Monty Python-inspired absurdity, Scientology controversies,
and post-COVID satire - Comedy Central's South Park has never shied away from controversy.
Is it the "Holy Grail" of animated sitcoms or just plain sacrilegious?
"South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker owe a great deal of credit to Monty Python,
the British sketch comedy collective that rose to prominence in the 1960s and '70s with their
unique brand of absurd, satirical humor. The group consisted of comedy icons including John Cleese,
Graham Chapman, and Eric Idle, whose many projects heavily influenced Parker and
Stone throughout the early development process of "South Park." Particularly,
the show's iconic art style was influenced by the Terry Gilliam
animations that introduced their BBC sketch series, "Monty Python's Flying Circus."
Over the years, Stone and Parker have had the opportunity to pay tribute to
their comedy heroes. In celebration of the troupe's 50th anniversary,
they contributed a "South Park" recreation of the iconic "dead parrot" sketch,
with Cartman attempting to return a dead Kenny to the "friend store."
"I'll tell you what's wrong with him, my lad, he's dead!"
"No no no, he's uh, he's resting."
The troupe's reunion show at the O2 in London in 2014 was apparently sparked
by the "South Park" duo, although Idle jokingly countered this claim in a Reddit AMA by saying —
"They are arrogant little twerps trying to get cheap publicity off our backs."
Idle's comment was likely in jest, given that the comedian provided the voice of
Dr. Vosknocker in "South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut." The "South Park" duo
also had a relationship with Python member and film director Terry Gilliam,
who once advised the two to not overextend themselves across several projects. That
advice was promptly ignored, as the pair produced "South Park" alongside several feature films.
"Oh, it's you! Alright buddy, you stop that right now.
This is our show! Whaaaa…" "Ay, I'm not fat, I'm big-boned!"
The success of "South Park" has been the subject of discussion in the entertainment
industry ever since it first premiered. It's not incredibly surprising that the
show took off given its success as a viral video in the Internet's infancy,
but the first episode's debut on Comedy Central in 1997 was no accident either. Unfortunately,
test audiences weren't responsive to the series' first episode,
which made the network hesitate in giving the boys a further chance.
Season 1 was nevertheless the subject of a fierce marketing campaign by Comedy Central
as a last-ditch effort to draw attention to it. "South Park" even labeled itself as
the reason for parents to install a V-chip in their television to monitor their children's
viewing habits. Even before the first episode premiered, Comedy Central had already raked
in a fortune in T-shirt sales, proving that the series was to be an inevitable success.
"South Park" is also responsible for changing public opinion of Comedy
Central as a network entirely. It's had as much of an influence on modern-day
TV as shows like "The Simpsons," but the appeal of "South Park" to a newer
generation made it a surefire success for the network and the show's creators.
Outside the world of Internet memes and pop culture, "South Park" has even
influenced the world of law. The show's frequent mocking of celebrities, songs,
and moments have drawn plenty of discussion over fair use and parody law, like the time
when Butters performed a viral song originally made by the Internet personality Samwell. The
resulting lawsuit was eventually dismissed, but it set a precedent concerning fair use laws.
"South Park" has also pervaded the lexicon of not just American culture, but of the American court
system as well. This influence started in the Season 2 episode "Chef Aid," which revolves around
Chef suing Alanis Morissette for plagiarizing him. Hired by Morissette's record label, celebrity
lawyer Johnnie Cochran — who notably defended O.J. Simpson during his widely publicized murder
trial — successfully argues for his client by using what's now known as the "Chewbacca defense."
"Why would a wookiee, an eight foot tall wookiee,
want to live on Endor with a bunch of two foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense."
Although Chewbacca himself isn't often mentioned in lawsuits,
the term "Chewbacca defense" now blankets any argument made by the prosecution or defense
that is meant to deliberately confuse the jury. As recently as 2022, the "South Park"
episode was referenced during a federal tax fraud case in Jacksonville, Florida. However,
the argument's efficacy when not employed by Cochran in "South Park" hasn't had much success.
Even though "South Park" had only been airing on Comedy Central for two seasons in 1999,
it had already become a pop culture phenomenon. Naturally, this warranted a transition to the big
screen, with Parker and Stone co-producing the first "South Park" feature film:
"South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut." Parker assumed directorial duties for the film,
which he co-wrote with Stone and veteran "South Park" writer Pam Brady.
