There’s a little of everything here, from episode and character creation to popularity and censorship. It turns out there is a lot more to the animated series about a small mountain town than most of us originally thought. So go on down to South Park and leave your woes behind.
12.The Spirit Of Christmas Started it All
11.A Celebrity in Every Episode
Anyone who has watched a few episodes of South Park knows the show loves to poke fun at celebrities. From Ben Affleck and Taylor Swift to John Travolta and Kanye West, South Park has made a habit of building stories around the funny, bizarre and just plain stupid aspects of celebrity lifestyles we often read about online or in those trashy magazines at the supermarket checkout. Aside from lampooning the famous, Parker and Stone have also included more than a few celebrity voices in their series, including the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Radiohead, Elton John and Robert Smith. All in all, what this means is that since day one of the series, every episode of South Park has either mentioned or included a celebrity personality
10.George Clooney and Jay Leno
Technically, this section should have been included with the rest of the celebrity discussion in #19, but we thought it deserved its own space because it’s a little different. Yes, George Clooney and Jay Leno are celebrities and, yes, they did do voice acting for South Park – just not in the way you might think. The movie star and stand-up legend each contributed to the show by doing the ‘voices’ for animals. Specifically, Clooney made all the ‘ruffs’ and ‘yelps’ for Stan’s dog, Sparky, while Eric Cartman’s cat, Mr. Kitty, received his ‘meows’ from Leno.
9.Kenny is Real
Oh my god, they killed Kenny! – For the first several seasons, every episode contained one comical or bizarre death involving the orange parka-wearing kid from the other side of the tracks. Over time, the show evolved away from this once central aspect (much like how The Simpsons evolved from being focussed so much on Bart in the early 1990s) and Kenny has become a more multi-dimensional character. That said, the character of Kenny McCormick is actually based on a real life person. It turns out Trey Parker was friends with a ‘Kenny’ in school. Kenny was the poorest kid, wore an oversized parka which muffled his speech and often skipped school which led to a joke among his classmates that he was dead.
8.The Simpsons are Coming
People tend to love it when shows crossover and characters from different programs appear together in one. The Power Rangers met the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kramer (Seinfeld) enjoyed one of his Cuban cigars with Paul Buchman (Mad About You) and Travis and Laurie (Cougar Town) appeared on Community. When the two-part South Park episode ‘Cartoon Wars’ aired, it was notable that not only did it include a somewhat rough version of the Griffin family from Family Guy, but a character that was clearly Bart Simpson also showed up. Often referred to as the ‘Family Guy’ episode, the show poked fun at the writing style and jokes of Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane. The crew over at The Simpsons were so impressed they reportedly sent flowers to the South Park team.
7.The Scientology Fallout
Again, if you’ve ever watched more than a few episodes of South Park you know it makes fun of everything and everyone – religion included. A 2005 episode titled “Trapped in the Closet” poked fun at Scientology and some of its more notable followers, including Tom Cruise and John Travolta. The episode displeased the Church of Scientology and allegedly resulted in the organization spying on Parker and Stone so as to find some ‘dirt’ which could be used against them in a smear campaign. Apparently nothing turned up and South Park continues to make fun of Scientology (and all other religions) to this day. Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef and a Scientologist, was so upset by the episode that he left the cast – something Parker and Stone were more than a little hurt by.
6. Casa Bonita
It’s hard to watch the 2003 South Park episode “Casa Bonita” without wanting to head out to an authentic Mexican restaurant. The food, the music, the cliff divers – it’s all understandable why Eric Cartman convinces Butters the world has ended so he can take his place at Kyle’s birthday party which just so happens to be going to Casa Bonita. There are references made to Casa Bonita in several episodes and at one point it was even destroyed by Barbra Streisand. Of course, you’ll all be glad to know that Casa Bonita was not destroyed because it actually exists in Denver.
5. You Can ‘Take’ South Park in School
Sure, South Park has been known to have its share of immature humor and inappropriate content. This has turned more than a few people off of the show over the years. Nonetheless, as the years have gone by the show has ‘matured’ and often makes rather clever commentary of current events and controversial subjects. In short, it makes difficult subjects more accessible by making fun of them. McDaniel College in Maryland has picked up upon this by offering a course which examines South Park episodes and breaks down the ‘real life’ issues they deal with. The class, titled ‘South Park and Contemporary Social Issues,’ offers students a chance to tackle issues like gay marriage, religion and race from a different angle.
4. Aliens Everywhere
If you ever liked the series of “Where’s Waldo?” books then you’ll like this next fact which may have you watching South Park a little more closely. The 1997 pilot episode of South Park saw Eric Cartman abducted by aliens. Ever since then, the lanky, white, giant-eyed aliens have appeared in every single episode of the series. That’s right, not including the introduction, there is at least one alien inserted somewhere in every episode. Some are pretty obvious, like standing in a crowd or in the background. Others, however, are far harder to find as they appear as watermarks or obscured behind tinted windows. Hidden aliens definitely adds a whole new element when re-watching those old episodes.
3.Europeans Love Chocolate Salty Balls
What’s big, salty and brown and should be put in your mouth? If you’re the creators of South Parkthe answer is apparently Chef’s salty chocolate balls. In season 2, Chef (Isaac Hayes) sings a song about the chocolaty (and salty) creation he has baked. The song, an instant South Park classic, was included on the December album Chef Aid: The South Park Album. Interestingly enough, the song which was full of innuendo became a hit in Europe. In Ireland and on the UK Singles Chart, “Chocolate Salty Balls” reached #1. In Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, the song broke into the top ten. The one European country it did the worst in? France, where “Chocolate Salty Balls” only made it #82.
2.Mr. Mackey is Real, M’kay.
Drugs are bad, m’kay. Mr Mackey, the South Park Elementary School’s well-meaning, yet awkward counsellor is known for slipping in more than the occasional ‘m’kay’ after a sentence. It turns out that, much like Kenny McCormick, Mr. Mackey is closely based on Trey Parker’s school counsellor, Mr. Lackey. According to Parker, Mr. Lackey would tell him to stop fooling around and get back to work – m’kay. I guess things are m’kay now, after all, as Parker said in an interview, he’s now “making millions out of him.”
1.Pokemon vs. Chinpokomon
Pokemon (meaning Pocket Monster) is a Japanese creation which is built around fictional creatures that humans ‘collect’ and battle with. Video games, trading cards, books, movies – you name it and the Pokemon franchise has cashed in on it. South Park entered this fantasy realm in 1999 with the episode titled “Chinpokomon” – an obvious reference to Pokemon which had all the South Park kids scrambling to collect the various bizarre toys and watch the corresponding bizarre television show. We bet most of you didn’t know Chinpokomon roughly translates from Japanese to mean ‘Penis Pocket Monster.’ I don’t think much more needs to be said here, m’kay.
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