When Common Side Effects premiered on Adult Swim on February 2, 2025, most of the attention went to its premise. A near‑miracle mushroom, a broken healthcare system, and a conspiracy that runs from small‑town labs to federal agencies is a lot to pack into a 23‑minute animated episode.
But by the end of the pilot, many viewers had the same, smaller question:
Why does the incompetent pharma CEO sound so familiar?
That voice belongs to Mike Judge. The creator behind Beavis and Butt‑Head and King of the Hill quietly slipped back into the recording booth to play Rick Kruger, the anxious, image‑obsessed head of fictional Reutical Pharmaceuticals. His performance ties Common Side Effects to decades of animated comedy, while also twisting his most famous vocal template into something colder and more unsettling.
Adult Swim has bet heavily on Common Side Effects as part of its modern lineup. The show debuted with back‑to‑back episodes at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT, then settled into a Sunday 11:30 p.m. slot with next‑day streaming on Max. Season 1 ran for 10 episodes, wrapping up on March 30, 2025, and scored a Season 2 renewal on March 28. According to Warner Bros. Discovery’s press site, Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen praised it as a “boundary‑pushing” series that “re‑frames what ‘adult animation’ is capable of.”
Inside that larger experiment, Rick Kruger has become one of the show’s most recognizable voices.
The World of Common Side Effects and the Man Running Reutical
Created by Joe Bennett and Steve Hely, Common Side Effects follows former high‑school lab partners Marshall Cuso and Frances Applewhite. Years after drifting apart, Marshall discovers the Blue Angel Mushroom, a strange fungus with the apparent ability to treat almost any illness. Their attempt to bring the discovery to the world puts them in direct conflict with Reutical Pharmaceuticals, the DEA, and other institutions that have little interest in a cheap, widely available cure.
Within that tangle of agencies and boardrooms, Rick Kruger is the top corporate name viewers meet. Official character descriptions call him “the incompetent chief executive officer of Reutical” and Frances’ boss. Instead of steering the company through crises, he leans on her for petty errands, from booking restaurant reservations to changing the channel on the office television during tense moments.
Coverage on commonsideeffects.tv describes him as “Reutical’s CEO or president, depending on the source,” and “a middle manager who accidentally sits at the top of the org chart.” In that reading, he is as worried about keeping his job and handling a “barrage of lawsuits” over a failed arthritis drug as he is about any broader ethical issue. The same site notes that he often comes off “anxious, somewhat incompetent, and occasionally sympathetic,” especially in scenes where Frances has to coach him through basic leadership decisions.
Yet the show also frames him as a pointed industry caricature. A character essay on the site labels him a “cartoon villain parody” of Big Pharma executives and stresses that “he absolutely believes he’s the hero.” That mix of self‑pity, corporate language, and tunnel vision is where Mike Judge’s performance does much of the work.
And then there are the farming games.
A CEO Who Won’t Put Down the Farming Simulator
One of Rick Kruger’s most distinctive traits is surprisingly specific. The English‑language Wikipedia entry for Common Side Effects notes that he “enjoys farming simulator video games, often playing in improper settings such as work and formal events.”
That detail shows up repeatedly in coverage surrounding the show. A Reutical explainer on commonsideeffects.tv points out that Kruger “spends too much time playing farming‑simulator games during work hours, even as he green‑lights aggressive moves around Blue Angel and, later, Sparkl.”
An article on character design for the series adds some visual context. It describes Kruger’s office as “sterile, sparkling, soulless,” and his look as tightly controlled: sharp suits, a spotless company badge, and a carefully groomed image. Against that, the animators often show him secretly tapping on his phone, tending virtual crops while his real‑world company lurches from crisis to crisis.
The farming hobby even extended to footage that never aired. A Season 1 deleted‑scenes breakdown on commonsideeffects.tv mentions a cut gag from Episode 6, “In the System,” in which Kruger becomes fixated on a farming simulator in the middle of a critical meeting. According to that piece, the scene was removed because it undercut the tension, although “a few gamers online still campaign for the deleted footage.”
It is an oddly mundane obsession for a pharma boss confronting miracle mushrooms and federal raids. That contrast, between virtual tractors and real‑world harm, plays directly into how Judge chooses to voice him.
Mike Judge Behind the Microphone and Behind the Scenes
Mike Judge’s involvement with Common Side Effects goes well beyond one character.
