In tribute to the brilliance that is “South Park,” we dug deep and found some interesting factoids about the show. This ain’t no usual list. Hopefully this makes you appreciate the subtle genius of the show even more.
1. Butters was born on September 11th.
2. In the deleted ending of “Fishsticks” starring Kanye West, Kanye actually drowns and the Coast Guard recovers his lifeless body.
3. Mr. Slave bears an uncanny resemblance to Glenn Hughes of the Village People.
4. After “Trapped in the Closet,” the Church of Scientology hired private investigators to dig up dirt on Matt and Trey. (They allegedly wanted to blackmail them, which is not very L. Ron Hubbard-like.) But they couldn’t find jack on them, because Matt and Trey live such honest lives.
5. Niece of the Chairman of Scientology and author of “Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape,” Jenna Miscavige Hill learned about Xenu-the alien dictator that brought millions of ancient humans to earth-from “South Park.” She left the Church soon after.
6. TV executive Doug Herzog credits “South Park” for putting Comedy Central “on the map.”
7. The pilot episode took three months to create. Episodes today take less than six days. Some as little as three.
8. “South Park” is banned in Sri Lanka for depicting Buddha snorting cocaine in episode “200.”
9. Kyle’s birthday is May 26 and Stan’s birthday is October 19. The same as Matt and Trey.
10. Dr. Sophie Rutschmann of the University of Strasbourg discovered a mutated gene in adult fruit flies that caused them to die within two days after a certain bacterial infection. She named the gene kep1 after Kenny McCormick.
11. Combining the first letter in Kyle’s name with his adopted little brother’s full name “Ike” creates a very offensive slur. Both characters are voiced by Matt Stone, who is Jewish.
12. In 2011, Comedy Central and Frito-Lay made an agreement to manufacture and sell 1.5 million bags of Cheesy Poofs at Walmart.
13. Cartman is based on Matt Karpman, a high school classmate of Trey. They remain friends to this day.
14. Cartman’s middle name is Theodore.
15. In episode “The Succubus,” a picture in Mr. Garrison’s classroom shows a white token in the background with ‘T’ on his shirt.
16. The inspiration for Mr. Hankey came from Trey Parker’s childhood. Trey had a habit of not flushing the toilet. His father told him to flush the toilet or else Mr. Hankey would come out of the toilet and eat him alive.
17. Randy Marsh has had a lot of jobs: geologist, boy-band singer, chef, Broadway playwright, Blockbuster owner, mall security, Sarcastaball coach, Lorde, and … well … a cock magician.
18. In the six days it takes to complete an episode, “South Park” employees typically put in 100-120 hours per week.
19. In “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” Matt and Trey purposely wrote it to introduce the real Eric Cartman-“the most evil kid in the world.” Cartman would become more and more evil as the series went on.
20. Cartman has committed murder, rape, arson, prostitution, enforced cannibalism, attempted genocide, manslaughter, animal abuse, hate crimes, grave robbery, war crimes, child abuse, vandalism, theft, piracy, embezzlement, shoplifting, terrorism, drug possession, smuggling, armed robbery and more! Even though he’s only been arrested six times.
