Satan

Creation and inception

Following the success of the 1995 short Jesus vs. Santa, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone conceived a plan to create a television series based on the short, with four children characters as the main stars. The series was originally set up at 20th Century Fox Television for its primetime premiere on FOX, which previously commissioned Parker and Stone to develop the short. However, FOX was not pleased with the show's inclusion of Mr. Hankey, a talking poo character, and felt it wouldn't bode well with viewers. The network's executives also said that placing kids as the stars could not be as funny and popular as it would with the grown-ups and families, like The Simpsons and King of the Hill.

As a result, Parker and Stone broke off relations with FOX and took the series somewhere else. They pitched the series to MTV and Comedy Central, and decided it was best suited for the latter, fearing the former could turn it to a more kid-friendly show later on. Comedy Central agreed to pick up the series, and the premiere episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", debuted on the network on August 13, 1997, while Mr. Hankey would debut in the tenth episode, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo".

In tradition with the show's cutout animation style, the characters are composed of simple geometrical shapes and uninflected patches of predominantly primary colors. They are not offered the same free range of motion associated with hand-drawn characters, as they are mostly shown from only one angle, and their movements are animated in an intentionally jerky fashion. Ever since the show's second episode, "Weight Gain 4000", all the characters on the show have been animated with computer software, though they are portrayed to give the impression that the show still utilizes the original technique of cutout animation.

Cast

Stone and Parker voice most of the male South Park characters. Mary Kay Bergman voiced the majority of the female characters until her death in 1999, near the end of the third season. Eliza Schneider and Mona Marshall succeeded Bergman in 1999 and 2000 respectively, with Schneider leaving the show in 2003, after the seventh season. She was replaced by April Stewart, who, along with Marshall, continues to voice most of the female characters. Bergman was originally listed in the credits under the alias Shannen Cassidy to protect her reputation as the voice of several Disney characters. Stewart was originally credited under the name Gracie Lazar, while Schneider was sometimes credited under her rock opera performance pseudonym Blue Girl.

Some South Park staff members voice other recurring characters; supervising producer Jennifer Howell voices student Bebe Stevens, writing consultant Vernon Chatman voices an anthropomorphic towel named Towelie, and production supervisor John Hansen voices Mr. Slave, the former gay lover of Mr. Garrison. South Park producer and storyboard artist Adrien Beard, who voices Tolkien Black, the only African-American child in South Park, was recruited to voice the character "because he was the only black guy [in the] building" when Parker needed to quickly find someone to voice the character during the production of the season four (2000) episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000".

Main characters

The Boys

The Boys, also known as The Broship, are a group consisting of the four main characters of the show: Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick, with their unofficial member and de facto fifth member being Butters Stotch. Earlier episodes usually opened with an establishing shot of the boys standing at the Bus Stop. They were also referred to as "Children" by Chef.

Voiced by Trey Parker

Stanley "Stan" Marsh is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. He first appeared in The Spirit of Christmas and is portrayed (in words of the show's official website) as "a normal, average, American, mixed-up kid." Stan is a third- then fourth-grade student who commonly has extraordinary experiences not typical of conventional small-town life in his hometown of South Park. Stan is also commonly portrayed as the main protagonist of the series. He acts as the de facto leader of his friend group, often encouraging them in difficult times and taking charge in social causes. Much like his best friend Kyle, Stan often learns a valuable lesson by the end of episodes. Stan has black hair, light skin, blue eyes (animation error to be brown in the anime style in "Good Times with Weapons"), and is of average nine-year-old height. He usually wears a navy-blue beanie cap with a red trimming and a red pom-pom ball on the top of it, matching red gloves, a light-brown jacket with a matching red collar, blue jeans, and black shoes. Stan has his father's hair color (black) and his mother's skin tone.

Voiced by Matt Stone

Kyle Broflovski is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Matt Stone. Having appeared first in The Spirit of Christmas shorts, he often displays the highest moral standard of all the boys and is usually depicted as the most intelligent. When describing Kyle, Stone states that both he and the character are "reactionary", and susceptible to irritability and impatience. In some instances, Kyle is the only child in his class to not initially indulge in a fad or fall victim to a ploy. This has resulted in both his eagerness to fit in, and his resentment and frustration. Kyle is distinctive as one of the few Jewish children on the show, and because of this, he often feels like an outsider amongst the core group of characters. His portrayal in this role is often dealt with satirically, and has elicited both praise and criticism from Jewish viewers.

