TCOE!#98 The South Park episode with Zach

OC and Zach are back and in full swing to talk about the award winning show South Park in all its offensive glory!! Thanks for listening!!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the core of
entertainment and audio only podcast available on Apple and
available on Spotify every Monday morning and every
Wednesday morning. And today is Monday.
Picking up where we left off last Wednesday with one Zach.
He was here live in studio do some TV rankings.

(00:22):
And then that morphed into a very stimulating conversation
over dynamics, character choices, the traits that define
fine animated families, animatedjokes, and really paved the way
for a lot of various adult animation content.
And today, as I said, is Monday.And this is Part 2 of that

(00:44):
episode, little bit more streamlined and dedicated to
South Park and various colossal,massively offensive, hilarious
moments through the show, whether that's favorite
episodes, favorite moments. But you're going to hear all of
that today, Monday. And without further ado, I'd
like to welcome back Zach. What's going on, buddy?

(01:06):
Not much, not much. I'm glad you couldn't have me
for a second part and that's that's that will be fun to have
another more deep in conversation on my favorite
show, South Park. All right, that would be really
cool. So for everyone who's heard the
first, the first episode we touched on The Simpsons, we
touched on a little bit of Rick and Morty, a little bit of The

(01:29):
Cleveland Show, American Dad, South Park.
But today we're going to jump into South Park and all of its
amazing long term, interconnected long term
storytelling. And basically it's going through

(01:49):
a bit of a not so much of A hiatus, but there's obviously
some, some, what would you call it, you know, like money issues
maybe. Yes, like a little legal stuff.
Legal stuff, that's what it is. So earlier this summer,
obviously if you have your ear to the ground on this sort of

(02:09):
thing, you know, we are very fortunate here in the States
that we are the capital of entertainment.
We get all the streaming services, we get all of these
wonderful shows at the drop of ahat, 2 clicks of a button, we
get these shows. But we sometimes forget that
there's a whole other world out there that sometimes might not

(02:30):
get all this entertainment. Right, right.
And lots of the lots of the timethat causes problems with
getting new episodes out and stuff like that.
And from what I've read and whatI've looked around and talked
about with you in previous days that they struggle to, you know,

(02:53):
have agreements with each other.Now those agreements are just
legal and no one knows what the actual legal agreements.
Are, yeah, it's kind of behind closed doors, obviously.
And it knowing it's like Paramount and like HBO Max and
those big, those big boy like streaming services, it probably

(03:15):
comes down to money. They're probably they're
probably crying about not makinga few $1,000,000 more.
And it's like Trey Parker and Matt Stone are like, dude, what
the fuck? Like, we don't, we'd rather do
this because we want our audience to have a better

(03:36):
experience with the show becausethe show has a lot of personal
connection to the world, right? And like in our previous
episode, we said that, you know,what makes Southbark unique is
that they keep updated with current events.
And when something like that happens in like a the streaming

(03:59):
world where you can't agree oversome fucking money, it kind of
ruins that because the more timepasses, more stuff happens.
Can't really cover that stuff because it's in the past past.
Well, it's happened. It's already happened.
You know, they're kind of down the road on some of the stuff.
And I think they had a trailer with Diddy in it.

(04:20):
And now that it's been delayed, it's like Diddy's already in
jail and they, you know, it's basically over with.
Like the whole Diddy, you know, with all of his allegations,
that's all done with basically. And probably because the fact
that, you know, Paramon is complaining over some fucking
money, they can't really cover it as relevant as they wanted it

(04:44):
to be. Well, and what for what we do
know, and from what we do know of what we read allegedly
through most of the, you know, the tea leaves from various
outlets and sources it when two companies merge and two
companies become one or one company absorbs another, there's
obviously going to be various things that fall through the
cracks. But when it comes to the

(05:05):
creatives in a Matt Stone and Trey Parker, that's one that
people don't really understand. So before we start talking about
South Park, I just want to preface this about how important
this is to people from around the world.
I know people listen to me twicea week from around the world and
I appreciate all the listens, all the comments, all the

(05:27):
messages that I'm sent from all of you wonderful, wonderful
listeners. And one thing that is 110% for
sure that that is a bummer that you don't have international
rights to certain, you know, content here in the States
involving, you know, South Park Family Guy, Rick and Morty.
A lot of people consider that their doorway.

(05:51):
And when that's taken away due to an acquisition or a merger,
you kind of lose the piece of what allowed you to get there in
the 1st place. Because without fans, there's no
content, without support, there's really no, there's no
lifeline as far as who you're doing this all for.
And it is kind of a bummer that we take for granted here in the

(06:12):
States that HBO Max, you, you, you click it on, have your phone
or your tablet computer, smart TV, what have you.
And then you can watch anything that you want.
But we forget that somewhere outin Europe, somewhere out in
Asia, wherever you may be out inthe world, that, oh, you click
on your favorite, your favorite streaming service and you had

(06:34):
your whole list of shows. Then all of a sudden they're
just gone, gone forever, which is, which is super unfortunate,
which is very unfortunate. For a lot of people, you know,
shows are a lot of like they, they love it.
That's what they come home to and they enjoy.
And when you have some idiots overseas who's not happy about
making enough money is kind of annoying because it's like it

(06:57):
gives you your enjoyment, but someone else's UN enjoyment
because when they're already making enough money, they just
want to make more kind of pissespeople off.
I mean, that's capitalism, but you know, that's for some people
upsets them a lot. Well, let's jump right into it.
So obviously the stage has been set for this to be a dedicated

(07:20):
South Park episode. And I know that you, my friend,
had, you know, 33 amazing episodes which involve various
characters from from South Park.And if I'm not mistaken, I
believe it is Scott Tinerman Must Die, Imaginationland and

(07:41):
Medicinal medicinally medicinal fried chicken.
So those are your three. Those are your three that really
resonate and wash over you. Those are some pretty egregious
shock factor episodes for sure. What was your big take away when

(08:03):
Cartman needs to get after this kid and he ends up feeding his
parents? You know, this, that that
episode, my first take was like,I have no clue what's going to
happen. Anything could happen in South
Park 'cause you know, they're always have some uncanny thing
happening. So it kept you on your toes.
It kept you thinking, what is hegoing to do next?

