Plenty of adult animated shows seem to last forever, but the most impressive thing about the decades-long run of “South Park” is the series’ willingness to evolve and change. Sure, the bones of Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Comedy Central series have remained consistent: its foul-mouthed dialogue, offensive humor, surrealist tendencies, and central group of four elementary school boys have carried from the first episode through and beyond the show’s 300th.
But the exploits that Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny get into around their Colorado mountain town these days look a lot different than they did back in 1997, when the show first premiered. Over the seasons — and decades — Parker and Stone have stayed the primary creators behind the show, and watching it back is one way of tracking their growth as writers. After three seasons that relied extensively on toilet humor (not that fart and poop jokes have ever faded from the show), the two eventually became impressive satirists, and “South Park” transformed into a ruthlessly topical comedy tackling practically every controversy and hot-button American issue within reach.
More shakeups have occurred over the seasons; characters were retired (R.I.P Chef), or faded into the background, and others (Randy and Butters, most prominently) grew to rival the four leads in screentime. For a few seasons, the show broke out of its episodic format in favor of serialized plotlines to mixed results. Nowadays, regular “South Park” seasons have been shortened, but are accompanied by a series of Paramount+ special episodes. It’s a strategy that has drawn controversy, but it wouldn’t be “South Park” if people weren’t arguing about something.
While “South Park” has managed to stay relatively fresh across 26 seasons, not every episode is created equal. The show’s famously fast-paced production schedule and top-of-the-minute parodies means the series can comment on scandals and news stories faster than many other animated shows on television. It also means that plenty of episodes don’t have a lot of staying power beyond the year or month (heck, even week) they aired. In some cases, the jokes really don’t land with the eyes of hindsight; see “ManBearPig,” which mocked global warming activism and held up so poorly Parker and Stone made a sequel twelve years later to apologize for it.
Diving into “South Park” is more challenging than simply watching the show from beginning to end. While the first three seasons have a few fun episodes (“Cartman’s Mom is a Dirty slu*t,” for one), they’re often a chore to get through, and it takes awhile for Parker and Stone to really figure out the characters and fine-tune their humor and writing. So, if you want to dive into “South Park,” the best way to get hooked is simply with one of the show’s crown jewel episodes: and luckily, there’s no shortage of great ones.
The best “South Park” episodes stand out for different reasons. Some are memorable as major milestones for the show and its characters, while others caused significant ripples across pop culture. Some are format-breaking and visually inventive events, and others are regular episodes with the funniest, laugh-a-minute scripts in television. “South Park” will probably be around as long as Parker and Stone are alive — so there’s really no better time to start watching than the present.
Here are the 35 best “South Park” episodes of all time, from “Casa Bonita” to “Awesom-O.” Plus, we’ve called out the MVPs for every episode.
35. “Medicinal Fried Chicken” (Season 14, Episode 3)
“Medicinal Fried Chicken” is one of the absolute grossest episodes of “South Park” — in a good way. Inspired by the rise of medical marijuana, the episode focuses on the events around town when fast food chain KFC gets shut down across Colorado due to fast food laws. Cartman is furious and begins suffering from withdrawls of the food, while the conversion of the town’s KFC into a medical marijuana dispensary leaves the adults of “South Park” excited. Desperate to qualify, Randy gives himself testicular cancer by exposing his balls to microwave radiation — which has disasterous consequences when they grow to insanely huge sizes. The site of Randy’s gigantic balls are absolutely disgusting, but results in some great physical comedy, and the episode’s parody of the lengths people will go for legal weed manages to bridge the divide between “funny because its smart” and “funny because its stupid.”
Episode MVP: KFC mascot Colonel Sanders, who squares off against Cartman in a “Scarface” parody where Cartman is Tony Montana and he is Alejandro Sosa in a drug war…over KFC’s fried chicken.
34. “Put it Down” (Season 21, Episode 2)
The Trump administration years found “South Park” in an odd place, as their parody of the president (the kids’ long-time homeroom teacher Mr. Garrison) was hardly more absurd than the real thing. One of the best episodes to tackle the Trump years is “Put It Down”: an episode that’s largely about ignoring the current political situation. When Tweek is left (even more of) a nervous wreck after Garrison tweets aggressive threats against North Korea, his boyfriend Craig attempts to get him to calm down by encouraging him to send cupcakes to Kim Jong Un: a move that backfires majorly when Garrison starts tweeting about Tweek. The storyline captures the experience of the first year of Trump, where the swirling chaotic political situation often felt like it was affecting everyone personally, while also providing some lovely growth for Tweek and Craig’s relationship.
Episode MVP:The kids of South Park Elementary, who kill in their performance of the titular song: a plea urging anyone who is a world leader not to tweet.
