
South Park's creators on how the series has evolved - pmcpinto
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/09/south-park-20th-anniversary-interview
======
dave_sullivan
This kind of reminds me of something Louis CK said during this talk about
George Carlin:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37zkizucPU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37zkizucPU)

He talks about how he got good at standup after 15 years of doing the same
thing. He threw away all his material (material he'd been working on for 15
years) and just started trying different things. Then he started throwing away
his material every year and creating new material. He noticed that he got
better and better by doing this.

This also reminded me of another anecdote I'd heard somewhere where you have a
pottery class with 20 students.

The class was split: 10 students would make a new sculpture every day while
the other 10 would have to produce only 1 sculpture for the class (which of
course would represent all the extra planning and execution that went into the
solo sculpture). At the end of the quarter, the 10 people who made something
new every day and then threw it away were far better at sculpting, while
everyone in the other group made something kind of shitty and spent a lot of
time doing it.

So maybe it's not "lack of planning" quite so much as willingness to kill your
darlings, again and again.

~~~
blowski
This is probably true for going from novice to mediocre in many things, and
there might be some skills where you can become great by constantly starting
again.

But in software development, the most valuable skills you learn are not those
you pick up when throwing a quick CRUD app together, but those you learn when
debugging, refactoring and optimising legacy code.

I see too many junior devs get frustrated with something, throw it away, only
to rebuild it with very similar problems because they didn't really understand
the root cause in the first place.

~~~
shuntress
There is a difference between writing broken code many times while never
learning, and writing broken code once learning why it was broken then
starting over and writing good code.

If you are saying you can (and should) fix code but cannot fix, for example, a
joke. I disagree.

Only once you know what the problem is can you decide if it makes more sense
to start over.

~~~
blowski
I have no idea whether you can fix a joke. I'm not very funny.

~~~
michaelgrafl
I disagree.

------
strictnein
If you enjoy South Park and you haven't seen "6 Days to Air" you really need
to. I had no idea that the entirety of the episode was created within a week.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_Days_to_Air](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_Days_to_Air)

One of the keys for South Park is that it can quickly address really current
topics because of its production schedule.

~~~
fullshark
It's also why so many late episodes seem half baked unfortunately

~~~
DalekBaldwin
And yet, when it comes to cartoons that have been on the air for multiple
decades, they almost always create something more entertaining with a
production schedule of six days than The Simpsons can create with a production
schedule of six months.

~~~
fullshark
Yeah I still love the show, and even half baked South Park has a lot of laughs
and meat to chew on. It's just a shame that a lot of the time it feels like
potential was squandered or the episodes resolution is completely out of
nowhere.

------
gavanwoolery
My first exposure to Southpark was before it was even a show.

A video file (below) was circulating on my brother's network at college. It is
still strange to me to have witnessed the birth of such a huge hit.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T_RZOoVlzc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T_RZOoVlzc)

~~~
beamatronic
This is even older than the first one I saw which was "Jesus vs. Santa Claus",
in 1997

~~~
rplst8
I was unaware of this too until the other night when I looked it up.
Apparently the first one was made as an entry into a student film festival.
Then a producer saw it and asked them to make another as a gag gift for a
friend. That was the birth of the Jesus vs. Santa episode. In the original,
the character that looks like Cartman is referred to as "Kenny". He "dies"
just like Kenny always did in later episodes.

------
ars
Answer: Plan nothing, and simply be really good at it.

There is nothing there that someone else can learn from. Some people simply
have a talent at doing certain things.

~~~
paulcole
Similarly, Ricky Gervais on how to have a career in comedy: "Fuck around til
you're 39 then make the most successful British sitcom of all time."

~~~
andy_ppp
I have 5 years to go then!

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the_mitsuhiko
Its shocking how much South Park affected my life. No other show that long
lasting I watched all episodes of and because the focus of the chaacters
shifts from the children to the adults it also stays relevant with me as i get
older.

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ewheeler
If you haven't watched Season 19 (which includes the serial saga with P.C.
Principal mentioned in the article) I'd highly recommend it. It really
embodies South Park's unique ability to be simultaneously mature and immature.
And its ability to be hilariously relevant after all these years while
delivering thoughtful social commentary.

I watched plenty of South Park when it came out, but hadn't watched it in many
many years. I checked out Season 19 after I saw it mentioned as one of the
best South Park seasons yet--and I have to agree. Most seasons have a few
brilliant episodes and many average ones. Season 19 is great throughout--its
foray into serialization means more thorough criticism of big topics and is
able to weave several issues together over the course of the season that would
seem forced within a single episode.

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dudul
Damn, can't believe South Park has been around for 20 years! Feels like I was
watching the 1st seasons as a kid yesterday.

At first, I just thought it was funny to hear "motherfucker" and "asshole" on
TV. Then I understood that SP is actually much deeper than that.

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syphilis2
Is South Park (still) cool?

I'm not sure what the best way to judge that is.
[https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=South%20par...](https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=South%20park)

