About

South Park is an American animated TV sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. The storyline revolves around four boys--Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick--and their adventures and exploits in the fictional small town of South Park, Colorado. Intended for mature audiences, the show has gained both mainstream recognition and critical acclaims for its use of crude language and satirical humor to explore a wide range of current events and topical issues.

History

The show concept was originally developed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone from two animated shorts they created during their college years in the early 1990s, Jesus vs. Frosty (1992) and Jesus vs. Santa (1995), which came to be collectively known as The Spirit of Christmas. The latter of the two was initially distributed to less than a hundred people via e-mail, before bootleg copies of the video began circulating online.

The film eventually captured the attention of Comedy Central producers, who hired Parker and Stone to develop the pilot episode of the series. Titled "Cartmen Gets an Anal Probe," the episode was produced using cutout animation techniques and most of the characters were voiced by the duo.

Since its premiere in the United States on August 13th, 1997, the show has grown into one of the highest rated shows in the network as well as of any basic cable programs throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. South Park is Comedy Central's longest running program to date; a total of 230 episodes have aired and the series is slated to run through at least 2016.

On December 14th, 2023, Cracked^[13] compiled a list of "The 25 Greatest ‘South Park’ Memes" in collaboration with Know Your Meme, notably ranking the "The Underpants Gnomes’ Plan" as the top meme from the show.

Reception

The pilot episode was positively received and the series quickly began generating buzz among college students. By the time the eighth episode "Starvin' Marvin" aired in November 1997, the show's ratings and viewership had tripled and by the second episode of season two "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" in April 1998, the ratings peaked at a score of 8.2 out of 10 with 6.2 million viewers, making South Park the highest-rated non-sports show in basic cable history.

Awards

The show has received numerous critical acclaims and accolades as well, including Time Magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time" list and Rolling Stone's honorable mention as the "funniest show on television" in 2007, Entertainment Weekly's recognition of the "12th Greatest TV Show of the Past 25 Years" and AOL's "16th Best TV Comedy Series of All Time" in 2008 among many others. Since its debut in 1998, South Park has been nominated for the Emmy's nine times and won the award for Outstanding Animated Program three times.

Related Memes

???? PROFIT!!!!

???? PROFIT!!!! comes directly from season 2, episode 17 which aired on December 16th, 1998. In this particular episode, the children’s underwear are being stolen from them by gnomes for the purpose of “profit.”
The meme is mostly used in troll science saying "Step one: X, Step two: X, Step 3: ???, Step 4: Profit.

Derp

"Derp" is an expression associated with stupidity, much like the earlier forms of interjections like “duh” and “dur,” that became quite popular through its recurring usage in South Park, most notably by a a character named Mr. Derp, who briefly serves as the chef’s replacement in an episode titled “The Succubus.”

"They Took Our Jobs"

"They Took Our Jobs!" is a meme which comes from season 8, episode 7 which aired on April 28th, 2004. The episode itself was a parody of the increasing illegal immigration problem in America, with illegal immigrants coming from the future, Terminator-style, instead of Mexicans crossing the border. Due to the influx of these immigrants, who were willing to work for a lower wage, many a person in South Park were fired, and replaced with one of these immigrants. This caused the redneck population of the town to declare the memetic phrase "THEY TOOK OUR JOBS!", which multiple people yelled in a succession of ever-decreasing sensibility. How it works is, if someone yells "They took your job!", someone else then yells it in a more slurred manner, and this continues until it becomes four syllables that are completely unable to be comprehended.

This meme has shown up as a running gag in the show since then, specifically twice in season 13 (Episodes 10 & 13), either to make fun of the economic downturn, or just to highlight the idiocy of the stereotypical redneck.

Gingers Do Have Souls

"Gingers Do Have Souls" is a catchphrase associated with YouTuber CopperCab, who gained his online following with an emotional rant about how he has been bullied in school because of his red hair color. The phrase is believed to have originated from a South Park episode titled "Ginger Kids," in which Eric Cartman gives an alarming class presentation on the subject of red-headed children and “Gingervitis,” a made-up disease supposedly associated with red hair.

Sarah Jessica Parker Looks Like a Horse

"Sarah Jessica Parker Looks Like a Horse" is a catchphrase primarily associated with images that compare Sarah Jessica Parker’s face to that of a horse. The joke is believed to have originated from an episode of South Park titled “The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerBalls” aired on March 17th, 2010, in which the Sex and The City actress is compared to a horse.

Captain Hindsight

Captain Hindsight is an image macro series based on the eponymous superhero character originally featured in Season 14, Episode 11 titled Coon 2. Inspired by the character, image captions generally present various types of predicaments and then lecture on what could’ve been done differently to avoid the situation altogether.

Super Cool Ski Instructor

Super Cool Ski Instructor is an advice animal image macro series featuring a picture of the ski instructor Thumper from episode Asspen. The macros are accompanied by captions advising against risky or impetuous behaviors followed by the warning “you’re gonna have a bad time.” In the episode, Stan, Cartman, Kyle and Butters are given ski lessons by an instructor named Thumper who repeatedly warns about dangerous skiing practices saying “you’re gonna have a bad time.” The episode aired on March 20th, 2002.

And It's Gone

And It's Gone! (also known as “Aaaand It’s Gone”) is an advice animal image macro series featuring a picture of a bank teller from episode “Margaritaville”, which first aired on March 25th, 2009. The phrase is used by a teller at South Park Bank Savings and Loans while informing customers that their money has been lost. The macros are often accompanied by captions describing lost opportunities or items, ending in the titular phrase “And it’s gone”.

Oh, I’m Sorry, I Thought This Was America

Oh, I’m Sorry, I Thought This Was America is an image macro featuring Randy Marsh from the episode “The Losing Edge,” which first aired April 6th, 2005. The phrase comes from the scene where Randy is trash talking the other kid's baseball team, and thus starts a fight with the other team's parents. The cops show up to arrest him and Randy starts ranting "I thought this was America." The macros are often derived from the phrase and are used as a blanket excuse for one’s own action or statement in response to a backlash or criticism.

Search Interest

External References