33. “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers” (Season 6, Episode 13)
The first episode in the subgenre of the boys playing make-believe, “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers” gets a lot of mileage out of contrasting their (relative) innocence with some very adult matters. As the boys are playing make-believe that they’re the heroes from Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Stan’s parents send them on a “quest” to drop off the DVD of one of the series’ films to Butters’ house. Disaster quickly strikes, as Randy mixes the DVD up with a p*rnographic film he and Sharon were planning to watch, and they quickly send the boys on another quest to retrieve the tape without watching or letting Butters see. The episode is lovingly nerdy, filled with references to “Lord of the Rings” and slotting nearly every child character into a role from the films. Beyond the fun of the “Lord of the Rings” parody, it’s also one of the installments to make the best use of the show’s entire ensemble, with most of the kids getting something good to do, and their parents’ horrified fear that the kids have gotten exposed to the tape leading to a perfect episode-ending coda.
Episode MVP:Butters, who gets assigned the Gollum role and absolutely smashes it.
32. “Grounded Vindaloop” (Season 18, Episode 7)
A clever and surprisingly ambitious sci-fi parody, “Grounded Vindaloop” focuses on Butters after he gets tricked by Cartman into believing he’s wearing a VR headset and the world around him is a simulation. The initial premise is funny and memorable enough on its own, with “The Matrix” and “Total Recall” gags aplenty. But things get stranger when a customer service employee calls Cartman telling him that he’sthe one in a virtual reality. Things quickly spiral out of control from there, as all of the cast increasingly gets confused about what’s real and what isn’t. The episode is one of the most convoluted in “South Park” history: a mode that the show manages to truly thrive in.
Episode MVP:The kids who play the live-action versions of the boys in the episode, who are totally adorable.
31. “Tsst” (Season 10, Episode 7)
As fun as it is to see Cartman scheme constantly, a sitcom villain is often most fun when they’re losing terribly. And few episodes of the show put Cartman more in his place than “Tsst,” which sees his mom attempt to curb his bratty behavior by calling in the people he trusts most: reality TV stars. “Nanny 911” and “Supernanny” go nowhere, but things take a turn when she calls in Cesar Millan, the star of canine training show “Dog Whisperer.” Millan takes to treating Cartman like a dog, and his training techniques soon turn him completely obedient, much to his horror. Cartman’s humilitation is utterly delicious, especially as his new dog-like programming prevents him from embarking on an attempted scheme to kill his mother.The reality TV show parodies in the episode might be insanely dated, but “Tsst” is a timeless classic; no wonder the real life Millan was a fan.
Episode MVP:Millan, maybe the single best one-episode character in the show’s history.
30. “Ginger Kids” (Season 9, Episode 11)
Otherwise known as the episode that ruined Ed Sheeran’s childhood, “Ginger Kids” single-handedly changed the cultural perception of redheads forever. A classic tale of karmic punishment, the episode sees Cartman espouse hate speech against the ginger population of “South Park,” claiming that they die in sunlight and don’t have souls. Kyle, a redhead, is naturally furious, and teams up with his friends to makeover Cartman as a ginger while he’s sleeping, causing him to face the same discrimination he promoted at the school. In some shows, this would end with Cartman learning a valuable lesson about prejudice; because this is “South Park,” it leads to Cartman establishing a “Ginger Separatist Movement” that attempts to murder the population of the town; as he puts it, “the only way to fight hate…is with MORE hate.”
Episode MVP:Ron Howard, the only successful ginger that Cartman can name as a symbol for his movement.
29. “Tegridy Farms” (Season 22, Episode 4)
The storyline where Randy buys a cannabis farm would eventually become notorious among fans of “South Park” after it absolutely dominated the entirety of Season 23, sucking time away from every other character in the show. But it got off to a terrific start in Season 22 with the episode where Randy, at the peak of his selfishness, sells the family house and moves his family to the new farm in a misguided attempt to “get away” from the issues facing South Park. Unlike way too many episodes starring Randy, “Tegridy Farms” doesn’t forget about the main four boys, giving them a meaty plotline about attempting to crack down on vaping among the kindergarteners at South Park. Both storylines complement each other as Randy eventually goes on a crusade against vape companies, making for an episode that tackles a lot while still feeling tight and cohesive.
Episode MVP:The singer of the perfectly earwormy, inanely folksy Tegridy Farms theme song.
28. “All About Mormons” (Season 7, Episode 12)
Before “The Book of Mormon” premiered on Broadway, Stone and Parker made their first stab at the Chuch of Latter Day Saints with this early season episode. When a new kid Gary from a Mormon family comes to town, Stan ends up becoming his reluctant friend, despite everyone else considering him a loser and finding the entire concept of Mormonism ridiculous.
