Comedy Central

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Comedy Central is a cable network devoted to comedic and humorous programs, including the satirical "fake news" show The Daily Show and its sister program, The Colbert Report, a parody of Fox News pundits like Bill O'Reilly. Other popular shows on the network include crude animated series like South Park, Futurama and Drawn Together, comedian-hosted sketch shows like Chappelle's Show, Mind of Mencia and Important Things with Demitri Martin, various live stand-up specials, and occasional original sitcoms, like The Sarah Silverman Program and That's My Bush!. To the chagrin of conservatives, there is so much raunch on this channel that most programs are rated TV-14 or TV-MA.

They fill out their schedule with endless repeats of Jackass and Waiting.

Contents

[edit] South Park

South Park is a satirical animated series that debuted on Comedy Central on 13 August 1997. Its creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, first met when they were teamed together for a film studies class project at the University of Colorado. The series about four foul-mouthed eight-year-olds[1] and their strange hometown grew out of their belief that only child characters could be politically incorrect enough to satirize American society.

[edit] Investigation by Scientology

During the ninth season, which began in March 2005, there were rumors that the creators of South Park were working on an episode that would skewer Scientology. These rumors likely originated with cast member Isaac Hayes, a Scientologist who voiced the character of Chef. That Stone and Parker would want to produce such an episode should have come as little surprise to the hierarchy of Scientology, as they had lampooned elements of other religions -- especially dogma, fundamentalism and the slave-like devotion many religious leaders demand of their followers. (Stone -- who is Jewish and who supplies the voice of Kyle Broflovski, who is also Jewish -- has written many episodes satirizing his own religion.)

The episode, titled "Trapped in the Closet", aired on 16 November 2005. In it, Stan Marsh is screened by a Scientologist who finds that he has a high thetan level, and is so believed to be the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard. Tom Cruise and other Scientologists visit Stan and try to recruit him as a church leader. When Stan ridicules Cruise's acting and career choices, Cruise throws a tantrum and locks himself in Stan's closet. This leads to a running gag where several people ask him to come out of the closet. Eventually, fellow Scientologists John Travolta and R&B singer R. Kelly join Cruise in the closet.

The episode also includes a long segment describing the dogma of Scientology. It ends with Stan saying to the Scientologists "so sue me," to which they reply "fine, we will!" In the end credits, everybody is credited as either "John Smith" and "Jane Smith". (This episode aired only once in America and Great Britain after Tom Cruise complained to network executives.)

At first, Isaac Hayes was willing to participate in the episode. But as the time to produce the episode drew closer, Hayes withdrew his support and eventually quit the series. In the first episode of the tenth season -- "The Return of Chef" (aired 22 March 2006) -- Chef is killed off after he joins a club that is really a brainwashing cult.

In October 2011, Mark "Marty" Rathbun, a defector from Scientology who was once the head of a secret unit within Scientology charged with inspecting critics of Scientology, claimed to have documentation that his former unit had done in-depth investigations of the South Park production team -- particularly of Stone and Parker -- in retaliation for the episodes Trapped in the Closet and The Return of Chef.[2]

[edit] Muhammad censorship controversy

In 2010, South Park -- being a show that likes to intentionally piss people off by making very good points -- decided to broadcast an episode featuring the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Despite the depiction being of just a guy in a bear suit and the same show depicting Muhammad back in 2001 (and in the flesh, sans bear suit) Comedy Central decided to outright censor the image. Stone and Parker were adamant that it wasn't some random in-joke, particularly as the entire event was foreshadowed by the 2006 episode "Cartoon Wars"; the storyline was almost identical to how the 2010 controversy played out, but with the cartoon in question being Family Guy.

The event eventually sparked "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" in protest, with the aim being to make depictions of Muhammad common enough to render them hardly offensive at all, or at least make most Muslims grow up and get over themselves.

[edit] "Go God Go"

In true South Park manner of poking fun at everyone and everything, the creators of South Park also made an episode about atheism. The episode features Richard Dawkins (whose voice actor should be executed for his poor accent imitation) having an affair with the local transvestite school teacher. The two later lead the abolition of all religion.

Society in the distant future is then depicted as being completely atheistic, worshiping science and ridiculing as well as violently fighting everything religious, but involved in a three-party civil war over atheist community naming dispute (which is called the great question).

A dumb plot or does it have a point, especially concerning the Great Atheist-Feminist War? You decide.

Ironically, one of the two series creators now self-identifies as an atheist. The other one is something of a deist, but has called naturalistic worldview "the silliest religion of them all," which is ... well, not true.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. From Episode 306, Sexual Harassment Panda:
    Judge:   Mr. Marsh, what do you have to say?
    Stan:     What do you mean?
    Judge:   I need to hear your defense.
    Stan:     Uh... I'm eight?
  2. Rathbun, Mark "Marty". "Corporate Scientology Targets South Park", Moving On Up a Little Higher (Rathbun's blog), posted 23 October 2011, accessed 26 October 2011.
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