Matt Stone and Trey Parker Reveal Their Favorite Moment in the History of ‘South Park’
Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been writing for South Park for over two decades. It all started in the late ’90s when they made their pilot of the mountain town series.
A lot has changed since then, with the content and animation taking a different turn. Yet throughout 24 seasons, both Parker and Stone can agree on their favorite shot in any South Park episode that has ever been released. Can you guess which single shot on South Park they love the most?
How has ‘South Park’ evolved over the years?
Dedicated South Park fans are well aware of how much the series has evolved over its 24 years on air. There have been many significant changes to the series, including the animation style and the drastic character development between the four main characters.
Simultaneously, the focus has shifted a lot from Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny, to Randy and Butters, who used to be background characters.
But another significant change to the series is the formatting itself. Older South Park episodes often had an A story, a B story, and a C story. Yet after the season 5 episode, titled “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” Parker and Stone adjusted South Park‘s format so that it was just focused on the A Story.
“I remember ‘Scott Tenormon must Die’ for us was a big milestone in South Park,” said Parker, “because it was the first time we realized, maybe we’re trying to do too much in episodes. And it was the first time we were like, ‘Wow, there’s not a C story in this. We’ve just got this one A story of Cartman vs. this guy, and it turned out so good that we really from then on started to say, ‘Let’s forget B stories, let’s forget C stories.’ For a while, we were just thinking, ‘let’s just do a really well told A story.’ That was the biggest lesson we learned from that episode.”
What is Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s favorite ‘South Park’ shot in the entire series?
Parker and Stone can agree on their favorite South Park shot in the entire series. The show has over 300 episodes and an abundance of iconic moments that have played a significant role in pop culture. But their favorite scene of all comes from the episode “You’re Getting Old” in season 15. In the episode, Stan becomes depressed, and everything turns to sh*t. Literally.
And while he is sitting in the theater watching movie trailers, one movie shows a duck becoming the president. This was Parker and Stone’s favorite moment in the history of the series.
“Our favorite shot in any South Park episode was the duck president rising up and quacking and s— coming out its mouth,” they told Entertainment Weekly. “It made us laugh so hard.”
Do Matt Stone and Trey Parker have a favorite ‘South Park’ episode?
Both of the South Park creators have their own favorite episodes of the animated series. While Parker is usually self-conscious of the episodes he puts out, he felt fully confident when making “Imaginationland.”
“If I had to narrow it down to one favorite thing we’ve done, for me, it was ‘Imaginationland,'” said Parker. “We started it as one episode, and it wasn’t until the Monday before it aired that we were like, ‘F— it, let’s not end this. We’ll do a two-parter.’ It aired, and I said, ‘What if we did a trilogy?’ I remember that Thursday morning writing every beat of the show on the board. It was the first time on a Thursday I stepped back from the board, and the whole show was there. It felt so good.”
And as for Stone? He is a huge fan of the season 8 episode, “Awesome-O.”
“AWESOM-O” has one of my favorite scenes of any South Park,” says Stone. “Cartman is starving, and he eats toothpaste.”
