South Park/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Absentee Actor: None of the main boys appear at all in "Not Without My Anus", "The Great Expectations", "A Million Little Fibers" and "Handicar". There have also been a few episodes were one or some of the boys are absent throughout.
  • Accidentally Accurate (crosses over with Hilarious in Hindsight): Remember the season three episode where a guy known as Sexual Harassment Panda comes to the school to talk to the kids about inappropriate behavior in school? Well... turns out it's real and it goes by the name P.A.N.D.A.
    • "Freemium Isn't Free" portrays Canada using a free to play mobile app Terrance and Phillip licensed game loaded with microtransactions. Ottawa really is the home of many mobile app developers who use the same marketing techniques. No Canadian Devil's involved that we know of, though.
  • Actor Allusion: Malcolm McDowell, in his role as the Lemony Narrator in "Pip", refers to himself as "Your Humble Narrator". He also refers to himself as simply "a British person".
  • Adored by the Network: You'd be hard-pressed to not find this show on Comedy Central's daily schedule.
  • All-Star Cast: The short-lived French-Canadian dub cast local celebrities in many of the voice roles.
  • Banned in China:
    • "Chinpokomon" never aired in Japan due to its cruel jokes and stereotypes about the people. The same can be said for "Rainforest Schmainforest" [1], only the country that banned it was Costa Rica.
    • Not surprisingly, the show itself got banned in China after the appropriately-titled Band in China.
  • The Cast Showoff: Trey Parker. So very much. Pick an episode and it will usually have him singing or it will have something spoken or written in Japanese (for those who don't know, Trey Parker is the lead singer of the band, DVDA, and majored in Japanese in college).
    • Isaac Hayes before he left. In almost every appearance, he's singing.
  • Creator Backlash: Parker and Stone mentioned in one of the DVD commentaries for season 3 that they considered season 2 to be "very poor," which is why there are no commentaries on the season 2 DVDs. They are also noted as not being fond of the video games made during the show's early run.
    • Also, they were not happy about the "201" censorship.
  • Creator Breakdown: "You're Getting Old" seems to suggest that Parker and Stone have or are undergoing one. The two themselves, however, have stated that fans "took the episode too seriously" and deny being unhappy with the show.
  • Dawson Casting
    • The episode "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" features a live action segment with all four boys portrayed by actors clearly in their mid-twenties.
    • All children, excluding Ike and similarly aged toddlers, are portrayed by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and other adult voice actors with their voices sped up or simply imitating child like voices.
  • Defictionalization: Cheetos once repackaged their cheese curls as Cheesy Poofs.
    • And now Cartman's rendition of Lady Gaga's Poker Face is actually in the Rock Band Music Store.
    • His rendition of "Heat of the Moment" in Kenny Dies has also taken on a life of its own.
    • And, of course, his penchant for singing "Come Sail Away" by Styx.
  • Dueling Dubs: Italy had the original heavily-censored SEFIT-CDC dub that covered the first four seasons, followed by the less-edited adaptation by ODS.
    • Latin American adaptations: Seasons 1 and 2 have three completely separate dubs. The first was an edited version by Audiomaster 3000 that aired only in Mexico on a local TV station. The second was BVI Communications' initial 1998 dub (which passed to Globecast for the last few episodes), and the current is a 2011 redub by BVI. The redubbing was reportedly done in order to keep voice cast consistent with the then-current seasons they'd adapted. The scripts for the first BVI version were also recycled for a later adaptation produced in Spain.
      • Season 7 has two alternate dubs, one by BVI for MTV and the other by Kitchen Inc. (that went unaired and is only available on the DVD release)
      • "Timmy 2000" and "Trapper Keeper" have the original Globecast/Kitchen Inc. dubs, as well as redone versions by BVI.
      • "Rainforest Schmainforest" has the original banned Globecast dub, a censored 2011 redub by Studio Center, and an alternate uncensored redub that was never aired (according to one of the actors that worked on it).
      • The film has two competing dubs that were produced around the same time in 2000. The first did not dub any of the songs and censored profanity, while the second was less censored (and dubbed the songs) but criticized for being too literal with its translation.
    • There are two dubs of the movie that exist in Hungary. The original was widely criticized for not retaining most of the show's voice cast, which lead to a redub by Filmmúzeum.
    • There is a French dub of the series, as well as a short-lived Quebecois adaptation that only covered season 1. The movie also has an obscure Quebecois dub to compete with the better-known French version.
