South Park

Characters

The characters and backgrounds of South Park are made to appear deliberately crude, as if they are simply made of cut-out pieces of paper. Paper cutouts were indeed used in the original pilot Parker/Stone animation and in the very first Comedy Central episode, but every subsequent episode aired on TV has been produced by computer animation that provides the same crude look. To put the efficiency of this process in perspective, consider that the average episode of The Simpsons takes eight months to create, while episodes of South Park have been completed in as little as three days. Some episodes contain sections of regular film as well (e.g., "Tweek vs. Craig" and "Cat Orgy").

Related Topics:
Made to appear deliberately crude - Computer animation - Some episodes - Film

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Major characters

The main characters of the show are four elementary school students:

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• Stan Marsh: Often the straight man of the group. Generally good-natured and clear thinking, he usually tries to come up with logical solutions to their outrageous situations. Stan, as the alter-ego of Trey Parker, often summarizes the message or moral of the episode. He is the best friend of Kyle and their relationship is central to many episodes.
• Kyle Broflovski: High-strung (thanks in part to his overbearing mother) and skeptical, yet the most easily persuadable. As the alter-ego of Matt Stone (who, like Kyle, is Jewish), Kyle (like the more easygoing Stan) often provides the reasonable perspective on the crazy behavior of the adult world around them. In parallel with his real life counterpart (who is Trey Parker's "best friend"), Kyle is the best friend of Stan.
• Eric Cartman: Campy, aggressive, bigoted, spoiled, overweight, rude, and antagonistic?although often the funniest in the ensemble. Frequently the catalyst for the plot; he regularly insults Kyle for being Jewish and Kenny for being poor. Meanwhile, his pretentious and sociopathic ways causes him to be disdained by the other boys, who don't quite know why they put up with him.
• Kenny McCormick: Comes from an extremely crude, poverty-stricken family. Obsessed with sex and bathroom humor, his speech is difficult to understand due to his hood closed around his face. During the first five seasons, Kenny was the eternal victim; routinely killed in a number of grotesque (yet often very entertaining) ways during each episode, only to miraculously reappear alive again in time for next. At the end of Season 5, Kenny was killed off for the next season and replaced by both Tweek and Butters as the fourth friend. He reappeared as a regular character in Season 7, and while he does not necessarily die in every episode any more, he still meets a callous fatality from time to time.

In recent seasons, two other characters have gained prominence:

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• Leopold "Butters" Stotch (replaced Kenny as a main character during the first part of the Season 6, though Kenny was brought back for the 7th season; has remained prominent): Nervous, naive, easily manipulated, yet sometimes insightful. He is often repressed by his overbearing and oppressive parents, and is meanwhile blatantly vilified, taken advantage of and/or disregarded by Stan, Kyle, and Cartman. Adding to the tragic nature of his character, his birthday is September 11.
• Tweek (replaced Kenny during the second part of the Season 6, though Kenny was brought back for Season 7; less prominent than Butters, has mostly returned to his pre-sixth season popularity): Spastic, neurotic, wants to be left alone. His problems are often glossed over by his very docile, Hallmark commercial-esque coffee-shop-owning parents. Although initially touted as one of the leading supporting characters, he has since been upstaged by the more viewer popular Butters and has returned to playing a minor role.

The show's earliest well known gimmick, beginning in the first episode, was that in every episode, Kenny would die in some horrible, "unexpected" way. After this, Stan would shout, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and Kyle would add, "You bastards!" Originally, the notorious "bastards" were the cow-aliens who shot Kenny with plasma; however, Kenny was in fact unharmed by this, and he was actually killed by Officer Barbrady's car after being trampled by Farmer Dinkins' cows. Kenny would be back in the next episode, the incident forgotten. For some time (after the fifth season episode "Kenny Dies"), Kenny had actually died "permanently." In the sixth season episode "A Ladder to Heaven," Kenny's soul became entrapped inside of Cartman's body, but an exorcism performed by Chef's mother in "The Biggest Douche in the Universe" undid this.