Secondary characters

Randy Marsh

Voiced by Trey Parker, Sia (vocals of Randy as Lorde in "The Cissy"), and Patrick Stewart ("Something You Can Do with Your Finger")

Dr. Randy S. Marsh is a major character and the most prominent parent on the show. He is a middle-class married father who alongside his wife Sharon raises their 10-year-old son Stan and 13-year-old daughter Shelley. His first name is derived from the first name of series co-creator Trey Parker's father, and Parker describes Randy as "the biggest dingbat in the entire show."

Randy is 45 years old, and like Parker's father, is a geologist, making his first appearance in the series while monitoring a seismometer in the episode "Volcano" (parodying Pierce Brosnan in Dante's Peak). He was depicted to work at the South Park Center for Seismic Activity, and was later shown to work for the U. S. Geological Survey. He was briefly fired from his geologist job near the end of the 12th season, and quit briefly during the end of the 14th season, but has since been rehired both times. He also serves on the city council, specializing in the town's parks and public grounds. A recurring character trait of Randy's is his being prone to overreacting and obsessively seizing upon irrational ideas and fads, whether by himself or as part of a large contingent of the town's adult population. Though the show frequently depicts him to be a moderate to heavy drinker, numerous episodes have dealt with Randy's belligerent and negligent behavior brought upon by his severe intoxication.

A few instances of personal achievement have made Randy a hero in the eyes of his friends and fellow townsfolk, such as being awarded a Nobel Prize, and twice setting a record for producing the world's largest piece of human excrement. Randy has conversely been subjected to ridicule from the entire town, ranging from when he inadvertently accelerated the effects of global warming by suggesting the entire populace take on a more uninhibited approach to passing gas in order to avoid the hazard of spontaneous combustion, to when he reluctantly exclaimed "niggers" while attempting to solve a puzzle during a live broadcast of Wheel of Fortune. In addition to the professional singing he did in his youth, Randy can also play guitar, as seen in "Guitar Queer-O". He can also speak a little Mongolian, having learned some in college, as seen in the episode "Child Abduction Is Not Funny".

The episode "Gluten Free Ebola" revealed that Randy produces music and performs as the noted musician Lorde, a fact that was explored subsequently in "The Cissy". This has become a running gag that has continued through multiple episodes, such as suggesting much of the Marsh family's income comes from his music career as Lorde rather than his geology job. As of season 22, Randy quit his job and moved the family to the countryside where he sets up Tegridy Farms to grow and distribute cannabis. For most of season 23, Randy was officially the protagonist of South Park as the show focused on his work at the Tegridy Farms instead of the town of South Park and its elementary school. Randy is also responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic after Mickey Mouse encouraged him to have sexual intercourse with a bat and a pangolin while he was sick during his trip in China ("Band in China").

Mr. Garrison

Voiced by Trey Parker

Herbert Garrison was the boys' fourth grade teacher at South Park Elementary until his dismissal, after which he mounted a campaign that resulted in his election as President of the United States. Garrison is particularly cynical, especially in comparison with the rest of South Park's adults, and he is one of the few characters to ever break the fourth wall on the show.

For the first eight seasons of the series, the character was known as Mr. Garrison. He underwent a sex change in the season 9 premiere "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina". The character was thereafter known to the other characters as Janet Garrison or Mrs. Garrison, despite being unmarried. In the season 12 episode "Eek, a Penis!", he undergoes yet another sex change operation, returning to being a man.

Mr. Garrison was in part inspired by a kindergarten teacher who taught Trey Parker, and who used a puppet named Mr. Hat as a teaching resource. Mr. Garrison was also inspired by a British literature professor Parker had at the University of Colorado; Parker said the voice he uses for the character is a dead-accurate impression of him. Parker said he believes Mr. Garrison has become one of the most complex characters on South Park, particularly due to his ever-growing relationship with Mr. Hat and his sexuality and gender issues; Parker said of Mr. Garrison, "He's the soap opera element to the whole series. [He] has a real story going on."