(08:25):
What is Cartman going to try next?
And that's what made it really good.
But my take on like his very first, like, like steps was like
begging for it. I'm a good piggy.
That's really funny that that got a good laugh.
And then he's like, say it again.

(08:47):
I'm a good piggy. And it's kind of just like shows
how desperate he is. But he wants that $20 back,
right? Right.
And then it goes from that to him spying, hiring, was it?
Did he hire someone to go spy onScott Tenerman's house?
He did just. About everything awful and

(09:09):
terrible right up till the very end where you find out the big
reveal. Where he feeds his parents to
his. Very Sweeney Todd, very awful.
And and it's and it's, it's quote UN quote Cartman, yes, you
know. Cartman, I I had wrote an essay
on this in high school Where Really.

(09:30):
Yeah, I wrote about Cartman. Yeah, I got an 85 on that.
Oh, but it was about why he actsthat way.
Why does that? And all goes back to his mom,
right? And his mom and there's this
little, this can be a little nerdy, but you know, there's
this psychologist named Freud, like Freud, Freud and Freud.

(09:52):
And he had his like 3 cycleanic litical like ideas and one of
them had to do with being a having a father figure and want
like the missing area of the father figure is the reason why

(10:13):
he acts like that 'cause he has to fill in kind of be like that
father figure. So he kind of, he's childish, so
he doesn't know how to act. And so he acts the way he does
because he's trying to be that father figure, which is it's.
A fascinating it's. A fascinating thing.
And there's an episode where he the the dog trainer.

(10:36):
Wait, what's his name? Cesar Milan.
Cesar Milan The. Episode is well regarded as
that's what the episode is, yeah.
And he doesn't deal with that well because Cesar Milan is
acting as that father figure andhe is not having.
It's like, Hey, he's not paycheck me or like something.
And so he doesn't like that and he acts that way just because

(11:01):
you know, he's he's he's being that father figure, which seems
like really weird. Most people.
What the hell are you talking about?
But not that'd be all totally different conversation about
Sigmund Freud, and that doesn't really have to do with
entertainment. At all, no.
But the fact that you made that parallel, that you made that

(11:21):
parallel and understanding that,I think it shows that the IT it
really is a a blueprint and tells you how it tells the
audience how the show resonates with you, right?
And that's the most important part.
That's the whole point of what we do here.
And we talk about entertainment.We talk about things that we
love and how it hits US. The fascinating dynamic of 1
Eric Cartman is, is a unique 1 is a unique one for two reasons.

(11:45):
The first reason is Matt Stone and Trey Parker have gone on
record of saying that it is their love letter to Archie
Bunker, which is a character from All in the Family, early
days, very politically incorrect, very offensive, very
racist, very he's he's a bigot is what he is.

(12:07):
Now you understand that that character cannot play in today's
world. That character cannot play and
resonate with people in today's world because it just would not
work. It wouldn't be funny, it
wouldn't be entertaining. A lot of people would consider
it to be shots fired, a message,you know it.
Was like a political. Thing a political thing, a

(12:28):
bullet stance where you're just drilling, you know, that being
said, you put that character into a child, a cartoon
character. You also one it's a little bit
more tolerable, but you also have the foul mouth side of

(12:49):
youth and the mirroring of when we were all children when we
first learned what cursing was. They don't use curse words the
right way and it shows that oh, is it influenced beyond TV.
Then you have the characters of Terence and Phillip TNP, which
is obviously the short for Trey Parker, and then you bring in

(13:11):
the cultural dynamics, you bringin the geological dynamics and
the Canadians, and then you bring in the Europeans.
Then you bring in all the systemic things.
In this world and how they portray the Canadians that
they're all blocky. They don't have much like detail
to them. They're kind of like these

(13:32):
basic, you know, weird looking characters.
It just really shows like, you know what, like they where they
stand in the show. Right.
And they make fun of them, but they're also the favorite.
They're their favorite characters.
Exactly. You know.
And then you have Ike, who is Kyle's adopted brother, you
know. I didn't know he's adopted.

(13:53):
Yeah, he was. Adopted.
Yeah, he knew that. Yeah, he was adopted.
So they make a point of that on the fact that it's Kyle's little
brother right now and Ike, who is, you know, Canadian.
He's got the the flapping head and the little eyes, you know,
and how it's like displayed perfectly upon.
Oh, I get what they're doing here.
So they're making fun of it, butthey're also like celebrating it

(14:15):
in a weird way. Have you seen bigger, better,
longer, uncut? Have you seen the film and?
I don't think so. If you get a chance, we're
definitely going to have to haveyou back to talk about that one
for sure. But if you get a chance, that is
an entire it's a political satire on Canada waging war on
the US. OK, I think.