But the episode up being less about Mormonism than it is about deconstructing the boys’ overly cynical, too-cool-to-be-nice worldview. “South Park” is sometimes accused of glorifying apathy, but “All About Mormons” makes it clear that these kids, compared to genuinely nice people like Gary, are the real losers.
Episode MVP:Gary, who gives a closing speech to Stan so withering that he even earns Cartman’s respect.
27. “Kenny Dies” (Season 5, Episode 13)
Easily the most famous “South Park” gag is Kenny’s many, many deaths in the early seasons of the show. When Stone and Parker got sick of coming up with new ways for the silent hero to die, they decided to give Kenny a permanent death — well, almost permanent, as he ended up returning in the finale episode of Season 6. But that doesn’t take away the legitimate emotions of “Kenny Dies,” which sees the titular character struggle and slowly perish while his friends deal with devestating grief as he passes. Luckily, the show still remembers it’s a wacky comedy even during a tragedy, so there’s an entire subplot about Cartman stealing abortion fetuses and selling them for profit.
Episode MVP: The people who killed Kenny! Those bastards!!!
26. “Guitar Queer-O” (Season 11, Episode 13
Released during the absolute peak of the “Guitar Hero” craze, “Guitar Queer-O” is one of those “South Park” episodes that became dated about a month after it came out. But that doesn’t make it any less of a hilarious gem. When Stan and Kyle break a 100,000 points record on the video game, they get contacted by a talent agent with a recording contract and become “Guitar Hero” celebrities engaging in a hedonistic lifestyle of booze, sex, and drugs. A hilarious parody of music biopics, with Stan selling out his friendship with Kyle in the pursuit of glory, “Guitar Queer-O” builds to one hilarious, perfect punchline that forcibly reminds the kids that being a “Guitar Hero” star isn’t the same as being a real star.
Episode MVP:Comedy Central’s music budget, because this episode features multiple “Guitar Hero” classics like “Carry on Wayward Son,” “Every Rose Has Its Thorns,” “Pretty Vacant,” and “Cherry Pie.”
25. “Gnomes” (Season 2, Episode 17)
Sometimes all it takes is onegreat joke to make an episode a classic. “Gnomes” is a perfectly enjoyable early season episode of the show, following the kids as they discover a secret race of gnomes that steal the underpants of kids.
But when the gnomes reveal the “business plan” that motivates them to steal underwear, the episode provides one of the most commonly quoted moments in the entire series: Phase 1. Collect Underpants. Phase 2. ? Phase 3. Profit. Anytime someone uses that now legendary meme format to mock a corporation, thank Stone and Parker for it.
Episode MVP: Phase 1: Write the MVP section of the “Gnomes” episode blurb. Phase 2: ? Phase 3: Profit.
24. “Tweek x Craig” (Season 19, Episode 6)
In spite of its edgelord reputation, “South Park” actually has a decently large queer fanbase — especially online, where you can find fanart and fanfic shipping the boys together in pretty much any combination possible. “Tweek x Craig” is Stone and Parker’s meta shout-out to that subsection of fans, and the result is far more sweet and sincere than you’d ever expect.
When South Park Elementary hosts an influx of Asian exchange students, the girls are introduced to the Japanese art style of “Yaoi” (essentially, gay-themed anime/manga created by women for women), and promptly begin making shipping art of Tweek and Craig: two fairly tertiary characters who interacted sparingly in seasons past. Soon, the art spreads around town and convinces everyone that the two are actually dating — and because everyone wants to prove how tolerant and LGBTQ-friendly they are, the adults become obssesed with supporting the two fourth graders.
Tweek and Craig’s desperate pleas telling everyone they’re not actually a couple are ignored, making for a sharply accurate parody of shipping culture and fandom. It also milks the overwraught melodrama that results from that for all it’s worth, complete with a hilariously inane montage to Peter Gabriel’s “The Book of Love.” But the episode doesn’t condescend to its fans or insult their intelligence either, and eventually comes to portray shipping as a silly but positive pastime that can bring people together. Plus, while the ending keeps it lovely but ambigious, later episodes confirm Tweek and Craig as a genuine couple, in a bit of fanservice that feels like it comes from real appreciation instead of pandering.
Episode MVP: The “South Park” fanbase. In the lead-up to the episode, Stone and Parker asked viewers to submit original art shipping Tweek and Craig, and all of the drawings of the two featured in the story come from the submissions they received. It paid off because “South Park” fan artists are mad geniuses, and the art featured is alternatively adorable, ridiculous, and NSFW-level raunchy.
23. “Dead Kids” (Season 22, Episode 1)
“South Park’s” brutally bleak satire of school shootings, “Dead Kids” focuses on Stan’s parents, as Randy becomes increasingly concerned that Sharon is acting erratic and overemotional. Why is she so upset this episode? Because South Park Elementary is averaging one school shooting a day, and she’s terrified that Stan might end up dead.
