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Wikipedia

Kenny McCormick

Kenneth McCormick[2] is a fictional character and one of four protagonists in the adult animated sitcom South Park, alongside Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His often muffled and incomprehensible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his mouth—is provided by co-creator Matt Stone. After early appearances in The Spirit of Christmas shorts in 1992 and 1995, Kenny appeared in South Park television episodes beginning August 13, 1997, as well as the 1999 feature film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, where his uncovered face and voice were first revealed.

Kenny McCormick
South Park character
First appearanceJesus vs. Frosty (1992) (short)
Created byTrey Parker
Matt Stone
Designed byTrey Parker
Matt Stone
Voiced byMatt Stone (hooded and as Mysterion, unhooded in "A Nightmare on FaceTime,)
Eric Stough (unhooded)
Mike Judge (unhooded; South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut)
In-universe information
Full nameKenneth McCormick
Aliases
  • Kenny
  • Mysterion
  • El Loco
  • Lady McCormick
  • Princess Kenny
  • Dr. McCormick
GenderMale
OccupationStudent, scientist (future)
Family
RelativesGrandpa McCormick (paternal grandfather)
NationalityAmerican
ResidenceSouth Park, Colorado, U.S.
Died126 Times (episodes: Kenny Dies; movies: South Park: Post Covid[1])

Kenny is a third, later fourth-grade student who commonly has extraordinary experiences not typical of conventional small-town life in his hometown of South Park, Colorado, where he lives with his poverty-stricken family. Kenny is animated by computer to look as he did in the show's original method of cutout animation.

The character gained popularity thanks to a running gag during the first five seasons of the series, whereby Kenny would routinely suffer an excruciating death before returning alive and well in the next episode with little or no explanation. Stan would frequently use the catchphrase "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!", followed by Kyle exclaiming "You bastard(s)!". Since the sixth season in 2002, the practice of killing Kenny has been seldom used by the show's creators. Various episodes have set up the gag, sometimes presenting alternate explanations for Kenny's unacknowledged reappearances.

Role in South Park

Kenny attends South Park Elementary as part of Mr. Garrison's fourth-grade class. During the first 58 episodes, Kenny and the other main child characters were in the third grade. Kenny comes from a poor household, presided over by his alcoholic, unemployed father, Stuart McCormick. His mother Carol McCormick has a job washing dishes at the Olive Garden.[3] Kenny has an older brother named Kevin. He also has a younger sister who is shown with his family in the season nine episode "Best Friends Forever", but does not reappear until the 15th season episode "The Poor Kid", where her name is revealed to be Karen, whom he loves unconditionally. Kenny is friends with Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Butters. Kenny is regularly teased for living in poverty, particularly by Cartman.[4]

Kenny's superhero alter ego, Mysterion, first appeared in the Season 13 episode "The Coon",[5] as a rival to Eric Cartman's eponymous superhero alter ego. He unmasks himself at the end of the episode, but his identity is left intentionally ambiguous to the viewer. He is not revealed to be Kenny until the Season 14 episode "Mysterion Rises", the character's third appearance as part of a story arc.[6]

Deaths

Prior to season six, Kenny died in almost every episode. The nature of the deaths was often gruesome and portrayed in a comically absurd fashion,[7] and usually followed by Stan (or Kyle) respectively yelling "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!" with Kyle (or Stan) yelling "You bastard(s)!"[8] Shortly afterward, rats would commonly appear and begin picking at his corpse.[9] In a following episode, Kenny would reappear alive and well, usually without any explanation. Most characters appear oblivious or indifferent to the phenomenon, although occasionally one will acknowledge awareness of it.[10] In "Cherokee Hair Tampons", Kenny gets irritated and offended when Stan laments Kyle's critical condition while utterly ignoring Kenny's past demises. Eric Cartman commented on Kenny's deaths in the episode "Cartmanland" when he is being sued for unsafe rides insisting to attorneys representing his family that "Kenny? He dies all the time!" In "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", as the episode is about to end, the kids point out that "something feels unfinished", and Kenny celebrates as "The End" sign appears; it is the first episode in the series he survives.[11]

Near the end of the production run of the show's fifth season, Parker and Stone contemplated having an episode in which Kenny was killed off permanently. The reasoning behind the idea was to genuinely surprise fans, and to allow an opportunity to provide a major role for Butters Stotch, a breakout character whose popularity was growing with the viewers and creators of the show.[12] In the episode "Kenny Dies", Kenny dies after developing terminal muscular dystrophy,[13] while Parker and Stone claimed that Kenny would not be returning in subsequent episodes. The duo insisted they grew tired of upholding the tradition of having Kenny die in each episode.[14] Stone stated that thinking of humorous ways to kill the character was initially fun, but became more mundane as the series progressed.[13] When they determined that it would be too difficult to develop the character because he was too much of a "prop", Parker and Stone finally decided to kill off Kenny permanently.[8][15]

