http://www.southparkstudios.com/rss/ Behind the scenes notes from the Production Staff on duty the night before a new episode airs en-us Copyright 1999-2009, Comedy Partners LLC news@southparkstudios.com Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:50:20 PST Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:44:51 PDT Comedy Central South Park South Park Studios Matt Stone Trey Parker In house http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3784
Good evening South Park production blog readers! It is I. PA Steve! The second-to-last episode of this run is upon us and quite frankly I think I speak for everyone here who wants to be spoken for that we are a little bit tired and looking forward to a holiday break soon.

So, its Tuesday night and I have been pondering what to write about for many days now and I either have writers block or the smell of dinner is making my ADD kick in full throttle. So here we are, the last possible moment to give you the scoop on all things South Park after a long week and I only have one thing on my mind40 DDs.

In last weeks episode, we had a lesson based on the word fag.. Cut back to two days before the episode airs. Trey comes up with this amazing idea to have a baby point to the fag in the photo before him. When the child was looking at the picture there was a Harley rider on one side and a flamboyantly homosexual gay man on the other side. The baby picked the Harley riderproving that even a child knows the word fag refers to people who ride Harleys. Zing!

We use photos on South Park for comedic effect all the time. Sometimes we are unable to find images that already exist so we must create our own. The producers came to me and informed me that they had invited a very muscular man to pose for pictures in a bra, sailors hat, pink boa, and bright red lipstick and I needed to procure those props. Theres something to be said for someone who can keep a straight face when presented with this ridiculous and unexpected request. So off I go to the bra store to buy some 40 DD bras.

I walk in and already Im the center of attention because bras dont fit me and they never will. I said to the clerk, Im not a pervert, but I need to purchase some 40 DD bras in varying colors and lace textures. She knew I was well informed based on what I said and frightened by the fact that I had obviously done my research before hand. Sadly I had, but so is the life of a PA.

Anyway I buy the bras and come back to the studio where the model is waiting. The man bras up, puts the lipstick and boa on, and viola! A very convincing gay man. A few moments go by and I am summoned by our line producer to the photo studio. The sparsely dressed, pink boa laden, lipstick wearing man with the sailors hat says hello and I say hello back averting my eyes from his junk and I walk over to the producer who had a look of the utmost importance in her eye. Thongs, she says, we need thongs. I said now do you want nut huggers, banana hammocks or ass floss, and she said all of the above. Now, I may have embellished that just to write those terms for male thongs, but thats neither here nor there.

Colors and size written down Im off to Target, which by the way has a fantastic male thong selection. I didnt see that one coming, but Im just telling it like it is. I get to Target and Im admiring (pronounced: making sure no one is watching me as I try to secretly scan) the male thong selection when I get a phone call from our office manager to come back to the studio because they are happy with a shot they already had and there would be no need for thongs This is the end of the story, sadly, with no punch line.

I will say this. I have seen a lot of ridiculous, absurd and offensively funny things here at South Park and most of the things Ive seen and done I would do again in a heart beat . I guess now I have to add bra shopping to that list. Im just so thankful I didnt have to buy the damn thongs. Here is the picture as it appeared in the episode. The fag is on the right.



Love, PA Steve

PS: I would also like to take the chance to wish PA Chaffey (Pronouced: Nate) good luck in his new gig. He is leaving us after two awesome runs and we all wish him the best. ]]> Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:46:38 PST http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41960 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3775
We make South Park in house with American animators. We do not send the show out of the country to be animated. There is nothing wrong with outsourcing Animation. Koreans and Indians have the right to work on projects just as much as we do. In fact I feel bad for them because they have to work on Family Guy

But, as I said before, South Park does do all of its animation in-house. We do almost everything right here in our very own studio as most of you fans already know. It's a unique set up that requires all of that fancy computer equipment in the photos you just saw. We also need JJ to manage all that gear, and to keep JJ on top of his game, we need Lucky Charms as well.



Let's review. We have an incredible render farm, over 180 servers, terabytes of data storage and mega-power back up capabilities on which the show depends. All this high tech equipment and more is maintained by JJ, who is the head of our IT department. And JJ loves lucky charms. We can conclude then, that if we don't have Lucky Charms in the South Park kitchen at all times , the franchise is not safe. And its my job to make damn sure we have that bogus emerald isle cavity-causing breakfast treat.

See, Im important after all. My mom was right.

-Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant ]]> Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:48:21 PST http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41804 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3764
Welcome back, South Park-ophiles!