But Sharon’s fear is hers alone; Stan, his friends, and the faculty all carry on with their school days even when an active shooter is on campus, while Randy and her friends are more concerned with the rusty playground equipment than they are about their kids getting put in mortal danger. As Sharon desperately unravels while trying to find some way to address the wave of gun violence, Randy comes to the conclusion that this is all because she’s currently on her period.
It’s a genuinely upsetting storyline to watch, but also an extremely absurd one, as Sharon’s very valid fears get dismissed in increasingly ludicrous ways because everyone else is simply too desensitized to care. It’s rare that the “South Park” writers’ approach to a topical issue earns the label of “sensitive,” but “Dead Kids” manages to handle school shootings gracefully, while still being really, really funny.
Episode MVP: Sharon, who deserves so much better, and her voice actor April Stewart, who does great work in this episode.
22. “The List” (Season 11, Episode 14)
Unsurprisingly for a show created by two men, “South Park” is a hugely male-focused series. All four of the leads are male, as are the majority of the prominent supporting cast members. And while there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, it does mean that the rare episodes focusing on the female cast sometimes wind up feeling a bit shallow and undercooked.
Not so with “The List,” a wildly funny underrated gem that uses the South Park girls’ propensity for making ranked lists of boys, purses, and friends as a launchpad for a political thriller. After Butters discovers a list ranking the fourth grade class by cuteness, Kyle is devestated to realize he’s at the very bottom, and becomes a schoolyard pariah. A concerned Stan asks his ex Wendy to reconsider the ranking in order to cheer up his best friend, and in the process, the two stumble into a very serious conspiracy from the list committee to doctor the poll’s results for their own personal gain. The show takes this very ridiculous setup completely seriously, and Stan and Wendy’s complicated feelings about teaming up gives it enough emotional stakes to be as compelling as it is silly.
Episode MVP:Bebe, Wendy’s best friend, who gets to be the unhinged villain of the story and chews a ton of scenery in the process.
21. “Simpsons Already Did It” (Season 6, Episode 7)
“Simpsons Already Did It” captures the plight of comedy writers everywhere: trying to come up with original ideas when “The Simpsons” has been on the air for over 30 years. After Butters, as his Professor Chaos alter ego, comes up with a plan to block the sun in order to take over the world, he learns said plot was a storyline in “The Simpsons” episode “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” Desperate to be original, he watches all of “The Simpsons,” but is unable to come up with storylines the show hasn’t tackled, and the stress causes him to snap and view everyone around him as characters from Matt Groening’s series.
Meanwhile, in a funny meta twist, the boys inadvertently create a race of miniature sea people, in a direct reference to a storyline from a “Simpsons” Treehouse of Horror episode. The episode ends with a surprisingly genuine bit of writing advice for anyone watching the show: don’t worry about doing something completely new, because “The Simpsons” (and probably “South Park”) already did it.
Episode MVP: You could name an MVP, but whatever that character did? Probably already happened on “The Simpsons.”
20. “Woodland Critter Christmas” (Season 8, Episode 14)
In its early years, “South Park” released a Christmas episode almost once every single season. But after “Woodland Critter Christmas,” that tradition was retired, and the series didn’t return to the holiday until 10 full seasons later. The reason why might very well be that this grusome parody of the nativity story was one that just couldn’t be topped.
The titular Woodland Critters, talking animals discovered by Stan in the woods, are disturbingly saccharine spoofs on the type of characters you see in family Christmas specials, and when they rope Stan into helping them prepare for the birth of their “savior,” it’s pretty clear things won’t end well. Soon enough, Stan is put on a series of dangerous and deadly quests to prevent the apocalypse and the birth of the antichrist, and the Critters descend into gruesome murder and anarchy. Regardless of whether or not you love or hate Christmas, there’s a lot of pleasure to be gained from the way the episode twists the holiay special genre into a horrifying, hilarious monstrosity, and there’s a genuinely surprising twist about what’s actually happening: one that only makes the entire journey funnier.
Episode MVP:Santa Claus, who in this story is a gun-toting badass and the savior of Earth.
19. “You Have 0 Friends” (Season 14, Episode 4)
Released the same year as David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” “You Have 0 Friends” is arguably the second best piece of art made about Facebook. Skewering the peer pressure and FOMO of social media, the episode focuses on Stan as he attempts to resist joining Facebook, only to get roped into it by his classmates.