(14:37):
Because they blame Canada for Terence and Phillip.
OK. And like.
Influence their influencing their children the wrong way.
The wrong way. No, I think I may have seen
that. No, I don't think I did.
But yeah, yeah, as Cartman. Cartman is something else.
And you know who also would playinto that big idea of like

(14:59):
having the father figure is Kyle.
Kyle's like the exact opposite. And they they always are at wits
with each other. And it's kind of a cool.
Like, you know, if you think deep about it, like it's a cool
way of seeing what would Cartmanlook like if he had a supportive

(15:21):
family, right? Because Cartman's mom is a bit
of a slut, you know, she doesn'tdo much.
She does all this. And then you go to Kyle's family
and his brother, mother, father,and they're all supportive.
So it's like this is Kyle is really just Cartman, but like

(15:42):
the good version, the structuredversion.
And there's an episode kind of like that where they, it was
like a Halloween special and I think they had a rabbit that was
like ripping off heads or something like that.
And Cartman comes in and it's like, why are you so nice?
But it's just the evil version of Cartman, which sounds being

(16:05):
good and being evil is kind of like weird.
But it's like it's the on the, the opposite side.
And it's like really similar to Kyle where he's like, Oh, you're
OK, right. And it's really cool to see how,
you know, they, they, they play with that idea.
And what I like about that episode is that, you know, those

(16:27):
animals that they have, all of them are in Imagination land.
Yeah, the the forest, Forest tree friends, Yeah.
They're actually multiple episodes.
They are Christmas episode. You know the inception of that
episode. No, there was.
A great interview where they literally could not think of
anything. Where Matt Stone and Trey Parker

(16:49):
were like, we have nothing, we have nothing to do this week.
This is how are we gonna, what episode?
What are what are we gonna? Do about.
It and all they could come up with was blood orgy.
That's all they could come up with.
And then, OK, well, let's just do that.
Let's do that and see where it goes.
And then that organic creative genius processes.

(17:13):
Turned into supportive episodes.Yeah, where it moves in.
And who better to peek those characters of a bet of an
imagination then from Cartman? Yes.
And then from Cartman and going back to that favorite episode,
Imaginationland, there's so manycharacters in there that are

(17:36):
referenced from other episodes. Yes, there's the orca.
I think there's the orca from the one where they go to Ocean
World. Yep, they sell it all.
And to shoot it up into Mars, they have is.
It the moon, is it the moon thatthey?
No, it's the moon. Yeah, it's right.
They have the critters and then they have religious figures in

(18:02):
there all kinds of. And that's what makes it so good
is because it has basically almost everything they've ever
had in that show, just offendingeverything possible.
It's basically the most like, ifyou look at like the most
politically uncorrect incorrect episode ever because they're
just taking shots at literally anything, anything.

(18:26):
And they call it imagination land.
Saying all that stuff is just imaginary.
That's that's what makes it so funny because they'll have this
happen and they'll be like, oh shit, right, That's crazy.
And of and for everybody who doesn't know what episodes we're
talking about, first one was Scott Tinderman Must die.

(18:47):
You can check that episode out. The other one that we're talking
about right now is Imaginationland.
It's a three-part episode. Highly highly highly recommend
because to Zach's point here, itis a creative way of retconning,
continuing reopening doors, closing doorways on previous
episodes that South Park has. Done right, yes, they have so

(19:11):
much of that. That's what makes it a good good
show too is because you'll be watching and be like that is
funny because I've recognized that and that makes it really
funny because the critters happened 3 episodes.
You see them like oh that's fucking good.
It's it's like the slight references make it super funny.

(19:32):
Same with the like chef being incertain episodes or something
like. That well, I know, man.
Bear Pig. Yeah, man, Bear Pig was in
there. You can't get, you can't get
away from Al Gore. Al Gore is always in there and
there's like, you know, Hillary Clinton, she's in there all the

(19:53):
time. You know, the douche and the
turd. That's a good episode.
And like, like, I'm trying to think you have people from
outside the realm of South Park.We have like The Simpsons Family
Guy you have. Other shows in there references

(20:19):
in there, not any I can name at the top of my head but I know
they have done that. Yeah, well, they've had this
ability that we touched on last last Wednesday for that episode.
We touched on the relevance of it really stands on its own as
its own thing, but also knowing that we can bar this creative

(20:44):
section here and this creative section here and kind of tell
our own story. And narratively, you have, you
know, the the beginning stages of a very simple, you know,
premise. And then just this premise that
just goes really anywhere and become like a blank, a blank
canvas, you know, And when you have that canvas that you know,

(21:07):
starts small. Do you know the original, like
creation of South Park? Have you heard of the original?
Like how they came up with this idea.
So I think from what I know, quote, correct me if I'm wrong,
that actually I don't know. No, not at all.

(21:32):
So Matt Stone and Trey Parker created a little animation cut
out Gift Holiday Gift and it is where Jesus and Santa Claus
fight each other for the holidayof Christmas.

(21:54):
Holiday of Christmas. And between the two of them, you
see the soon to be iconic 4 boyswatching this fight.
You see Kenny, Kyle, Cartman andStan.
But this is no context. It's Jesus and Santa Claus

(22:15):
fighting for control. And this is early days animation
of VHS tape that essentially went viral that was passed
around. And aside from it being passed
around, it brought the notion oflike, oh wow, what what kind of
animation is this? It's kind of cheaply done, very
cut paced animation. And then once again, you start

(22:37):
with that blank canvas of, well,let's give these characters
voices, let's give these characters motives.
And before you know it, the creativity is just Sky's the
limit. And when you're talking about
something like Imaginationland, it's weird to say that that's a
good place for people to start because there's so much in it.
And if you're on the fence of like a South Park, you know,

(22:59):
episode, there's obviously everyone's favorites, whether
that's Ginger kids, whether that's cartoon wars, the the
list goes on. My personal favorite, my
personal just that paved the wayfor so many creative choices,
was the Guitar Hero. Episode.