["Kenny Dies"] was the one episode where [all the characters] cared [he was dying] for once. After that, we said, 'Why doesn't he just stay dead?' And it was like, 'Okay, let's just do that.' It was that easy of a decision. I think a lot of people probably haven't noticed. I couldn't care less. I am so sick of that character.
—Matt Stone, from a 2002 article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel[13]

For much of season six, Kenny remained dead, though he still appears to possess Cartman's body, and both Stone and Parker entertained the idea of eventually bringing the character back.[15] According to Stone, only a small minority of fans were significantly angered by Kenny's absence to threaten a boycott of the cable channel Comedy Central, on which South Park is aired.[8] For most of the season, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman fill the void left by Kenny by allowing the characters Butters Stotch and Tweek Tweak into their group, paving the way for those characters to receive more focus on the show; nevertheless, Kenny returned from the year-long absence in the season six finale "Red Sleigh Down", has remained a main character since, and has been given larger roles in episodes.[15][16][17]

The first explanation given for Kenny's deaths and reappearances was given in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", wherein the McCormicks have a baby exactly like Kenny, including the characteristic orange parka, shortly after the former Kenny dies. Mr. McCormick exclaims, "God, this must be the fiftieth time this has happened", to which Mrs. McCormick quickly replies, "Fifty-second". This explanation is expanded upon in the Season 14 episodes "Coon 2: Hindsight", "Mysterion Rises" and "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", in which Kenny, while playing superheroes with his friends, claims his "superpower" is immortality. He actually dies several times during these episodes—even committing suicide more than once—reawakening alive and unharmed in his bed each time. He is frustrated and angry that no one can remember him dying every time he regenerates and longs to know the source of his power, which he views as a curse. Unbeknownst to him, his parents were previously connected to a Cthulhu-worshipping death cult. After Kenny shoots himself the second time, Mrs. McCormick awakes with a scream, shrieks "It's happening again!", and minutes later, is shown gently placing a newborn Kenny in his bed. "We should never have gone to that stupid cult meeting," she grouses as she and her husband return to bed.[18][19]

In "Put It Down", he is killed off-screen by a driver on his phone, as his picture is shown among those of kids killed by a driver on phone texting tribute. In "Bike Parade", Jeff Bezos tells Alexa to kill Kenny, and Cartman hauls his coffin while riding his bike in the parade. "The Pandemic Special" sees Kenny being gunned down by the police when they are equipped with military weaponry to deal with the children breaking free from COVID-19 quarantine.[20]

In South Park: Post Covid, as a millionaire scientist in the future finding the cause of COVID-19, McCormick dies due to a time travel experiment that got him a variant named COVID Delta+ Rewards.[1] This death is undone in South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid after Stan, Kyle, and Cartman time travel to the past.[21]

Character

Creation and design

 
Kenny's entire face was revealed for the first time in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

When developing the character, the show's creators had observed that most groups of childhood friends in small middle-class towns always included "the one poor kid" and decided to portray Kenny in this light.[22]

In a 2000 interview, Parker said that Kenny was based on a childhood friend of his who was also named Kenny and wore an orange parka that muffled his voice. He too was the poorest kid in the neighborhood and often skipped school, causing Parker and his friends to jokingly say he died, only for him to return to school later.[23]

An unnamed precursor to Kenny first appeared in the first The Spirit of Christmas short, dubbed Jesus vs. Frosty, created by Parker and Stone in 1992 while they were students at the University of Colorado. The character was composed of construction paper cutouts and animated through the use of stop motion.[24] When tasked three years later by friend Brian Graden to create another short as a video Christmas card that he could send to friends, Parker and Stone created another similarly-animated The Spirit of Christmas short, dubbed Jesus vs. Santa.[25][26] In this short, Kenny is given his first name, and first appears as he does in the series. Kenny next appeared on August 13, 1997, when South Park debuted on Comedy Central with the episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".[27]

In tradition with the show's animation style, Kenny is composed of simple geometrical shapes and primary colors.[10][24] He is not offered the same free range of motion associated with hand-drawn characters; his character is mostly shown from only one angle, and his movements are animated in an intentionally jerky fashion.[10][24][28] Ever since the show's second episode, "Weight Gain 4000" (season one, 1997), Kenny, like all other characters on the show, has been animated with computer software, though he is portrayed to give the impression that the show still utilizes its original technique.[24]

 
Mysterion unmasked at the end of "The Coon". Originally intended to have been a generic, unnamed classmate of the main characters, he was revealed to be Kenny in "Mysterion Rises".[6]

The effect of Kenny's speech is achieved by Stone mumbling into his own hand as he provides Kenny's lines.[24] While he originally voiced Kenny without any computer manipulation, Stone now does so by speaking in his normal vocal range and then adding a childlike inflection. The recorded audio is then edited with Pro Tools, and the pitch is altered to make the voice sound more like that of a fourth-grader.[29][30] As the technique of Kenny's muzzled enunciation frequently implies, many of his lines are indeed profane and sexually explicit, the lengthier of which are mostly improvised by Stone.[24]