The film centers on the typical "South Park" kids sneaking into an R-rated screening of
Terrance and Phillip. The foul language in the movie gets them to start swearing,
resulting in a nationwide panic that causes the United States to declare war on Canada.
"Just remember what the MPAA says: horrific, deplorable violence is okay,
as long as people don't say any naughty words!"
If that wasn't wild enough on its own,
the whole thing is a musical featuring some delightfully vulgar songs.
"Bigger, Longer & Uncut" was well received — Washington
Post critic Rita Kempley wrote in her review —
"The outrageously profane "South Park: Bigger,
Longer & Uncut" takes wicked whacks at targets ranging from Saddam Hussein to the notion that
the entertainment industry is chiefly to blame for the pollution of kids' culture."
Despite the film's lampooning of the entertainment industry and censorship, "South Park: Bigger,
Longer & Uncut" was a success in its own right. It was the highest-grossing R-rated
movie ever for a time, and the musical number "Blame Canada" even garnered an Academy Award
nomination for Best Original Song. However, even the show's Oscar appearance garnered controversy,
with ABC censors ironically requesting the performance of the song be altered
for airing. Meanwhile, Parker and Stone showed up to the prestigious ceremony after taking LSD,
wearing dresses previously worn by Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow.
While Parker and Stone are best known as the minds behind "South Park" for over 20 years,
they've also made waves in the world of musical theater. Along with "Frozen" songwriter Robert
Lopez, they co-created the smash hit Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon." The nine-time
Tony-winning show premiered in 2011, starring Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad as two Mormon
missionaries who are sent to a poverty-stricken Ugandan village to spread their faith.
Parker and Stone met Lopez after seeing his musical "Avenue Q" during the production of their
film "Team America: World Police." Together, the trio bonded over their shared interest
in musical theater and Mormonism — Parker and Stone grew up in a Mormon community in Colorado,
hence their fascination. However, this interest didn't start with "The Book of
Mormon," as the duo had previously taken shots at the religion in earlier projects.
In addition to their 1997 movie, "Orgazmo," which features Mormonism,
the duo parodied the religion in Season 7 of "South Park." The episode,
"All About Mormons," follows a Utah family moving to South Park and features a sequence
explaining how Joseph Smith founded the religion. Even Mormons themselves
have appreciated the jokes, with blogger Steve Evans writing for By Common Consent —
"South Park argues that the social aspects of our faith may be sufficient unto themselves,
regardless of the [efficacy] of our ordinances or the historicity of our scriptures."
"And maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up. But I have a great life,
and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that!"
"South Park" has lampooned many celebrities over the course of its 26 seasons,
garnering more than enough bad blood between the show's creators and famous figures. However,
one of the series' most notable controversies came during their
ninth season, when they parodied the Church of Scientology during the episode "Trapped in
the Closet." It famously featured a sequence depicting the Scientologist origin myth, as
well as the implication that several celebrity Scientologists are actually closeted themselves.
One person the "South Park" duo probably didn't anticipate angering was Isaac Hayes,
the singer-songwriter who played the iconic role of Chef. Also a member of
the Church of Scientology, Hayes announced in a statement prior to Season 10 that he
would be departing the show for their disrespect of the religion. The matter
became the subject of controversy for years to come, with Matt Stone telling The AP —
"We never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He
wants a different standard for religions other than his own."
The circumstances of Hayes' departure have since been contradicted, with some reports
saying that Hayes was also dissatisfied with pay or had suffered a stroke. Nevertheless,
this meant the end of Chef's time on "South Park," with the character being killed off in
the Season 10 premiere after being struck by lightning and mauled by wild animals.
The speed at which the "South Park" production team moves has resulted in some pretty close
calls when it comes to episodes airing. One of the most famous examples of this came
during the show's 12th season, when the team decided to do an episode that would
air the day after the 2008 presidential election without knowing who would win.
The episode's production was entirely reliant on Trey Parker's hope that Barack Obama would
defeat John McCain. The "South Park" co-creator told The Los Angeles Times
that they considered making two versions of the episode, but it wasn't feasible. He elaborated —
"Well, we’re just going to make the Obama version,
and if McCain somehow wins, we’re basically just totally screwed."