Soon, all of his relationships in the real world become defined by his Facebook profile; he gets harassed by his dad to add him as a friend, and his girlfriend Wendy breaks up with him after he forgets to change his relationship status. But when he attempts to delete the profile, he ends up sucked into Facebook’s software, and is forced to face off against a monstorous form of his own online profile. Even if you haven’t been on Facebook since 2015, the episode’s perfectly on-the-nose parody of the transactional nature of social media still resonates.
Episode MVP:Kip Dordy, the loser kid at school who has 0 Facebook friends before Kyle takes pity and adds him on the platform, making for a surprisingly adorable subplot in an already great episode.
18. “Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy” (Season 10, Episode 10)
If Know Your Meme is to be believed, saying “Nice” in response to the number 69 originated from this 2006 episode. Even if you don’t believe that though, “Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy” is still a must watch. Giving Kyle’s 4 year-old brother Ike the spotlight, the episode sees him embark on an “affair” with his delusional pre-school teacher. When Kyle learns that Ike is being groomed, he’s furious, but police and authority figures respond to the news that a young boy is having sex with his teacher by simply saying “nice.”
It’s a gross premise, but an undeniably funny parody of people who excuse child predators, and features a bizarre and hilarious subplot where Kyle is forced to ally with newly-appointed hall monitor Cartman, who is furious against Ike’s teacher…not because of the grooming, but because she kissed him in the hallway during classtime. Plus, as uncomfortable as the sight of little Ike going on “romantic” dates with a full-grown woman is, the bond between him and Kyle adds some genuine warmth to the storyline.
Episode MVP:Ike, for being adorable as always, and for his deliciously venomous delivery of “you’re dead to me” towards Kyle after his brother exposes his “affair.”
17. “Butters’ Very Own Episode” (Season 5, Episode 14)
Pretty much exactly what it says in the title, “Butters’ Very Own Episode” marked the point where Butters went from a supporting player to a full-fledged lead in the show. Coming right after the episode where Kenny “permanently” died (it lasted until the Season 6 finale), this installment ditches the core four boys for a story focusing entirely on sweet, innocent Butters as he inadvertantly ruins his parent’s marriage by exposing his dad’s gay affairs to his mom the day of their anniversary.
Butters’ mother is so distraught from the news that she attemps to murder her own son by dumping him into the river in her car. While Butters (believing it was an accident) survives and attempts to make his way home, his parents attempt to hide the “murder” by claiming he was abduted by “some Puerto Rican guy.” The entire twisted family dynamic between Butters and his parents is the perfect mix of funny and painfully sad, and the episode succeeds in its goal of turning Butters into a pathetically inept hero worth rooting for.
Episode MVP:Whoever wrote the sitcom theme parody used for the episode. Who’s the kid with a heart full of magic? Everyone know’s it’s Butters! (That’s me!)
16. “Fishsticks” (Season 13, Episode 5)
It’s not hard to parody an egomaniac like Kanye West, but “Fishsticks” contains maybe the single funniest celebrity parody of the entire show. The storyline is the perfect absurd escalation “South Park” specializes in: after Jimmy comes up with a joke about how liking putting fishsticks in your mouth makes you a “gay fish,” the wisecrack spreads through town, and eventually becomes a full-blown national sensation.
The episode’s main plot concerns Cartman’s attempts to take credit for Jimmy’s bit, but the part everyone remembers is Kanye’s desperate attempts to understand the joke, which sends the rapper on a murderous rampage. The episode mirrors Kanye’s narcassim with Cartman’s own perfectly, and it had enough of an impact on the real Kanye that he referenced it in three entirely different songs.
Episode MVP:At the time the episode aired, most would say Kanye, but considering all that’s happened with the real-life rapper since, you have to give it to Jimmy on this one (much like you have to give him credit for the joke).
15. “Black Friday,” “A Song of Ass and Fire,” “titt*es and Dragons” (Season 17, Episodes 7-9)
Every so often, “South Park” will devote an episode to the large cast of kids playing make-believe, whether that’s going on a Tolkien-esque adventure or forming their own superhero society. The best is easily the three-part Console War trilogy, which parodies major arguments that spawned during the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One, as well as Season 3 of “Game of Thrones.”
As Black Friday looms over South Park, the boys role-play as medieval knights and wizards (and in Kenny’s case, the gorgeous Lady McCormick), planning their attempts to purchase one of the new video game consoles. But when a divide between those who want Xboxs and those who wants PS4s becomes apparent, factions form in a battle of the Console Wars: a conflict that might seem ridiculous, but is only slightly exaggerated from real-life gamers.
Were these episodes likely made to advertise the release of the South Park “The Stick of Truth” video game the very next year? Almost certainly. But that doesn’t mean they don’t rock.
Episode MVP:Kyle and Stan’s bromance is often the closest thing to an emotional core in “South Park,” and their friendship breakup over the opposite sides they find themselves on in the Console Wars gives the trilogy some real stakes and gravitas.