Related Topics:
Gimmick - Bastard - Kenny Dies - A Ladder to Heaven - Exorcism - The Biggest Douche in the Universe

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Kenny came back to life for an unexplained reason in "Red Sleigh Down" and is now the same regular kid he was before, except his deaths are much more rare. Kenny was killed by Saddam Hussein in "It's Christmas in Canada", the final episode of Season 7. He was also killed once during the eighth season, unmasked, by "Mr. Jefferson," an alias of Michael Jackson, in the episode "The Jeffersons", and in the ninth season, he was killed by the Chinese mafia in the episode "Wing," as well as the following episode, "Best Friends Forever" (in fact, he dies twice in the latter).

Related Topics:
Red Sleigh Down - Saddam Hussein - It's Christmas in Canada - Michael Jackson - The Jeffersons - Chinese mafia - Wing

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Recurring characters

There are many other frequently recurring characters, besides the boys and their families.

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• The boys' teachers Mr. Herbert Garrison (currently Mrs. Garrison after receiving a sex change in Episode 901, "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina"), and Ms. Choksondik (pronounced "chokes-on-dick") who dies in Season 6.
• Mr. Slave, Mr. Garrison's gay live-in lover until his sex change in Episode 901 (replacement for Garrison's beloved puppet companion, Mr. Hat).
• Jerome "Chef" McElroy (voiced by Isaac Hayes), the school cafeteria chef whom the boys seek out for advice.
• Satan, portrayed as the insecure and overly sensitive gay lover of Saddam Hussein.
• Jesus and Santa Claus, who are frequently depicted as gun-toting heroes.
• Mr. Mackey, the school counselor who often appends "Mmkay?" to the end of his sentences.
• Officer Barbrady, the incompetent town police officer.
• Wendy Testaburger, a schoolmate and Stan's girlfriend until Episode 714 ("Raisins").
• Timmy, a schoolmate confined by disability to a wheelchair. He has a limited vocabulary, usually only consisting of his own name, Jimmy's name, his pet turkey Gobbles, and his usual babble that sounds like "livin' a lie", though, on occasion, has managed a few other words.
• Jimmy, a physically disabled schoolmate with crutches and a speech impediment. Often performs stand-up comedy. He is afraid of getting an erection and took steroids to win the Special Olympics.
• Towelie, is a "super towel" created to dry a person, but while being studied he smoked marijuana and "just sort of" wandered off. Towelie is frequently getting "high" in the episodes he's been in.
• Token Black, a schoolmate of black descent who often accompanies the boys on their adventures. Token is also a frequent target of Cartman's racism.
• The goth kids, originally featured in Episode 714 ("Raisins").
• Scott Tenorman, a much older schoolmate, originally introduced when he tricks Cartman out of his allowance money in the episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die". Cartman later takes revenge on Scott by feeding Scott his own parents at Cartman's Chili con Carnival. Scott has appeared in minor roles in at least two subsequent episodes.

Minor characters and 'celebrities'

Part of the show's surrealist nature derives from the minor characters who appear in the series. Notable appearances include God, who appears as a small creature resembling a hippo-rodent hybrid; Jesus, a recurring character, who owns a home and hosts a public-access television show in South Park (Jesus and Pals); Satan and his lover Saddam Hussein; Moses, who appears exactly as the Master Control Program (MCP) does in the Disney film Tron and demands macaroni pictures; the alien Marklar race; the jakovasaur; Death; Mr. Hankey "the Christmas poo", who adds to the holiday festivities in much the same spirit as the 1960s Rankin-Bass cartoons; and Towelie the towel who always gets (or wants to get) high using marijuana.

Related Topics:
God - Moses - Disney - Tron - Marklar - Death - Mr. Hankey - Christmas - Poo - Rankin-Bass

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Celebrities often appear (usually "impersonated.....poorly"). Examples include:

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• Barbra Streisand, who was transformed after a mystical artifact Kyle found while digging and became Mecha-Streisand, a Mechagodzilla-like creature
• Robert Smith of the British band The Cure, who transformed into a moth creature (a parody of Mothra) to battle Mecha-Streisand; Smith provided his own voice
• Kathie Lee Gifford, whom Mr. Garrison tried to assassinate
• O. J. Simpson, part of a support group for relatives of murder victims
• George W. Bush, who, under the influence of Satan's advisor (a Wormtongue lookalike) fought against removing a feeding tube from Kenny in Best Friends Forever
• The band Korn, who played themselves and solved a Scooby Doo-type mystery
• The 1980s band Toto
• Brian Boitano, who is a superhero
• Russell Crowe, star of the TV show Russell Crowe: Fightin' Around the World, in which he travels the world in a cartoon tugboat and picks fights with random strangers based on perceived insults
• Madonna, who is ridiculed in "Kenny Dies"
• David Blaine, founder of the fictional "Blainetology" religion
• Sally Struthers, portrayed as a Hutt (as in "Jabba the Hutt" from Star Wars) saving "Starvin' Marvin" and his people in Africa
• The band Radiohead, playing themselves, with the band telling lead singer Thom Yorke to stop reading fan mail and mocking Scott Tenorman for crying
• Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks as a goat in the Afghanistan episode
• Michael Jackson as a new neighbor named "Mr. Jefferson" who moves to South Park with his young son Blanket to escape accusations of child molestation (such as those that were made against Jackson in late 2003)
• Paris Hilton as spokeswoman for the Stupid Spoiled Whore clothing store chain
• Christina Aguilera, who is portrayed as a hideous creature; a hallucination of Cartman's when he starts ingesting Ritalin
• Bill Clinton, who slept with Cartman's mother
• Patrick Duffy, who appears upside-down as one of the legs of a mountain creature called Scuzzlebutt
• George Clooney, who appears in Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, portraying an emergency room doctor similar to his character Doug Ross in the TV series ER. Clooney also appeared as a voice actor for Sparky, Stan's homosexual dog, in the episode "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", his only line being "Woof!".
• Jennifer Lopez, who appeared in "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", where Cartman put a face on his hand and pretended that it was J. Lo. She attempted to destroy it because it was ruining her career. Jennifer Lopez also appears in Cartmanland, where Kyle and Stan are burning an action figure version of her with a magnifying glass.
• Jennifer Aniston, who appeared in "Rainforest Schmainforest" as a choir teacher

See list of celebrities on South Park for more persons who have appeared on the show in one way or another.

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Running gags

These are events that have recurred in almost every episode of South Park.

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• Kenny has died in almost every episode during the first five seasons. Mostly he dies at the end, though his death is used as a plot device in a few episodes.
• After most of Kenny's deaths, Stan says "Oh my god, they/it/he/she killed Kenny!" Kyle will then say "You bastard(s)!" In earlier episodes, Kyle did the entire line, this the most popular one.
• Eric says "Screw you guys, I'm going home." This is usually said after he and Kyle get into an argument (mainly the ones that involve Eric being selfish).
• Eric's mother occasionally is targeted for her promiscuity. Sometimes the boys find a magazine or website though it's usually Ms. Cartman taking men into her room.
• Whenever Wendy speaks to Stan or kisses him on the cheek, he will vomit shortly after. (This has ended as of Season 7 when the two had to break up because the actor who provided Wendy's voice had died.)
• If Chef is asked about sex or love, he will answer by singing a song then pretend he didn't say anything.
• Kyle is teased or insulted for being Jewish. For example, in the episode "Rainforest Schmainforest", Cartman said "Kyle, you don't have rhythm because you're Jewish."
• When the boys are looking for a guinea pig or someone to sacrifice, they always choose Butters. (e.g., they decided to send Butters to have sex with a bunch of paedophiles in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", and he was the first choice to be sacrificed to a statue of the provider: John Elway.
• Eric will threaten to make someone "eat their parents" when they don't agree with him. Which is a reference to when he made his nemesis, Scott Tenorman, actually eat his own parents in "Scott Tenorman Must Die".
• Canadian characters on South Park exhibit many random oddities, such as beady eyes and semicircular heads that, during speech, detach from their body and jaw (which is also semicircular). They also speak rapidly with affected accents, pronouncing "about" as "a-boot" and "house" as "hoose"; they frequently refer to others as "Buddy."

Religious affiliation of characters

According to the episode Red Hot Catholic Love, virtually all the major and recurring characters in South Park are Roman Catholic, except:

Related Topics:
Red Hot Catholic Love - Roman Catholic

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• The Broflovskis (Kyle's family), who are Jewish
• The Harrisons, who are Mormon
• Chef switched to Islam in "Chef Goes Nanners" but apparently switched back
• God, who is shown as a rodent like creature, is a Buddhist
• Chef's Parents, who practice Voodoo and Wiccan rituals.