamese. I think I heard there was a Laotian community in Wisconsin, or I was watching Court TV and there was some trial with Laotians in it.
The Laotian couple, Khan and Ming, are not very likable.
To me, they're not completely unlikable. I think on the surface, the guy seems like [a jerk], but when you get to know him, he has some good qualities. This season, we have one episode where Khan is accused of being a banana–the Asian version of an Oreo.
When Beavis and Butthead was on, the program was blamed for inspiring arsonists. Are you nervous about depicting anything controversial on King of the Hill?
I don't really remember a case where I would say, "No, I shouldn't do that 'cause I learned my lesson from that other thing." In King of the Hill, it's a little easier to deal with [controversial] issues because you have Hank. The show's on his side; he's a common-sense guy. I think Beavis and Butthead was pretty widely misunderstood. Some people just didn't get that it was satire. The comic book [versions] were guilty of what a lot of people were accusing the show of–just gross-out, obnoxious stuff that wasn't funny. But they came out after the show; I just licensed it to Marvel Comics.
King of the Hill has crossed over into politics–the governor of North Carolina talks about reaching out to King of the Hill Democrats.
I think it's kind of cool. I didn't exactly know what it meant at first. But then I could see–Hank's not hip, he works a regular job, lives in the middle of the country, and we don't make fun of him. The show is on his side. And in a weird way, that feels like a kind of rebellious thing to do in Hollywood these days. Usually if you have the guy who's the propane salesman, he's the butt of the joke. We take this regular, unhip person and treat him with dignity. So I'm not surprised someone would say that's the kind of person we have to try to appeal to. Because it's almost like a silent majority again.
And Hank is himself not a fan of the Texan in the White House. In one episode, he decided not to vote for Bush after getting a feeble handshake from the candidate.
I wish we hadn't done that episode, just because I didn't want to become so overtly political with the show. But a lot of that episode I liked. I thought it was kind of funny he doesn't want to vote for a guy with a weak handshake.
People talk about the death of the sitcom and never mention the brilliance of your show. Does that bother you?
I dunno–I try not to worry. If you have to complain that no one's talking about me enough, then it means you don't have a good enough show.
That sounds very Hank Hill.
I guess.
Since you made the movie Office Space, in which Jennifer Aniston decorates her waitress uniform with lots of "flair"–pin-on doodads and such–I have to ask, are you wearing any "flair"?
I don't have 15 pieces of flair. [Pauses.] I have to come up with a better answer for that. –Marc Silver