20 Culture Wars Hank Hill Has Fought That Are Still Hilariously Relevant
King of the Hill has been off the air since 2009, and many of us are still hoping it comes
back one day. Seriously, check out the video we did about a potential reboot. C'mon, Mike
Judge, make it happen. Now is the time. With that said, when we look back at conflicts
that Hank Hill found himself in throughout the 13 seasons the show ran, something becomes
glaringly obvious. King of the Hill was one of the most hilariously relevant, timely and
relatable cartoons ever made. Specifically, when it comes to the cultural battles that
Hank finds himself fighting.
King of the Hill's writing effortlessly ridiculed so many crazy cultural trends, movements and
issues in a way that wasn't polarizing or preachy. It's really one of the things that
makes Mike Judge worthy of so much more credit than he gets. And more importantly, created
some of the greatest comedy when it came to television animation. Bizarre trends, bureaucracy,
technology, the fringes that come from all sides of the political spectrum, weird social
movements Just about everything was touched on. And what made King of the Hill so brilliant
was juxtaposing all the craziness with Hank Hill's awkward and uptight personality.
I'm Kyle with WickedBinge. And today we're counting down 20 Culture Wars Hank Hill Fought
That Are Still Hilariously Relevant. But first, please remember to subscribe and hit that
notification bell, so you get notifications whenever we upload. Let's get started.
#20 Hank vs. The Garage Band (S2 E7: The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteberg)
In the season 2 episode The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteberg, Hank and the neighborhood get
annoyed by the loud teenage garage band (voiced by Green Day) nearby. When they bully Bobby
and Joseph on the paintball field, Hank decides to challenge them to a 4 v 4 game to teach
them some respect.
Hank's disgust over the younger generation's disrespect is particularly funny given the
hard time he and his friends give the old man Pops, which kind of showcases the constant
disconnect between older and younger generations. After losing their first battle, Hank, Dale,
Bill and Boomhaur raise the stakes and ultimately beat them and deprive them of their guitar
amp.
This was an earlier episode that focused on a pretty common, but always relevant battle
between adults and teenagers.
#19 Hank vs. The Gym Bros (S11 E11: Bill, Bulk and the Body Buddies)
When Bill meets a body-builder named Dirk to help him train for his Army physical, it
doesn't take long until he overdoes it and alienates himself from his friends. Eventually,
it's up to Hank to come up with a plan to save Bill from his new meathead friends. Overall,
this episode does a great job mocking the over-the-top Gym Bro who anyone who's been
to the gym has met. Also, Dirk's voiced by the guy who plays the Rex-Kwan-Do character
from Napoleon Dynamite. And this one is Macho Man Randy Savage.
#18 Hank vs. The Workplace Junkie (S2 E20: Junkie Business)
When Hank is asked to hire a new member at Strickland Propane, he ignorantly decides
to hire a charismatic man over a more-qualified woman. When it turns out that his new hire
has a serious drug problem, it quickly becomes evident that he needs to be fired. But when
a group leader shows up, it's revealed that it's illegal to fire someone for a drug addiction
No matter how horrible their behavior is. This episode critiqued the idea that drug
addiction is an illness that absolves people from responsibility.
#17 Hank vs. Social Media (S13 E4: Lost in Myspace)
When the episode Lost In Myspace came out in 2009, social media was still relatively
new. But Hank Hill's suspicions of Myspace seemed to be the warning we all disregarded
about social media usage. When Donna takes over the Strickland Myspace page, she begins
posting things that harm the Strickland reputation. Like any other form of technology, Hank rallies
against it and convinces everyone that good, honest customer relations are what's important,
as opposed to superficial social media postings. I think we greatly underestimated the importance
of the message when this episode came out.
#16 Hank vs. Sexual Harassment (S3 E16: John Vitti Presents: Return to La Grunta)
In the episode Jon Vitti Presents: Return to La Grunta, Luanne gets a job at a resort
as a drink server and decides to get Hank a gift. That gift happens to be a ticket to
go swimming with a dolphin where he gets uh, molested by the dolphin. Totally embarrassed,
Hank decides to keep things a secret and agrees to keep his mouth shut when the resort offers
to buy his silence. But when Luanne is harassed at her job, he decides to throw her harasser
in the pool with the dolphin that molested him showing her that she shouldn't feel ashamed.
This is probably one of best commentaries on the subject of harassment a show has done
given that it relies the message properly, in a hilarious way but also doesn't embrace
the crazy level of political correctness you would expect from any show tackling the issue
today.
#15 Hank vs. Anger Management (S7 E7: Texas Skill Saw Massacre)
When Hank accidentally cuts Dale's finger off with his skill saw Well, it seemed more
like Dale's fault' he's court ordered to attend Anger Management classes. Of course, Hank
doesn't get along to well with the instructor, he also befriends another man with anger problems.
