‘SNL’s’ Heidi Gardner on Why She Broke ‘So Hard’ in ‘Beavis & Butt-Head’ Sketch: ‘It Just Killed Me’

Heidi Gardner is experiencing it all over again Saturday Night Live skit that left her completely freaked out during the live show.

Earlier this year, Gardner broke character during a Beavid & Butt Head Parody and explains why she thinks she went crazy at the sight of her co-star Mikey Day.

“It’s a great source of pride for me that I never break him – even though he’s so lovable and likeable… I don’t want to use him as a crutch,” Gardner said on the website Not skinny, but not fat Podcast. “In this case, I was the straight man, and you really want to get all the information out about all the fun things that are going to happen.”

Gardner played a NewsNation journalist holding a town hall about AI, while Kenan Thompson played an MIT professor. As the two discussed AI, Thompson’s character was distracted by an audience member who bore a striking resemblance to Beavis, the cartoon character created and voiced by Mike Judge. Gardner was able to stay in her role, but when Day replaced Beavis as Butt-Head, she couldn’t contain her laughter and collapsed.

The comedian said that part of the reason for her breakdown was due to her friendship with Day: “He’s like a brother to me, he always makes me laugh.” Gardner compared the moment to Rachel Dratch in the role of Debbie Downer , where she often made her co-stars break character.

“You can feel it happening,” Gardner said of the actors in the Debbie Downer sketches, adding that during the interview Beavis & Butt Head Parody, the audience “could see it was reaching a climax because they saw Ryan and Mikey. And I just don’t think anyone has ever had to look back blindly at something so shocking, you know?”

“I had to do something that I was surprised by – and I had seen him in rehearsals before, but they liked to increase the make-up – so I just went in blind, and when I look back I see that my “very good friend looked like that” and Ryan Gosling, and it just killed me,” Gardner added.

“The audience was so nice to me. I remember the moment because I was trying to calm myself down, but when I turned around and couldn’t stop, the audience applauded, which was sweet. And I thought, “That’s okay, but get it together.” But right after that, I felt like I just didn’t realize how long I had to take a break…. I was worried. And then a lot of writers came up to me and said, ‘That was great!’”