South Park Humor

Humor can be described in many different ways. There are millions of things that happen on a daily basis that we perceive as ‘funny’. But, not everyone thinks that the same things are as funny as others do. This is because of our different personalities and outlooks on life. Where we were raised, our race, religion, social class, family values, political party and occupations are all contributing factors that can affect one's perception of a ‘funny’ moment. These conflicting interests between people can quickly turn a show, movie, game or event into a controversial debate. This is the case for the television series South Park, which draws a lot of attention for their edgy and highly contentious episodes that can sometimes include NSFW scenes.

One scene that has been highly debated by South Park enthusiasts is a part of episode 5, season 14 called ‘Crippled Summer’. The scene features a scenario in which the character“Towelie” is the subject in a spoof of the show Intervention, a show where addicts are confronted with their problems by their friends and family as well as therapists and counselors. The episode shows ‘Towelie’ huffing computer duster in his car in a “Supply Max” parking lot, where he is then confronted by another character named “Butters” who urges him to get up and go to the intervention arranged by his friends and family. The scene as a whole is a benign violation because of many different reasons. The situation being intended to mock an educational TV series showing the negative effects that drugs and addiction have on not just the users but their families as well is the violation

The original episode of Intervention featured a man named ‘Matthew’ who had a severe addiction to computer duster and also showed him ‘huffing’ in an Office Max parking lot. Which was the reasoning for the “Supply Max” name shown in the background of the South Park episode. Using an actual instance of addiction to mock on an animated television show is a benign violation concept in itself, due to the fact that it's based on real-life experiences. This is then negated by the fact that the same acts illustrated by the real-life user are committed by an animated towel in a TV