(23:22):
That's really good. The Guitar Hero episode is it
works on so many levels of the music industry of the kids,
people getting famous for playing Guitar Hero and it's
it's almost, I've said it here first I'll say this on Mike.

(23:45):
It is almost a perfect. It is almost a perfect episode.
What would you change about thatto make it perfect?
I wouldn't change much, I think when you're dealing with such a
such a familiar concept of musicand the stuff that musicians go

(24:05):
through, the dealing with fame and fortune.
And obviously, you know, certainsubstances come into play.
And instead it's, you know, the the game heroine hero, where
it's just stand chasing the dragon, which that to me is such
a fascinating take on what? You can't make these kids rock

(24:29):
stars. Yeah.
We can't make children do this. Exactly.
How do we tell this story? And the quintessential arc is,
well, yeah. Well, the kids play Guitar Hero.
So what if they got famous? Off of Guitar Hero.
And it's and it's remarkable. And then he same thing.

(24:49):
He's in the little car. The moment that the hero or the
character has where it stops, hehas that moment of reflection
and then he it's just it's remarkable.
It's then you have Randy, a verydad figure of hey, wait a
minute, you kids want to play guitar.
I'll show you how to play a. Real guitar.

(25:10):
This is the good stuff. And then you're like, I don't I
care about this. I want to play my guitar here.
I will like fuck you me and I want to go play my guitar you.
Exactly. And that to me, I, it's, it's,
it's tough to find a better, a better episode for myself
personally, as as a father with children, I can see that

(25:34):
relatability, you know, whether it was my son playing games and
I played with them, obviously, like, I like some of the games.
And you know, I've been around for like the early days of
Nintendo and Sega. And to see it be the forefront
of Wow, this was huge, right? I mean, DJ hero, Guitar Hero,
rock band. And just to see that relevance

(25:57):
of like how can we create a story?
That's relatable. Relatable, right?
You can say the same thing with music.
I mean, when I was growing up, country music was thrown around
me all the time. All old country music, all of
that stuff. Nowadays, now that on my own,
it's like all kinds of alternative R&B, rap, even

(26:20):
classical, even though that's kind of weird to say, all kinds
of music. And when I go to say to like
people who showed me music, they're like, you would like,
what the hell? Like, really, you listen to
that? I'm like, yeah, it's because
it's mine. It's what like I like, you know,
you can say that South Park and you're saying good, good

(26:41):
episodes to start with. I was thinking of like the Soda
Sopa episodes. Those are really good one
because it doesn't offend too many people, right right.
So, but it's still funny becauseyou still have something to like
kind of target, right, because having Kenny be the fore friend

(27:03):
of being like this shitty, you know, poor family, and then you
have this whole town being builtaround it and the Whole Foods
being built. It's kind of funny because you
know you have something to laughat, and that is Kenny's family
being kind of like behind. It's.
Not offensive, but it's funny because you can see like how

(27:27):
something has, you know, insane as that as being like this poor.
I, I don't know really where I'mgoing with this, but like this
poor family just being left behind.
Most people think that's funny, even though that's kind of like,
not really good to laugh at. But it's a mirror.

(27:50):
It's a mirror that the brilliance I think where you're,
if I made I think where your head was at with that exact
thought process is that the cityand the the location is
changing. Yes.
And it's all trendiness. It's like the weird
gentrification of like it's out pricing the the poor and middle

(28:12):
class. And it's becoming a staple.
It's becoming a piece of like, look what this was.
It's like when you drive down anold road and you're like, oh,
wow, that bar is still there. That 711 is still there.
And then you go, you go away for10 years and you come back and
you're like, wow, those are some, I guess.
Wow, that's those real fancy apartments now and everything

(28:34):
has changed. And they, and I think what
they're getting off of like thatepisode is like in certain
cities that's happening, like especially like this is has
nothing to do with South Park, but like in like ski towns or
like places like Crested Butte or like Park City, UT, they're
getting the people who live there getting out priced because

(28:55):
they're building nicer and newerthings to accommodate to
visitors. And that's what makes it
relatable to people. Also easy to just get in because
it's relatable and they have something to like poke fun at.
It's the people who don't make enough money to live in this
newly revitalized town. And what makes it even better is

(29:16):
like when they get the Whole Foods, they're putting on a
whole act where that's like everyone, you know, we get the
whole world in our hands. Random ass food guy just drive
up and be like, where can we scout this Whole Foods out?
Like come, come, come. And they're like always like

(29:36):
this. And then very old, very old
timey. And then there's like the guy
who owns city block. He's like, no one's coming to my
to eat my food And it's really fun.
And he starts hiding child labour and he's like, was it
Kenny? Kenny's in there and he's like,

(29:57):
you're the best child worker ever or something like that.
And he tries to compete with this exceedingly like.
New trendy. Yeah, yeah.
And then once again, that's, that's the brilliance behind,
you know, South Park and, and what they do so well is make it
relatable, make it, you know, fun, but also being relevant to

(30:21):
like stuff that's happening. And have that ability to poke
fun at little certain things. And, you know, and obviously you
have the stuff that people aren't going to laugh at.
People aren't going to be entertained by it.
They don't like it. They find it offensive.
They find it, you know, on various degrees of like, I don't
know, that's not really for me. But if you can look past all

(30:44):
that, and if you can look past, I've always maintained this,
there's various degrees of what people will tolerate and what
people will not tolerate. Now, we talked before about how
Family Guy has one interchangeable joke after
another and they're very aware of that.

