Liam Hoofe with South Park’s 25 greatest episodes of all time…
When I come up with the idea of putting together a list of South Park’s greatest episodes to celebrate the end of its 20th Season (and one of its best to date) I initially only planned to write a top 10. I posted the question on various social media platforms and forums asking people what their favourite episode was, and why. I was inundated with responses and whilst several episodes reared their heads on numerous occasions, I was surprised at the amount of different episodes that were suggested, and often with very good reason.
I ended up with a short list of around 50 episodes, and sat down this week to revisit as many of those as possible. What follows is my personal 25 favourite episodes of the show from its incredible 20 year run. So many great episodes have missed out, and so I have begun this list with a rather lengthy honorable mentions list.
A fine testament to what an amazing show South Park has been, and how loved it has become in the two decades since its arrival.
Honorable Mentions
Butter’s Bottom Bitch
Die Hippie Die
Cow Days
Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride
Go God Go
You got F’d in the A
Cartmanland
Death
Broadway Bro Down
Overlogging
Ginger Kid
The Death of Eric Cartman
Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow
Margaretiville
25: Fishsticks- Season 13, Episode 5
No-one is better at poking fun at celebrities than Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and Fishsticks is a classic example of that. The main plot of the episode is that Jimmy writes a joke whilst he is with Cartman, the joke becomes a massive hit, and Cartman takes the fame for it.
Whilst all of this is going on Kanye West can not figure out the joke, and fails to understand how putting fish sticks in his mouth makes him a gay fish, despite the fact that he is a genius. The episode is South Park at its ridiculous best-the whole concept of the episode is outrageous and the ending, where Kanye swims off to live with the fishes is equally as bonkers.
24: The Black Friday Trilogy – Season 17, Episodes 7-9
By the time South Park’s 17th season rolled around fans had become accustomed to the show running trilogies, but this is one of the stand out ones. Combining the hysteria of Black Friday with the popularity of HBO’s Game of Thrones TV series The Black Friday trilogy, consisting of the episodes Black Friday, A Song of Ass and Fire, and Titties and Dragons is one of the highlights of a very inconsistent season.
Not only do the episodes feature some great social commentary and some hilarious cultural references, it was also a launching pad for the brilliant game, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and deserves to make the list for that reason alone.
The scenes where Cartman gives his take on the birth of the joke are also suitably insane and hilarious too.
23: Super Fun Time – Season 12, Episode 7
South Park doesn’t always have to have a message, and some of the show’s best episodes are the ones that are just flat out silly. Super Fun Time is the prime example of that, and the episode certainly lives up to its title.
On a school trip Cartman and Butters are partnered up and told to look after each other for the day. Cartman of course, has other plans and whilst the teachers are distracted takes Butter to the Super Fun Time arcade across the road, much to Butter’s dismay.
This provides a hilarious escapade in itself, but the show doesn’t stop there. The rest of the class has to go spend the day at a living museum inspired by 19th century pioneer villages. If that wasn’t bad enough for them, their days takes yet another turn when the museum is attacked by a gang of thieves hoping to steal the museum’s loot.
This provides us with one of South Park’s funniest episodes. The museum folk’s refusal to break character gets even funnier and more surreal as the episode goes on, and the final moments where the shift ends never fails to raise a laugh.
22: 201 – Season 14, Episode 6
The inclusion of episode 201 on the list may cause controversy with many, as the episode never got the chance to broadcast in its entirety. Ultimately though that decision was out of Parker and Stone’s hands and the pair bravely put the episode forward anyway, despite several threats from extremist groups.
The episode focused around the celebrities from 200 coming together to try and gain the powers of Muhammad to stop themselves being ridiculed by the people of South Park. The episode was a not so subtle attack on the nature of censorship, even noting the fact that the show had aired an episode featuring an image of Muhammad years earlier to no uproar.
The episode also featured some great throw backs for long time lovers of the show, the return of Mitch Connor was brilliant and the reveal that Cartman had killed his own dad and fed him to his brother added a whole new element to an episode that will be discussed later on the list.
21: Fat Butt and Pancake Head – Season 7, Episode 5
Fat Butt and Pancake Head may not have the wit, or social commentary of some of the other episodes on this list, but damn is it funny. Cartman’s hand puppet Jennifer Lopez never fails to make me cry with laughter and the ending, where we are introduced to Mitch Connor is equally as hilarious. Sometimes South Park is just out and out hilarious, and can often be at its best when it is not trying to take down any public figures or make a controversial point.