PC Principal

Voiced by Trey Parker

Peter Charles, more commonly known as PC Principal, is the current principal of the school, who replaced Principal Victoria after she was fired in season 19 (Mr. Mackey plotted for her to be fired); also an alumnus member of the PC Delta fraternity and an alumnus of Texas A&M University. He is dedicated to bring a more politically correct agenda to South Park Elementary. Though he is initially portrayed as an antagonist, particularly towards Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman, and anyone else who is not "PC", he mellows out significantly in the middle of season 19. He is eventually revealed merely to be a pawn in the grand scheme of things, which causes him to become a protagonist in the season's final episode, "PC Principal Final Justice". PC Principal later married to Strong Woman, who is the new assistant principal, and is the loving and caring father to their five children, the PC Babies.

During Season 27 and Season 28, in "Sermon on the 'Mount", he rebrands himself to Power Christian Principal, owing to President Donald Trump's push for more Christianity in public schools.

Mr. Mackey

Voiced by Trey Parker

Mr. Mackey Jr. is the school guidance counselor. He has a disproportionately large head and mumbles "m'kay" after most sentences. He speaks with a Southern accent, and he is believed to be from Louisiana. It is assumed he is at least 40 years old (he once said he had sex at 19 and that it has been about 21 years since). He is based on Trey Parker's junior high school counselor, Stan Lackey. He has occasionally taught classes at the school, and taught sex education with Ms. Choksondik. During this time he had a sexual relationship with Ms. Choksondik. After her death, he took over the fourth grade class until Mr. Garrison returned.

Despite his awkward appearance and mannerisms, Mr. Mackey is an able and responsible counselor who, much unlike other South Park Elementary faculty and staff, cares about his students. He sometimes appears with Principal Victoria when punishing a student or announcing an important message. His methods as a counselor often reflect real-life controversies in education. For example, when Kyle talks about seeing Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo, he places Kyle on a heavy dose prescription of Prozac. In an early episode, the children feign having attention deficit disorder, and he prescribes them all Ritalin. During a drug-education class in the episode "Ike's Wee Wee", he passes some marijuana around the classroom, and it is stolen (apparently by one of the children, though it is later revealed that the actual thief was Mr. Garrison). For this, Mr. Mackey is fired by the school and evicted by his landlord, and, feeling depressed, he ends up using alcohol, marijuana and LSD. The episode suggests that his large head is caused by the tightness of his tie around his neck, but in "Child Abduction Is Not Funny", his parents are shown to have large heads as well. He becomes a hippie and travels to India with a like-minded woman. Mr. Mackey is captured by The A-Team, and his former employers, along with Jimbo, say that they should have helped him with his drug problem rather than firing him. Mr. Mackey protests, saying that he likes his new life and that he actually has not done drugs since his first experimentations back in South Park. Nobody listens and in rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic, he is "cured" of his addiction to drugs. Mr. Mackey's social worker then re-ties his tie, which makes his head swell back to its original size.

Sharon Marsh

Voiced by Mary Kay Bergman (1997–1999), Eliza J. Schneider (2000–2003), and April Stewart (2004–present)

Sharon Marsh is Stan and Shelley Marsh's mother, as well as Randy Marsh's wife. She first appeared in the Season One episode, "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig".

Sharon was portrayed in earlier seasons as a loving but stern suburban mother. She wanted to protect Stan from the 'dirty' language and vulgar humor of his favorite cartoon, Terrance and Phillip, in "Death" and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. In "Spookyfish", she was so protective that she buried the bodies of people she thought Stan had killed, in order to prevent Stan from being charged with murder. In actuality, it was his new pet goldfish that murdered the people, to which Sharon felt regretful for not realizing in the first place. She was also unofficially in charge of the movement against Chinpokomon dolls in "Chinpokomon". However, she has often been caught up in fads around town, such as holistic medicine in "Cherokee Hair Tampons" and atheism in "Red Hot Catholic Love".

During the episodes in which she was voiced by April Stewart, Sharon had become the sane half of her marriage. She serves as a foil to the craziness that surrounds her; craziness is often caused by her husband, Randy. In "The Losing Edge", she was embarrassed by Randy getting drunk and starting fights at Stan's little league games. This was lost on Randy, who imagined her cheering him on in his big fight against the Bat Dad. In "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", she is noticeably upset and disappointed in the car ride home after Randy says the N-word on Wheel of Fortune. In the Pandemic story arc, she gets repeatedly angry at Randy for videotaping the guinea pig attacks.

