Random Waves of Insight

When "South Park" first came out, I didn't pay very much attention. At one point, just when I was starting to discover how entertaining it was, I saw a live action clip on TV with the "South Park" creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I think they were in a jacuzzi sipping champagne, and I remember one said that basically they had sold out as soon as possible. I was blown away by their appearance and attitude, and at the time wasn't familiar with their, "I'm going to make fun of this idiocy by portraying it myself" style. I took them at face value and assumed they were being serious. So a few years went by and I didn't really care for "South Park" all that much. Eventually I saw "BASEketball," a live action movie by Trey and Matt, and I thought it was pretty funny, but gross in some parts. Later, "Team America: World Police" came out, and that was a huge hit. I enjoyed it, and found it highly relevant.

Then on October 4, 2006, South Park came out with a new episode, "Make Love, Not Warcraft," and I was floored. I thought it was phenomenal. It was at that point that I became a major fan. Since then, I don't think many of the episodes have lived up to "Warcraft," but they've still been pretty great.

This is why recently I got an old South Park DVD. It's "South Park: Volume Two," featuring the episodes, "An Elephant Makes Love To A Pig," "Death," "Pinkeye," and "Damien." I had seen two of those episodes before on TV, and I liked the overall Halloween feel. I didn't expect the bonuses of live-action commentary by Trey and Matt that preceded each episode. In the context of all their previous work, these old clips are pretty funny. But when they first came out, if I had seen them then, I probably wouldn't have understood them at all. They basically answer some questions about the show (like how the "Elephant" episode was originally meant to contain profanity in the title) while spoofing fireside chats and "Mickey Mouse Club"-esque shows. They even had a Native American dressed in old garb, and his only line was, "Someone's coming," which he said more than once. That was his thing. I get that they're spoofing having a stereotypical "Indian" just for the effect. It was neat seeing these guys earlier in their careers. I also like the story (not on this DVD, but out there in the ether, probably on Wikipedia) of how Comedy Central wasn't too sure about the show, until the ratings exploded.

After the 4 episodes on the DVD, there is also a section of advertising that is pure Comedy Central propaganda. But it's really old! I thought it was funny, because pretty much all the shows they mentioned are canceled now, except for "South Park" and "The Daily Show." We all know "The Daily Show" as being "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." But in the ad, they didn't mention his name even once! They showed some of the cast doing interviews and funny stuff, and there was even a flash of Stephen Colbert. Then, at the end, they had a very, very blurry picture of some guy sitting at the main desk of the show, and I thought, "That has to be Jon!" I guess he must have been new at the time, or Comedy Central didn't realize how appealing he would become.

Then, I think it was at the very end, after maybe 10 minutes of Comedy Central commercials (on a DVD! At least I wasn't forced to watch them...) they had some stuff about how Comedy Central is the only place to see South Park. It was funny; it seemed almost threatening, like the kind of commercial Bill Murray would have liked as his TV executive character in "Scrooged." It was like Comedy Central wanted all "South Park" fans to be terrified of missing the show to the point where they'd never forget to keep Comedy Central in mind.

Just as a side note, I noticed one comedian (he does those Mountain Dew commercials, the younger guy who's clean-shaven, and he's also on I love the '80's) playing a foreign character literally judging "fake" dog crap. I also saw Amy Poehler on the "Upright Citizen's Brigade!" She moved on to SNL. It's funny to see all this old stuff with such clarity, in the context of -- the future!

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