But when his new friend dies from an anger induced heart attack, Hank starts revaluating
his own anger problems. But it wouldn't fit to end things like that. The episode ends
with Hank acknowledging that his anger has value, and his rage ultimately saves his friends
from being crushed alive. Considering the ongoing theme of the show is that Hank's common
sense is valuable in this crazy world, and oftentimes his anger is more than justified.
#14 Hank vs. Workplace Harassment (S8 E10: That's What She Said)
When Strickland hires a new employee, voiced by Ben Stiller, Hank becomes appalled by his
sense of humor. With constant dirty jokes and sporadic games of grab ass, Hank battles
to maintain professionalism. He even goes so far as to bring his complaint to a lawyer.
And as funny as dirty jokes are, they're even funnier when juxtaposed with Hank's no-nonsense,
uptight behavior.
#13 Hank vs. Skateboard Pastor (S8 E2: Reborn to Be Wild)
The episode Reborn to be Wild is a great example of King of the Hill that has an age-old message.
That oftentimes, the things you think will never go out of style, actually will. So when
Bobby joins a church group that intertwines faith with all of the trendy stuff he's into
music, rock n' roll and skateboarding Hank worries that his faith will ultimately be
just another trend. And although the Pastor is a well meaning guy, Hank's makes a great
point. (church better, rock n roll worse) This is a good episode because it picks apart
not only the crazy Pastor that Bobby follows, but also Hank's own uptight and traditional
views. But his message about trends coming and going is one that will always be relevant.
#12 Hank vs. Caleb (S10 E14: Hank's Bully)
In season 10, Hank finds himself the victim of a local neighborhood bully named Caleb.
The ten year old boy constantly harasses Hank, calls him name and even rides his bike on
his lawn. But Caleb's parents are responsive to Hank's complaints. Embracing new age parenting
techniques, they allow their son to get away with any poor behavior he wants. Finally,
Hank decides to unleash Bobby on the parents, telling him to behave in a similar way to
give them a taste of their own son's medicine. This episode's a great jab at modern parents
who let their kids get away with anything.
#11 Hank vs. Videogame Addiction (S11 E8: Grand Theft Arlen)
Hank is not one for technology. This is demonstrated routinely whenever he tries to use a computer.
But when one of Bobby's student-teachers for his gaming class makes a game centered around
pro pain with Hank a s a character, that all changes. Essentially a parody of the Grand
Theft Auto series, Hank finds himself hopelessly addicted and wasting all of his time. Leaving
us with the message that it's important to monitor the amount of time we spend playing
videogames or with other time-consuming technologies.
#10 Hank vs. The Comedian (S2 E16: Traffic Jam)
When Hank is forced to pick a traffic school to attend in order to lower his insurance
rates, he accidentally choose Def-ensive Driving School. A comedy themed class taught by comedian
Bodasack (voiced by Chris Rock). There are a lot of sly jabs at the entertainment industry
(show biz is evil) and watching Hank getting uncomfortable with racial humor of course
is hilarious. But when Bobby starts emulating Bodasack's comedy, innocently unaware of the
comedy's racial connotations, it leads him to getting his source material from a white
nationalist website. Leaving Hank and his new friend Bodasack to save the day when he
brings the material on stage.
#9 Hank vs. Y2K (S4 E10: Hillennium)
If you're younger, there's a solid chance you may not even know what Y2K was. Back at
the turn of the millennium, there were actually tons of people terrified that the world would
essentially shut down on New Years 2000. This was because they thought computer software
wouldn't be able to accurately go from 1999 to 2000 because they used a two-digit system.
Obviously, this was a giant hoax, but it was actually a real fear. In the episode Hillenium,
Hank buys into the Dooms Day theory and begins hording toilet paper and other consumables.
And although Y2K itself isn't relevant to anyone anymore, the conspiracy theory mentality
is always something that will be around. And it was hilarious to watch the usual common-sense
Hank Hill embrace it.
#8 Hank vs. Video Store Bureaucracy (S2 E17: Hank's Dirty Laundry)
The episode Hank's Dirty Laundry is another episode that explores Hank's hatred for bureaucracy.
This time, at the video store. When he's accused of renting pornography due to a computer error
at the store, he sets out to clear his name. However, every step he takes in the process
of clearing his name only digs him deeper and deeper, creating a hilarious metaphor
for corruption.
#7 Hank vs. Hippies (S8 E12: Phish and Wild Life)
When Hank takes Bobby camping in the hopes of teaching him the importance of self-reliance,
he's horrified to see that the campgrounds have been completely taken over by hippies.
A group that king of the Hill has taken jabs at several times. Bobby ultimately gets enticed
by them when offered food, but soon learns that their lifestyle of taking whatever they
want without earning it is wrong. And that his dad's valuing of responsibility and hard
work is the way to go. And of course, Hank dealing with the free-spirited hippies is
hilarious in and of itself.