Sharon is named after Trey Parker's mother, Sharon Parker. Sharon was referred to her as "Carol" in the Season One episode, "Death", however, many characters had different names when they were first introduced. Sharon Parker, unlike Mrs. Marsh, is an insurance broker while Mrs. Parker is an insurance saleswoman.

In the episode "You're Getting Old", she reveals she has been unhappy with her marriage and could not fake it anymore, claiming her life “feels like the same ridiculous shit every week”, and as a result divorces her husband and moves with her son and daughter to a new home while Randy moves away from himself.

Gerald and Sheila Broflovski

Gerald Broflovski: Voiced by Matt Stone

Sheila Broflovski: Voiced by Mary Kay Bergman (1997–1999), and Mona Marshall (1999–present)

Gerald and Sheila Broflovski are an upper-middle-class, Jewish married couple who raise their ten-year-old son Kyle and three-year-old Canadian son Ike. Gerald is a lawyer who also serves on South Park's council as the city attorney, and his role in this profession has been put on display in episodes such as "Sexual Harassment Panda" and "Chef Goes Nanners" in which a trial or legal issue plays a large part in the plot. He is a generally kind, amiable person, though at intervals he has been shown to assume a snobbish attitude that disaffects his friends and family. Examples include the episode "Chickenpox" where it is revealed that he used to be close with Stuart McCormick when they were younger but that the two had a falling out due to economic differences or when he begins acting like an arrogant snob after buying a hybrid car in "Smug Alert!". In "Sexual Harassment Panda", Gerald repeatedly sued South Park Elementary (which was faultless in every case), and later every citizen of South Park, showing his shameless monetary greed and disregard for civil propriety. Gerald was once seen to have a repressed gambling problem, and prior struggles with a fictional form of inhalant abuse known within the show as "cheesing". Gerald is, in season 20 of the show, revealed to be an internet troll. His internet alias is 'Skankhunt42', and initially, everyone thinks that Eric Cartman is, in fact, Skankhunt42. When trolling, he makes provocative statements against women, and, most notably, creates images where he "puts a dick in [women's] mouths". He always drinks red wine and listens to music by Boston when trolling. His antics eventually place him in the news after trolling a Danish Olympian making him of the two main antagonists of the entirety of season twenty alongside Lennart Bedrager.

Sheila made her first appearance in the season one episode "Death" (where she was originally named Carol), and she exhibits several traits commonly associated with those of a stereotypical Jewish mother. In the episode "It's a Jersey Thing", it is revealed that Sheila was originally from New Jersey, where she was known as "S-Wow Tittybang", and that she and Gerald moved to South Park to avoid having their newly conceived child grow up there. Apart from being briefly appointed to the fictional federal position of "Secretary of Offense" under the Clinton Administration, Sheila is a stay-at-home mother. In earlier seasons, Sheila often spearheaded public opposition to things she deemed harmful to children or to the Jewish community. She led a group to New York City to protest Terrance and Phillip, a Canadian comedy duo whose television show's toilet humor is what she believed to be a negative influence on Kyle. Her outrage escalated in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut when she further protested Terrance and Phillip by forming "Mothers Against Canada", which eventually instigated a war between Canada and the United States making her one of the main antagonists of the film. At the climax of the film, she takes her crusade against the duo to the extreme by shooting Terrance and Phillip despite her son's protests, which fulfills an apocalyptic prophecy allowing Satan, his minions, and his ex-lover Saddam Hussein to invade Earth. This aspect has been toned down in recent years, and is more or less completely absent from newer episodes.

Liane Cartman

Voiced by Karri Turner (unaired pilot), Mary Kay Bergman (1997–1999), Eliza Schneider (1999–2003), and April Stewart (2004–present)

Liane Cartman is the generally sweet-natured mother of Eric Cartman; though in later seasons, she is a more proactive mother who does not tolerate his antics or foul language. Her promiscuity, often with total strangers, was a running gag initially. It seemed as though all of the adults in South Park had slept with her. Although in episode 7, she is indicated to be a "crack whore", she says in "The Poor Kid" that she has not done drugs in some time, and works "two jobs." Liane's commuting from the home during normal daytime hours implies that at least one of the jobs is a traditional, non-prostitution form of employment, though the nature of this work is never specified. Despite the multiple sources of income, Eric comes to believe that he and Liane are the second poorest family in South Park (at least of those whose children attend South Park Elementary) after Kenny McCormick's. At other times, it is implied that the Cartman household's IRS-reported income mostly comes from government welfare programs, that Liane has simply transformed her prostitution career into a better-organized, safer "escort"-style operation, or that in fact Liane has never held a traditional job and the family is in a more precarious economic state than their depicted lifestyle indicates. As of season 25, current continuity states that Liane has been unable to maintain legitimate employment due to constant demands on her time from Eric, and as a result of this economic stress combined with increases in rent on the family's house, the Cartmans are unable to keep up with their bills and find themselves living in an abandoned hot dog stand. Eric refuses to allow Liane to work, instead of attend to him, when he is awake even when explicitly told that this will cause financial disaster for the family, a storyline which may tie in to depictions of Cartman as homeless in the future.