He first appeared unobscured by his hood in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, where it was revealed that he had messy blonde hair. Mike Judge provided the voice for Kenny's one line of uninsulated dialogue: "Goodbye, you guys."[31] On a few occasions during episodes that have originally aired since the film's release, he has been seen without the parka;[note 1] however, unlike in Bigger, Longer & Uncut his entire face has been only seen three times in the television series without being partially obscured or otherwise altered, this being in "The Losing Edge", "The Jeffersons", and "You're Getting Old". He also speaks unmuffled during some of these instances, in which case co-producer Eric Stough provides Kenny's voice.[31] During "The Coon" episodes of seasons 13 and 14, Kenny has his first major speaking role as the character Mysterion.[32]

Personality and traits

While most child characters on the show are foul-mouthed, Kenny is often even more risqué with his dialogue.[33] Parker and Stone state that they depict Kenny and his friends in this manner in order to display how young boys really talk when they are alone.[10][34] While Kenny is often cynical and profane, Parker notes that there nonetheless is an "underlying sweetness" aspect to the character,[35] and Time magazine described Kenny and his friends as "sometimes cruel but with a core of innocence".[36] He is amused by toilet humor and bodily functions,[36] and his favorite television personalities are Terrance and Phillip, a Canadian duo whose comedy routines on their show-within-the-show revolve substantially around fart jokes. Kenny is shown to desire intercourse in the episode "The Ring", when Kenny gets a girlfriend and is overjoyed to find out that she has a reputation as a slut. Kenny is also lecherous,[4] and often portrayed as being eager to do and say disgusting things in an attempt to impress others or earn money.[22] Conversely, his alter-ego Mysterion is seemingly mature, principled, and serious-minded, the only exception being one instance in "Mysterion Rises" in which he takes delight in irritating Cartman. As Mysterion, he convinces his parents to take better care of themselves and their children, as seen by their reaction when he questions them about the cult of Cthulhu. He also uses his disguise to protect his sister Karen (who refers to Mysterion as her "guardian angel"), as revealed in "The Poor Kid"; however, in all of his guises, Kenny is depicted as being uncommonly selfless, dying for the sake of others and spending all of his time working so he could buy his little sister a doll.[37][38]

In the trilogy of episodes "Black Friday", "A Song of Ass and Fire" and "Titties and Dragons", in which the boys play-act characters from the TV series Game of Thrones, Kenny cross-dresses as a fantasy-style princess with a wig and dress similar to the video game character Princess Zelda, and becomes a Japanese-speaking moe anime character at one point. When Cartman complains, "You're never going to be a real princess", Princess Kenny responds (via her translator, Stan) angrily to Cartman, calling him a "ball-licking lesbian".[39][40][41]

This portrayal continues in the video game South Park: The Stick of Truth where Cartman notes that playing a "chick" is "just how [Kenny] seems to be rolling right now". Kenny's sister also refers to Kenny as a girl, if you talk to her in the McCormick house. Throughout the game, Kenny posts 'status updates' referring to herself as "the cutest of them all".[42]

In other media

Kenny had a major role in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,[43] the full-length film based on the series, and appeared on the film's soundtrack singing (albeit muffled) several lines of the song "Mountain Town" from the film.[44] As a tribute to the Dead Parrot sketch, a short that features Kenny as a "dead friend" being returned by Cartman to a shop run by Kyle aired during a 1999 BBC television special commemorating the 30th anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus.[45] Kenny was also featured in the documentary film The Aristocrats, listening to Cartman tell his version of the film's titular joke,[46] and in "The Gauntlet", a short spoofing both Gladiator and Battlefield Earth that aired during the 2000 MTV Movie Awards.[47][48]

Kenny also appears in six South Park-related video games: In South Park, Kenny is controlled by the player through the first-person shooter mode who attempts to ward off enemies from terrorizing the town of South Park.[49] In South Park: Chef's Luv Shack, a user has the option of playing as Kenny when participating in the game's several "minigames" based on other popular arcade games.[50] In the racing game South Park Rally, a user can race as Kenny against other users playing as other characters, while choosing to place him in any of a variety of vehicles.[51] In South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!, Kenny can be selected as a playable character used to establish a tower defense against the game's antagonists.[52] In South Park: The Stick of Truth, Kenny (as Princess Kenny) can be selected as a companion over the course of much of the game.[53] In South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Kenny is seen as his alter-ego Mysterion.[42]

Cultural impact

Kenny's deaths are well known in popular culture,[8] and was one of the things viewers most commonly associated with South Park during its earlier seasons.[54] IGN ranked Kenny at #6 on their "The Top 25 South Park Characters" list.[55] The exclamation of "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" quickly became a popular catchphrase,[13][36] while both Kenny and the phrase have appeared on some of the more popular pieces of South Park merchandise,[8] including shirts, bumper stickers, calendars and baseball caps,[4] and inspired the rap song "Kenny's Dead" by Master P, which was featured on Chef Aid: The South Park Album.[8]

