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What A Cartoon! - South Park "A Very Crappy Christmas" (Patreon)

Published:
2020-12-21 05:00:01
Edited:
2020-12-21 07:23:18
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

We're finally goin' on down to South Park for a look at the series that put Trey Parker and Matt Stone on the map, and has remained a Comedy Central mainstay for nearly 25 years! And since the series started its life as a Christmas-related short, it's only fair that we tackle a Christmas episode of South Park that celebrates the origins of the series well before the creators knew they'd be making episodes for 20 more years.Listen in and learn about the surprisingly prolific careers of Parker and Stone before their hit series took off, how something as unusual and vulgar as South Park ever snuck onto TV, and just where the series has gone in the passing decades. Happy Holidays from all of us to all of you—even if you don't eat fiber on Christmas Eve.

[This episode originally had an error when it posted to Patreon, but everything should be fixed now. Enjoy! - Bob]

Files

Comments

Andrew Bentley

Cringe to listen to this at the end of 2025

slimesiren

oops i think the file didn't upload properly

Trey Johnson

Was really looking forward to this but it doesn’t seem to be working at the moment.

Talking Simpsons

The episode is fixed now; there must have been an error during the initial upload (over a month ago). Sorry about that! - Bob

Andrew Giachetti

Upfront I appreciate how you positioned your feelings towards the show, and hearing that you guys fell off in the early teens of the show makes sense. Those years were rough, mean, and often uninspired and a lot of us thought the show was goin to end, especially after “you’re getting old”. If I remember correctly at the time Matt and Trey really didn’t want to do it anymore and they wanted to do other projects hence why we got the book of Mormon but Comedy Central more or less drove a dump truck full of money up to their house which seems to be the way it’s been going lately: they don’t wanna do it anymore and hold out for a ridiculous amount of money possibly even thinking it’ll finally be the end and then instead they keep getting more money because of how important South Park is to Comedy Central. Even a couple seasons ago they had the cancel South Park campaign. I personally think the show has gotten a lot better in recent years with the 2016 season being the obvious fluke though it still has some funny jokes in it and the show has really restructured its characters and it’s plots which has led to some new interesting stuff. but I agree with and appreciate the take that by forcing them to do it in six days, even if they have an idea that could have been good they often don’t have enough time to think it out. I somewhat disagree about the bathroom episode though because by the end of it the show very clearly states that “use whatever bathroom you want we really don’t care, normal people are people who don’t care which bathroom you use, and they create an extra bathroom specifically for bigoted people who have a problem with it” at least that’s how I remember the ending to be. The one final point I wanted to add is while I definitely can see the perspective that South Park may have contributed to the to the type of right wing asshole we’re seeing today I would posit that South Park has contributed to a diverse range of people with diverse ideas, with no better example than You guys who were extreme fans but introspective on it and came away in a totally different direction. I’m kind of in your camp even though I still watch the show but I would argue I’m even more to the left of you guys at least economically, so the “South Park republican” failed on at least three people. So I guess the point I’m trying to make which unfortunately sounds a little bit too much like a Southpark point is that maybe if everyone was responsible enough to enjoy South Park for what it was and not let it influence their opinions, which seems to be how the creators felt based on that interview you guys mentioned, then I think we would be able to just laugh at something silly but unfortunately not everyone takes the responsibility to not get their politics from a cartoon that is very clearly satire and asking the viewer to make its own conclusions. If one of the spots opens up I really do wanna pay for the ADHD episode of South Park as someone with ADHD just give my perspective on the show as a person who was mocked but still ultimately likes that episode.

Andrew Giachetti

And mr Mackey is still very much on the show in a big way. They find so much more to do with him, including an origin episode like 6 or so seasons ago

Andrew Giachetti

Now that I've gotten all the way through a delightfully long episode, I want to say, all my fears prior to listening were unfounded. I found you guys objective, reasonable, and not once did I feel like I was made to feel bad for still enjoying the show. Thank you for this.

ShyRanger

In my first year of college, my English teacher was very much a new, younger teacher who want to try more modern ideas for English. So one project we did was watch the Wal-Mart episode of South Park and prepare for discussion the next day.. As a reminder, while they DO destroy Wal-Mart in that episode, the episode fully ends with them going to another store, over time it becomes another Wal-Mart sized company, they destroy it, and then claim they're going ot another store after. So during the discussion while everyone is talking about how the episode is finally taking down Wal-Mart, I attempted to take the stance of "no they're taking a stance of not-caring, that even if you stop one we're just gonna have another anyway so it doesn't matter." I can't remember if my stance was reflected on or not but it certainly was the minority.