"Wooooo! Obama!" "Get out of here!"
Thankfully for them, Obama did inevitably win the election,
allowing the team to proceed with the episode as is. However, they still incorporated some
of his victory speech into the episode by the morning of the day the episode aired.
It was also decided by Parker and the other members of the "South Park" team that the
episode's plot would be removed from bipartisan politics. Instead, Obama and McCain would be
attempting to pull off a jewel heist, while the political alignment of each recurring character
was decided arbitrarily during production. Thankfully, no one had to worry for long
about messing up the election prediction, but it made for an incredibly lucky call by Parker.
"South Park" has been no stranger to the world of video games, receiving its first playable
adaptation on the Nintendo 64 and Playstation in 1998. Other "South Park" video games have been
released over the years, but they're essentially existing games with a new coat of paint. That's
why it eventually became a priority for Parker and Stone to faithfully translate the "South
Park" experience into a video game. Their dream finally came true with "South Park:
The Stick of Truth," which was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in 2014.
While previous "South Park" video games had experimented with genres like first-person
shooters and racing, "The Stick of Truth" is a role-playing game in which players control the
new kid during a town-wide LARPing session. Though the game was developed by Obsidian Entertainment,
Parker and Stone were heavily involved in the game's design. They took heavy inspiration
from Nintendo's "Earthbound," another popular RPG that Parker particularly loved.
The game's development process was also subject to similar difficulties as the show
itself. Censors in different countries resulted in humorous workarounds by the development team,
including in one scene where Randy Marsh gets probed by aliens. Nevertheless,
like the "South Park" TV show, "The Stick of Truth" was an incredible success critically
and commercially. A sequel released in 2017, "South Park: The Fractured but
Whole," trades the medieval fantasy roleplay of "The Stick of Truth" for superhero alter-egos.
Like the rest of the entertainment industry, "South Park" was affected by the COVID-19
pandemic. Thanks to the production team's quick turnaround time on creating episodes,
though, they were able to release "The Pandemic Special" in September of 2020 as part of their
24th season. This hour-long special focuses on the town's reaction to COVID-19, as well as
Randy Marsh's role in spreading it. It was then followed up in March 2021 with the "South ParQ
Vaccination Special," continuing the storyline by addressing vaccines and QAnon conspiracies.
"You guys have a right to say and believe whatever you want,
okay? But what you believe is really stupid."
Later in 2021, "South Park" extended its deal with Comedy Central to produce the show for up
to 30 seasons, including two films that were planned to be released that year. The first
of them was "South Park: Post COVID," a one-hour special followed up by a second hour, "South Park:
Post COVID: The Return of COVID." Unlike "The Pandemic Special," the "Post COVID" specials
did the impossible and took a look at the lives of the show's main cast forty years into the future.
The specials find Stan returning to South Park after Kenny has passed away,
resulting in the trio of Stan, Kyle, and Cartman — who's now a rabbi — reuniting to
finish research on a COVID-19 cure. Eventually, they discover that Kenny discovered time travel,
so Stan and Kyle try using it to prevent the pandemic. They're unable to do so,
but they still manage to improve the lives of everyone they know… except for Cartman.
In 2022, "South Park" had its 25th anniversary. That was cause for celebration for Parker and
Stone, who took the festivities to their home state of Colorado and put on an extravagant
concert at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison. The setlist contained many musical
hits from "South Park" history, including the Oscar-nominated "Blame Canada" from "South Park:
Bigger, Longer & Uncut" and the anime-inspired ninja anthem "Let's Fighting Love."
The concert also featured special guests, with bands Ween and Primus supporting Stone
and Parker throughout the concert. However, the biggest surprises were
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from Rush, who surprised not only the audience, but Stone
too. Stone joined the duo on drums to perform the beloved Rush song "Closer to the Heart."
The once-in-a-lifetime concert was performed across two nights, and later made available
to watch on Paramount+ and YouTube. It's a must-watch for any "South Park" fan,
as they'll get to see the geniuses behind the show celebrate having one of the most successful
animated shows of all time for 25 years. Here's to many more anniversaries on the horizon.