(31:05):
There's been very many episodes where Peter will set up a
cutaway. The cutaway will go on for like
2 minutes, It'll come back and he'll literally say, I totally
forgot we were talking about it was such a long cutaway.
So they make fun of that. It's it's definitely a carrot on
a stick that you're willing to follow, you know, or like a
bucket of chum in front of a shark that you're willing to

(31:27):
kind of follow. Where is this narrative going?
But the brilliance behind South Park and what they do so well,
aside from remaining relevant and pop culture, but they're
able to bring you into the fold on various topics and various
moments of, you know, history orthings that we might not really

(31:50):
consider. And when it comes through the
lens of these kids or parents orteachers or business owners, it
doesn't really, I've never really understood how that could
be deemed offensive, primarily because of the way that they go
about it and the way that they talk about it.
You mentioned the Whole Foods, yes.

(32:13):
For everybody out there listening, whether you're in the
States, overseas, Whole Foods istremendously overpriced.
It's tremendously overpriced, but every town has one and one
of the running gags in a few of these episodes when they decide
to put South Park on the map, what are we going to do?

(32:36):
We need a Whole Foods. Whole Foods.
And if that wasn't funny enough,the real selling point behind
what makes it funny is the experience.
The experience. So there's a great moment where
they ask Randy, Randy Marsh, Stan's father, would you like to

(32:58):
donate a dollar to hungry kids today?
And says no and obviously, OK, go ahead and take the change and
that there's this little cardboard cut out of what you
would consider a a poverty child, hunger, a hungry child
from another third world country.
And the change is in her mouth and her hand is covering her

(33:23):
mouth. So Randy has to pull the change
away from her mouth to get. His change?
And obviously there's nothing funny about starving children in
other countries, but the satire behind it is we're making fun of
what a big deal this is that they make it.
Oh, would you like to donate to this?
Donate to this donate to place. So true story, me and the

(33:46):
misses. We went to a Whole Foods about a
couple months after after we sawthat episode.
And when they said, would you like to round up your change, I
immediately just burst it out laughing because Oh my God, is
this, is this not even more relevant?

(34:06):
I just started and I looked right at her.
I looked right at her. And then she immediately was
just like shaking her head. And the moment the cashier said,
would you like to round up your change to feed the hungry kids,
I about lost my mind because it's so true.
And OK, it might not be funny toa lot of people, but that little

(34:27):
my nude piece of everyday societal interactions is where
South Park just has. It down has it down, yes.
Have it down. I bet that cashier was like what
the hell is he laughing about exactly?
What's so funny? Like nothing's wrong here.
Yeah, and it makes me even look more like an asshole than I

(34:49):
already am, which is why are youlaughing at rounding up your
change to feed the car? Actually, like, I'm not laughing
at the children. I'm just laughing because I'm
not going to explain it right, because I'm actively here.
I'm already a pariah. Because I laugh.
Literally the part of the episode they were targeting, it
was great. And it's like the Walmart

(35:09):
episode, you know, where this Walmart is like living and it's
kind of like, you know, Walmart's this big ass company,
everyone kind of like, it's kindof like a monopoly in a way.
That's really funny because I caught myself in that thing.
After I go to the episode, I go to a fucking Walmart, right?
And it's like this big whole thing, right?

(35:30):
Just targets everything possible.
So it makes it so good. And that's the same thing with
like the Scientology and the whole religion that this is.
They target the religions which targets even a bigger group of
people. And especially the Scientology
where it's like especially celebrities who like actively

(35:51):
support it and give money to these people.
That's what makes it good where they have like, I mean, I think
was it Tom Cruise? Yeah, they had the whole
centerpiece on Travolta, Tom Cruise and the religious aspect
being hilarious in itself and just really, you know, going
very, very hard at these organizations and then but

(36:17):
trying to make it a story that'scohesive and understanding that,
OK, well, we can't. And that episode got a lot of
heat. I watched many episodes of like
60 minutes behind the scenes kind of stuff on how, how can we
do this episode. And they had to go through like
four or five rewrites because the lawyers were like, you

(36:39):
cannot say that you cannot do this.
You cannot do that. So that's where that creativity
comes in of like, OK, well, how can we say this?
What can we do? Taking the Scientology episode
away and going to the Mormons. They wrote the Book of Mormon,
right? A stage play.
Have you seen it? Yes, I have.

(37:00):
OK, it is brutal, It is. It is brutal.
It is. Brutal.
OK. But once again, when you're
talking about the story element,it's the story that allows it to
be forgiving. Forgiving.
Let it slide past. But let's be clear, a lot of
people don't like South Park forfor those reasons, for those
reasons. But that's that has to do with a

(37:21):
lot of other like things outsidethe realm of, you know, people.
Yeah, that's a whole other conversation.
But that's that's what makes it so good is because of those
things. And we can what we've covered
Imaginationland. Scott's inner and and.

(37:43):
Then we did the the medicinal fried chicken.
Yeah, that one's pretty good. But what makes it that one good
too is like the whole Stoner thing.
Like everyone becomes a Stoner and it's like the episode where
it was Christmas. They have their Christmas
special. Everyone's like on cocaine, like

(38:04):
weed to like save Christmas. It's like how people are like
relying on these drugs to live and be happy.
Reality isn't amazing. It's not good, but they make it
so relatable and funny. Although hits at people's like
some people's personalities. It's like they're so good at

(38:25):
targeting and like celebrities with, I don't know, Jennifer
Lopez or what's with the the hand where Kurtman has the hand.
Oh, J Yeah, it's Jlo. Yeah, that.
That one's so funny. Or.
When they're trying to get paparazzi photos of Britney
Spears. Britney Spears and the dog or
she kills the dog and I guess true story.