KaiserBeamz

South Park was one of those shows I really only watched out of obligation. The show was inescapable in the early-00s and being a 12-year old who was a fan of The Simpsons and Futurama I figured "well I have to watch South Park because that's what al my friends are watching. I watched for a couple of years, but it was never appointment viewing like The Simpsons was and I just never made a point to keep up with. While I could say me becoming more left-wing as grew older was a factor, it was really mostly me just not finding it as funny as other shows I was watching. Still, my time watching South Park was better spent than my time watching Drawn Together. Mid-00s Comedy Central was a mistake.

SomeBloke

Just a brief comment on the background of Cannibal!, I think it's impossible to go to the University of Colorado and not become mildly fascinated with Alferd Packer. The main cafeteria is named after him and a bust of him greets you upon entry to the dining area. The net effect is he's nearly as recognizable a mascot as the campus' buffalo. Seven years of graduate school later, and he's always the first cannibal I think of when the topic comes up. And yes, the campus tour guides will invariably ask groups if they've heard of Cannibal!, they invariably haven't, but they have heard of South Park and so Matt and Trey's names always get a mention.

Camille Walters

Definitely think some of their political positions aren't defendable in modern times but South Park was a big part of my childhood. Still a really funny show to go back and rewatch! Excited to hear what you fellas have to say about this episode! Was always a fave of mine!

Eve of the Stars

As somebody who went from being a huge fan of South Park to being a big hater of it, this was a pretty cathartic podcast mixed with some fond, but buried nostalgia. Remembering how in one of the last seasons I watched, they did their Inception parody episode. Except they hadn't seen the movie Inception, and ripped off a CollegeHumor parody of the movie word for word in the episode. They got called out for it and ended up apologizing to the people that made that video. What an absolute embarrassment.

Seán Enda 'Vivien' Donnelly

great episode guys - the prom king revelation had me laughing out loud. growing up as a there was a definite 'graduation' from The Simpsons to South Park, especially since the latter's reputation as an willfully offensive show inappropriate for kids only made them wanna watch it more. now that i'm in my mid-twenties I view The Simpsons as the more worldly and mature show by far (John Swartzwelder's brand of high-concept liberterianism is more entertaining than Trey Parker's, even if I disagree with it!) But you guys did a great job dissecting the show's virtues and failings. it was very a cathartic - and entertaining - listen. Roll on The End of Evangelion...

Aaron Hamel

10 years ago I used to work for Troma and I can confirm that they still sell quite a few copies of Cannibal! The Musical on DVD. Unfortunately, it'll never reach Blu-Ray or any high-def format because Matt & Trey transferred all of the film they shot to video for editing, so in order to create a high-def master they would have to re-edit the entire thing. I believe the footage is still under Cannibal produce Jason McHugh's bad (or something like that), so never say never, I guess. Another Matt & Trey anecdote from the time, and I have no idea if this is 100% true, but I heard from an employee who was around at the time Cannibal was picked up for distribution that Matt & Trey pitched Troma on South Park, but Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz wanted them to set it in Tromaville. Matt & Trey refused, so it never happened.

Patrick Risolo

As a matter of fact there is an episode of South Park where Cartman finally acknowledges that he is fat! In the Season 16 episode called "Raising the Bar," Kyle insults Cartman about his weight for the umpteenth time which causes Cartman to finally accept that he is obese but rather than lose the weight he gets a mobility scooter instead. Cartman abuses the privilege that the scooter brings him which drives Kyle crazy especially when it starts interfering with his life. The way Cartman acts in the first part of the episode has him making the distinction to Kyle that he isn't white trash like Honey Boo Boo. After watching Honey Boo Boo for the first time (and seeing how both Cartman and Token act trying to cash in on the craze) Kyle believes that no one feels shame over their actions anymore and that the bar has been lowered on society. This culminates in a no holds barred spaghetti wrestling match on the White House lawn in front of Michelle Obama between Cartman and Honey Boo Boo. While this is going on, in an effort to try and bring everything back to normal, James Cameron embarks on an ocean voyage to find the bar and raise it whether "the bar" itself is a metaphor or not.

