‘SNL’s Heidi Gardner On Why She Broke “So Hard” In ‘Beavis & Butt-Head’ Sketch: “It Just Killed Me”

Armando Tinoco
·2-min read

Heidi Gardner is reliving the Saturday Night Live sketch that made her completely lose it during the live show.

Earlier this year, Gardner broke character during a Beavid & Butt-Head spoof and explains why she thinks she cracked up looking at her co-star Mikey Day.

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“I find it a big source of pride that I never break — even though it’s so lovable and likable…I don’t want to use it as a crutch,” Gardner said on the Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast. “In that one I was the straight man, and you really want to get out all the information for all the fun stuff that’s going to happen.”

Gardner played a NewsNation journalist holding a town hall about A.I., with Kenan Thompson playing an MIT professor. As the pair discussed A.I., Thompson’s character was distracted by an audience member who looked strikingly similar to Beavis, the animated character created and voiced by Mike Judge. Gardner was able to stay in character, but when Day replaced Beavis as Butt-Head, she couldn’t contain her laughter and broke.

The comedian said that part of why she broke was due to her friendship with Day, saying, “He’s like a brother to me, he makes me laugh constantly.” Gardner likened the moment to Rachel Dratch playing Debbie Downer, where she often made her co-stars break character.

“They can feel it is happening,” Gardner said of the actors in the Debbie Downer sketches,” adding that during the Beavis & Butt-Head spoof, the audience “could see it coming to a swell because they were seeing Ryan and Mikey. And I just don’t think that anyone has ever had to blindly look back at something that shocking, you know?”

“I had to do something where I was surprised by — and I had seen him before in rehearsals, but they like amped up the makeup — so I was just coming in blind, and I look back to see my very good friend looking like that and Ryan Gosling, and it just killed me,” Gardner added.

“The audience was so sweet to me. I remember in the moment, because I was trying to compose myself, but when I turned back and I couldn’t stop, the audience applauded, which was sweet. And I thought, ‘This is okay, but get it together.’ But then right after, I feel I was just unaware of the amount of time I broke for…. I got worried. And then a lot of writers were coming up to me, like, ‘That was awesome!'”

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