It is seemingly revealed in season 2 that Liane is a hermaphrodite (and so is Eric's father), though in episode "201" it is revealed that Eric's real father is Jack Tenorman, the father of his nemesis Scott Tenorman. Jack Tenorman was a member of the 1991 Denver Broncos, and the ruse about her being a hermaphrodite was made up to maintain the Broncos' reputation since "they were having a good year".

She was named after creator Trey Parker's ex-fiancé, Liane Adamo, whom he broke up with after he discovered that she had an affair.

Stephen Stotch

Voiced by Trey Parker, and Matt Stone ("Quintuplets 2000")

Stephen Willis Stotch is Butters Stotch's father and Linda Stotch's husband. He and his wife began appearing more frequently towards the end of the show's fourth season, in correlation with their son becoming a more significant character. His most prominent role as a couple with his wife occurred during the season five finale "Butters' Very Own Episode", in which they had to deal with the issues of Stephen's extramarital homosexual affairs and adhering to their concocted story about their son being abducted when Linda mistakenly thought she had successfully murdered Butters.

Wendy Testaburger

Voiced by Karri Turner (unaired pilot), Mary Kay Bergman (1997–1999), Eliza Schneider (1999–2003), Mona Marshall (2003–2004), and April Stewart (2004–present)

Wendy Testaburger is the show's most prominent female student. Her best friend is Bebe Stevens, she is the on-and-off girlfriend of Stan. She is also the other voice of reason (besides Kyle). Wendy has previously been voiced by Karri Turner (in the unaired pilot), Mary Kay Bergman, Mona Marshall, Eliza Schneider, and is currently voiced by April Stewart. Fellow co-creator Matt Stone has also cited the name of Wendy Westerberg, the wife of an old friend from his childhood. She wears a pink beret, a purple coat and yellow pants. She has long black hair with uneven bangs. Wendy made her first appearance unnamed, but clearly recognizable, in "The Spirit of Christmas".

Like her boyfriend Stan, Wendy is mature for her age, critical of popular trends, moral and intellectual, as well as being a feminist, as noted in many of her appearances. She campaigns in several episodes on causes such as breast cancer and the suffering of Bottlenose dolphins, often arguing with Eric Cartman who calls her a "bitch" or "ho" in response. Although the two generally only argue, he pushes her to the limit in the Season 12 (2008) episode "Breast Cancer Show Ever" wherein the two engage in a fight on the playground, in which Wendy badly beats up Cartman.

Wendy is known to be protective of her relationship with Stan. In the Season 1 (1997) episode "Tom's Rhinoplasty" when Stan, along with the other boys, falls in love with an attractive substitute teacher, Wendy accuses her of stealing Stan from her, and eventually formulates a complex plan to get her thrown into the sun. She also sometimes displays jealousy – in the Season 6 (2002) episode "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", her best friend, Bebe Stevens, receives more attention than she does because of Bebe's developing breasts. Wendy then gets breast implants, but the boys end up ridiculing her after only just realizing the control Bebe's breasts had on them. This behavior is somewhat contradicted by episodes such as "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" and "Dances with Smurfs" where she is more concerned with principles than trends and attention.

Wendy is more prominent in the show's earlier seasons, usually quarreling with Eric Cartman or reinforcing her relationship with Stan. She speaks in several episodes (especially in the first season) and is often chosen to help the boys out over her classmates. Wendy and Stan's relationship received less focus over the course of Season 5 (2001), and she has only one minor role in Season 6 (2002). This culminates in her breakup with Stan and pairing with Tolkien Black in "Raisins", after which she makes only scattered prominent appearances until the end of the eleventh season, where she gets back together with Stan in "The List". They subsequently pair up as partners on a field trip in "Super Fun Time", she beats Cartman in a fight in "Breast Cancer Show Ever" and in the episode "Elementary School Musical" Stan suspects that she may leave him for a popular boy named Bridon. Wendy is able to kiss Stan on the cheek in "Elementary School Musical" without his previous nauseated reaction.