14. “The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs” (Season 14, Episode 2)
There’s a slight meta quality to “Scrotie McBoogerballs,” which questions how much controversial and “edgy” art has real meaning, and how much it’s simply edgy for edgy’s sake. Enraged after reading “The Catcher in the Rye” for English class and finding its controversial content too passé, the boys write their own insanely vulgar book that makes everyone who reads it puke. They pass it off as Butters’ work when Stan’s parents find it, but to their surprise, the adults love it: finding meaning and satire where there is none. The book soon becomes a massive, critically-acclaimed bestseller that the boys try desperately to ban.
It’s one of the meaner “South Park” episodes — among other targets outside of J.D Salinger, it viciously mocks Sarah Jessica Parker, which the star took issue with — but it’s also a sharp story about authorial intent. Even if you don’t agree that “The Catcher in the Rye” is just “some whiny annoying teenager talking about how lame he is,” there’s still a lot to love from this episode.
Episode MVP:Butters, whose reaction to reading “The Catcher in the Rye” is to pick up a knife and repeat “Kill John Lennon, kill John Lennon,” in the single-funniest moment from the episode.
13. “Major Boobage” (Season 12, Episode 3)
After Kenny’s iconic once-per-episode deaths were mostly dropped from the series, Parker and Stone had some difficulty keeping the silent star relevant. So it’s always a treat when Kenny gets elevated from the background to the lead of his own episode, and “Major Boobage” is perhaps the perfect use of him.
The episode sees Kenny become addicted to the newest drug trend: getting high off cat urine (it’s called “cheesing,” because it’s “fon to due”). Kenny gets hooked because the high gives him trippy hallucinations of a big-breasted woman in space. The animation, inspired by horny ’80s classic “Heavy Metal,” is absolutely gorgeous, and effectively takes the, well, piss out of anti-drug crusades and Very Special Episodes when the adults of South Park ban cats from the town in order to prevent more cheesing.
Episode MVP:Gerald, Kyle’s dad, who leads the anti-drug crusade, but hides some major secrets that are best left unspoiled.
12. “The Losing Edge” (Season 9, Episode 5)
A brilliant inversion of sports film tropes, “The Losing Edge” sees the boys competing in the post-season state tournament for their little league baseball team. The problem is that they all hate baseball, and desperately want to lose so they can stop playing: a feat that proves harder than expected when every other team in the league is also attempting to throw their matches. Anyone who has ever been forced by their parents into an extracurricular will be able to relate.
Episode MVP:Randy is a character that would eventually come to dominate “South Park,” but works best as a supporting character. His subplot in “The Losing Edge” — training to fight the dads at his kid’s little league games — is maybe his finest (half) hour on the show, especially when it merges brilliantly with the boy’s main plot at the very end.
11. “Awesom-O” (Season 8, Episode 2)
One of the reasons why Butters, the corny and innocent outcast of the school, became the defacto fifth main character of the show is because he and Cartman’s polar opposite personalities make for ace comedic situations.
One of their best episodes is “Awesom-O,” in which Cartman disguises himself as the titular robot to play a prank on Butters, only to be forced to keep the charade up when he learns Butters has an incriminating video tape on him. Like a lot of “South Park” episodes, the situation spirals out of control until the U.S. military is hunting down Awesom-O. But the comedic chemistry between Cartman and Butters keeps “Awesom-O” on rock-solid story foundation.
Episode MVP: Britney Spears, Cartman’s muse and the inspiration behind his incredibly embarrassing blackmail tape.
10. “Member Berries” (Season 20, Episode 1)
Season 20’s story arc, which parodied the 2016 election, ended up going majorly off the rails after Donald Trump’s surprise real-life victory. Parker and Stone had to retool the entire episode the night before it hit broadcast, but the season started out with one of the best latter-era episodes in the show’s history, which expertly parodies the election, the Colin Kaepernick national anthem protests, online trolling, and the “Star Wars” sequels and other reboots.
While the South Park Elementary girls stage a volleyball game protest against a sexist online troll, Mr. Garrison (a parody stand-in for Trump) runs for president with no real plans. Meanwhile J.J. Abrams is recruited to “reboot” the National Anthem and bring America back together. It’s a lot going on at once, but the overstuffed nature of the “Member Berries” makes it a perfect time capsule for 2016 itself, when the election was in full swing and America felt more out-of-control than ever.
Episode MVP:The titular Member Berries: bizarre talking grapes that plead for their eaters to remember random pop culture detritus like “Alien Nation” and “Akira,” before revealing a decidely not cute racist and hom*ophobic streak.