The running gag of Kenny's deaths in earlier seasons was incorporated into the season 9 (2005) episode "Best Friends Forever" when Kenny, in a vegetative state, is kept alive by a feeding tube while a media circus erupted over whether the tube should be removed and allow Kenny to die. The episode received much attention as it served to provide commentary on the Terri Schiavo case,[56][57] originally airing just one day before Schiavo died.[58] The episode earned South Park its first Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.[59]

Kenny's deaths have been subject to much critical analysis in the media and literary world. In the book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating, an essay by Southern Illinois University philosophy professor Randall Auxier, entitled "Killing Kenny: Our Daily Dose of Death", suggests that the fashion of the recurring gag serves to help the viewer become more comfortable with the inevitability of their own death.[60][61] In the book South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point professor Karin Fry wrote an essay concerning the parallels between Kenny's role in the show and the different concepts of existentialism.[62]

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.[63]

Notes

References

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External links

  • Kenny McCormick on SouthParkStudios.com

kenny, mccormick, kenneth, mccormick, fictional, character, four, protagonists, adult, animated, sitcom, south, park, alongside, stan, marsh, kyle, broflovski, eric, cartman, often, muffled, incomprehensible, speech, result, parka, hood, covering, mouth, provi. Kenneth McCormick 2 is a fictional character and one of four protagonists in the adult animated sitcom South Park alongside Stan Marsh Kyle Broflovski and Eric Cartman His often muffled and incomprehensible speech the result of his parka hood covering his mouth is provided by co creator Matt Stone After early appearances in The Spirit of Christmas shorts in 1992 and 1995 Kenny appeared in South Park television episodes beginning August 13 1997 as well as the 1999 feature film South Park Bigger Longer amp Uncut where his uncovered face and voice were first revealed Kenny McCormickSouth Park characterFirst appearanceJesus vs Frosty 1992 short Created byTrey ParkerMatt StoneDesigned byTrey ParkerMatt StoneVoiced byMatt Stone hooded and as Mysterion unhooded in A Nightmare on FaceTime Eric Stough unhooded Mike Judge unhooded South Park Bigger Longer amp Uncut In universe informationFull nameKenneth McCormickAliasesKennyMysterionEl LocoLady McCormickPrincess KennyDr McCormickGenderMaleOccupationStudent scientist future FamilyStuart McCormick father Carol McCormick mother Kevin McCormick brother Karen McCormick sister RelativesGrandpa McCormick paternal grandfather NationalityAmericanResidenceSouth Park Colorado U S Died126 Times episodes Kenny Dies movies South Park Post Covid 1 Kenny is a third later fourth grade student who commonly has extraordinary experiences not typical of conventional small town life in his hometown of South Park Colorado where he lives with his poverty stricken family Kenny is animated by computer to look as he did in the show s original method of cutout animation The character gained popularity thanks to a running gag during the first five seasons of the series whereby Kenny would routinely suffer an excruciating death before returning alive and well in the next episode with little or no explanation Stan would frequently use the catchphrase Oh my God They killed Kenny followed by Kyle exclaiming You bastard s Since the sixth season in 2002 the practice of killing Kenny has been seldom used by the show s creators Various episodes have set up the gag sometimes presenting alternate explanations for Kenny s unacknowledged reappearances Contents 1 Role in South Park 2 Deaths 3 Character 3 1 Creation and design 3 2 Personality and traits 4 In other media 5 Cultural impact 6 Notes 7 References 8 External linksRole in South Park EditKenny attends South Park Elementary as part of Mr Garrison s fourth grade class During the first 58 episodes Kenny and the other main child characters were in the third grade Kenny comes from a poor household presided over by his alcoholic unemployed father Stuart McCormick His mother Carol McCormick has a job washing dishes at the Olive Garden 3 Kenny has an older brother named Kevin He also has a younger sister who is shown with his family in the season nine episode Best Friends Forever but does not reappear until the 15th season episode The Poor Kid where her name is revealed to be Karen whom he loves unconditionally Kenny is friends with Stan Kyle Cartman and Butters Kenny is regularly teased for living in poverty particularly by Cartman 4 Kenny s superhero alter ego Mysterion first appeared in the Season 13 episode The Coon 5 as a rival to Eric Cartman s eponymous superhero alter ego He unmasks himself at the end of the episode but his identity is left intentionally ambiguous to the viewer He is not revealed to be Kenny until the Season 14 episode Mysterion Rises the character s third appearance as part of a story arc 6 Deaths EditPrior to season six Kenny died in almost every episode The nature of the deaths was often gruesome and portrayed in a comically absurd fashion 7 and usually followed by Stan or Kyle respectively yelling Oh my God They killed Kenny with Kyle or Stan yelling You bastard s 8 Shortly afterward rats would commonly appear and begin picking at his corpse 9 In a following episode Kenny would reappear alive and well usually without any explanation Most characters appear oblivious or indifferent