How Beavis And Butt-Head Introduced Isaac Hayes To The South Park Creators
"Hello there, children!" Fans of the animated show "South Park" can no doubt hear musician Isaac Hayes' iconic voice saying that line as the beloved character of Chef. Chef was an integral character in the long-running show through Season 9 before his character was written off. That wasn't Hayes' only connection to '90s adult animation, however.
In the early '90s, the animated series that had parents in a tizzy, in the same way they would be for "South Park" later, was MTV's "Beavis and Butt-Head," created by Mike Judge. When it came time to make a movie version of the show, Hayes recorded the opening song for the 1996 feature film adaptation "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America," which is a spoof of Hayes' theme for the 1971 film "Shaft."
Hayes' song plays over the opening credits of the film in which the couch potato duo engages in action scenes that appear to be from the 1970s. The scenes have nothing to do with the actual movie and the characters never actually partake in any of the action scenes shown with the credits.
Director/creator Mike Judge expressed some regret in doing the scene. He said in the 2006 DVD audio commentary for the film (as transcribed by Showbiz CheatSheet), "Spike Jonze did a Beastie Boys video, 'Sabotage,' before this movie came out that's kind of a much better version of this ... We decided to do it anyway."
Parker and Stone met Hayes at the Beavis and Butt-Head Do America premiere
In that same commentary, Mike Judge explained how "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone actually met Isaac Hayes at the premiere of "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America." Since Hayes recorded the song for the opening credits of the movie, he performed the song at the premiere.
Judge had also invited Parker and Stone to the premiere as well. While "South Park" hadn't been made into a show yet, their short film, "The Spirit of Christmas," which was the early template for the creation of their upcoming show, was making the rounds around Hollywood in essentially what was a proto-viral video. "Beavis and Butt-Head" creator Mike Judge befriended the duo, leading to their invite.
At the premiere, Parker and Stone actually met their future Chef. Judge recalled, "I don't think it had anything to do with them [casting Hayes]. I think when they started 'South Park' it was just the normal casting process." So, while meeting Hayes at the premiere didn't get him the job on "South Park," Parker and Stone must have definitely had him in the back of their minds when it came time to cast someone to voice Chef.
Judge would go on to voice Kenny in the movie adaptation "South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut," from 1999 where the character actually got to speak instead of being a muffled voice under a coat. Now, both Judge and Parker and Stone have deals with Paramount+ to produce new episodes and movies of both "South Park" and "Beavis and Butt-Head." It's a great time right now to be a fan of adult animation from the '90s.