9. “Trapped in the Closet” (Season 9, Episode 12)
Of all the episodes of “South Park,” “Trapped in the Closet” has arguably had the most real-world impact: single-handedly introducing many viewers to the Church of Scientology and playing a massive role in shaping the religious organization’s public image in pop culture.
After projects like “Going Clear” further investigated Scientology, the “South Park” Season 9 storyline — in which Stan is recruited to Scientology after its officials claim he is the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard — feels as if it’s not going hard enough. But Parker and Stone were bold tackling the subject then, before Church teachings like Xenu were even common knowledge, and the show’s depiction of Church leadership and its mocking of the group’s legal and business practices (down to naming only “John” and “Jane Smith” in the closing credits) is one of the most biting parodies “South Park” has ever done.
It’s pretty much impossible to watch the episode and seperate it from the numerous controversies it spawned: most prominently the exit of late Chef voice actor Isaac Hayes. Hayes left the show after the Church of Scientology allegedly forced the decision on him while he was recovering from a stroke. That’s kind of the point of the episode, and if there’s any installment that proves that the topical humor of “South Park” isn’t just edgy for edgy’s sake, it’s this one.
Episode MVP:Tom Cruise was reportedly unhappy with this episode, potrayed as a simpering syncophant who literally can’t get out of the closet. But the titular bit is one of the funniest gags in the episode, and the way it escalates until it involves Nicole Kidman, John Travolta, and R. Kelly (one joke that definitely feels gross now) is a sight to behold.
8. “Good Times with Weapons” (Season 8, Episode 1)
It’s always a thrill when “South Park,” with its intentionally crude animation, adds a bit of visual florish to an episode. “Good Times with Weapons” is one of the most well-known examples, mixing the paper-cut art style of the show with various sequences portrayed in stiff but undeniably awesome anime flare.
The episode expertly undercuts the awesomeness of these sequences with a ridiculous story where the boys acquire martial arts weapons to play ninja, only to immediately injure Butters with a shuriken and be forced to hide him. It’s a simple setup outside of the art shifts, but the sight of the kids as badass martial artists whining about their parents grounding them never stops being funny.
Episode MVP:Professor Chaos, Butter’s adorably incompetent supervillain alterego, whose attempts to be the sworn enemy against the boys ends in catastrophic failure.
7. “Cartoon Wars” (Season 10, Episodes 3-4)
“South Park” is not shy about ribbing its adult animation peers; see “Simpsons Already Did It,” about how the iconic show has done every single storyline under the sun. But the show really went after “Family Guy” in “The Cartoon Wars,” the series’ first two-parter.
The episodes focus on Cartman’s quest to get the Fox animated series (which he despises) canceled, by protesting the show’s upcoming depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Although Stone and Parker’s dislike of “Family Guy” shines through — the Quahog-set series’ signature cutaway gags gets thoroughly roasted — the episode is surprisingly nuanced. It essentially argues that censorship shouldn’t occur even if the thing being censored sucks.
“Cartoon Wars” is unfortunately one of the three episodes unavailable on streaming due to the depiction of Muhammad (the others are “Super Best Friends” and the two-part “200” and “201” storyline), which makes its censorship parody sting even harder.
Episode MVP:The manatees on the “Family Guy” writing staff, one of the most savage jokes in the show’s entire history.
6. “You’re Getting Old” (Season 15, Episode 7)
There are tons of “South Park” episodes where the youth of the protagonists is somewhat irelevant, but the storylines that really dig into the highs and lows of growing up are among the show’s best. Few capture the experience of aging more relatably than “You’re Getting Old,” which succintly argues: it’s sh*t.
sh*t is pretty much all Stan experiences when he turns 10, as his favorite music genre (“tween wave”) starts sounding like farts. Then his favorite food starts tasting like poop, and eventually even his best friends look like literal walking turds to him. Elsewhere, Randy — desperate to prove he’s still hip with the kids — engages in another ill-advised stunt by becoming a tween wave artist, but this time, his antics have genuine consequences for him and his wife Sharon.
The episode ends on a surprising downer that gets completely erased an episode later, but that doesn’t take away its effectiveness as a stand-alone story. “You’re Getting Old” is one of the few “South Park” episodes that will make you tear up from emotion instead of laughter.
Episode MVP:Stevie Nicks, for the warm dulcet tones of “Landslide.”
5. “The Death of Eric Cartman” (Season 9, Episode 6)
This is the twisted “South Park” take on “It’s a Wonderful Life.” “The Death of Eric Cartman” sees the title character in disarray after he becomes convinced that he’s died and is now a ghost that only Butters can see. In reality, all of his other friends have decided to ignore him after he ate the skin off their KFC chicken.