to the phenomenon although occasionally one will acknowledge awareness of it 10 In Cherokee Hair Tampons Kenny gets irritated and offended when Stan laments Kyle s critical condition while utterly ignoring Kenny s past demises Eric Cartman commented on Kenny s deaths in the episode Cartmanland when he is being sued for unsafe rides insisting to attorneys representing his family that Kenny He dies all the time In Mr Hankey the Christmas Poo as the episode is about to end the kids point out that something feels unfinished and Kenny celebrates as The End sign appears it is the first episode in the series he survives 11 Near the end of the production run of the show s fifth season Parker and Stone contemplated having an episode in which Kenny was killed off permanently The reasoning behind the idea was to genuinely surprise fans and to allow an opportunity to provide a major role for Butters Stotch a breakout character whose popularity was growing with the viewers and creators of the show 12 In the episode Kenny Dies Kenny dies after developing terminal muscular dystrophy 13 while Parker and Stone claimed that Kenny would not be returning in subsequent episodes The duo insisted they grew tired of upholding the tradition of having Kenny die in each episode 14 Stone stated that thinking of humorous ways to kill the character was initially fun but became more mundane as the series progressed 13 When they determined that it would be too difficult to develop the character because he was too much of a prop Parker and Stone finally decided to kill off Kenny permanently 8 15 Kenny Dies was the one episode where all the characters cared he was dying for once After that we said Why doesn t he just stay dead And it was like Okay let s just do that It was that easy of a decision I think a lot of people probably haven t noticed I couldn t care less I am so sick of that character Matt Stone from a 2002 article in the Knoxville News Sentinel 13 For much of season six Kenny remained dead though he still appears to possess Cartman s body and both Stone and Parker entertained the idea of eventually bringing the character back 15 According to Stone only a small minority of fans were significantly angered by Kenny s absence to threaten a boycott of the cable channel Comedy Central on which South Park is aired 8 For most of the season Stan Kyle and Cartman fill the void left by Kenny by allowing the characters Butters Stotch and Tweek Tweak into their group paving the way for those characters to receive more focus on the show nevertheless Kenny returned from the year long absence in the season six finale Red Sleigh Down has remained a main character since and has been given larger roles in episodes 15 16 17 The first explanation given for Kenny s deaths and reappearances was given in Cartman Joins NAMBLA wherein the McCormicks have a baby exactly like Kenny including the characteristic orange parka shortly after the former Kenny dies Mr McCormick exclaims God this must be the fiftieth time this has happened to which Mrs McCormick quickly replies Fifty second This explanation is expanded upon in the Season 14 episodes Coon 2 Hindsight Mysterion Rises and Coon vs Coon and Friends in which Kenny while playing superheroes with his friends claims his superpower is immortality He actually dies several times during these episodes even committing suicide more than once reawakening alive and unharmed in his bed each time He is frustrated and angry that no one can remember him dying every time he regenerates and longs to know the source of his power which he views as a curse Unbeknownst to him his parents were previously connected to a Cthulhu worshipping death cult After Kenny shoots himself the second time Mrs McCormick awakes with a scream shrieks It s happening again and minutes later is shown gently placing a newborn Kenny in his bed We should never have gone to that stupid cult meeting she grouses as she and her husband return to bed 18 19 In Put It Down he is killed off screen by a driver on his phone as his picture is shown among those of kids killed by a driver on phone texting tribute In Bike Parade Jeff Bezos tells Alexa to kill Kenny and Cartman hauls his coffin while riding his bike in the parade The Pandemic Special sees Kenny being gunned down by the police when they are equipped with military weaponry to deal with the children breaking free from COVID 19 quarantine 20 In South Park Post Covid as a millionaire scientist in the future finding the cause of COVID 19 McCormick dies due to a time travel experiment that got him a variant named COVID Delta Rewards 1 This death is undone in South Park Post Covid The Return of Covid after Stan Kyle and Cartman time travel to the past 21 Character EditCreation and design Edit Kenny s entire face was revealed for the first time in South Park Bigger Longer amp Uncut When developing the character the show s creators had observed that most groups of childhood friends in small middle class towns always included the one poor kid and decided to portray Kenny in this light 22 In a 2000 interview Parker said that Kenny was based on a childhood friend of his who was also named Kenny and wore an orange parka that muffled his voice He too was the poorest kid in the neighborhood and often skipped school causing Parker and his friends to jokingly say he died only for him to return to school later 23 An unnamed precursor to Kenny first appeared in the first The Spirit of Christmas short dubbed Jesus vs Frosty created by Parker and Stone in 1992 while they were students at the University of Colorado The character was composed of construction paper cutouts and animated through