The genius of Mike Judge

Mike Judge has created some of the most memorable television series' and cult comedy classics of the late 20th and 21st centuries. Probably the most popular was Beavis and Butthead, but my parents were absolutely not going to let me watch that as a 12 year old kid (props to them for that).

My first exposure to Judge’s work was King of the Hill, which I watched around 17-18 years of age.

“I don’t get it”

To be honest, I didn’t get it. In fact, I thought it was stupid and boring.

In my defense, I was a teenage boy, a demographic that is notoriously retarded.

Fast-forward a couple of years, and I’m 19 or 20, living in Abilene, Texas, at my first duty station, Dyess Air Force Base.

I had just gotten there, knew nothing and nobody, and had time on my hands. Frankly, I had never been so bored. With a small sum of money to my name, I went to Walmart and bought a stack of VHS tapes, one of which was Office Space.

Everyone raved about it, so I was expecting to be blown away…but I wasn’t. I just didn’t get it.

I don’t really remember what the turning point was, but maybe a year or two later, King of the Hill and Office Space just clicked. For one, KotH made a lot more sense when I actually lived in a medium-sized city in Texas, very similar to the fictitious Arlen. I realized it wasn’t a parody at all; it was a documentary.

Office Space was one of those movies that I watched once, so it was aside for a year or two, and when I watched it again, it was the funniest thing ever.

What made it click?

Honestly, the difference was probably just getting a little older and having more life experience. A friend of mine once told me that Beavis & Butthead was thinking man’s humor, which did not make sense at the time, but he told me that a good 10-12 years ago.

It makes sense now. On the surface, the show is stupid. But that is the real genius. On the surface, KotH is about a boring, conservative family in a boring, conservative city. The genius is in the layers and the characters. Exception storytelling brings very normal, totally average characters to life.

My writing career is kind of the same thing (not the humor part; I’d kill to have the writing chops that put Idiocracy and Extract out into the universe). It took a long time to develop my writing skills, and age + experience has been the catalyst to better writing. There is no substitute for experience.

This is why I am such a big proponent of middle-aged (or older, I don’t discriminate) guys taking the leap into something new. I talk about writing, but it could be anything. Don’t look at your age as your handicap. Your age is your advantage!

Anyway, that’s all I have for right now. However, I am working on a guide that will hopefully drop here in a few days. LOTS of people ask me where to even start with SEO, so I am working on a guide to help with just that problem. We’re talking about going from 0-to-1 with SEO, not 1,000. Keep your eyes peeled.