#6 Hank vs. George W. Bush's Hand Shake (S5 E1: The Perils of Polling)
Desperate to teach Luanne the importance of democracy, Hank does his best to convince
her to vote in the upcoming election. And although she decides to vote for a Communist
because she likes his tie The bigger issue is what happens when Hank gets the opportunity
to meet George W. Bush. It turns out that his handshake is limp and Hank begins to revaluate
everything about not only his candidate, but also democracy in general. Of course, he comes
to his senses by the end of the episode, but we're left with the message that no candidate
is perfect, but still, voting matters Even if your candidate has a limp handshake.
#5 Hank vs. The Boy Band (S7 E1: Get Your Freak Off)
The boy band era was an obvious choice for something to unleash upon Hank Hill. While
policing the music that Bobby is listening to, Hank finally thinks he found an acceptable
band for his son to liten to. A band called 4 Score. However, he only listens to a brief
moment of it before making this determination. Upon bringing Bobby and his friends to a concert,
Hank is horrified to see the seemingly good, family-friendly band break out with more sinister
lyricsWhich of course rubs off on Bobby.
#4 Hank vs. Racism Accusations (S7 E20: Racist Dawg)
In the episode Racist Dawg, Hank's dog Ladybird attacks a repairman that Hank has hired who
happens to be black. Resulting in accusations of racism towards Ladybird and subsequently
Hank, who others claim must have influenced his dog. Hank's employees and even Peggy begin
to believe the idea to be true, until Hank hires another repairman who happens to be
white. Ladybird responds the same way, proving that Hank's problem isn't with people of different
races, but in fact, repairmen. In many ways, this episode explores the importance of giving
someone the benefit of the doubt and the danger of jumping to conclusions with accusations
of bigotry.
#3 Hank vs. Witchcraft (S7 E23: The Witches of East Arlen)
One of the most popular characters that comes into conflict with Hank is Ward, played by
David Cross. In the episode The Witches of Arlen, Hank tries to encourage Bobby to find
a new hobby. Of course, Bobby finds himself a deck of Tarot cards and begins hanging around
with Ward and coven of weirdos. When Ward convinces Bobby to drink dog blood for a sacrifice,
Hank must find Bobby and stop it from happening. What's great about this episode is that instead
of taking the safe route of creating a message that says it's always okay to be different,
Hank tells Bobby that his new friends are total weirdos -- for his own good. And Bobby
takes his dad's advice. And all that said, Ward is one of the funniest one-episode characters
on King of the Hill.
#2 Hank vs. The Pimp (S5 E3: Ho Yeah!)
Most episodes of King of the Hill have comedy that stems from having straight-and-narrow
Hank stumble into some ridiculous situation. Like when he accidentally bought crack from
a drug dealer while attempting to buy fishing bait. But one of the greatest examples of
this was when he unknowingly befriends a prostitute and starts being perceived as her pimp. In
the episode Ho yeah, she gifts him a pimp hat and he begins driving his father's old
Cadillac. Of course, people start getting wrong idea as usual. And when her former pimp,
Alabaster Jones, played by Snoop Dogg, shows up to confront him Hank realizes he's unknowingly
made himself into Arlen's pimp. Culturally, you can probably say this one is a bit vague,
be it relevant, but the truth is this just happens to be one of my favorite episodes.
#1 Hank vs. Anti-Halloween Evangelicals (S2 E4: Hilloween)
The season 2 episode Hilloween is often considered one of the best episodes of the series. One
of the great things about it is that it's one of the episodes in which Hank doesn't
represent the traditional stick in the mud (and, of course, we say that with love for
Hank). Usually, Hank is the voice of reason that takes issue with the fun, new trend trend
that Bobby, Dale, Bill, Boomhaur, Cotton or even Peggy has embraced. Usually, by the end
of the episode, Hank turns out to be right, but of course, everyone quickly forgets and
goes back to thinking that Hank is a straight-laced stick in the mud.
In Hilloween, Hank goes head to head with a bible study group leader named Junie Harper,
who claims that Halloween is a satanic holiday and gets Hank's haunted house canceled. Hank
takes Bobby to go egg her house and we actually see Hank in a completely different light.
Eventually, the city council passes a curfew on Halloween. When Bobby starts to think he
did wrong, Hank is left with no other choice than to take to the streets in a devil outfit,
encouraging everyone in the neighborhood to defy the curfew, and go trick or treating.
Definitely one of the most triumphant endings.
And that's our list. 20 Cultural Battles that Hank Hill has fought that we think are still
relevant today. Did we miss any cultural battles from King of the Hill that you think are still
important? Let us know in the comment section. Don't forget to like this video, subscribe
and hit that notification bell. But most importantly, stay wicked.