Tyler The Destroyer

I don’t fucking remember this episode! I’m amazed by this and now really excited lol

Nick Grayson

I’m officially defending the Pip Great Expectations episode because it has Malcolm McDowel delivering one of my favorite jokes: “And they all lived happily ever after except for Pocket who died of Hepatitis B.”

brian bonelli

It's a shame that "Twas the Night Before Christmas" didn't get the airplay of Rudolph and Frosty, since it really is one of the better ones in the Rankin/Bass canon. Good animation, great songs, and it features frequent Gilbert Gottfried reference John MacGiver! What more could you ask for? Speaking of, do you have plans to ever cover a Rankin/Bass holiday production one of these years? There's so much history there! And sure, there are a lot of stinkers, but even (most of) the bad ones are at least interesting and completely fucking weird.

Christmas Ape

What's most surprising to me looking back is not that I became a huge fan of South Park while I was still in grade school, but that my parents also liked it and seemingly watched it just as much as I did. I remember the whole family getting together to watch the movie on video, and how even my parents were taken aback by the “Uncle Fucka” song. I ended up bailing on the show after season 8, but like you guys I can't deny just how big it was in my life for many years. I also remember watching this episode when it was new, and having seen 'Twas The Night Before Christmas several times (I think my family had it taped off of TV), I could immediately appreciate all the references. That it would reference something so specific and slightly obscure (which they also did earlier in the season with an elaborate Akira parody) was one of those things that I think set South Park apart from other TV comedies at the time.

Alex Irish

Firstly, I'll say how the show's animation often doesn't get enough credit. People will say South Park has 'crappy' animation, but I defend it as a style that Trey and Matt are going for, and the animation team executes on it well and does everything in its power to take advantage of its limitations. If you look at the earlier seasons, they look really crude by today's standards. Nowadays, look at all the camera angles, the use of lighting, the specificity of the expressions and newer character designs. It's way more impressive by its own standards than Family Guy and more interesting to look at visually than a lot of other adult cartoons. When it came out, it looking like no other toon on TV was a huge draw for me and it still visually holds strong in mimicking paper cutouts. Secondly, I dropped off the show on the regular later than both Bob and Henry. The last thing the show really did that I loved was the Black Friday trilogy, their sendup to Game of Thrones, holiday shopping, AND the console gaming wars. I was less interested when the show started doing serialized, season-long storylines. A comedy like South Park fits better with stories that get back to square one at the end, with light bouts of continuity, much like The Simpsons. The Trump election cycle storyline also turned me off a bit for being a victim of timing and reminding us how the show raised a generation of Cartmans who took the show's morals at face value rather than as jokes. Also don't like PC Principal as being too bro-dude and being out of place in the show, if it makes sense. Also have to wonder when Stan and his family will finally move back to the town from Randy's hemp farm. Thirdly, I've historically enjoyed the show over the decades, in spite of whenever they give the worst possible take (Manbearpig, Douche and Turd Sandwich, any transphobic take). I can look at the older episodes that made not-great takes as a product of the moors of the time and always viewed the show as making jokes at the characters' expense, and to not do what they do. Cartman, for instance, is an asshole Archie Bunker-type and he gets his ass handed to him almost all the time. And whenever he succeeds, the characters know he still sucks. I guess this podcast made us realize the South Park effect on our culture is more complex and layered than I'd have imagined back in the naughts when I was often popping in my DVD sets. I was 9 when the show premiered and obsessed over it because my mom hated it, as many parents did. I'd have to do whatever it took to get my hands on anything of the show until around 2003 when I could start safely purchase DVDs and such without being carded at check out or whatever. If WAC ever does the movie in the future, I'll get to talk about how I was dying internally for years to see the whole thing, more than life, anything...

beapeabear

I was a big fan for many years. My first time I found myself going “oh wait these guys really DONT know what they’re talking about” wasn’t regrettably till the 13th season where they tried to defend the f-word used for gay people, saying it should be used for obnoxious guys on motorcycles(???). It was then I started reflecting on myself and the series and seeing myself drift farther away from it. Anyway it’s interesting to hear other people have complicated feelings about the series as well.

Dayken

Fun fact about The Spirit of Christmas: roughly 100k copies of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 99 for the PS1 were recalled due to someone at EA sneaking it onto the disc as a video file easily accessed when running it in a PC.

