Mike Judge, Warren '85, started his working career designing electronic test systems for the F18 multi-role fighter jet. It did not last long. "Finally I just realized I shouldn't be wasting these people's time or mine and I quit," he told @UCSD magazine in September 2009. Judge moved to Dallas, joined the band Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets as bass guitarist and ended up spending two years touring.
Then one day he had one of those life-changing moments. He had always dabbled in drawing and cartoons and when he saw that the Animation Celebration festival was playing at the Inwood Theater in Dallas, he decided to go. They were showing a film created by a local animator. When Judge saw the filmmaker's drawings on display in the lobby, he was inspired. "There was something about seeing an actual drawing sitting there, and going wow, this guy lives in my city," Judge said. "Suddenly it started seeming like a possibility. I went to the library, got a couple books on animation and bought a Bolex camera." The first home-made cartoon he produced was Office Space, which later was developed into the movie.
The rest is, as they say, history. In 1993, Judge created Beavis and Butt-head for MTV. He wrote, animated and created the voices for over 200 episodes. "It was weird," Judge said. "It was really successful, although I don't think I enjoyed the success until it was over. ... I was working my butt off. As well as that, there was all this controversy."
Following his success with the notorious duo, Judge launched King of the Hill in January 1997 on Fox. The series ran until September 2009 becoming the second longest-running American animated series, after The Simpsons. It garnered two Emmy awards and was nominated seven times. Time magazine named it one of the of the top 100 greatest television shows of all time in 2007.
His movies include the cult classic Office Space, Idiocracy and his latest released in September 2009, Extract.
Mike Judge returned to campus June 10, 2009, to deliver the keynote speech to the graduating class of 2009 and was interviewed for @UCSD magazine.
1 окт 2024