the use of stop motion 24 When tasked three years later by friend Brian Graden to create another short as a video Christmas card that he could send to friends Parker and Stone created another similarly animated The Spirit of Christmas short dubbed Jesus vs Santa 25 26 In this short Kenny is given his first name and first appears as he does in the series Kenny next appeared on August 13 1997 when South Park debuted on Comedy Central with the episode Cartman Gets an Anal Probe 27 In tradition with the show s animation style Kenny is composed of simple geometrical shapes and primary colors 10 24 He is not offered the same free range of motion associated with hand drawn characters his character is mostly shown from only one angle and his movements are animated in an intentionally jerky fashion 10 24 28 Ever since the show s second episode Weight Gain 4000 season one 1997 Kenny like all other characters on the show has been animated with computer software though he is portrayed to give the impression that the show still utilizes its original technique 24 Mysterion unmasked at the end of The Coon Originally intended to have been a generic unnamed classmate of the main characters he was revealed to be Kenny in Mysterion Rises 6 The effect of Kenny s speech is achieved by Stone mumbling into his own hand as he provides Kenny s lines 24 While he originally voiced Kenny without any computer manipulation Stone now does so by speaking in his normal vocal range and then adding a childlike inflection The recorded audio is then edited with Pro Tools and the pitch is altered to make the voice sound more like that of a fourth grader 29 30 As the technique of Kenny s muzzled enunciation frequently implies many of his lines are indeed profane and sexually explicit the lengthier of which are mostly improvised by Stone 24 He first appeared unobscured by his hood in South Park Bigger Longer amp Uncut where it was revealed that he had messy blonde hair Mike Judge provided the voice for Kenny s one line of uninsulated dialogue Goodbye you guys 31 On a few occasions during episodes that have originally aired since the film s release he has been seen without the parka note 1 however unlike in Bigger Longer amp Uncut his entire face has been only seen three times in the television series without being partially obscured or otherwise altered this being in The Losing Edge The Jeffersons and You re Getting Old He also speaks unmuffled during some of these instances in which case co producer Eric Stough provides Kenny s voice 31 During The Coon episodes of seasons 13 and 14 Kenny has his first major speaking role as the character Mysterion 32 Personality and traits Edit While most child characters on the show are foul mouthed Kenny is often even more risque with his dialogue 33 Parker and Stone state that they depict Kenny and his friends in this manner in order to display how young boys really talk when they are alone 10 34 While Kenny is often cynical and profane Parker notes that there nonetheless is an underlying sweetness aspect to the character 35 and Time magazine described Kenny and his friends as sometimes cruel but with a core of innocence 36 He is amused by toilet humor and bodily functions 36 and his favorite television personalities are Terrance and Phillip a Canadian duo whose comedy routines on their show within the show revolve substantially around fart jokes Kenny is shown to desire intercourse in the episode The Ring when Kenny gets a girlfriend and is overjoyed to find out that she has a reputation as a slut Kenny is also lecherous 4 and often portrayed as being eager to do and say disgusting things in an attempt to impress others or earn money 22 Conversely his alter ego Mysterion is seemingly mature principled and serious minded the only exception being one instance in Mysterion Rises in which he takes delight in irritating Cartman As Mysterion he convinces his parents to take better care of themselves and their children as seen by their reaction when he questions them about the cult of Cthulhu He also uses his disguise to protect his sister Karen who refers to Mysterion as her guardian angel as revealed in The Poor Kid however in all of his guises Kenny is depicted as being uncommonly selfless dying for the sake of others and spending all of his time working so he could buy his little sister a doll 37 38 In the trilogy of episodes Black Friday A Song of Ass and Fire and Titties and Dragons in which the boys play act characters from the TV series Game of Thrones Kenny cross dresses as a fantasy style princess with a wig and dress similar to the video game character Princess Zelda and becomes a Japanese speaking moe anime character at one point When Cartman complains You re never going to be a real princess Princess Kenny responds via her translator Stan angrily to Cartman calling him a ball licking lesbian 39 40 41 This portrayal continues in the video game South Park The Stick of Truth where Cartman notes that playing a chick is just how Kenny seems to be rolling right now Kenny s sister also refers to Kenny as a girl if you talk to her in the McCormick house Throughout the game Kenny posts status updates referring to herself as the cutest of them all 42 In other media EditKenny had a major role in South Park Bigger Longer amp Uncut 43 the full length film based on the series and appeared on the film s soundtrack singing albeit muffled several lines of the song Mountain Town from the film 44 As a tribute to the Dead Parrot sketch a short that features Kenny as a dead friend being returned by Cartman to a shop run by Kyle aired during a 1999 BBC television special commemorating the 30th