Thad Komorowski

I'll comment on the actual episode maybe in a later comment but wanted to offer these thoughts first: I was originally a major fan for all the right reasons - we were the same age as the characters when it premiered, in third grade. I was literally on the floor laughing and screaming at the original Mr. Hankey as my parents were forcing me upstairs. I don't agree at all about the early seasons - I still think they hold up as hysterical, flaws and all. The Rainforest episode is getting misrepresented here: it was presented as so over-the-top ridiculous that no one could take its "Stop the Rainforest" seriously. They weren't speaking in favor of deforestation at all. That's why I can't swallow the "South Park raised a generation of Cartmans" narrative. As much as I vehemently despise South Park Republicanism and the weekly lazy ass takes (also making Mickey Mouse a regular really should get them sued; it isn't parody, it's literally using the fucking trademarked character), it's dangerously close to the "imitative behavior" b.s. that gave us a generation of hacked up classic Warner cartoons and shitty new ones. No, maybe the government can take responsibility for a generation of young people that became apathetic to voting and indifferent to the dictatorship that happened under puppetmaster Dick Cheney, and the "sameoldism" that the Obama years endured. And the viewers can take some responsibility, too. It isn't on a comedy show creator's content to be "responsible" for informing the audience's views. That's on the audience for not consuming anything other than a foul-mouthed cartoon show and not exposing themselves to REAL thinkers and writers. I still think Parker and Stone are funny guys, and they know how to do a wicked parody and sometimes do have spot on observations of human behavior (the Facebook episode was ahead of its time and still rings true almost a decade later). They just don't know satire. They've also made a show that just isn't funny any more, and has been in a stasis of godawful content just as badly and for almost as long as the Simpsons has. That's their real crime. But for all their misdeeds, the movie is still an immortal masterpiece, and "Butters' Very Own Episode" is one of the best half-hours of TV ever made.

FootFungus

I chuckled at them not liking Greg Miller, is there a backstory here?

Tyler M.

I was introduced to South Park in quite a weird way. I saw the Spirit of Christmas show during a Primus concert before the show aired and had no clue what I was seeing. It immediately floored my 10 year old brain, but couldn’t access the show for many years as our local cable company did not have Comedy Central until I was a senior in high school. Short of some over priced season 1 VHS collections I got from Suncoast, I largely missed that immediate wave of popularity. Thanks Adelphia Cable.

SlothIsLegend

I’M THE POOOOOO OF THE ANTELOPE...

Andrew Giachetti

thinking about how much of a japanofile, weeb, or what have you Trey Parker is in addition to being a gamer, I wonder if he's played any of the yakuza games, and it makes me also wonder if we would have a like a dragon south park episode if the season had happened this year. We would have almost surely gotten something ripping cyberpunk to pieces (or possibly, defending it, but i think they wouldnt miss a chance to stomp on something already being stomped on en masse).

Manic Rainbow

I was born in 95 but I was watching South Park secretly at way too young of an age. I loved the show and thought those guys couldn’t be wrong about anything. Over a long period of time I realized that the show was doing more harm than good. It normalized the use of homophobic and racial slurs being used in elementary and middle school by people all around me. Matt and Trey are such talented dudes, and I wish they would think more about the content they put out. Also just wanted to say that the podcast has been getting me through some seriously tough times. Currently I’m on unpaid leave from a crooked grocery store chain with no hazard pay. Thank you guys for keeping my spirits up, it’s good to have virtual nerd friends while I’m alone on Christmas.