Craig's Gang

Craig's Gang, also commonly known as Craig and Those Guys, is a group of fourth graders led by Craig. The group consists of Craig Tucker, Tolkien Black, Clyde Donovan, and Jimmy Valmer. Additional members include Tweek Tweak (Craig’s boyfriend), Jason White, and Butters Stotch. They are best known for being rivals to the main boys, although in the majority of episodes they are friendly and part of the same larger social group.

Voiced by Matt Stone

Craig Tucker, commonly characterized by his blue aviator or chullo hat and deep nasal monotone voice, is one of the more prominent members of the children's classroom. Craig dislikes the four main characters and rivals them in several episodes. Craig is a pragmatist and has no wish to become involved in any extraordinary adventures the other main characters on the show customarily experience. In the first several seasons, Craig has a habit of giving people the finger, a trait the show's official website attributes to his learning the behavior from his family, all of whom frequently use the gesture as well, most notably in the third season episode, "Tweek vs. Craig", in which his entire family take turns flipping each other off at the dinner table. This trait was used less throughout the show's runtime, and was last seen in the episode "Fun with Veal". Along with the rest of the characters, Craig moved to the fourth grade in "Fourth Grade".

Despite his dislike of the main characters, particularly Cartman, he is often depicted as one of the boys who repeatedly join Cartman in his many schemes, at times serving as a right-hand man. Craig is also involved in a homosexual relationship with fellow fourth-grade student Tweek Tweak. In the Season 19 episode "Tweek x Craig", female students of Asian backgrounds started drawing homoerotic "yaoi" images of Craig and his classmate Tweek Tweak, depicting them as lovers, in contrast to their rival-like role in "Tweek vs. Craig". Immediately, the two try to repudiate the rumors about them prompted by this. They eventually resolve to stage a public "break-up" to end the rumors. Though Tweek fears he cannot do this believably, Craig encourages him that he indeed can. However, Tweek goes too far by claiming that Craig is a manipulative cheater, which has the effect of ruining Craig's reputation with girls. During a later argument between the boys, Tweek reveals that Craig's encouragement gave him the confidence to believe in himself. Following the father-to-son talk between Craig and his father about how "you can't fight being gay", the two boys decide to continue their fake relationship, appeasing the town and maintaining their friendship. In later episodes however, such as the season 21 episode "Put It Down" and the video game The Fractured but Whole, they are shown to have become sincere romantic partners, calling each other "babe" and "honey" and holding hands regularly even when not around the townspeople.

Chef

Voiced by Isaac Hayes, Trey Parker (singing, in "Succubus"), and Peter Serafinowicz (Darth Chef)

Jerome "Chef" McElroy was a major character in the first nine seasons of the show. He was voiced by Isaac Hayes. The former cafeteria worker at South Park Elementary, Chef is generally portrayed as more intelligent than the other adult residents of the town, and understanding to the children. His advice is often sought by the boys, as he is the only adult they completely trust. He frequently gives completely honest advice without considering whether it is appropriate for children, usually in the non sequitur form of a lascivious soul song.

Chef was inspired by Hayes and other popular soul singers of the 1970s, as well as an actual dining hall worker encountered by Parker while he attended the University of Colorado. Chef played a less prominent role as the series progressed beyond its earlier seasons, and the character was retired at the beginning of the tenth season in "The Return of Chef" following the controversial departure of Hayes.

Terrance and Phillip

Terrance: Voiced by Matt Stone

Phillip: Voiced by Trey Parker

Introduced in the first season, Sir Terrance Henry Stoot and Sir Phillip Niles Argyle are two Canadian comedians who host The Terrance and Phillip Show: a sketch comedy program which the children of South Park adore. The duo have been compared to Bob and Doug McKenzie as well as Beavis and Butt-Head for their cartoonishly exaggerated stereotypical Canadian mannerisms and crude humor respectively. Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have explained that they view the Canadians as stand-ins for themselves, and often utilize their sketch comedy show to comment on South Park itself. Bolstering this claim, the children have occasionally made reference to the show being animated, with Eric Cartman explaining that he finds the animation "crappy" in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, though it is subsequently revealed that all Canadians are depicted in a visually similar manner.