Adult Swim’s original series order, announced at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, named Judge and longtime collaborator Greg Daniels as executive producers alongside Bennett and Hely. They are attached through their company Bandera Entertainment, working with Green Street Pictures and Williams Street. Press materials from Warner Bros. Discovery highlighted Judge and Daniels’ “deep pedigrees in the comedy and animation worlds” and positioned the show as a way for them to tackle government corruption and the pharmaceutical industry.
On screen, Judge voices Rick Kruger throughout Season 1, with TVMaze listing him among the main cast in all 10 episodes. The Toonami Wiki also credits him with an additional character, Jimmer Jarvis, suggesting that he, as in earlier series, covers more than one role.
The casting choice fits the way Bennett and Hely wanted the show to sound. In an interview with The Wrap, they explained that they often asked actors to “do less acting” and kept microphones running before and after takes. Their goal was to capture mundane, naturalistic speech, even in heightened situations. Judge’s low‑key delivery, developed over years of playing Hank Hill and other characters, matched that approach.
A voice‑cast breakdown on commonsideeffects.tv says the creators wanted someone who could make “clueless corporate” both funny and “a little bit dangerous.” The article argues that Judge’s “signature deadpan” seeps into “every one of Kruger’s lines,” and describes his delivery as “like he’s chewing sleepy pills,” which, in that writer’s view, makes the CEO sound more menacing.
So if Rick is partly a parody of modern Big Pharma, his voice is built on decades of Mike Judge’s experience skewering bureaucrats and bosses in projects like Office Space and Silicon Valley.
“He Sounds a Lot Like Hank Hill” – But Not Quite
For many viewers, the first reference point for Judge’s voice is still Hank Hill. The central character of King of the Hill spent 13 seasons on Fox as a propane salesman and family man in fictional Arlen, Texas, with Judge also voicing fast‑talking neighbor Boomhauer.
Judge has explained in interviews that the Hank Hill voice is drawn directly from people he knew. In one behind‑the‑scenes feature, he said he had “known, like, 20 different guys who talked like that,” describing it as “a little bit like my grandfather” on his mother’s side and like a man he knew from a Boy‑Scout‑style youth program. Earlier coverage has also noted that the voice evolved from Tom Anderson, an older neighbor character in Beavis and Butt‑Head, then became more grounded and specific.
Over time, critics credited Hank with anchoring King of the Hill in realism. A long feature in Lone Star Music recalled how the character shifted from early “alpha bubba caricature” into “one of the most true‑to‑life characters on TV.” That piece noted that Texas Monthly even named Hank Hill the “greatest TV Texan in history,” and quoted Judge saying that one of his key roles on the show was “keeping that show real” when stories or jokes threatened to go too broad.
With that history in mind, it is not surprising that reviewers heard echoes of Hank when Common Side Effects debuted. Decider’s “Stream It or Skip It” review of the pilot remarked that “Mike Judge makes Rick Kruger sound a lot like Hank Hill,” especially in his first boardroom scenes. The same review quickly added that he was “the right voice for the disinterested CEO, who seems to be more concerned about the games on his phone than actually leading the company.”
So the basic tonal package is familiar: a slightly weary cadence, a controlled delivery, and a sense that the character often talks around what he really feels. The difference lies in what that voice is used to express.
Hank Hill is designed as a moral center. He obsesses over propane, lawns, and work ethic, and he pushes back against what he sees as cultural decline. Interviews with co‑creator Greg Daniels and Judge have compared him to a modern Andy Griffith figure, “king of his block” even if not “king of the world.”
Rick Kruger is designed as a moral weak spot. Official descriptions and fan summaries call him “incompetent,” “anxious,” and “clueless,” with his decisions frequently making things worse. TV Tropes’ entry on Common Side Effects labels him an “anti‑villain,” driven partly by genuine belief in the mushrooms’ potential but also by job security, shareholder pressure, and fear of upheaval.
In that context, Judge’s similar vocal toolkit plays a different role. When Hank raises his voice, it can feel like a principled stand. When Rick raises his, it often sounds like a man in over his head, scrambling to protect his image while fiddling with a digital harvest on his phone.
Why Mike Judge Is Back in Animation and Back at Adult Swim
Rick Kruger is not an isolated comeback.