Kiefer Fulsom

Hey guys, so to answer a question, Mr Mackey is still in the current seasons of South Park usually as an authority figure at the school that isn't PC principal or Vice-Principal Strong Woman, this show has me looking at it through a 2020 lense, I still watch it as well as the recent episodes and while there are some episodes I detest and loathe like the recent Dead kids and how Sharon was gaslit with everyone's attitude of "hey, school shootings are a normal, no big deal", & Mexican Joker is one I'd rather stay away from for reasons. That being said I do like the show as a whole and I think the jokes can be clever, I never got comedy central growing up in small town midwest and it wasn't until I was in middle school and saw it on late night weekends on TBS or WGN I think? It was definitely a non Comedy Central channel, and I got full season DVD's of the first few seasons. I also picked up quickly that it was satire and wasn't meant to be taken seriously (I think). Regarding the first episode Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, being the only one done by hand before the switch to computers there was a scene that was cut and later reused in An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig where the boys make fun of Pip. (I remember noticing this on the DVD's, they reanimated it for the HD switch.) Also the pilot episode is still the only one on HBOMax still in it's hand crafted gloty. And speaking of I remember (the first time) that south Park made the jump from South Park Studios (remember that?) To Hulu and recall seeing the early episodes in Widescreen HD format but after some research it was actually earlier than that, it was around 2008-2009. Here's the post from Reddit From a 2009 interview with South Park Studios' Tech Supervisor, J.J. Franzen: "Although Comedy Central won't be HD until January 2009, "South Park" episodes are already being produced in HD. An even bigger task is going back to re-render the first 174 episodes!" "We've always been digital pack rats, so we still have all the Maya (and before season 5, Alias PowerAnimator) scene files we used to create the show," says J.J. "Since HD has become a real possibility, we've started re-rendering all those old episodes at full 1080p, which also means re-framing all the shots from standard 4:3 to full 16:9." "It's very labor intensive, but it also means that we'll be the only animated show from the pre-HD world that will have its entire catalog of episodes in full native 1080p. It's pretty sweet." https://library.creativecow.net/wilson_tim/magazine_south_park/1

Shaxbert

My earliest South Park memories are of the promo spots that'd run on "Coming soon to Comedy Central" commercials with Penn Jillette's boisterous voiceover announcing the title. I could never make out what Penn was shouting, so for a week or so I though the show was called "Soft Bart"

Joe Hodgson

The Rankin/Bass "Twas the Night Before Christmas" was a bit more widespread than you may remember. It was an annual broadcast on a major network for most of the 80s and into the early 90s. I know for a time when CBS had the rights they would block it with the other traditionally animated RB special "Frosty the Snowman." It apparently stopped being useful once the 90s special "Frosty Returns" was commissioned as that is the one that is always paired with the original now, even though it's actually not a Christmas special. It's always made sense to me as a source of parody with South Park because it's very musical in nature and it's basically anime, two things that appeal to Trey Parker. There's not much that can be said about South Park that you didn't already cover. It's immature comedy made by privileged white boys. Parker and Stone find fault in basically everything and make fun of it while wondering why people need to take stuff like global warming seriously, or poverty, or any hardship that has no impact on their existence. It eventually became as insufferable as the targets of the show. I can still enjoy a South Park episode that's more kid-focused where it's the boys misunderstanding something that's a part of culture (the Lord of the Rings episode is still my favorite) as the topical stuff is just exhausting at this point. They just cut and paste the same plots, toss in a few bits of shock humor, and conclude that everyone is dumb on both sides. It has long since stopped being entertaining to see the show address something that happened a week ago for the sheer novelty of it. The show has shown little ability to turn things around, and even though it's not even half as bloated as The Simpsons, it's a show that I'd rather see just end.

Sabrina

I’m in the Henry boat— I just can’t take the poop references. Just hearing Mr. Hankey talk and knowing he is a piece of poop turns my stomach. However, the history segment was really well done and interesting!

Tricia

I remember a lot of fifth graders wearing Cartman t-shirts in my day but I actually waited until I was older to watch it (through marathon form) many episodes made me laugh, just as many made me roll my eyes, you guys are right that the better episodes have the kids and avoid huge statements which makes the movie hold up better, that and it’s definitely a labor of love and I can’t wait for the WACM on it!

Cody C.

South Park fucked up me getting in touch with my queer/non-binary self and is probably why I am not out.

Nathaniel Lockhart

Just wanted to write and affirm for you all that, yes, when I was a shitty little white libertarian/Republican-lite in (a Christian) college, South Park was incredibly validating for me and my like-minded friends. We constantly referenced vegetarianism as something that would make you break out in vaginas, brought up Manbearpig whenever the issue of global warming was raised, and the Kyle-becomes-black episode 100% fueled our transphobia. I'm sure there's plenty of humor that holds up throughout the series, but I just can't bring myself to look at it anymore. It reminds me too much of a past self I'm deeply ashamed of.

Matt

I can enjoy a show even if I don’t always agree with the creators’ politics. Same with this podcast. In the case of Trey and Matt, I agree with them about 50% of the time.

nalem

Damn, my experience is very similar to this one. SUCH A SHAME Trey doesn't have a better head on his shoulders, cuz man, he is an amazing artist.