  • Executive Meddling: "200" and "201" not only got censored by Comedy Central ("Muhammad"'s appearance and the ENTIRE ending speech by Kyle and Jesus were censored), but it was only aired once on the night it premiered (as opposed to the usual two times, the second being a reair). They probably had very good reason to, though, considering a single vaguely worded warning posted on a "smallest-fish-in-the-smallest-pond" extremist Muslim group's website when the prior episode aired. It didn't help that the week in between "200" and "201", the Times Square Car Bomb plot was foiled. Said car was parked hear the Viacom headquarters, where Comedy Central is based.
  • Fan Nickname: The "Colored Screen of Death" for Kyle's speech at the end of "201", after what videophiles call the "White Screen of Death", which seemed to be pure Nightmare Fuel for those who watched to the end of a VHS tape from Paramount.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: The Japanese dub got three different voice casts: One for the WOWOW version of the series (when the series debuted in Japan for first time), another for the Japanese branch of Fox Network, and another for the movie:
  • I Knew It!: "About Last Night", being a pastiche of heist films, sets up viewers to say this a few times.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: Keep Circulating the Tapes: "200" and "201" will never appear on TV again (uncensored or otherwise), though a recent press release confirmed that they would in fact be featured on the season DVD sets. However, much to the fans' displeasure, the version of "201" that appears on the DVD is the edited version. Also good luck with ever seeing "Super Best Friends" again on television (though "Super Best Friends" is available — with Mohammed shown and referred to by name — on the season five DVD set, which was pressed and released years before the Mohammed debacle).
  • Magnum Opus Dissonance: An interesting variant of sorts occurs with season 2's episode "Not Without My Anus." Although as mentioned above, Trey and Matt hate the entirety of seasons 1-3, that same interview has Parker stating Not Without My Anus to be the only episode they liked from the second season.
  • McLeaned: "The Return of Chef," where Chef gets quite possibly the biggest bridge dropped on any character ever, which is also an instance of Real Life Writes the Plot, since Isaac Hayes was told to stop doing the show by The Church of Scientology.
  • Mutually Fictional: This trope even occurs within a single show: South Park and Terrance and Phillip have watched each other's television shows. This gets a bit muddled as Terrance and Phillip are "real" actors in the South Park universe with a television show the South Park kids watch, but the characters (one assumes) Terrance and Phillip play have watched South Park.
    • It gets even weirder when you consider that Terrance and Phillip are referred to in-universe as cartoon characters.
      • They were originally meant to be a cartoon even cruder and more poorly animated than South Park itself. This was before the decision was made that all Canadian characters would be animated the same way as Terrance and Phillip.
  • No Budget: The first shorts and first episode was done with construction paper. Still has this look despite being animated with rather powerful software and on a smaller budget than other animated shows.
  • No Export for You: Japan has yet to receive any episodes beyond those of season 9 (which only aired in a subtitled format on their FOX satellite network). For a time, any episodes beyond that of season 7 were that case, as WOWOW's license to the show expired after 2004.
    • South Korean fans have to rely on fansubbed versions as the show, due to the Republic of Korea Broadcasting Committee banning it from Tooniverse after parents had complained of its vulgar and violent content (it's unknown how many episodes were dubbed of season 1 and left unaired).
    • The dub of the series broadcast in the Czech Republic has only ever aired seasons 1 to 6, leaving the rest of the show unadapted and those fans to be very far behind in their version.
    • Channel V's Mandarin Chinese dub broadcast in Taiwan only managed to get to season 7.
    • For some reason, countries outside of North America only got Blu-Ray sets for seasons 12 and 13, and from season 14 and on the Blu-Ray sets are region locked.
  • Official Fan-Submitted Content: For the episode "Tweek x Craig", the creators asked fans to submit Yaoi fanwork of the two characters to be featured in the episode.
  • The Other Darrin: Pretty much all the major female characters in the show went through this. Originally Mary Kay Bergman did all the women voices, but after her death in 1999 their voices was taken over by Mona Marshall and Eliza Schneider. In turn, Schneider left the show in 2003 and she was replaced by April Stewart.