(38:47):
I read this online. She actually cried about that.
Really there is, there is a little I think like time or
like. Yeah.
One of the big outlets, she's saying back when it was
released, like originally she's in, but when they targeted her
dog, she was super upset. Well, yeah, she was talking

(39:10):
like, leave my dog out of this. Like, what does the dog have to
do with any of this? The reason why they do it is
because the show like, you know,idiotic dumb blonde girl
celebrity who only drinks and parties and castings about
shitty music and stuff like that.
And going off that, it's like the Margaret Thatcher where

(39:33):
she's like this big robot and they have to have other and I
don't know what they used to kill the Margaret Thatcher.
Like you're what you're talking about is what makes South Park
really funny in that shock factor.
Yeah, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that certain
people hate these characters. They hate them.

(39:57):
They've been threatened litigation.
People have tried to sue them. People have gone to the ends of
the earth to get the show off the air and to go after Matt
Stone, Trey Parker. And it's not without.
Their notion that they know they're offending, they know
that they're poking fun and pushing buttons.
So what do they do? We talked about literally a kid

(40:19):
who feeds another kid his parents.
So what do you do? We know that the audience hates,
hates this character. So what are we going to do?
Why don't we create an episode in which Hartman gets all his,
you know, all the shit coming tohim that he's got?

(40:40):
Yes. And then you brings to a great
episode in Awesomeo. Yes, when he pretends to be a
robot. For.
Butters and right Nothing, nothing beats.
No ones more gullible than Butters.
Butter. We all have a Butters, whether
that's a friend that we grew up with, someone in the family.
Everyone has a friend like Butters.

(41:00):
I was the butters in my friend group, really we when we all
started watching South Park. They were like.
Saying you're a token, you're a Cartman, You're this.
Yeah. Like Zach, you're Butters.
Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Well, like, you can't because
you love the character so much because he's so sweet, he's so
innocent. And the brilliance behind, you

(41:23):
know, all the different avenues that that South Park has taken.
I personally love the oil episode, the BP episode, who is
the Coon? And they're all superheroes.
And then Cartman's being a Dick,as he always is.
They call Mrs. Cartman and. Get his way.
Yeah, to take him out of the room, which is great, but it's

(41:44):
not without its creative, you know, process of like, we hate
this character, why would we want to watch this?
Character. Why would you want to want to
even? Even someone like yourself and
me who love the show some of thebest episodes like the bread,
the breast cancer show ever where Cartman gets this shit
kicked out of him. It is.

(42:05):
It's remarkable because they make fun of him and they either
beat the shit out of him or likenothing beats when he takes the
cardboard box off his head and he starts eating.
That's. So good.
Because you want this kid just be like God I hate this.
Job Why is he here? I hate this fucking kid so much.

(42:26):
And and what even surprises thatmore is like when he gets a
girlfriend right was when it's not Heidi.
What's her name? I forget her name.
She's the flower. It's.
The more recent one, correct? Yeah, and if she was the the
iPhones were there and like he got off Twitter and it's like
kind of alluding to like get suicide.

(42:47):
Right, right, right. Yes, Oh my goodness, that is
that is another great Oh my goodness you such a good pull
the where they reference if you leave social media, it's the
equivalent of committing. Like you become irrelevant.
Exactly. And when they it's the whole

(43:08):
like setup where they lure him out.
Lure him out. Don't don't hit my electronics.
I swear, I swear, I swear. And and and that also is the
episode with where the troll isn't that the troll?
Yes, the troll episode. Right, and my favorite, even

(43:29):
though this has nothing to do around the topic, is like girls
don't have penises and he's like, do you want to see?
And he's like, holy shit, episode over, right?
Right. It's, it's the that that
creative piece behind, you know,South Park, I think is what
makes it stand so far above a lot of the other shows that are

(43:54):
out there. And it's a markup on, once
again, like societal stuff, likethe massive impacts of society.
You know, you can't really get any more creative.
They put a good twist onto it. Oh, absolutely.
Yeah. It's remarkable.
It's remarkable. Do you have a a favorite

(44:17):
character in South Park? Do you have a favorite favorite
character? Favorite favorite character?
Yeah, give me your give me your top three favorite characters.
I got mine. I got mine easily.
Let's. Do yours first because I got to
think about mine. OK so First off, favorite
character in South Park bar none.
That just always makes me laugh.He never ever disappoints it

(44:40):
just moment after moment. He just never disappoints in any
way, shape or form would be Randy.
Randy Marsh is easily the first number one.
Number two, just because he is kind of the quintessential face
of the show is Eric Cartman would be #2 just absolutely

(45:06):
hilarious. And #3 is a tough one because #3
I always flip flop between thesetwo characters.
Randy, for all the reasons that I said, just always funny.
Just it's just, it's just such aa selling point.
But I got to give #3 I got it. I think I got to go to it might

(45:31):
be Butters, It might be Butters.That's because.
That's underground. Well, and here's the reason.
Like whether it's the World of Warcraft episodes that's true,
where he's the one that's not really in the whole, he plays
Hello Kitty Island adventure, hedoesn't really know what

(45:53):
Warcraft is. Then he finally gets the game
and he plays the same character as Cartman and Cartman just
loses shit. Yeah, but I and I think the Casa
Bonita episode really sold me onButters just because he is so
gullible and and innocent, you know?
And then of course, some of the most iconic great moments are