Congratulations are in order, for we have reached the middle of the run. I would like to personally thank each and every member of NATO for making this possible.

But I dont have time for that, so lets get down to business.

I can honestly say that tomorrows episode is my favorite episode of this season. I would even say its the best South Park episode of the past three seasons. I would go further and say its the better than any episode in seasons 1, 5, and 7, but not quite as good as episodes from seasons 3, 9, and 10. And its just as good as any of the great episodes from seasons 2, 4, 6, and 8.

Let me just say this- Its better than the first 3 seasons of Simpsons, and just as good as the 5th season of Seinfeld. Its even better than the original Scarface and just as good as the remake with Al Pacino. Its just as good as Alien and Aliens, and way better than Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection.

Hopefully that gives you some perspective on how great the episode will turn out. No? It didnt? Well, let me just say that its just as good as The Great Gatsby and better than The Sun Also Rises.

Anyway, this week, to get into the spirit of the season the office has been decked out with a variety of spooky props. Including:

Skeletons


Pumpkins



Possessed Marionettes


Well, gotta go. The entire staff is about to pull off an elaborate choreographed dance to Michael Jacksons Thriller and I dont want to miss out. ]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:12:27 PDT http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41642 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3748 This WEDNESDAY! WEDNESDAY! WEDNESDAY! The GREATEST show! The most BRUTAL of fourth graders! The BIGGEST event in the history of pro wrestling will happenin the most PODUNK of mountain towns! (fireworks) Prepare your sorry butts for non-stop action as our boys in South Park take on the world of wrestling! Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and all the rest have never been so utterly awesome! Its the ULTIMATE experience as this ULTIMATE Wednesday South Park airs one half hour of ULTIMATE ULTIMACY.

Also this week we celebrate big boss man, Trey Parkers birthday with a totally savage Acura cake! Here are a few pics to satisfy the eyes! HELL YEAH!






This is a once in lifetime opportunity to see your favorite characters unleash the beast! Be there or be smashed into squirming piles of wussified scum, sliced, diced and prepped twenty minutes for total annihilation!

ULTIMATE XXOO! ]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:00:28 PDT http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41524 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3741
Good evening South Parksters. It is I, PA Steve, and I bring you good news. A new episode of your favorite show is airing tomorrow night! Matt, Trey and the crew are hard at work and Im here writing to you, which can almost count as hard at work. Its been a busy week #2 here. Luckily we werent haunted by the ghosts of David Carradine or Billy Mays after last weeks episode. Michael Jackson already lives here so were used to him sha-moan-ing around.

In other news, it rained today in Southern California. Now I know most of you readers think that rain does not warrant a mention in the blog but, I am from the east coast and there have been times where I cant recall a sunny day in recent memory. Well today it rained here and I dont think it has rained in So Cal since February so theres that fun fact of the day my rain dance worked.

Where was I? Hmmmm.oh yes! The rain. I love rain and our slightly leaky roof. Rain is like sunshine only wetand cloudy. I will say this though; rainy days must inspire Matt and Trey because the writers room was a buzz today with great ideas for tomorrow night Im not sure if they were doing the rain dance, but they were definitely doing the comedy dance!!! Its raining comedy all over this office!!!

Oh boyits late and I have to get back to reading about the red sox and patriots losing in the same day and getting made fun of by just about everyone in South Park for it. Enjoy the episode tonight and for those of you who cant wait for the show please enjoy the picture of a ninja turtle farting music!



- PA Steve ]]> Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:55:35 PDT http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41396 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3723
It's been about 5 months since the last episode of South Park If you ask me as a fan, I'd say that's far too long of a break. But, If you ask me as a crew-member, I'd defend our hiatus to the the death (of someone else, obviously.)

A South Park runs means seven weeks without weekends, without outside friends, no home cooked meals, or helicopter adventures with a Filipino friend who solves mysteries. We, deserve our summer off! But, I suppose all of us fans have a little bit of the same desperation for more South Park that Cartman had when he wanted the Nintendo Wii to come out.


The PAs

Good news: This morning us PAs bought 100 dollars worth of Jack in the Box plus we spent over 100 dollars in milk, fruit, yogurts, and pastries. We had a large catered lunch from a brazilian restaurant as well as a delicious catered Italian meal for dinner. A few hours later a I will go back to the supermarket and pick up about 150 dollars worth of snacks. Close to midnight we will set up a spread of delicious breakfast burritos and soup. There are only two possible conclusions to draw from this. Either the Bulimic Support Group we share our building with have relapsed, or a brand new episode of South Park will air tomorrow!