Desperate to “pass on,” Cartman recruits a reluctant Butters on a mission to atone for his misdeeds, which could be moving if he showed any real remorse for his heinous actions. Filled with callbacks to Cartman’s greatest hits, the episode’s central misunderstanding gets mined for a ton of humor, and puts him and Butters to perfect use as a comedic duo.
Episode MVP: Of all the “South Park” parents, Butters’ are by far the most screwed up, and their solution to their son apparently seeing ghosts (putting him in an abusive asylum) is the perfect darkly comedic cherry on top of this episode.
4. “Imaginationland” (Season 11, Episodes 10-12)
This Emmy-winning trilogy of episodes is “South Park” at its most utterly deranged. When the boys discover a leprechaun in the forest, they’re whisked away to Imaginationland: a special world where all beings from fiction live and prosper. But when terrorists attack, the border between good and bad characters in Imaginationland is broken, and the kids are forced to go on a quest at the behest of the U.S. government — while Butters is handpicked by Aslan from “The Chronicles of Narnia” as the chosen one to save the realm.
It’s a true epic filled to the brim with references, action, and a copious amount of gore against beloved characters. Plus, because “South Park” will always be “South Park,” Cartman spends the entirety of “Imaginationland” attempting to force Kyle to suck his balls over a bet. Perfect television.
Episode MVP:There are so many cameos, jokes, and characters jammed into these three episodes that it’s impossible to choose a stand-out. But the Mayor of Imaginationland’s theme song, which is just the word “Imagination” sung over and over again, is a gag that doesn’t get old.
3. “Make Love, Not Warcraft” (Season 10, Episode 8)
“World of Warcraft” isn’t quite the cultural behemoth it was back in 2006, but “Make Love, Not Warcraft” hasn’t aged a day. The Emmy-winning episode is one of the best depictions of video games in all of TV, capturing everything that makes gaming fun, enraging, and, above all else, addicting.
Featuring incredible machinima graphic recreations of the actual “World of Warcraft” game, created with assistance by the game’s publisher Blizzard, the quest of the kids to defeat a troll in the MMORPG that kills every player he comes in contact with takes the form of both a fantasy epic and an underdog sports movie — complete with a training sequence where the foursome painfully grind their levels up by killing wild boars, to catastrophic effects for their health.
Not many episodes of “South Park” can be deemed “loving,” but “Make Love, Not Warcraft” is as full as love as it is with snark for its subject.
Episode MVP:Cartman, whose final line — “What do you mean? Now we can finally play the game!” — is the perfect ending to a perfect episode.
2. “Scott Tenorman Must Die” (Season 5, Episode 5)
It took a long time for “South Park” to really figure its characters out, and that especially goes for Cartman, who was simply a run-of-the-mill brat during the show’s first several years. “Scott Tenorman Must Die” is the episode that introduced audiences to the Cartman that came to dominate the show: a remorseless, hateful, sociopathic schemer.
Beyond its importance for the series though, “Scott Tenorman Must Die” is also a perfectly plotted and paced sitcom episode: building up slowly before the final gut-punch reveal. Cartman’s revenge plot against the the titular character, a teen who bullies and humilates him, has long been spoiled for most, but it’s still shocking in its cruelty even by the show’s standards — which is the main reason why it’s so incredibly funny.
Episode MVP:Thom Yorke and the rest of the Radiohead bandmembers, who voice themselves in a cameo appearance that amounts to a kick at Scott’s already bruised ego.
1. “Casa Bonita” (Season 7, Episode 11)
“Casa Bonita” isn’t the most unique episode of “South Park,” or the most topical, or the most controversial, or the most significant. Instead, it’s number one because it’s maybe the single funniest in the show’s history.
Focusing on Cartman’s frantic quest to dine at the titular establishment — “The Disneyland of Mexican restaurants,” as the show coins it – after Kyle disinvites him from his birthday party, “Casa Bonita” is pretty much one constant comedic escalation after another. First Cartman tries to play nice with Kyle; then he beats up Jimmy while pretending he’s defending Kyle’s honor; soon, he’s trapping Butters in a bomb shelter and convincing him that a meteorite is on the verge of destroying the world so he can take his spot at Kyle’s birthday dinner.
The writing for Cartman, Butters, and Kyle has never been sharper, and the finale is the perfect coda after the episode’s buildup of Casa Bonita as a mystical promised land. If it wasn’t so gut-bustingly funny, the episode’s lack of frills might lead to accusations of being boring. Instead, it winds up feeling effortless.
Episode MVP: Casa Bonita itself, a real-life Colorado restaurant that Trey Parker and Matt Stone both dined at as children (“South Park” is many things, but it’s also often a deeply local show about two men’s memories of growing up in Colorado). The two went on to purchase Casa Bonita 18 years after the episode it inspired aired, when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the joint is set to reopen this May. “South Park:” a force for good!