    • In South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut, Mike Judge (of King of the Hill, Beavis and Butthead, Office Space, and Idiocracy fame) voiced Kenny when he's finally seen not wearing his parka. Outside of The Movie, Matt Stone voices Kenny (Stone covers his mouth with his sleeve to achieve Kenny's muffled speech). While his voice is the movie is clean, cute, and soft, his voice in in the series is nasal (more so then Craig possibly -- justified in that Matt Stone also voices Craig). It makes perfect sense why he can voice such a low, nasal voiced, super hero like Mysterion.
    • Clyde's mother was originally voiced by April Stewart, but wound up voiced by Trey Parker in "Reverse Cowgirl" due to Stewart being unavailable to re-record her lines for it after the script was rewritten.
    • Ike is another big example of recasting, although justifiable in his case due to being voiced by children. He's had at least nine (confirmed) different actors so far, and all were either children of staff members or local young talent based out of Los Angeles. There may be more children that had voiced him, as his actors haven't been credited since at least "Royal Pudding", and the show staff prefers to think of the children as a group.
    • Some of the girls that aren't Wendy and Bebe have been known to have their voice actresses rotate (due to them not being as much a priority for consistent voices). Red and Milly are two examples. In these cases, actresses such as Mona Marshall, Jessica Makinson, and Paula Holmberg (who quit after season 11) have helped fill in when Stewart was either sick or to ease up the need of her having to voice all the young girls.
  • The Other Marty: Karri Turner originally voiced all the female characters in the pilot, but Mary Kay Bergman re-recorded the roles for the aired version.
    • Damien was originally voiced by Mike Judge, but he was unable to commute back to re-record his lines when the script was changed (Judge lived in Texas, while production was handled out in California), leaving Matt Stone to dub over the dialogue and voice the new/altered lines as well.
    • "Freak Strike" had Trey Parker originally voicing Vanity (the out-of-control teenager on the Maury Povich show) in a voice similar to what he used for Ms. Choksondik. This version could be heard in early promos for the episode. By the time the episode actually aired, Jessica Makinson had been brought in to re-record the dialogue so Vanity would have an actual woman's voice.
  • Screwed by the Network: The editing done to "201" and the syndicated reruns on free-to-air TV.
  • Talking to Himself: Played straight at first and then Lampshaded pretty hard. Parker and Stone voice almost every character and even they admit they don't have much of a range.
    • In the DVD commentary, they point out one episode where they're playing two nondescript extra characters who actually switch voices in mid-scene. It probably happened more than just the once.
  • Too Soon: While the show does this all the time, only in the Halloween episode where Steve Irwin shows up to Satan's costume party does the show call itself out for this.
    • Lampshaded in the episode "Jarred Has Aides", where Cartman tries to make a joke about Kenny's recent death and is told it's too soon and that it takes 22.6 years until a tragic event becomes funny... which sets up a Brick Joke at the end of the episode.
    • In "It's a Jersey Thing" 9/11 gets its turn.

"What about the families of the victims of 9/11? Their feelings matter for another ten months, damn it!"

    • Six Days To Air: The Making of South Park aired the week of Steve Jobs' death. The episode whose production it was chronicling? "HUMANCENTiPAD". The one which cast Jobs as a Big Bad Mad Scientist.
  • Trope Namer: This animation named the following tropes:
  • The Wiki Rule: The South Park Archives
  • Write What You Know: Yes, there is an actual town called South Park in Colorado, where Trey and Matt grew up, and it was known as a place where strange occurrences, such as alien abductions, were rumored to happen.
  • Write Who You Know: Kenny is based on a childhood friend of Parker who was also poor and used a parka which muffled his speech. He would often be absent from school, and the two would joke that it was because he was dead, which is where the "They Killed Kenny" joke came from.
    • Out of all the characters loosely based on real people, Randy is the least loose, as both are geologists, that is how Trey draws his father, that is Trey doing an impression of his father's voice (especially in the earlier seasons), and Randy Parker's stepfather's surname was Marsh, meaning he grew up known as Randy Marsh.
    • Tuckerization: Since Stan=Trey and Kyle=Matt, the parents of the duo (Randy/Sharon and Sheila/Gerald) are named after the creator's as well.
  • Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Shows are written the week before they air, and the episodes are often finished frightening close to their airtime. It's the television writing equivalent of writing and turning in a college term paper. The only time this backfired was with "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers", when a power outage at South Park Studios pre-empted the episode and led to a Schedule Slip for the first time in the show's 17 years on the air.
  1. ↑ The episode where the boys are forced to join a kids' choir called "Getting Gay With Kids and Jennifer Aniston voices the choir teacher
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