Both South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and "Freemium Isn't Free" explain that the success of Terrance and Phillip's show accounts for the majority of Canada's economy. In the episode "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow", it is revealed that the two met in "The Canadian School for Gifted Babies", and began performing across Canada due to their aptitude for musical theater, eventually leading them to perform across North America. Their show features crude low-brow humor, with the punchline often involving the duo farting on one another. In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut the Canadians explain to Conan O'Brien that this is a staple of their country's humor, and go on to explain a variety of "classic Canadian jokes" which are similarly crude and low-brow, although it is later revealed that Terrance pioneered this style of humor accidentally when he farted during an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The two are nearly identical in design (though Terrance is occasionally depicted as fatter than Phillip), with their only distinguishing features being their hair color and their shirts: Phillip is blonde while Terrance is black-haired, their respective shirts are marked with the letters T and P. Phillip is generally depicted as a more serious actor than his costar, having briefly performed in a production of Hamlet and vehemently protesting the Canadian Broadcasting Company's decision to censor a depiction of the prophet Muhammed in their show, thought it is revealed in Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow that Terrance is responsible for much of the content of the duo's show: having written the majority of the sketches they perform.

Reception and impact

Kyle, Cartman, Stan and Kenny have all appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Cartman is a South Park fan favorite, and is often described as the most iconic character from the series. With a headline to their online written version of a radio report, NPR declared Cartman as "America's Favorite Little $@#&*%". "Respect my authoritah!" and "Screw you guys ...I'm going home!" became catchphrases and, during the show's earlier seasons, were highly popular in the lexicon of viewers. His eccentric enunciation of "Hey!" was included in the 2002 edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Catchphrases. Stone has said that when fans recognize him or Parker, the fans will usually do their imitation of Cartman, or, in Parker's case, request that he do Cartman's voice. Both Cartman's commentary and the commentary resulting in response to his actions have been interpreted as statements Parker and Stone are attempting to make to the viewing public, and these opinions have been subject to much critical analysis in the media and literary world.

Cartman ranked 10th on TV Guide's 2002 list of the "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters", 24th on TV Guide's "25 Greatest TV Villains", 198th on VH1's "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons", and 19th on Bravo's "100 Greatest TV Characters" television special in 2004. When declaring him the second-scariest character on television (behind only Mr. Burns of The Simpsons) in 2005, MSNBC's Brian Bellmont described Cartman as a "bundle of pure, unadulterated evil all wrapped up in a fat—er, big-boned—cartoony package" who "takes a feral delight in his evildoing".

While Parker and Stone portray Stan and Kyle as having common childlike tendencies, their dialogue is often intended to reflect stances and views on more adult-oriented issues, and have been subject to much critical analysis in the media and literary world and have frequently been cited in publications by experts in the fields of politics, religion, popular culture and philosophy.

Kenny's deaths are well known in popular culture, and was one of the things viewers most commonly associated with South Park during its earlier seasons. The exclamation of "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" quickly became a popular catchphrase, while both Kenny and the phrase have appeared on some of the more popular pieces of South Park merchandise, including shirts, bumper stickers, calendars and baseball caps, and inspired the rap song "Kenny's Dead" by Master P, which was featured on Chef Aid: The South Park Album. The catchphrase also appears in MAD magazine's satire of TITANIC where Stan, Kyle and Cartman are shown on a lifeboat while they were supposedly escaping from the sinking ship. Kenny's deaths have been subject to much critical analysis in the media and literary world. When Sophie Rutschmann of the University of Strasbourg discovered a mutated gene that causes an adult fruit fly to die within two days after it is infected with certain bacteria, she named the gene "Kenny" in honor of the character.

Merchandise

The characters of the South Park franchise have spawned several merchandise items, varying from toys to apparel items. In 2004, the first action figure collection was released by Mirage Toys containing five series each with four characters. In 2006, Mezco toys released a second collection containing a total of six series, each containing six or four figures. Comedy Central itself has made available a variety of products through its website, including T-shirts, figures, hats, pants, and even shot glasses. A number of fan websites provides an even more extended amount of merchandise, ranging from posters, to magnets, ties and even skateboards, South Park Studios offer through their website the possibility of creating personalized South Park avatars. Similar possibilities have been available on multiple fan sites.