10 Weirdest Episodes Of South Park (That Test The Limits)

Let’s face it, the zany and raunchy cartoon known as South Park is itself basically just off-the-wall premises laced with a wacky, often bizarre sense of humor. But relatively speaking, this long-running animated series has had some truly strange, head-scratching episodes, even for the goofy standards of show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. From insane sci-fi settings to trippy, philosophical plots, South Park is no stranger to some wonky concepts, which help to enhance its blend of social commentary, cultural spoofs, and toilet humor.

So let’s visit the quiet little mountain town of South Park as we sift through the show’s vast history of over 300 episodes. We’ll take a look at 10 of the all-time weirdest episodes – the strangest of the strange!

10 Canceled

This episode begins as a neat little callback to the very first episode, “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe,” and somehow manages to accelerate in absurdity from there, making that pilot episode look tame in the process.

Basically – the boys discover the earth is essentially one giant reality show, in which life of all kinds is forced to live on the same planet together (which apparently is not an occurrence on other words). But there’s trouble abound, as the show is threatened to be canceled/destroyed by a team of colorful alien TV producers. This could work as a sort of surreal dystopian sci-fi epic as much as a South Park episode. Although said film may not have worked too well with a taco that defecates ice cream, or alien creatures performing strange sex acts on each other while snorting drugs.

9 Are You There God? It’s Me Jesus

In typical South Park fashion, we’re given a spoof right off the bat with this cheeky episode title, which is a play on Judy Blume’s “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret. The episode revolves around a sort of a strange hodgepodge of stories all building up to the new millennium. While the larger plot involves Jesus trying to get God to show up for the new year in South Park, the main focus of our protagonist, Stan, is a pursuit to get his period. Yep – you heard that right.

After accelerating his growth with drugs from Dr. Mephesto, an awkward, facial-hair sporting Stan asks God – who ends up taking the form of a rat-like hypo creature – why he hasn’t bled yet. God provides the obvious answer, after using up the one question that he could be asked in millennia. Somehow this is even weirder to write about than it is to watch…

8 Terrance And Phillip In Not Without My Anus

You sort of need to know the events surrounding this goofy Terrance and Phillip-based episode to get the full comedic effect. Viewers were on the edge of their seats following the conclusion of season one, as we’re left with a cliffhanger that will reveal who Cartman’s father is. As an amusing – if not a bit cruel – April Fool’s joke, the showrunners waited weeks, only to interrupt the reveal with this silly, totally unrelated episode starring unrelated characters…

The fact that “Not Without My Anus” basically exists as a TV manifestation of an April Fools joke is odd by itself. But the events in the episode bring things to another level of absurdity, as it hones in on two flatulent-loving Canadians as they get into shenanigans with “Scott the Dick,” “Ugly Bob,” and Saddam Hussein. Put simply, this episode makes the rest of South Park look mature by comparison…

7 A Million Little Fibers

To get an idea of how off-the-wall the premise is – it includes a constantly stoned talking towel (who’s written and seeks to promote an autobiography), talking, gun-wielding genitalia, and Oprah Winfrey. This episode doesn’t just go on weird tangents that avoid the series’ four main characters, it pretty much is the tangent. Even Matt Stone and Trey Parker weren’t crazy about how this strange episode turned out, describing it as a “hat on a hat” with what’s essentially two weird “B-plots” and no real “A-plot.”

6 Go God Go

This two-part comedic adventure mainly hones in on Cartman, as he’s become unhealthily obsessed with snagging Nintendo’s new Wii console. He’s so determined to make the time speed by that he has himself frozen, only to wake up in a strange future in which religion has been phased out, replaced by rival factions of warring atheists. One of these groups includes a band of intelligent sea otters who “eat off their tummies.”

The episode is part sci-fi homage and part videogame nod, wrapped up with a surprisingly thoughtful philosophical look at atheism, evolution, and “isms” in general.

5 Woodland Critter Christmas

Often the most interesting, memorable art and entertainment can be birthed from hardships – whether financially, environmental, or simple time-restraints. As Matt and Trey explained in their DVD commentary to this twisted and overtly-goofy “Christmas special,” they were on a desperate time crunch to get this thing out. The problem? They simply could not come up with ideas for an episode. After a long run of season eight, they were running dry.

Mere days before they had to air, they churned out what became one of the weirdest, most sadistic episodes in show history. Basically, Stan comes across a band of seemingly cute, but actually Satanic, murderous woodland critters, who seek to summon the Anti-Christ.

4 You Have 0 Friends

In this amusing little spoof of Facebook, Stan is fed up with this site’s growing influence on society when his dad implores he “poke his grandma” and feels slighted when he finds his son hasn’t added him as a friend. The site soon literally consumes him, and we see the manifestation of Facebook in real life – which, for some reason, resembles the ’82 sci-fi romp, Tron.

A subplot involves a socially awkward, lonely boy in despair as he attempts to merely get one friend on Facebook. Kyle eventually befriends him, only to be socially ostracized from it. Despite its goofy, random nature and sci-fi trippiness, it actually provides an interesting commentary on social media and its dynamic in real-life relationships and social circles.

3 Fantastic Easter Special

Stan’s father Randy is often the comedic anchor of South Park with his wonkiness, naivety, and crazy antics; especially in the later seasons of the show. Yet he truly manages to outdo himself in “Fantastic Easter Special,” in which we see him take part in a weird Easter cult where grown men dress up like rabbits.

The episode escalates in strangeness as it spirals down a “rabbit hole” of a major conspiracy involving the pope, Jesus, and the masonic “Hare Club For Men.” The episode basically makes the viewer contemplate the weird rabbit-themed premise of Easter itself by watching this series of insane, and often violent events transpire.

2 Lice Capades

The fact that “Licecapades” takes place inside a head of hair of one of the boys, Clyde, and stars a band of talking lice creatures should tell you all you need to know about this episode’s weirdness. The funniest (and strangest) part is that we actually get emotionally invested in this comedic action-drama as the lice struggle for their own survival – since Clyde is looking to rid himself of the infestation. It’s like watching a thrilling survival adventure; only one that happens to take place on a child’s scalp rather than in a fantastical forest.

1 Imaginationland

Considering South Park itself is full of crazy, imaginative settings, characters, and plots – an imaginary world within that setting must truly be wacky. Such is the case with “Imaginationland,” a bombastic 3-part epic that hones in on the always amusing Butters, as he tries to navigate a fantasy world crawling with fictional characters ranging from Aslan to Wario.

But here’s where things really heat up – this large group of colorful characters gets bombed by a group of terrorists, unleashing an army of demons. Our heroes call upon filmmakers M. Night Shyamalan and Michael Bay to help, and, as you’d expect – chaos ensues. Matt and Trey’s imaginations were running wild with this one, indeed.

About The Author

Stephen Lagioia
(250 Articles Published)

Stephen is an avid Nintendo, Indie, and retro gamer who dabbles in Xbox on occasion, mainly in the form of binge sessions of Overwatch. He’s a history buff, an aspiring writer of short fiction, and a devout metalhead who enjoys poorly drumming along to Black Sabbath on his cheap drum set. When his beloved Chicago Cubs or Bulls are not playing, he typically likes to watch random documentaries or campy horror films.

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