A September 2, 2025 GQ profile on Mike Judge describes the year as a particularly busy one. Bandera Entertainment, the company he runs with Greg Daniels, saw Common Side Effects become what the magazine called its “first big hit” of the year, a “mildly psychedelic animated thriller about a miracle drug and the evils of Big Pharma.” That show’s Season 2 renewal in March confirmed that Adult Swim, and viewers, were on board.
At almost the same time, Judge returned to two of his best‑known creations. According to GQ, Hulu launched Season 14 of King of the Hill in August 2025, with Judge once again voicing both Hank Hill and Boomhauer. Meanwhile, a third season of the revived Beavis and Butt‑Head rolled out on Comedy Central.
In the same interview, Judge explained how he realized he could still step comfortably into those voices. In 2018, the band Portugal. The Man asked him to have Beavis and Butt‑Head introduce them on tour. Recording that introduction convinced him that “Oh, I can still do the voices. It still sounds right. And it was fun to do.” He told GQ that he then thought, “I got a couple of pretty good characters right here,” which helped push the full revival forward.
While he did not mention Rick Kruger by name in that conversation, the larger pattern is clear. By the time Common Side Effects reached Adult Swim’s schedule in February 2025, Judge had already proven to himself that he could still sustain demanding character voices and that audiences still wanted to hear them.
Adult Swim, for its part, has placed Common Side Effects alongside titles like Rick and Morty, Primal, and Smiling Friends in its press materials as part of its “leader in adult animation” slate. Within that landscape, Judge’s presence as both executive producer and a main cast member gives the series extra visibility and a built‑in fan base.
Satire, Systems, and Why Rick’s Voice Matters
The choice to cast Judge as a pharma CEO also fits how Bennett and Hely talk about their show’s politics.
In an interview with The Verge, the creators said directly that the “true villain” of Common Side Effects is the American healthcare system, not any one person. They described that system as “corrupt, profit‑driven, and dehumanizing,” and emphasized that many characters, from corporate staff to DEA agents, are people trapped inside it rather than cackling supervillains.
A Polygon feature noted that they researched pharmaceuticals, mycology, law, and biology extensively, aiming to make the conspiracy feel plausible even as the visuals sometimes push into more surreal territory.
Within that framework, Rick Kruger serves as a face for the system rather than the mastermind behind it. A satire explainer on commonsideeffects.tv calls him “the satirical poster child for profit‑hungry CEOs everywhere,” and argues that Judge delivers his lines with “the exact right combo of cluelessness and cold calculation.” The same piece highlights moments when Rick flips from talking about earnings to ordering covert operations against mushroom collectors, presenting him as both absurd and disturbingly credible.
Because that performance leans on the same grounded style that once made Hank Hill feel real, Rick never quite drifts into pure cartoon. His fixation on lawsuits, his obsession with PR optics, and his inappropriate dedication to farming simulators stay just close enough to recognizable corporate behavior that the satire lands harder.
What Happens Next for Rick Kruger and Common Side Effects
With Season 1 complete and Season 2 ordered as of March 28, 2025, Rick Kruger and his voice are not going anywhere. Adult Swim has not, as of the renewal announcement, laid out detailed plot descriptions for the next run, but the network’s language about a “second season” confirms that the world of Reutical Pharmaceuticals will continue.
In their joint statement about the renewal, co‑creators Joe Bennett and Steve Hely joked that their goal with the show was to “transform planet Earth and restore the human spirit.” They added, “For now, we will settle for a second season.” Adult Swim’s Michael Ouweleen, in the same announcement, called Common Side Effects “genre‑defining” and credited its mix of conspiracy, corporate critique, and character work.
Season 1 has already stretched Rick beyond simple buffoonery. TV Tropes notes his gradual shift toward an “anti‑villain,” someone who is partly sincere about the mushrooms’ promise while still deeply entangled in profit motives and fear. With Mike Judge continuing as both executive producer and voice actor, Season 2 will arrive at a moment when he is also back on screens as Hank Hill and as the eternal teenagers Beavis and Butt‑Head.
For Adult Swim, that means one of the most familiar voices in adult animation now speaks for Big Pharma too. For Common Side Effects, it means Rick Kruger’s next terrible decision will probably sound calm, measured, and just a little too interested in pixelated cornfields.