(46:16):
when Cartman and Butters are playing off of one another where
he is a professor chaos, you know, his alter ego.
Whether the death of Eric Cartman, where everyone just
decides to ignore Cartman and Butters thinks he's being
haunted. That's good.
That's good. I would probably put those

(46:37):
three. I could go on.
Obviously I could go. On honorable mention to like PC
Principal Towley or like. If I give an honorable mention,
it probably have to be, too. If I had to give an honorable
mention, I mean Mr. Garrison's another one.
That is Mr. Garrison and Stan probably because once again they

(47:02):
gave more life to these characters as the show
continued. They gave more life to Token.
They gave more life to Kenny. You know Kenny for a long time
was like the one note Joe character that always got
killed. He always always always got
killed. 1 character that had some of the most organic growth
that was so fun and so powerful to watch evolve was Wendy.

(47:23):
Oh yeah. Wendy was a great like character
for the girl that Stan just had a crush on.
Then of course she becomes the voice of the feminine side who
sits down during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Who knows that Kim Kardashian isa Hobbit and gets so involved?
In these incredible. Feminine.
Feminine. Ideologies and that voice.

(47:47):
Right. And I, if I would get my number
one, OK, it would be Randy. Oh, Randy, Randy, I would agree
because he's he has that he's such a big part.
Even though he's not like the main four, he reinforces them so

(48:07):
much because it's like a Side Story.
He's always doing something idiotic.
My #2 that's harder. I don't think I'd put Cartman
there. I don't think I'd put Cartman.
I probably put something like Mr. Garrison.

(48:32):
I really like Mr. Garrison because he's kind of the
punching bag for the children inschool, right?
There's not much that happens inthere, but Cartman is.
They use Garrison to make Cartman more.
Elevated. Elevated like when they have

(48:57):
Kyle's cousin over and Mr. Garrison's like, I don't
remember anything he says, but Carmen's like must be $50.
And he's like, concentration is key to the then we must send him
to concentration camp. And they use Garrison as a way
to make a really good joke for Cartman, right?

(49:21):
And that's super important because that gives Cartman a
place. And if no one reacted to Carmen
needs to be kind of useless, right?
Then I'd put Carmen 3. OK.
Right, because Cartman's like that main character has all the
funny shit he says, he's all theall the egregious shit he does

(49:41):
and then an honorable mention Tali.
I put Towley there, OK, just because Towley, he makes the the
weed farm interesting because it's like messing all the shit
up and. It's a good and it's a good call
back, Yeah, it's a good call back because he's another like
side existing character, Yes, and he comes back through.

(50:04):
Yes. And the reason why the other
children don't really make it inthere is because they, I feel
like don't do as much with them really.
I mean, they do. Stuff so so the ones that you
left out, you got Kyle. Stan I mean, you could you could

(50:24):
argue they top five, but not topthree because lots of those
characters one and two first. Randy, obviously we are like we
said before, right, But the person who gives Cartman the
most use is Garrison. See I.

(50:44):
Would almost say that like Kyle gives him quite a bit of use to
whether he's picking on him for being Jewish, whether it's the
passion of the Jew or the AIDS. Episode.
Yep. The AIDS episode, Yeah.
Or the Ginger episode. Ginger kids, Yeah.
And I mean, you could actually say that you may change my mind,

(51:05):
but Kyle said. I don't.
It's hard. There's so many good characters.
There is, there is. But I think with a bit of, you
know, arguing with with Garrison, Garrison could make
the top three. I, if I could think about it in

(51:26):
towards the more recent ones. He's not present because he's as
the president. And so he's not actually there.
But they have a good episode where he's like in the woods and
he's like, he's the Fox News thing.
That's really funny. It's really funny.
But Cartman, the people who makeCartman good deserve to be up

(51:47):
higher, of course. So like people like Chef kind of
down low because even though he had a good runtime, he didn't
really like, he didn't really make Cartman more racist, more
offensive. He kind of like, was this they
try to help Chef or they would just go there for his help,

(52:10):
right? He was almost the the voice,
like the grounded, the grounded voice a little bit.
Out of it. Right.
You know, and, and just talking about it purely, I mean, you
know, there's always going to bethose people that you offend.
You can't make everybody happy. You can't please everybody.
But South Park does a pretty good job of when it comes to I

(52:34):
don't find that very funny or there's nothing funny about dot
dot dot this, that and the other.
And somehow they figure out a way to bring, like I said, pop
culture, political, religious events.
They bring all this to the forefront.
And some of the episodes are self-contained.

(52:55):
Some of the episodes, you know, bring to light appropriate, you
know, moments. And if you could, before we get
out of here, if you could sell somebody on on South Park, if
you could sell somebody on SouthPark, because bear in mind,
people are going to hear this episode, right?
But every episode is somebody's first episode.

(53:15):
And if they've listened this long, clearly they're listening
still. So if you could sell somebody
on, if they're not sold on everything that we've been
talking about for like the past,you know, 50 minutes, what would
your selling point be? It's a South Park.
Selling point. I could give them episodes to

(53:36):
watch that would like make them get into it.
But if it was a selling point, like a word or like something
that I could say, I'd probably go around like saying that's a
hard one. That's something that's
something that would take a bit to think about.

(53:58):
I'd probably be like, if I couldsay in like a sentence, and this
is a hard question, I don't knowhow I would sell it because
depends on the person. I could say like, do you like
offensive content, man? If you like offensive content,
then that would be perfect for you.

