"What in the hell?" |
"Hey, wait a minute. You two look kind of familiar. Ain't you them kids that have been whackin' off in my toolshed?" |
Thomas "Tom" T. Anderson is a major character in Beavis and Butt-Head. He is an elderly man who lives near Beavis and Butt-Head. He has a wife named Marcie Anderson. Standing 6’3” and weighing 250 lbs., Tom is a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. A staunch conservative, he is often seen drinking beer or doing work with his tools.
Tom has often been the victim of Beavis and Butt-Head's actions. They have cut down a tree that fell on his house, spray painted his pet dog, painted his pet cat's butt, taken his riding mower and steamroller for a joyride, inadvertently run him down with a war drone after breaking into the drone's control room, stolen his golf balls and later sold them back to him for money, filled up a pre-dug pool with concrete (only to get themselves stuck in it), ruined his golf clubs, ruined his house by doing a sloppy job painting the outside of it, stolen his identity, caused him to be wrongfully arrested by the FBI twice, and have even gone to the store as an errand for him only to wind up buying stuff for themselves instead of what he wanted. In one of the most memorable episodes, the duo took over for him at his yard sale and sold everything he owned, including a Purple Heart (evidence of his war heroism). In another episode, the boys took his bowling ball and they blew it up with dynamite. This caused the police to arrest Anderson because the bowling ball came from him. He was screaming during his arrest and then dubbed by the nickname of "The Mad Bomber."
Anderson has been known to yell "What in the hell?!" and "Damn it!" when he gets angry, which appear to be his catchphrases. Because of Beavis and Butt-Head, Tom Anderson's lawn, his house, and even his good name have been ruined (the town thinks Tom Anderson is a bad neighbor.) Beavis and Butt-Head have even gotten Tom arrested several times, in Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, in "Ball Breakers", and possibly in "Locked Out".
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Tom Anderson and his wife were going on their trip until Beavis and Butt-head showed up. Beavis and Butt-head ruined their vacation right from the start.
The duo destroyed Tom's TV, destroyed the Hoover Dam, causing Tom and his wife to be washed away, having their camper destroyed by the ATF and getting a full body cavity searches, causing a traffic accident, getting kicked out of the Whitehouse, Beavis masturbated in his camper, and getting arrested by the ATF for being accomplices getting 60 years in jail while his wife gets a full body cavity search. Their camper is towed away.
After the movie, Tom and his wife return home after having been proven innocent of the charges.
Characteristics
Because of Tom's poor eyesight, he is often unable to recognize the two without a working pair of glasses. He often says things like, "Are you those kids that have been whacking off in my toolshed?", "Are you the two that painted my cat's butt?", etc. The two always lie and he falls for it. They manage to get away with it and pick on Tom.
He is also considered to be quite talkative, usually talking about his days back in the service.
Due to his mild senility, Tom doesn't remember their names. Tom once reported to the police that: "One of them calls himself Butthole and the other one Joe." and that he believes that the duo are "oriental" (possibly due to their squinted eyes). He also mistakenly believed their names were Buford and Bernardo, among others.
Every Thursday, he orders a large fries, pie, and a large coffee from Burger World before he goes to the foot doctor.[1]
In the episode "Steamroller", he is able to knock a man down with a single punch, which suggests that he is relatively strong for an old man. However, in the episode "Daughter's Hand", Victoria's dad was able to easily defeat Tom in a fight. In the episode "The New Enemy", he attacks the duo when they approach him stuck in their "bear trap" with raccoons around them.
Tom Anderson's War Stories
Anderson is known to talk about his past war stories mainly based on maintenance of various devices and appliances:
1. In the middle of a beach battle off the coast of Incheon, Korea, while operating the boat he decides to return from the middle of an amphibian invasion to repaint the boat they were on, citing the appropriate way to primer and paint a boat. He also provided his subordinate a letter to his wife consisting of instructions on how to properly maintain an oil furnace. He concluded with the boat lasting another 6 months before sinking in the Sea of Japan.
2. During the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, while on the way to the battle in their jeeps, Tom was critiquing his men about the Jeeps windshield wipers not working properly and began removing one of them all the while the bombing was commencing. He concluded with the fact that the whole wiper motor had to be replaced.
3. While surrounded behind enemy lines by Communist soldiers in a Korean farmhouse, Tom was fixing a sink for a man named Hon-yong and pointed out an incompatible pipe used in his sink, all the while Hon-yong and Anderson's fellow Marines were killed, yet Tom was more concerned with finding the turn-off valve. He concluded with finding the valve near the water heater to find the T and P valve on the water heater incorrectly placed, citing that the farmer could have received burned had he not been killed.