anniversary of Monty Python s Flying Circus 45 Kenny was also featured in the documentary film The Aristocrats listening to Cartman tell his version of the film s titular joke 46 and in The Gauntlet a short spoofing both Gladiator and Battlefield Earth that aired during the 2000 MTV Movie Awards 47 48 Kenny also appears in six South Park related video games In South Park Kenny is controlled by the player through the first person shooter mode who attempts to ward off enemies from terrorizing the town of South Park 49 In South Park Chef s Luv Shack a user has the option of playing as Kenny when participating in the game s several minigames based on other popular arcade games 50 In the racing game South Park Rally a user can race as Kenny against other users playing as other characters while choosing to place him in any of a variety of vehicles 51 In South Park Let s Go Tower Defense Play Kenny can be selected as a playable character used to establish a tower defense against the game s antagonists 52 In South Park The Stick of Truth Kenny as Princess Kenny can be selected as a companion over the course of much of the game 53 In South Park The Fractured But Whole Kenny is seen as his alter ego Mysterion 42 Cultural impact EditKenny s deaths are well known in popular culture 8 and was one of the things viewers most commonly associated with South Park during its earlier seasons 54 IGN ranked Kenny at 6 on their The Top 25 South Park Characters list 55 The exclamation of Oh my God They killed Kenny quickly became a popular catchphrase 13 36 while both Kenny and the phrase have appeared on some of the more popular pieces of South Park merchandise 8 including shirts bumper stickers calendars and baseball caps 4 and inspired the rap song Kenny s Dead by Master P which was featured on Chef Aid The South Park Album 8 The running gag of Kenny s deaths in earlier seasons was incorporated into the season 9 2005 episode Best Friends Forever when Kenny in a vegetative state is kept alive by a feeding tube while a media circus erupted over whether the tube should be removed and allow Kenny to die The episode received much attention as it served to provide commentary on the Terri Schiavo case 56 57 originally airing just one day before Schiavo died 58 The episode earned South Park its first Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program 59 Kenny s deaths have been subject to much critical analysis in the media and literary world In the book South Park and Philosophy Bigger Longer and More Penetrating an essay by Southern Illinois University philosophy professor Randall Auxier entitled Killing Kenny Our Daily Dose of Death suggests that the fashion of the recurring gag serves to help the viewer become more comfortable with the inevitability of their own death 60 61 In the book South Park and Philosophy You Know I Learned Something Today University of Wisconsin Stevens Point professor Karin Fry wrote an essay concerning the parallels between Kenny s role in the show and the different concepts of existentialism 62 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 63 Notes Edit Including The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000 Super Best Friends Lil Crime Stoppers The Jeffersons Good Times with Weapons The Losing Edge South Park Is Gay Lice Capades Margaritaville W T F Pee You re Getting Old and DikinBaus Hot Dogs References Edit a b Swift Andy November 25 2021 South Park Jumps to the Future Kills Off Spoiler in Post COVID Special TV Line Retrieved November 27 2021 Love South Park FAQ South Park Studios Archived from the original on May 15 2012 Retrieved November 8 2012 Kenny McCormick South Park Studios Retrieved March 30 2008 a b c Sylvia Rubin January 26 1998 TV s Foul Mouthed Funnies San Francisco Chronicle Retrieved May 3 2009 Fickett Travis March 19 2009 South Park The Coon Review IGN Retrieved November 8 2010 a b Ramsey Isler November 4 2010 South Park Mysterion Rises Review Mysterion is not so mysterious anymore IGN News Corporation Retrieved November 8 2010 Devin Leonard October 27 2006 South Park creators haven t lost their edge CNN Retrieved May 3 2009 a b c d e f Don Kaplan April 8 2002 South Park Won t Kill Kenny Anymore New York Post Retrieved May 5 2009 Bill Carter November 10 1997 Comedy Central makes the most of an irreverent and profitable new cartoon hit The New York Times Retrieved May 5 2009 a b c d Abbie Bernstein October 27 1998 South Park Volume 2 AVRev com Archived from the original on May 15 2013 Retrieved April 30 2008 Stevens Jeff November 7 2014 The Best Live Action South Park Commercials HuffPost Retrieved February 22 2022 Trey Parker Matt Stone 2005 South Park The Complete Fifth Season DVD Comedy Central Mini commentary for episode Kenny Dies a b c d South Park s Kenny R I P Buzzle com April 9 2002 Archived from the original on January 18 2013 Retrieved May 5 2009 Jaime J Weinman March 12 2008 South Park grows up Maclean s Archived from the original on July 19 2009 Retrieved April 30 2009 a b c Page 2 Staff March 13 2002 Matt Stone ESPN Retrieved May 5 2009 Alyson Brodsy and Mark Perlman Price October 20 2005 A season without Kenny Indiana Daily Student Archived from the original on July 18 2009 Retrieved May 5 2009 Semigram Aly South Park tries to go for laughs with the Penn State scandal Entertainment Weekly November 17 2011 South Park theory solves show s longest running mystery DigitalSpy May 12 2021 Zoromski Dan Iverson amp Brian October 4 2006 IGN TV s 10 Favorite South Park Episodes IGN Schedeen Jesse December 12 2018 South Park Season 22 Finale Bike Paade Review IGN Retrieved December 14 2018 Parker Ryan December 8 2021 South Park