(54:21):
But if you're not so much into that, then you can't really sell
it to them. So here's what I would say.
You gave an effort there, which it is a hard question.
So for me the selling point would be we live in an ever
changing, fast-paced, excessively volatile, sometimes

(54:42):
to our detriment world. If you could slow that down and
view this show as a mirror to society, whether that's
religious satire, political satire, situational humor in a
relationship through the real world, through the eyes of a

(55:06):
small mountain town, and understanding that in this very
fictitious, very heightened fantasy, absurd world is
elements of our world and all these characters interact.
Great. Now, obviously, to your point,

(55:27):
there are going to be people that are easily offended, but
there are still episodes that you could recommend.
And barring creativity, it wouldjust either be I see what
they're doing. I know what I mean.
And you know, and it's not for everybody.
And you know, obviously people that have watched, you know, the

(55:53):
Book of Mormon or have seen basketball, you know where you
absolutely have poking fun at the relevance that they know
they're making fun of themselves.
There's an iconic joke and The Passion of the Jew where Kenny
and Stan see Passion of the Christ and they want their money

(56:16):
back because they didn't like the film.
And there's a great line when they leave the theater when he
says this is horrible, you need to hold film makers accountable.
Come on, Kenny, we're going to go get our money back.
This is just like when we got our money back for the movie
Basketball and the joke there ispeople behind Naked Gun and Matt
Stone and Trey Parker were called sell outs.

(56:37):
Sell outs to do basketball? Right, that's a good way to
think about. It but you can't.
I mean like that It's it's. Not for everyone.
It's not for everybody, but they're earnest and they know
that people don't like them. Yes, yes.
They're they're out there, but if I could give them episodes, I
could definitely give them episodes.
The very first episode, there's nothing.

(56:57):
They're really offending. It's just a big alien, you know,
stuff being shoved in Kerman's ass that's kind of just like
childish comedic. Anyone could get into that.
Number 2 would be like the talking, the talking whale, the
orca. And then the third could be like

(57:20):
something a little more, if you're a little more like less
sensitive. That's of like the the Hall of
Stereotypes, right? You have this is the sleeping
Mexican. This is, you know, they have all
these words and they have, well,you might this is a black person
with this chicken and fried chicken and watermelon and all

(57:43):
of that stuff. Those are some good episodes
because they really show what they're doing.
It's just supposed to be funny. Yeah.
Right. So those would be the three.
But like you said earlier, the real world applications with
South Park, like be you could have, you know, be like I tell

(58:04):
my friend, why do you why do youwant me to watch South Parks?
Like, well, do you watch the news a lot?
You know, has a lot of that stuff in there makes pokes fun
of current events. Now, if you watch previous like
episodes, you can have to know about, you know, what happened
during that time to make it likemake sense.
But like, I'm sure when the new episodes come out, if they do,

(58:28):
they will have all kinds of stuff about, you know, Diddy.
They'll have obviously they'll have Trump in there.
They'll have, I'm trying to think of other things, probably
Taylor Swift. They'll probably have they'll
poke fun at Taylor Swift. And that's what makes the show
unique. But yeah, they could do all that

(58:50):
stuff. And I think that's what makes it
one of the best, best ever cartoon adult animation TV show
ever because it keeps up. It keeps up with the time of
like current events that they make it funny and they have a
lot of dynamic relationships in there which help reinforce those

(59:15):
relationship the current events.Yes.
Well, and it's fun because as ofright now, the season 28 is out
right now. It is out right now, barring
we're not spoiling anything, we're not giving anything away.
But for everybody out there who hasn't seen them yet, if you're
listening overseas and if you'relistening from wherever you may

(59:38):
be, you know, hopefully those episodes will be, you know,
available to you shortly. But for everything else, I would
say that this has been a definite look back, a different
fun, you know, reminder of how creative South Park are.
As we're talking, I'm thinking of more episodes.
Oh my, there's so much to. Talk about many, there's so
many, but unfortunately we are going to we are going to get

(01:00:02):
back to the the real world away from the studio.
But Zach, I want to thank. You.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Yeah, that was really fun to talk about that we're.
Going to have to have you back once.
Once this season wraps up, we'llhave you back on that one about.
Something else? Talk about some more, South
Park. Talk about some more.
Cartoons. Yeah, what have you, All right.
All right, you good boss. I'm good.
Thank you for having me. I appreciate.

(01:00:24):
It no problem buddy. Thank you for being here.
Hey, for everybody else out there, thank you so much for
making the Court of Entertainment a part of your
day. Thanking all of you so much for
making this platform podcast a part of your day.
This is a Monday episode and hopefully it gave you something
to look forward to, maybe revisit some South Park.
If you've never checked it out before, you know, give it a

(01:00:45):
watch that I maintain the fact that there is an episode, a
storyline, a character, something in that show that is
for everybody. Yes, everybody.
Now, As for this platform, be sure to click that notification
bell, punch that subscribe button to never miss another
episode. Jump down into the comments
section below. Start a conversation going.

(01:01:06):
Is there anything that you don'tfind funny in South Park that
you were unhappy about? Stuff that's a little bit
redeeming. Maybe you tried, it didn't work
out and now you want to revisit it.
Whatever it is, whatever you think, jump down into the
comments section below and let me know.
And as far as my socials are concerned, you can check me out
at OC Entertainment 01 on Instagram and YouTube, OC

(01:01:27):
Entertainment on Twitter, and OCEntertainment One on TikTok.
Thank you so much for making this a part of your day.
Thanking all of you again from the bottom of my heart.
It wouldn't be possible without all of you lovely listeners and
I will talk to you later this week.
Peace.