"South Park" is 20-years-old this year, which, yes, means you're getting old, but more importantly that Trey Parker and Matt Stone get to talk a lot about their show.
The cultural impact of the painstakingly animated, potty-mouthed Comedy Central staple has been big, controversial and lasting. Poor Kanye West can never order fish sticks again.
But that's OK, because Ye can go to Casa Bonita and order so many things that are not fish sticks.
It might surprise Yeezy to learn that Casa Bonita is a real place. It surprises most people who aren't from Colorado that Eric Cartman's favorite restaurant is an actual dining establishment in which you can eat sopapillas (and only sopapillas, if you know what's what) and watch flame jugglers dive off a cliff. I went full Elaine Benes when I was told it was real.
So it really should come as no surprise that Parker and Stone briefly considered buying the Mexican Disneyland they worked so hard to honor. Here's what Parker told The Hollywood Reporter for an anniversary oral history:
"Four years ago, it came up for sale and we had 10 minutes of like, 'We should buy it,' because they do have a few things up there now where they're like, this is the 'South Park' Casa Bonita. There are people who go to Casa Bonita because of 'South Park.' "
Imagine.
Also of interest:
- Les Claypool, frontman of Primus, recorded the vocal part to the theme song at Red Rocks.
- The show has brought "a lot of tourists" to the South Park valley, according to the mayor of Fairplay.
- The show didn't find many fans in Colorado for its first 13 years. Says Parker: "For a long time, Coloradans were the people and reporters who did not like us. If you look back, reviews of the South Park movie are almost 95 percent positive; the negatives were The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News."
- Gov. John Hickenlooper is a fan: "Trey and Matt are a rare breed. How many artists consistently create smart, incisive and wickedly funny material? Let alone for 20 years straight? We think of journalism as the unofficial fourth branch of government — a free, independent press is crucial to the success of our democracy. Likewise, satire is key to keeping our culture honest. South Park keeps it real — and keeps us real — and we love it for that."
