The Liberal Agenda – 25 years of South Park – Top 10 episodes

‘South Park’ enjoys a silver anniversary of satire

Reaching the age of 25 is usually a sign of hitting adulthood, a signal to put away all childish things. Not for “South Park” and stars Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman.

The Comedy Central staple about four bratty, perpetually bundled-up youngsters in an unhinged Colorado cartoon town celebrated its silver anniversary by trundling along, fueled by poo jokes and razor-sharp social satire.

Just some of its targets over the years include religions like Christianity, Islam and Scientology as well as climate change deniers, cryptocurrencies, Phil Collins, Tiger Woods, smoking bans, “Game of Thrones” and pedophiles. One of its child stars used to die in every episode, violently.

25 years of the best satire on TV, what an achievement!

South Park started at around the same time as Channel Z did in New Zealand, and I remember the frenetic energy of the South Park movie on release.

It felt like The Life of Brian for Gen Xers.

The crassness, the grossness, the unacceptable and the raucous all crushed into one absurd reflection of American culture had such an impact on what was acceptable in comedy and how far the envelope could be pushed.

The glory of South Park is that everyone – Republicans, Democrats, Christians, Muslims, the Japanese, Feminism, the Left, the Right, Men, white culture, black culture – everyone was a  target.

They are equal opportunity satirists.

It’s difficult to rank the best South Park episodes – but here are mine

10: Britney’s New Look – Highlighted the grotesque hounding of Britney well before it was a popular hashtag.

9: Imaginationland – Such a clever and inspired 3 part episode where the terrorists take over imaginationland, complete with Jesus, Aslan and Luke Skywalker against Islamists.

8: Mysterion Rises – Where Cartman as the ‘Coon’ befriends Cthulhu and starts a war against humanity. It’s as stupidly funny and offensive as it sounds.

7: Tegridy Farms – The one where they start growing and selling their own cannabis. The advert makes me want to start selling pot for the sake of ‘tegridy.

6: ManBearPig – South Park roasted the liberal left and Al Gore with this hilarious beat up of climate change. As someone who believes the climate crisis is an existential threat, having my believes mocked so outrageously was deeply angering, but I couldn’t stop laughing because it was so funny.

5: Nobody Got Cereal? – Despite shitting all over climate change in 2006, they’ve been around long enough to see it eventuate and in this return of ManBear Pig, South Park accept that the climate crisis is real.

4: The City Part of Town – The gentrification of SoDoSoPa series is such vicious satire it bleeds. The adverts and the voice over while people in poverty pop up in the back ground is like lemon juice on cuts that make you laugh.

3: Safe Space – Cartman gets Butters to filter all the negative comments on his social media, and it is as funny and absurdly relevant as it sounds. Randy Marsh pulling money out of the face of hungry children at whole foods has me fall off my coach laughing every single time.

2: Respect My Authoritah – Cartman as a violent cop. It’s so true and real.

1: The Hobbit – This is their perfect episode. The entire thing from Kayne’s constant questioning off whether Kim is a hobbit to the tear jerking pain of Wendy’s photoshop is South Park at their most glorious! Asking Wendy if she is ‘jelly’ is so wrong but you can’t stop laughing at the awfulness of it.

The impact of South Park on popular culture is immeasurable and the satire has been incredibly sharp for quarter of a century.

The current woke war on comedy reminds us how important it is to allow space for comedy that is gloriously offensive.

Let me leave you with this performance from last weeks 25th celebration!

“Kyle’s Mom’s a Bitch” performed live in B flat minor at South Park the 25th Anniversary Concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on August 10, 2022. Watch the concert for free at https://t.co/sAMxv3I4Pu or on Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/6zW6kPrdVm

— South Park (@SouthPark) August 17, 2022

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