You know what they say: One man’s death is another man’s comedic material, and the way celebrities have been dropping like flies lately, it’d be shameful to expect anything less than Dead Celebrities – South Park’s mid-season kick-off episode. As the celebrity death toll shot upward, so did Matt Stone’s and Trey Parker’s pant tents at the sight of opportunistic comedy, but only with passing of the late, great white Jackson could the duo pull together an episode so profoundly hilarious.
Poor little Ike has been seeing dead celebrities lately, and thank god and his best friend the devil that they chose the wee tyke, lest we all miss out on his show-concluding “Hoooly shit! What- the fuck am I- weawing?” Something about Ike swearing always gets me, and whoever’s voicing the character has my championship; his deliveries will have you clutching your sides. (Remember to close your mouth after a while. You don’t want to catch tuberculosis!)
South Park’s jump to high-definition is really starting to pay off, allowing new avenues for subtle visual jokes, like Ike(al Jackson)’s fantastic footwork. And those tiny details compliment yet another solid storyline, this time surrounding celebrity ghosts, specifically Michael Jackson’s, and his attempts to fulfill unfinished business from his former life as a famous black pop white superstar child. The unfinished business? Be accepted for what he truly lived to be – a little white girl. I’ll leave it up to you to find out whether or not he’s successful.
Apart from the revisiting of Jackson’s repeated claims of everyone’s ignorance, we’re also pitched products from the afterlife via the ghost of Billy Mays, and the saving throw of this week’s episode deals directly with a product Mays left behind for Chipotle-loving Americans – the miracle working, blood stain removing Chipotlaway! Blood stains in your underpants from eating too much delicious Chipotle? Tired of spending bucks deluxe on new underpants? Chipotlaway! BUY IT NOW!
There’s no such thing as too soon for Matt and Trey, but behind every joke is a touch of respect paid where respect is due. I haven’t seen this rule bent so fully since Bono’s drinking milk from a man’s teet; midway through the episode, the real ghost busters are called in to action – the gang from Ghost Hunters. The crew from “the gayest fucking show on TV” take to Ike’s home, wherein they piss and shit themselves over a sound like a “dhu” and a television. Once Parker and Stone have conveyed their love for Ghost Hunters, their sights move to a small woman who specializes in “spooky things”. She describes purgatory to the boys and tasks them with aiding Jackson before being expelled from the building by death denial and landing splat on the street below. An “Oh!” moment if I’ve ever seen one.
Season 13 of South Park is trudging along comedy ally, grabbing more laughs as every episode passes. Crisp, clear high definition brings out the vibrance of the reds and browns of the underwear stains, as well as the silvery lining and brownish-green innards of the victimized Chipotle burritos. It’s never been a better time to be a South Park fan, or to have a golden butthole.
>I loved this episode. ;-;