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Kenny McCormick

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Template:South Park character

Kenneth 'Kenny' McCormick, voiced by Matt Stone, is one of the four central fictional characters of the animated series South Park, the other three being Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, and Kyle Broflovski. Kenny is a nine year old boy living with his poor family in the town of South Park, Colorado.

He is most famous for dying in nearly every episode during the first five seasons of the show, often in humorous ways, before returning again to the next episode with little or no explanation given. In the episode "Kenny Dies" , from the fifth season, Kenny died seemingly for good, and disappeared from the show. He returned at the end of the sixth season. Since then, he has died less often than before "Kenny Dies".

Appearance

Kenny wears an orange parka that incorporates a hood that is always tightly drawn. Due to wearing his hood, which covers most of his mouth, Kenny's lines are all muffled. While residents of South Park understand him easily, newcomers often have problems understanding Kenny's speech, requiring the others to translate for him.[citation needed]

Underneath his hood, Kenny has messy blond hair. He first appeared without his hood in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. He can be seen without it in a few episodes,[1] and also speaks unmuffled on a few occasions, namely Bigger Longer & Uncut[2] and the episodes "The Jeffersons" and "Lice Capades".

In "Good Times with Weapons" and "Starvin' Marvin", Kenny has been shown to have blue eyes.

Characterization

Kenny comes from a very poor, violent, and alcoholic family;[3] his parents are Stuart and Carol McCormick. Eric Cartman often teases Kenny for his poverty.

When it comes to sexual matters, Kenny is the most knowledgeable of the group, and the others will typically go to him if they do not know something. Kenny is fond of toilet humor and pornography.

In a running gag for the five first seasons of the show, Kenny died in almost every episode, with only a handful of exceptions.[4] This was often followed by the catchphrase "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "You bastards!", usually said by Stan and Kyle, or some variation of it. It was also common practice for a number of rats to suddenly appear and begin picking at his corpse.

Kenny "permanently" died in the episode "Kenny Dies" (2001), and was taken off the show, with the creators confirming that they had killed the character for good.[5] Despite this claim, Kenny returned to the show less than one year later, first as a spirit possessing Cartman in "A Ladder to Heaven", then as his old self in "Red Sleigh Down". After this, Kenny has not died in every episode, but he still dies in some episodes, most recently in the Season 11 finale, "The List".[6]

Kenny has voluntarily died on numerous occasions in order to save people. In "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut", Kenny electrocutes himself in order to restore power to a hospital that had been snowed in, saving the lives of everyone inside. At the end of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, he dies in order to restore the chaos that was unleashed from hell, in "Jewbilee", he dies to save a group of Jewish boy scouts, and in "Best Friends Forever", Kenny dies so that he can save Heaven during its war against Satan's minions.

Despite his poverty, Kenny typically is seen with the same toys and games as his friends. Examples include "Make Love, Not Warcraft", in which he owns World of Warcraft, "Best Friends Forever", in which he is the first to acquire the new PlayStation Portable, much to Cartman's envy, and "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery", in which he is dressed as an ED-209 for Halloween, in a costume that is implied to be of Hollywood quality.

Kenny goes well along with his friends Stan and Kyle. Kenny's friendship with Cartman is more complex. Although Cartman often teases Kenny, and Kenny wrote in his will that he did not like Cartman, but felt sorry for him,[7] it has also been indicated that Kenny and Cartman consider themselves to be best friends.[8][7] In "Rainforest Schmainforest", Kenny begins a relationship with a girlfriend named Kelly, and in the following episode, he is on his way to see her when he spontaneously combusts.

In other media

Kenny un-hooded in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

Besides the South Park television show, Kenny has made appearances in other South Park media, including the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999), in which his unmuffled line was voiced by Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge, and South Park video games. Early versions of the character appeared in the Parker and Stone cartoons "The Spirit of Christmas [Jesus vs. Frosty]" (1992) and "The Spirit of Christmas [Jesus vs. Santa]" (1995).

In the book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating, there is an article about Kenny, by Southern Illinois University philosophy professor Dr. Randall Auxier, entitled "Killing Kenny: Our Daily Dose of Death."[9]

Kenny's deaths and the "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" catchphrase are well known in popular culture, and have appeared on various pieces of merchandise, from T-shirts to guitar straps (like the one used by The Police guitarist Andy Summers), and inspired the rap song "Kenny's Dead" by Master P,[5] which was featured on the Chef Aid: The South Park Album.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Including "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000", South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, "Lil' Crime Stoppers", "The Jeffersons", "Good Times With Weapons", "The Losing Edge", "South Park Is Gay!", "Lice Capades", and "Super Best Friends".
  2. ^ "FAQ Archives". South Park Studios. Retrieved 2008-08-28. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  3. ^ "Kenny McCormick". South Park Studios. Retrieved 2008-03-30. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  4. ^ Exceptions include "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" and "Fat Camp". He also apparently dies before returning to life in some episodes, including "Rainforest Schmainforest" and the two-part episode "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?" / "Probably".
  5. ^ a b Kaplan, Don (April 8, 2002). "South Park Won't Kill Kenny Anymore". FOX News. Retrieved 2008-02-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Trechak, Brad (November 15, 2007). "South Park: The List". TV Squad. Retrieved 2008-02-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |work= (help)
  7. ^ a b Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2005-03-30). "Best Friends Forever". South Park. Season 9. Episode 129. Comedy Central.
  8. ^ Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2001-12-05). "Kenny Dies". South Park. Season 5. Episode 78. Comedy Central.
  9. ^ Staff (February 5, 2007). "Philosophy Speaker Presents "Killing Kenny: Our Daily Dose of Death"". GMC Journal. Green Mountain College. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
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