Every South Park Christmas Episode, Ranked (According To IMDb)

South Park is one of the crudest and darkest comedies on television. The series, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, does sometimes like to get into the holiday spirit, though it’s always done as irreverently and offensively as possible.

There are plenty of memorable moments in which South Park has either mocked or embraced the Christmas spirit. Some of their holiday episodes are better than others, but all have something hilarious to offer—even if it’s unbelievably twisted. From anthropomorphic excrement helping to save Christmas to a notorious cult leader getting into the Yuletide spirit, South Park has taken the most wholesome of holidays to their usual extremes.

Updated on December 23rd, 2021 by Tanner Fox: The best South Park Christmas episodes are good throughout the entire year but they hold a special significance around the festive season due to their surprising amount of sincerity in a lot of cases.

11 #HappyHolograms (Season 18, Episode 10) – 6.8

“#HappyHolograms” is the season finale of season 18 and the conclusion of a two-part episode. In the episode, Kyle is gathering celebrities to put on the most extravagant Christmas special ever. Flooded with pop culture jokes and classic South Park celebrity impersonations, the episode rips on everything popular in 2014, including jokes aimed at Bill Cosby, Iggy Azalea, Lorde, and hologram celebrities of 2pac and Michael Jackson.

Cartman invades the Christmas special as a popular YouTube personality and tries to take over but is defeated by PewDiePie, who cameos in the episode as himself. While “#HappyHolograms” was passible when it first debuted, it’s now incredibly dated and puts in the limelight cultural phenomena that most haven’t thought about in years. South Park‘s strange fascination with serialization in the mid-2010s confused lots of fans, and this episode is a great example of why many of these storylines didn’t work.

10 Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics (Season 3, Episode 15) – 7.4

“Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics” is a series of famous holiday songs sung by a variety of South Park characters. Hosted by the Christmas icon Mr. Hankey The Christmas Poo, each song is perverted in some fashion using South Park‘s trademark humor. The show really doesn’t hold back in this episode, offering up such hits as “Christmas Time in Hell,” sung by Satan, and a rendition of “O Tannenbaum” sung by an animated Adolf Hitler. It certainly isn’t as innocent as other animated Christmas specials, but, for those who love dark humor, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Interestingly, though he’s one of South Park‘s most recognizable side characters, he’s one of the show’s most maligned players. Though he was referenced in the recent “Post-Covid” special, Mr. Hankey hasn’t appeared on the show since 2018’s “The Problem With A Poo.”

9 A Very Crappy Christmas (Season 4, Episode 17) – 7.6

When the town of South Park decides to celebrate a non-materialistic Christmas, the boys try to create a short animated film that can capture the spirit of Christmas and inspire the town to start buying presents once again.

The highlight of this episode is the introduction of Mr. Hankey’s family. Mr. Hankey has a stressful home life with his dissatisfied alcoholic wife, and their three “nuggets,” Cornwallis, Amber, and Simon. It’s a hilarious episode that also critiques how commercialized Christmas has become.

8 The Spirit Of Christmas (N/A) – 7.6

“The Spirit of Christmas” is a collection of two short animated films that serve as precursors to South Park, introducing the humor and characters that would become the main elements of the series.

The first short film is called “Jesus Vs. Frosty,” a short in which Frosty the Snowman turns out to be a deranged snowman who, of course, kills Kenny. Jesus then has to kill Frosty and save Christmas. The second short film is called “Jesus Vs. Santa,” which features Santa Claus and Jesus fighting in a crude satirization of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise.

7 Bike Parade (Season 22, Episode 10) – 7.6

The final installment of South Park’s 2018 go-around, “Bike Parade” sees the kids desperate to find bike parts after an Amazon worker strike holds up deliveries. It’s a massive jab at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the potentially-malicious practices employed by the company, and it ends on a high note—literally—when the town comes together to celebrate with a whole lot of Tegridy.

Though it’s only tangentially related to the holiday season, Santa does show up to help the children of South Park, but he leaves when he learns what they’ve done to Mr. Hankey.

6 It’s Christmas In Canada (Season 7, Episode 15) – 7.7

South Park often rips on Canada, and “It’s Christmas in Canada” is one of the best examples. In the episode, Canada signs a new law that rules that every adopted Canadian child must return to their birth parents in Canada, and this includes Kyle’s brother, Ike. The four boys then travel to Canada to ask the prime minister to change the law.

The episode is a parody of The Wizard of Oz and features various musical numbers and colorful characters. The boys come across various Canadian stereotypes who then join them on the rest of their journey. For those who love South Park’s weird obsession with poking fun at Canada, this episode can’t be topped.

5 Christmas Snow (Season 23, Episode 10) – 7.8

One of South Park‘s best running jokes is Tegridy Farms, a marijuana farm run by Randy Marsh. In “Christmas Snow,” Santa Claus becomes enraged because the residents of South Park can’t seem to stop driving under the influence. Eventually, Santa bans alcohol sales in South Park, causing all of the residents to become depressed and lose the Christmas spirit.

In an attempt to brighten the holidays, Randy sells a new strand of his weed called Christmas Snow, which turns out to be cocaine. Only South Park would be so bold as to depict Father Christmas on cocaine.

4 Red Sleigh Down (Season 16, Episode 17) – 8.1

In “Red Sleigh Down,” the boys ask Santa to try and bring the Christmas spirit to Iraq. However, once they arrive, Santa is immediately shot down and captured. The boys then seek the help of Jesus in order to save Santa and Christmas.

Mixing Christmas with the war in Iraq is something only South Park could make work. It’s extremely irreverent, and it definitely feels like a relic of the early 2000s, but hardcore South Park fans will always be able to get a kick out of this episode.

3 Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson! (Season 2, Episode 16) – 8.2

Most Christmas specials try to impart lessons of faith and virtue, and, in this South Park episode, Stan is taught an important lesson from Charlie Manson, of all people. After escaping prison with Cartman’s uncle, Manson hides out in Cartman’s house, and wacky hijinks ensue with the animated version of the cult leader.

South Park often mocks some of history’s most infamous figures, and, of course, Manson gets no mercy. In an odd way, this episode does have an important message about loving family, twisted as it is. Manson even has a change of heart, so, in a warped way, “Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!” shows how the holiday spirit can brighten up anyone’s spirit.

2 Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo (Season 1, Episode 9) – 8.2

This episode gives birth to the iconic South Park Christmas character Mr. Hankey, the Christmas poo. In the episode, the town of South Park is getting rid of any potentially religious Christmas decorations out of fear of being politically incorrect or offensive.

Kyle discovers Mr. Hankey one day and tries to convince the town of his existence. However, Mr. Hankey stops talking in front of everyone save for Kyle, leading to the whole town thinking he’s lost it. While the character of Mr. Hankey is undeniably strange, fans can’t deny that his song is incredibly memorable.

1 Woodland Critter Christmas (Season 8, Episode 14) – 9.1

“Woodland Critter Christmas” is infamous for being one of the darkest episodes of South Park. The episode puts a twist on innocent children’s Christmas specials with cute animals who have overly-obvious names like Beary the Bear, Porcupiney the Porcupine, and Rabbity the Rabbit.

Stan finds these characters, who ask him to kill a mountain lion so Porcupiney can give birth on Christmas Day. However, Stan soon finds out that the critters are a group of Satan worshippers who are giving birth to the antichrist. It’s about as horrific as a Christmas comedy special could possibly be.

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