The Food

Fans can revel in one good constant in our world since August of 1997: South Park.
Big Gay Al said it best in his fabulous USO number in the beloved South Park movie, (which is coming out on Blue Ray on Oct. 16th, so get ready to buy it!)

Since then, bombs have still been falling, people have still been dying, politicians have still been lying, and cancer has still been killing. But, we could always watch South Park, unless of course you were killed by a bomb or cancer. In the past 13 years, South Park has given to society such great episodes as "Fat Butt and Pancake Head," "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers," and my personal favorite "Scott Tenorman Must Die." There are too many classic episodes to mention here but for the next seven weeks on Wednesdays at 10 PM, all of us fans will ignore the greater problems of the world and feel super!

-Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant. ]]> Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:47:07 PDT http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41235 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3672
In 1968 Paul Anka rewrote the lyrics to Claude Franois "Comme d'habitude," into the song My Way for Frank Sinatra. The song My Way had many reincarnations including renditions by Elvis Presley and Sid Vicious.

We here at South Park felt that this weeks episode 1307, the last episode of the first half of season thirteen, was especially special and deserved a tribute.

Sparing no expense we brought Paul Anka in to rewrite the lyrics once more changing the song from My Way to Wednesday. Unfortunately Sid Vicious was unavailable for a recording session, and by unavailable I mean uninterested and by uninterested I mean dead by heroin. Here are those Paul Anka lyrics.


And now the end is near
As we reach our last spring show
To all the fans, we hold so dear
We promise that the jokes will not blow

Weve worked, such crazy hours
On whats new by Matt and Trey
And now well be, up all night
To air it Wednesday

Six weeks weve enjoyed
The Jonas Brothers rings of purity
The Coon became annoyed
With Mysterion and his own obscurity

We now know, queefing is cool
And rappers can be fish sooo gay
Never break Pinewood Derby rules
We learned last Wednesday

Tomorrow night
Well watch Cartman,
Run away
With a few friends,
Theyll try to live the pirate way
For right now thats all Ill say
So from the crew
We hope that you
Enjoy this Wednesday

Yes! It airs Wednesday!


See you in October.

]]> Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:26:23 PDT http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37700 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3662 People often call up and ask what we do with our time when we work on holidays such as Easter. South Park town shuts down for no one! NO ONE! Not even Jesus! This Easter, while working, I had the privilege to interview someone very special here at South ParkPA Kenny. The transcription is as follows via good ole fashion G-chat:

Steve: So Kenny, happy Easter.
Kenny: Happy zombie Jesus day to you sir.
Steve: Where you from?
Kenny: Milwaukee
Steve: Oh, Im sorry! Moving on. -Audience laughs-
Kenny: So whats the scoop on the episode this week?
Steve: Well honestly Im very pumped because I once raced a pinewood derby car.
Kenny: I love pinewood derby cars!!!! Theyre my third favorite derby car!
Kenny: How was it coming in to work on Easter?
Steve: It was weird considering Ive never worked on Easter... wait arent I the one interviewing you?
Kenny: Well, what made you want to interview me?
Steve: Frankly Im fascinated by the way you answer phones and your food choices are terrific. How do you go about selecting the crews snacks?
Kenny: Why thank you! Youre no slouch yourself! Well, I think about what I want to eat, and then I consider how much money I can spend on the stuff that I want, then if I have any money left over I try to buy snacks for the rest of the crew.
Steve: Ok. Fair enough. Whats your favorite color?
Kenny: So basically if I get $100 to buy snacks with, I spend $98 dollars on Lean Pockets and $2 on fruit and veggies. Orange.
Steve: Delicious and healthy!
Steve: This was a weird interview. Im not exactly sure why we just did that.
Kenny: Well Steve, great question!
Steve: What?
Kenny: Whats your favorite thing about working at South Park?
Steve: The interviews over.
Kenny: WHATS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT WORKING AT SOUTH PARK?
Steve: I guess its the free food and the millions of fans that ask for my autograph.
Kenny: Niceno one asks for your autograph do they?
Steve: Kenny
Kenny: Ok fine.
Steve: Good.
Kenny: one more thing
Steve: No.


Yes, I agree that was weird. I also agree it was possibly a bit pointless, but I wanted to give the faithful blog readers some insight as to what we do with the little down time we have here.

