Almost from the beginning of their run, South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone seemed to have been poking fun of Canada in one form or another. They had Canadians Terrence and Phillip who were popular with the South Park children for their constant flatulence. This led to one of their most controversial episodes “Terrence and Phillip in Not Without My Anus” which ran as an April Fool’s Joke on April 1, 1998. It was a perfect example of trolling before it was even a thing.
Parker and Stone said they received a lot of criticism for that, some of it with nice colorful language. In the only feature film South Park movie Bigger, Longer and Uncut, America goes to war with Canada over concerns the Terrence and Phillip movie Asses of Fire is too vulgar. Obviously, Parker was mostly upset over the fact his porn comedy Orgazmo was slapped with an NC-17 rating. Even though the 1997 movie contains porn actresses Juli Ashton, Chasey Lain and Jill Kelly along with Ron Jeremy, there is very little sexual content. A running gag is every time a woman gets naked, some guy’s hairy ass blocks it.
Orgazmo, an independent movie released by the since defunct October Films, came out during a time in which more mainstream movies like Basic Instinct, Color of Night and Boogie Nights were getting R ratings for racier footage and graphic violence and gore. Parker and Stone were upset at the Motion Picture Association of America and it’s biased ratings board claiming that it caters more to the big studios, even though New Line Cinema which released Boogie Nights was considered an independent movie studio at the time.
And since then, jabs have been taken at Canada as well as other countries and people. One of the most popular earlier episodes “Ike’s Wee-Wee” in which the boys try to spare Kyle Broflovski’s younger brother, Ike, from getting a circumcision because they think his “pee-pee” will be cut off. But Kyle discovers that Ike is adopted and was born in Canada which explains why his head is shaved more oval with the top half moving around when he talks. Canadians are often shown with beady black eyes and top halves of their heads moving up and down while they talk.
The 1999 movie is a perfect movie to watch along with the current situation between Trump and the Great White North. The musical numbers Parker wrote with Marc Shaiman rival some of the greats from the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s. The hilarious “Blame Canada” song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. At the 2000 ceremony, Robin Williams performed the movie which concluded with him high-kicking with Rockette-style women dressed as Canadian Mounties. Parker and Stone, who wore dresses that Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow had won to previous award ceremonies, later admitted they had been tripping on LSD during the whole night.
In 2008, they released “Canada on Strike” in the early spring. While at first, it seemed a swipe at the Writers Guild of America which had gone on strike over internet residuals and other issues, it turns into a parody of current viral memes of the era. The boys get Butters to do his own version of Samwell’s “What What (In The Butt)” in hopes of making Internet money. They’re upset Terrence and Phillip are on strike and they’re having to constantly rewatch old shows. And Eric Cartman refuses to allow them to watch Family Guy, which he is a very vocal angry critic and even tried to get it removed.
Stephen Abootman, the President of the World Canadian Bureau or WGA as he calls it, encourages all Canadians to go on strike for “more money.” And when Kyle calls in hoping they will stop the strike, this is when they hope to put Butters’ video online. However, more views on YouTube or eBaum’s World don’t exactly amount to any money as they soon learn as they visit the Colorado Department of Internet Money where other internet celebrities as Tron Guy (Jay Maynard), Afro Ninja (Mark Hicks) and Tay Zonday who recorded the song “Chocolate Rain.”
While pop culture references have become more synonymous with the current spate of comedy both in movies and on TV shows, it was still pretty unheard of to have references to things on the Internet in the 2000s. The problem was as Judd Apatow expressed in an interview, the brass at NBC didn’t want to use the Internet when he tried to make a website for Freaks & Geeks. Most people in the latter 1990s and even early 2000s were still calling it a fad that wouldn’t last. TV shows like Friends have been noted for hardly referencing the Internet even though the characters would be the prime age to use it a lot at the time.
My first newspaper job out of college, the publisher used the Internet as a way of teasing stories. The problem was people were expecting to read the entire story online and we got a few angry calls at the beginning. YouTube, itself, was only about three years old by the time the episode aired.
So, making references to things on the Internet was something bold that South Park, Family Guy and even The Simpsons were doing. The latter show had done a hilarious parody of the video Noah Kalina did of him taking a picture of himself every day for about six years. The episode ends with all the internet celebrities which include Chris Crocker, aka “Leave Britney Alone!”, and the Sneezing Panda’s mother along with Star Wars Kid Ghyslain Raza and the Dramatic Prairie Dog getting into a battle royale over who is the most famous.
I’m sure some network executives at Comedy Central were worried viewers wouldn’t understand the references. But it actually proved to help increase the popularity of the viral celebrities, even though Samwell along with the video creators Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo unsuccessfully sued for copyright infringement. The case was dismissed as the judge ruled the parody was under the fair use law.
I hardly watch South Park anymore because I feel Parker and Stone just aren’t into it as much as they used to. I liked it better when Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and Butters were more child-like rather than behaving like adults in child’s bodies. I also feel that it’s turned into The Randy Marsh Show and serializing the episodes more in the mid-2010s was a huge misstep. You think they would’ve learned their lesson with the mediocre meteor shower arc from the earlier seasons.
Yet, I’d argue the 2000s was their best time as Parker and Stone were able to take the show to greater heights once the novelty of the show wore out. Just like The Simpsons they were were able to make the show more clever once they got pass the novelty of the kids swearing and doing vulgar things. Parker and Stone have always acted like they didn’t care for the Hollywood elites and neither liberals or conservatives. However, it seems since the creation of PC Principal and having Mr. Garrison turn into Donald Trump, it seems they went full “Get Off My Lawn!”
The political satire during the 2000s especially with this era managed to provide the best sting along with the most memorable comedy bits.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 