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Here are 5 things you didn't know about South Park
South Park - Credit: Comedy Central

5 Things You Didn't Know: South Park

By Ross Bonander

Entertainment CorrespondentEvery Thursday

Back in the summer of 1997, you had to know that South Park was going to be an iconoclast when you learned the premiere episode was titled, “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe.” If it didn’t occur to you then, it surely has by now.

South Park, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker for Comedy Central, features crude animation, boorish characters and jaw-dropping story lines so vulgar and distasteful that to label them merely "offensive" is actually something of an offense to the show itself. South Park has prided itself on inciting rage worldwide for its seemingly blasphemous depiction of religion, heartless portrayal of persons with disabilities, shameless instances of toilet humor, racism, foul language, and their impressions of the Holocaust -- and these are just the first few mentions in their catalog of offensives.

In short, there are no sacred cows in the town of South Park.

However, an equally egregious offense would be to assume the show’s intentions were just as crass. In fact, they are masters of the parody and lampoon, and often episodes will reveal multiple layers of clever and acute social commentary -- ones that typically escape its many overzealous and red-faced critics.

With the recent launch of this landmark show’s twelfth season, it’s time we took a look at five things you didn’t know about South Park, one of the smartest shows out there.

1- South Park began as a video Christmas card

In 1995 FoxLab executive Brian Graden saw a demented, animated short entitled Jesus vs Frosty that Parker and Stone created while they were still students at the University of Colorado. Graden thought it was hilariously twisted, so he hired them to make a video Christmas card for his friends in the entertainment industry. The result was The Spirit of Christmas, a five-minute short that saw Santa Claus face off against Jesus in a martial arts fight to the death over who would control the Christmas holiday. The two holiday superpowers ultimately resolve the issue with a truce.

The video made the rounds and soon Parker and Stone found themselves in negotiations with both FOX and Comedy Central to produce a half-hour series based on the short.

2- Tom Cruise wanted to do a voice for South Park

Of course, that's in the past tense: Cruise had, at one time, wanted to do a voice for the show. Presumably his interest has waned a bit since the Emmy-nominated episode No. 137, “Trapped in the Closet.” After joining Scientology in search of something to do that’s both fun and “free” (the church is notoriously expensive), the character Stan is believed by members to be the reincarnation of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. A number of well-known Scientologists, including John Travolta and Tom Cruise, try to convince Stan to lead the church, but he refuses, later calling it a “global scam.” Cruise (the character) locks himself in Stan’s closet and "refuses to come out" after Stan tells him he’s not a very good actor, which Cruise takes as the great prophet’s opinion.

The show regularly refuses to allow celebrities to play themselves or even play what might be considered normal characters. At most they are offered ludicrous roles. For example, George Clooney played a gay dog and Jay Leno played a bird, while Jerry Seinfeld was offered the role of a sick cat, but his agent turned it down. Other stars believed to have sought voice roles but refused the odd-ball roles offered to them include Steven Spielberg, Samuel L. Jackson and Jeff Daniels.

Respect mah authoritah and check out a few more things you didn't know about South Park... Next Page >>

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Reader Comments: 75 Posts

Rating: N/A

Its OK if they like it says:

Saw my 5 yo daughter rubbing her clitoris with the vibrating end (noncutting) end of my electric razor(Eclectic?) Any way being open minded I showed her how to use my finger vibrator and she went into lala land for at least 15 min as went back to watch my football game. So what, She knows what preggie means, and deserves a good time just like we do BUT if I caught anyone doing it to her Id kill them.

Posted 2009-08-15 17:44:52 EST

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JD says:

Two best South Park Episodes: The Warcraft parody, and the Heavy Metal riff. I would pay to see the Heavy Metal one again. "Damn you and your rockin' tits!"

Posted 2009-07-15 01:48:58 EST

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Bald Celeb Outing says:

great article! and i agree with justaclerk - that fact about the cripple fight should be on here!

baldouting.blogspot.com

Posted 2009-07-12 23:36:08 EST

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Dane says:

Great article. This is one of the most iconic shows. I like South Park and did not know any of those things.

Posted 2009-07-12 11:58:53 EST

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a girl says:

Was this article written using Wikipedia as the leading source? There was not one item on this list I did not already know, and I'm not saying that in an elitest I-know-more-about-South-Park-than-you way. Thanks for wasting five minutes of my day.

Posted 2009-07-09 15:30:06 EST

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luvinalma says:

i beg to differ, i live near alma and south park is not a town, its a valley west of denver and there many cows, cattle, and to their owners they are sacred, well to our way of life and pocket books. the actually south park has absolutely nothing in common with the cartoon other than being surrounded by mountains and pine trees. the way its written south park is more like a mini-boulder in the mountains. any buff fan or alum sees the similarities right off the bat. p.s. bailey and conifer, why would anyone go there, breck and dillon are closer and bigger, for shopping reasons. also don't forget fairplay which is the town typically mistaken for the fictional town of south park. fyi colorado has three parks, north park, middle park and south park. oh well nuff said, luv the denv jokes

Posted 2009-07-09 14:13:49 EST

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ERRORNEOUS says:

They wanted to case Seinfeld as a turkey, not a cat.

Posted 2009-07-08 19:03:19 EST

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Blablabla says:

"Unlike other animated shows, producers on South Park can produce an episode in a matter of days..."

Yipee...

Other animated shows produce MORE episodes per season, anyway, so . . . who gives a f**k?

Posted 2009-07-08 18:04:28 EST

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Olle says:

jerk, Jay Leno voiced both himself and Cartmans cat Kitty.

Posted 2009-07-08 16:30:29 EST

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znavy264 says:

Nvm...you missed a word...it was "they live"

Posted 2009-07-08 14:48:10 EST

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