PS a congratulatory mention in next weeks blog to the person who pokes Nathan Chaffetz (PA Nate) the most this week on the Facebook. If you have to friend him first, do it! Please be relentless in your poking 17 to 15 times a day is suitable. And also a mention for the person who has the weirdest hometown name (I have no idea why I wrote that but I am curious.) Enjoy this weeks show

DOUBLE PS: If you race pinewood derby cars let me know!!! I will kick your asses!!

Love and Hugs and

PA Steve

]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:36:24 PDT http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37482 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3652
Episode 1305 is only hours away from its premiere. This is the fifth week of our seven week run. We may be a bit tired in the office, but that wont prevent another great episode of South Park from being produced. Be excited.

But what is it about South Park that gives it so much depth? I would argue that its the combination of humor and socio-political commentary that makes South Park such a valuable part of American Culture. Not everyone would agree.

My grandmother believes that South Park consists entirely of toilet humor. However, Matt and Trey are one step ahead of her. Their creation of Terrance and Phillip, perhaps in defiance of more conservative viewers like my grandmother, underscores what a show with just fart jokes really would be like and contrasts with the nuanced themes written in to South Park episodes.

My grandmother is almost 90. She has lived through the depression , WWII, The Korean War, Vietnam, the Assassination of JFK, Watergate, and Michael Bays entire career. She has seen true evil in this world and continues to live. Yet, she would (I pray she has never actually watched this) balk at the cartoon image of Martha Stewart queefing sparkles and ribbons from last weeks episode. It is this sort of obtuseness that has prevented so many people from seeing South Park as not only an hysterical cartoon, but also an intellectual dialogue on many social and political issues during its thirteen year long run.

That being said, the subject of toilets, if not toilet humor, has dominated the South Park office for some time now. After a few weeks of poor toilet etiquette, a sewer line broke; As a result, a certain PA had to mop up fecal water in the South Park HD Studio bathroom. That may not be as glamorous as recording back round voices for a show late Tuesday night, but shit needs to be taken care of.



Thats exactly the attitude the South Park office has, which is why you, the viewer, will get a timely, hilarious, and insightful episode tomorrow night - and perhaps a fart joke or two. But, farts are funny. Sorry Grandma, its true.

-Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant

P.S. We had lunch from a certain upscale China bistro today, so maybe we are full of shit after all.

]]> Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:47:56 PDT http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37307 http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/blog/view_blog_entry.php?id=3642
Hey guys,

Happy March 31st!
PA Steve here to keep you updated on all things South Park. I dont want to give anything away about tomorrow nights episode so, I wont. Take that!

Instead, I want to tell you an epic tale of terror and amazement. Our story begins

In last weeks episode Stan had a hard time returning Randys Margaritaville machine. Now, most people think South Park is a cartoon and the material things and characters in the show are pure imagination. Well folks, Im here to tell you youre wrong. The other day I went into the writers room and there it was, gleaming with margarita making goodness THE Margaritaville.. magically un-smashed and intact.



I picked it up and held it like youd hold a baby with a shaved ice switch. After the choirs and angelic lights ceased to gleam down upon me I decided that I, Steve the PA, must steal the office Margaritaville and set it free.

I wouldnt be able to do it alone so I enlisted the help of a couple friends you might recognize. PA Kenny Cartman Head Lane and PA David Satan Head Madson (shown below).



Together we fought off all those who cruelly held such an innocent Margaritaville captive. Our quest to bring freedom to this innocent shaver of ice mixer brought us to Matt and Treys heavily guarded offices. After realizing they werent so heavily guarded we eluded both Matt and Trey. My arch nemesis PA Lord Chaffington The Fire Helmet was the only one who had the power to stop me now. In epic movie battle form we proceeded to head-butt each other across the entire office. It was a battle hard fought (shown below).



At the end of the hard fought battle (shown above) I was forced to utilize a cheap eye poke shot. Luckily his eye poke deflector was down at the time and I hit the target successfully with my pointer followed by my pinky finger. Left blind in one eye and partially blind in another, PA Lord Chaffington the Fire Helmet was forced to surrender the Margaritaville to me!

As Kenny Cartman Head Lane and David Satan Head Madson escorted me into the Rockies over looking our little Mountain town. As the sole protector of all things Margaritaville, I looked back on todays events here at South Park and thought to myself how lucky I am to be awake and alive.

And as I set the Margaritaville free...



I remembered Im going to be up all night helping finish this weeks episode which, I promise, will not disappoint!!!

(No Margaritavilles were harmed in the telling of this tale)

Love,
PA Steve
]]> Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:44:51 PDT http://www.southparkstudios.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37212