Dropping Post COVID Part II Movie Next Week Hollywood Reporter Retrieved December 8 2021 a b Trey Parker Matt Stone Goin Down to South Park Television documentary Comedy Central South Park The Real Life Inspiration for Kenny Paley Center 2000 archived from the original on December 11 2021 retrieved June 17 2021 a b c d e f Matt Cheplic May 1 1998 As Crappy As Possible The Method Behind the Madness of South Park Penton Media Archived from the original on March 29 2009 Retrieved April 28 2009 Brian Graden s Bio VH1 com Archived from the original on January 20 2008 Retrieved January 10 2008 Brian Graden Biography Advameg Inc Retrieved January 10 2008 Frederic M Biddle South Park wickedly makes the grade The Boston Globe August 13 1997 LexisNexis subscription required Retrieved April 30 2009 Jaime J Weinman March 12 2008 South Park grows up Mac leans ca Archived from the original on August 2 2009 Retrieved April 30 2009 South Park FAQ South Park Studios February 10 2009 Archived from the original on May 11 2009 Retrieved April 30 2009 40 Questions South Park Studios October 4 2001 Archived from the original on November 29 2010 Retrieved January 30 2009 a b FAQ In Meet the Jeffersons and in BLU Kenny s voice can be heard without it being muffled by his hood But the voice in the movie sounds different from the episode Was it done by two different people If so why and who did the voice South Park Studios June 24 2010 Archived from the original on November 29 2010 Retrieved December 4 2011 Kenny s 6 Best Quotes From South Park Ranked CBR March 3 2022 Cartman top with kids BBC August 26 1999 Retrieved May 5 2009 Jake Trapper and Dan Morris September 22 2006 Secrets of South Park ABC News Retrieved April 18 2009 Frazier Moore December 14 2006 Loud and lewd but sweet underneath The Age Retrieved May 9 2009 a b c Jeffrey Ressner and James Collins March 23 1998 Gross And Grosser Time Archived from the original on August 21 2009 Retrieved April 28 2009 Isler Ramsey November 17 2011 South Park The Poor Kid Review IGN Archived from the original on May 2 2012 Trey Parker amp Matt Stone The Daily Show with Jon Stewart June 15 2011 Comedy Central McGee Ryan November 13 2013 Black Friday The A V Club Retrieved June 21 2016 Parker Trey Stone Matt 2014 South Park season 17 DVD commentary for the episode A Song of Ass and Fire DVD Comedy Central Nicholson Max December 5 2013 Let the Red Robin Wedding commence IGN Retrieved December 5 2013 a b Dwan Hannah October 16 2017 South Park The Fractured But Whole review round up What the critics are saying The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on November 4 2017 Retrieved November 4 2017 Pulver Andrew August 27 1999 South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut The Guardian London Retrieved July 24 2009 Various Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture South Park Bigger Longer amp Uncut www discogs com Retrieved July 24 2009 News Pythons cut train crash from funny show www iol co za Retrieved August 1 2009 HBO Documentary Films The Aristocrats HBO Archived from the original on April 26 2009 Retrieved March 27 2009 Ortega Tony September 27 2001 Sympathy For The Devil Tory Bezazian was a veteran Scientologist who loved going after church critics Until she met the darkest detractor of all New Times Los Angeles Trey Parker Matt Stone 2000 The Gauntlet Television special MTV Comedy Central Short that aired during the 2000 MTV Movie Awards Baker Christopher Michael South Park Overview Allgame Archived from the original on December 10 2014 Retrieved July 16 2009 Review South Park Chef s Luv Shack ComputerAndVideoGames com Archived from the original on March 30 2007 Retrieved July 19 2009 South Park Rally Preview IGN Archived from the original on July 13 2011 Retrieved July 19 2009 Brudvig Erik October 6 2009 South Park Let s Go Tower Defense Play Review IGN Entertainment Archived from the original on October 10 2009 Retrieved October 10 2009 Martin Liam March 4 2014 South Park The Stick of Truth review 360 Captures the show s humour Digital Spy Archived from the original on April 4 2016 Retrieved January 26 2016 Word Charged Find a Savior Wired com April 27 1998 Retrieved May 14 2009 The Top 25 South Park Characters IGN October 21 2018 Wyatt Mason September 17 2006 My Satirical Self The New York Times Retrieved May 5 2009 Melanie McFarland October 2 2006 Social satire keeps South Park fans coming back for a gasp and a laugh Seattle Post Intelligencer Retrieved May 12 2009 Kate Aurthur April 2 2005 South Park Echoes the Schiavo Case The New York Times Retrieved May 5 2009 Terry Morrow October 23 2005 South Park outlives creators expectations Scripps Howard News Service Retrieved May 5 2009 Staff February 5 2007 Philosophy Speaker Presents Killing Kenny Our Daily Dose of Death GMC Journal Green Mountain College Archived from the original on February 19 2008 Retrieved February 8 2008 Marchetto Sean December 6 2007 Just killing Kenny or ontological boredom Fast Forward Weekly Archived from the original on November 19 2008 Retrieved March 5 2009 Fry Karin December 1 2006 Arp Robert ed South Park and Philosophy You Know I Learned Something Today Blackwell Publishing The Blackwell Philosophy amp Pop Culture Series pp 77 86 ISBN 978 1 4051 6160 2 Thomas H Maugh II August 5 2002 Playing the Name Game Los Angeles Times Retrieved May 5 2009 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to South Park Kenny McCormick on SouthParkStudios com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kenny McCormick amp oldid 1149582334, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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