~~~
alexeiz
I used to love South Park. Now I can barely stand it. Am I getting too old? I
rewatch old episodes with pleasure though. It's the new episodes that make me
cringe. It used to be about fart jokes and silliness. Now it's all political
crap.

~~~
aikah
> Now it's all political crap.

Which made South Park better. Fart jokes or making fun of Canadians was never
funny. They still do that but putting the finger where it hurts and calling
out a political camp that is not used to be challenged is refreshing. Of
course there are things they won't do, for their own safety... because some
would resort to violence and directly attack South Park creators.

------
dynofuz
"While you’re doing the first episode, you go, “Oh, this is really working.
Let’s let this be the thing that slides through to the next episode.” So we’re
reacting to what is working the week before, instead of having some grand
design. And then later on, the design starts to reveal itself a little bit."

Is that what makes big companies fail? They plan too much?

~~~
ArkyBeagle
It can be. More likely, it's mainly that once you have the plate spinning on
the stick, it takes intense focus to keep it there.

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djschnei
Love how these guys call out the left and the right for their bullshit. Pretty
rare nowadays...

~~~
Quanttek
Which results basically in "Horseshoe-Theory - The Show". Where the middle way
is always the golden way and, by-accident, is aligned with their neo-
conservative/libertarian ideals

~~~
rl3
These are the guys who created _Team America: World Police_ in 2004, and
you're trying to say that they're neo-conservatives?

~~~
fullshark
I think you can make the case Team America ultimately supports American
intervention in foreign affairs. See the dicks/pussies/assholes speech with
America being the dicks, and ultimately in the right despite some issues.

~~~
rl3
That's a bit of the stretch considering the majority of the film was basically
irreverent to the neoconservative foreign policy of the era.

One recurring theme was gratuitous collateral damage whenever Team America
found themselves in a foreign locale, followed up with complete indifference
or ignorance on Team America's behalf.

To suggest the film was pushing an agenda is ludicrous when it's pretty clear
the goal was to make fun of pretty much everyone and everything.

------
sevenless
I don't like the show - it's devolved into lazy one-sided caricaturing of
'progressive' causes - but the _Make Love Not Warcraft_ episode still holds up
as one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

~~~
jhanschoo
Are you sure that's not a bias speaking? That season was also making fun of
Donald Trump, Whole Foods and college jocks. Season before took a gander at
Lorde. And so much else.

~~~
Ericson2314
Um, Whole Foods and Lorde are of the cultural Left? They call it
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_Republican](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_Republican)
for a reason.

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overcast
I can't believe it's been twenty years, that's insane. Just recently finished
The Stick of Truth on PC. Such an enjoyable little RPG. Really felt like you
were living in their world.

~~~
jonrx
It's one of the first game I really got into. Ended up finishing it in a
little under a week.

It is really is a walk down memory lane.

~~~
overcast
The new one is out soon! The Fractured But Whole. Takes place the very next
day from Stick of Truth :)

~~~
overcast
..and delayed until Q1 2017 :(

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avar

        > On South Park, nothing is off limits.
    

The opening line of this article is a lie:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_controversies#Censo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_controversies#Censorship_of_the_depiction_of_Muhammad)

~~~
jdmichal
The section of the article you link to seems to indicate that the network
(Comedy Central), rather than the show, performed the censorship. If that is
true, I see no incongruity in the quoted statement.

------
Quanttek
Yeah South Park evolved from a neo-con/libertarian "the solution is the middle
way between to over caricaturized extremes" paradise, to a neo-reactionary
shitfest.

Just watch the trailer:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-zJL9JuOLQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-zJL9JuOLQ)

Related:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TttI60-mjQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TttI60-mjQ)

~~~
pessimizer
Cops never get you back your stuff. They do give you a report that you can
give to your insurance company, though.

~~~
kinghajj
Never say never. My wallet was stolen from work a couple months back, but the
city PD somehow found and mailed by driver's license back to me.

