One of South Park‘s many strengths is its singular voice. Since its inception, South Park has always attempted to steer its own course and not give way to the trends of any other animated TV show, like avoiding making the show about a family (which was popular with The Simpsons and King of the Hill at the time). South Park has always stuck to its lane and attempted to push the bar. The show has never changed hands in leadership, always remaining under original creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who have only committed to making the show bigger and better. That’s why it almost comes as a shock that the show once entirely ripped off a College Humor sketch for dialogue in one of its episodes. As wrong as it sounds, it was an honest mistake.
‘South Park’ Had Trouble Parodying ‘Inception’
A few months after their biggest controversy in 2010, South Park returned to mocking less serious matters, like NASCAR racing and Jersey Shore, and began their third episode with a parody of Hoarders. “Insheeption” starts with the reveal that Stan has issues cleaning out his locker, so the boys turn to Mr. Mackey, the school’s guidance counselor, for help. Unfortunately, Mr. Mackey also suffers from a hoarding disorder. The two are sent to a psychological study to uncover the roots of their troubling habit (along with a shepherd accused of hoarding sheep). The result is a dive into Mr. Mackey’s psyche and dreams, and what better target to parody in 2010 than that summer’s blockbuster Inception. There was a slight hiccup: Trey Parker hadn’t seen the movie.
While South Park is a collaboration and has a writer’s room (which has included Bill Hader, Kristen Schaal, and The Shivering Truth’s Vernon Chatman), Parker is the sole credited screenwriter per episode. As displayed in the documentary Six Days to Air, the ideas are broken down and workshopped together before Parker writes the scripts. Normally, this is fine, but when the group decides to parody Inception, it’s much harder when Parker has no frame of reference. Stone explains in the Season 14 DVD commentary, “Most people in the writers’ room had seen [Inception], but Trey hadn’t seen it, so we were looking at stuff online, at different parodies, because we couldn’t get a copy of the movie.” By the time of the episode’s production, October 2010, the summer release was between theaters and DVD (and this was before digital rentals). Stone went on to say, “Sometimes we can get a screener or something – we found a BitTorrent, but it was almost unwatchable.” One of the parodies they landed on was CollegeHumor’s “Inception Characters Don’t Understand Inception.”
Stone praised the College Humor video for capturing the over-explaining dialogue that Inception rapidly fires at the audience, and he told Parker, “This is it!” He said, “They aped it so well, there were literally parts I didn’t remember if that was actually in the movie or [the sketch].” But Parker, receiving it second hand, took it literally and believed lines from the sketch were lifted directly from the movie. Their rapid production schedule, often an asset to keep from overthinking, failed Parker and Stone in this instance, failing to take the time to do any quality control or simply find a better way to watch Inception. The episode went to air and was immediately noticed at College Humor.
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Oh my god, they killed it!
‘South Park’ was Humble to the Sketch’s Writers
Dan Gurewitch, who created the sketch alongside David Young, wrote about the episode on his (now deleted) blog and made note of the line-to-line comparisons. While the similarities are damning, both the sketch and South Park use the line “Sometimes my thoughts of my dead wife manifest themselves as trains,” Gurewitch wasn’t quick to anger. A fan of the show, Gurewitch wrote, “I admire Trey Parker and Matt Stone more than almost anyone currently working in comedy.” He speculated it was an homage if intentional, or perhaps was the result of a staff writer and the duo were unaware of the origin. But Parker and Stone were quick to admit fault.
As he recalls on the commentary, Stone was alerted to the situation by a friend involved at College Humor and immediately called Gurewitch and Young to apologize. “We fucked up. We just ripped off your shit,” Stone admitted and questioned how to make it right, including offering a retroactive writing credit. But Gurewitch and Young extended them the same benefit of the doubt and graciousness Gurewitch had in his blog, Stone calling them “honestly probably too sweet and nice about it.” The duo recognized the situation as fellow creatives and held no ill will toward Parker and Stone. South Park put out a public apology owning up to the situation, citing the mistake and blaming their rapid schedule, and Gurewitch updated his blog stating, “all is well, and we’re going to meet up with Matt and Trey when they’re in New York.”
For such a difficult situation, it is reassuring that all was handled with civility and grace. Parker and Stone did not shy away from the fault on their part, offering explanation, not justification. Gurewitch and Young were understanding and didn’t hold the blunder against Parker and Stone, nor did this hold them back as writers. Young has gone on to work for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Carpool Karaoke, while Gurewitch is an Emmy-winning writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Hopefully, the dinner Stone and Parker promised the duo made up for their transgression.
South Park is available on Max in the U.S.
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Follows the misadventures of four irreverent grade-schoolers in the quiet, dysfunctional town of South Park, Colorado.
- Release Date
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August 13, 1997
- Seasons
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26
