This ‘South Park’ Episode Made Trey Parker ‘Depressed’ Because He Thought It Was so Bad
Matt Stone and Trey Parker are the geniuses behind the animated Comedy Central series, South Park. There are over 300 episodes of the satirical show, and it remains just as strong as it did when it premiered in 1997.
Yet there was one episode in particular that Parker thought was so bad, he became depressed. Which episode is he referring to?
Trey Parker has self-doubt over every ‘South Park’ episode he puts out
According to the series creator, he constantly feels self-doubt over nearly every South Park episode he makes. While speaking to Book of Mormon actor Rory O’Malley, Parker revealed how self-conscious he feels whenever a South Park episode goes on air. He admits that he feels a sense of embarrassment by the work he puts out and thinks everyone will consider the latest episode “the worst one yet.”
Yet there was one episode that Parker felt so embarrassed by that he thought it would destroy South Park’s legacy.
Trey Parker felt ‘depressed’ after making ‘Make Love, Not Warcraft’
“Every Tuesday, Matt and [Anne Garefino] know they have to talk me off a cliff,” said Parker, according to The Independent. “Every show, I’m like, ‘this is a horrible show, I don’t want anyone to see it.’ There’s one episode we did, it was the first show of the season, and I’m like, I’ve lost it. I don’t know how to do this anymore.”
“I was like, please, begging Anne, do not let this go on air,” said Parker, “because I don’t want the South Park legacy to be ruined, and this show is going to ruin it because it’s so bad and I’m just going to feel terrible…”
Parker then says that he couldn’t sleep that night because he thought the episode would be a disaster.
“I just went home and was depressed and couldn’t sleep,” Parker admits. “And I got in the next day, and they’re like, ‘dude, people really like that show.’ And it was the show about World of Warcraft.”
The ‘South Park’ World of Warcraft episode is their most successful episode to date
According to Stone, “Make Love, Not Warcraft” is the most popular South Park episode of all time. During a 2011 video where Parker and Stone discuss the top 10 fan-favorite episodes of the series, he admits that at first, he couldn’t understand why they were making an episode on a “silly little game.” Yet after the episode came out, he realized that World of Warcraft is a huge deal.
“Make Love, Not Warcraft is the most popular episode of all time in South Park,” said Stone. “And I remember (Trey) got Warcraft and was like, ‘I’m gonna see what it’s all about.’ And he was like, ‘We gotta do an episode about this.’ And I was like, ‘What? This little game? This silly little online game?’ I didn’t get the scale of it. Through doing the episode and then afterward, I realized that it’s this humungous deal. So it doesn’t surprise me that it’s the most popular.”