Appearances
Original series
2011 revival (Season 8)
2022 revival
- Old Man Beavis (War Stories only)
- Hunting Trip
- Are You There God? It's Me, Beavis
- Spring Break (War Stories only)
- Stolen Valor
- Warehouse (War Stories only)
- Abduction
- TBA
Movies
Video games
- Beavis and Butt-Head (boss)
- Beavis and Butt-Head: Virtual Stupidity
- Beavis and Butt-Head: Bunghole in One (playable)
Quotes
- "Hey, you look kinda familiar. You ain't the kids that spray-painted my dog last week, are you?"
- "Well, I can see you boys ain't like the usual hooligans hanging around here. Like these two fellas, uhh, Buffcoat and Beaver."
- "One of 'em calls himself Butthole. The other one's name is Joe, I think. I believe they were oriental."
- "Hey, you look kind of familiar. Aren't you the ones that ran off with my riding mower last week?"
- "What I'd give for five minutes alone with those two little bastards who took my mower."
- "Ain't you them boys that've been whackin' off in my tool shed?"
- "Y'know, it doesn't get any better than this. This here is God's country. Unspoiled-BWAAAAH! (gets washed away by huge tidal wave)
- "Boy, what I wouldn't give for five minutes alone with them two little bastards- (Butt-Head smacks into his windshield, causing Tom to scream in terror) BWAH!
- "Must be one of them damn buzzard-hawks!"
- "Hey, what the hell's going on here?"
- "What in the hell?!?"
- "Damn it!"
- "...They're like a couple of spider monkeys!"
- "Hope you had enough, you damn ungrateful bastards!"
- "Get the hell off my property, you son of a bitch!"
- "And if I ever see that damn dog of yours peeing on my yard again, I'm gonna shoot both of you!"
- "You and I are gonna tangle!'
- "Dammit! Get the hell out of here, you damn sons of bitches!"
- “Boy, I’ll tell you what, Dusty. I felt like a one-legged cat tryin’ to bury turds on a frozen pond out there today,”
- "HUH?! UUAAH! WHAT?! PULL YOUR DAMN PANTS UP, BOY!!! I DON'T WANNA SEE THAT, DAMMIT!!! GET OUT OF HERE, AND IF I EVER CATCH YOU WHACKIN' IN HERE AGAIN, I'M GONNA HOG-TIE YOU!!! Ahhh, dammit! Now I gotta straighten up in here, god damn it!"
- "TAKE YOUR DAMN PANTS WITH YOU!!!"
- "HEY! GET YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF ME!"
- "It's probably those two them boys Bufford and Bernardo"
Trivia
Hank Hill
- It was revealed in "Good Credit" on his credit card that Tom's middle initial is the letter T.
- Tom Anderson served as the inspiration for Hank Hill from Mike Judge's later show, King of the Hill - both were based on the same person from Judge's youth:
- Both characters have an important possession called "Betsy" - Anderson's is a shotgun, Hill's is a guitar. The two also have the same voice, except Tom's is deeper and Hank's is clearer.
- In Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, Tom praises butane gas in a scene, while Hank praises propane (and ironically, Bobby once tells Joseph that Hank says that butane is a "bastard gas").
- Whenever Hank Hill screams, he yells "BWAAAH!"; Tom also screams like this on a few occasions, particularly in Do America.
- On another note, Hank Hill has a tendency to sound like Coach Buzzcut on the rare occasion he actually raises his voice, especially in "Peggy the Boggle Champ" when he is imitating his old coach.
- It should be noted, that during development of King of the Hill, Hank Hill was supposed to be the son of Tom Anderson; however, FOX was unable to get Tom because he belonged to MTV. Judge had to give Hank a different father, Cotton Hill.
- Interestingly, even though he is often nice to Beavis and Butt-Head, he is one of the bosses in the SNES video game, where he shoots apples at them and the duo have to throw the apples at him to defeat him. He also appears as an antagonist in the Sega Genesis video game, running over the duo's concert tickets, with his lawnmower, during the prologue. Then, later, he rides his mower and throws beer cans at the duo, when they are on his property. After being defeated, he is knocked out, allowing the duo to swipe his tool shed key.
- Mike Judge says he was inspired to create Tom because of an old man he met during his and his brother's paper route in his childhood.
- In "Good Credit", the marquee sign at the entrance of the hotel where Tom Anderson is attending a reunion says "Welcome Tulsa Odd Fellows", suggesting that he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
- As revealed in "Beekeepers", Anderson is still alive in the 2020s, implying that, despite his issues and the grief the duo have caused him over the years, he is a healthy man.
- It is revealed in the episode "Hunting Trip" that Tom Anderson has an estranged son that he neglected by ignoring him. Since Tom Anderson drove his son away, he feels this guilt in his later years. In the same episode, it is also hinted that Tom Anderson might have wanted to participate in a musical but was disapproved by his father.
- In the episodes "Hunting Trip" and "Spring Break", Tom Anderson is revealed to be an incompetent soldier in the Korean War, caring about the state of the vehicle he is driving rather than the battle he is in. This alone might have ironically saved him on more than a couple of occasions, despite almost getting blown up by artillery in "Spring Break". Both of these flashbacks are shown in the cold open before the episode starts.
- Anderson's incompetence has also proved fatal to people around him, as shown in his war story "Korean Farmhouse" when he is repairing a faucet sink in the middle of a battle. Sadly, the civilian Korean owner of the house, was killed because he was out in the line of fire, all thanks to Anderson wanting to make repairs instead of keeping him safe.
- Tom Anderson is also revealed to be alive in the Old Beavis and Butt-Head timeline, as shown in the episode "Stolen Valor". Hilariously enough, he looks younger and healthier than the old duo.
- As of now, Anderson and Mr. Van Driessen are the only recurring characters to return as major characters in the 2022 revival.
- Funnily enough, both characters served as the basis for protagonists of Judge's other animated projects: Anderson for Hank Hil of King of the Hill, and Van Driessen for Gerald Goode of the short-lived The Goode Family.
- With his own segment and having more prominence than Van Driessen, this would make Tom Anderson the "deuteragonist" of the Beavis and Butt-Head franchise, with the titular duo being the protagonists.
Sources
Protagonists: Beavis / Cornholio / Old · Butt-Head / Old
Recurring Characters: Tom Anderson · Stewart Stevenson · Todd · Burger World Manager (2022) · Mrs. Stevenson · Mr. Stevenson · Lolita and Tanqueray · Maxi-Mart Clerk
Highland High School: David Van Driessen · Daria Morgendorffer · Principal McVicker · Coach Buzzcut · Spanish Teacher · Ms. Tress · School Nurse · Kimberly · Cassandra · Earl · Martin (thin) · Mrs. Dickey · Gina · Dreama · Dean Zunker · Punk Girl · Wilbur · Martin (gifted student) · JD · Glennis · Cody · Audrey · Mrs. Ortiz · Security Guard · Gym Teacher · Tommy · "Spare Me" Girls · Amy Asskowitz · Audrey's Friend · Dick Gaylord · School Psychologist · Ms. Jenkins · Jim the Substitute · Woodshop Teacher · Ryan
Minor Characters: Marcie Anderson · Clark Cobb · Dave · Harry Sachz · Homeless Man · Madame Blavatsky · Redneck Lady · Crazy Farmer · Billy Bob · Slade · Psycho · Principal Brown · President Bill Clinton · Concert Girls · Hamid · Sterculius, the Roman God of Feces · St. Peter · Unnamed Police Officers · Mr. Manners · Frog · Harry Buddisker · Hiro · Mistress Cora Anthrax · Biker Lady · Fork Injury Guy · Peter Small · Killer · Second Killer · Ross and Harlan · Ellen · Keith · Case Worker · Rabid Ron · Lydia · Katya · Hairdresser · McVicker's Family · Beavis' Imaginary Children · Butt-Head's Imaginary Children · Gus Baker · Leroy · Fire · Jesus Christ · Ganesha · Buddha · Zeus · Bill Gates · Bill (Steamroller) · Linda · Joan · Mall Girls · Elevator Chick · Joe Adler · Suspicious Chick · Maya Kanigher · Megan · Old Woman (Couch-Fishing) · Cop (Couch-Fishing) · Cop (Pipe of Doom) · Cop (Screamers) · Mechanic · Slob · Priest · Rabbi · Jasmine · Captain Dick Jackman · Charlie the Angel · Misty Lou · Lucas · Dennis · Female Judge · Screaming Guy · Black Female Cop · Corvair Owner · Jim Baxley · Snake Woman · Urologist · Dr. Fisk · Dr. Leibowitz · Vet Receptionist · Wrong Mr. Anderson · Crystal · Sapphire · Gary · Shawna · Suspicious Chick · Debra Shea · Trish Burbee · Tiffany the Rubber Band Lady · Max Graham · Veterinarian · Victoria's Dad · Ric Aaron Joseph
Movie Characters: Muddy Grimes · Dallas Grimes · ATF Agent Bork · ATF Agent Flemming · FBI Agent Hurly · Old Woman · Motley Crue Roadies · Judge · Serena Ryan · Jim Hartson · Mattison · Empress Beavis · Emperor Butt-Head
Smart Characters: Smart Beavis · Smart Butt-Head · Smart Daria · Smart McVicker · Smart Buzzcut · Smart Van Driessen · Smart Todd · Smart Judge · Smart Mrs. Stevenson
Mentioned Characters: Shirley Beavis · Tom Anderson's Son · Tom Anderson's Father