South Park: 10 Best Holiday Specials (According to IMDb)

One thing South Park has been known for – aside from its raunchy humor and sociopolitical commentary – is its knack for delivering some of the wackiest, most enjoyable holiday specials. This isn’t all too surprising that the show excels in its zany Christmas-themed episodes, given its start as a crude animated short which pits Jesus against Santa Claus, called The Spirit of Christmas.

Yet, the show’s memorable holiday specials extend beyond just Christmas and often venture into the realm of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and even Easter. Over the years, there have been quite a few crazy and creative episodes showcasing everything from Easter cults to Black Friday epics. With that said, let’s take a look at the 10 all-time greatest holiday-themed episodes of South Park, according to IMDb.

10 Red Sleigh Down (8.1)

Only Matt Stone and Trey Parker could concoct a violent action-laced Christmas special that takes place in Iraq, involves Santa being tortured, and Jesus Christ packing heat. This episode takes the usual cheery holiday and puts a dark and even depraved twist on it, injecting tons of action, death, and destruction. What makes it even funnier is that it’s two of the most prominent figures of the holiday, Jesus and Santa, along with South Park‘s own Mr. Hankey, in the thick of this insanity.

Oh – there’s also a hilariously simplistic B plot (if you can call it that) which involves Jimmy taking all episode to stutter his way through “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

9 Starvin’ Marvin (8.2)

This is one of those all-time South Park classics that somehow stands the test of time despite it airing all the way back in 1997. “Starvin’ Marvin” isn’t just charmingly funny in that juvenile Season 1 South Park style, but it’s also the first Thanksgiving special, and one of the most endearing holiday specials Matt and Trey have made to this day.

Basically, the normally gluttonous Cartman and a starving Ethiopian child end up switching places, as a result of a government mix-up involving a promo digital sports watch – which also involves activist and spokeswoman Sally Struthers. As you might expect, hilarity ensues. Yes, even back in the 90s, South Park was going full throttle with some off-the-wall premises.

8 Merry Christmas Charlie Manson! (8.2)

“Merry Christmas Charlie Manson,” a blatant, cheeky reference to the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, is actually pretty endearing, despite it revolving around the particularly creepy criminal and cult leader, who makes up one of the episode’s lead characters.

There’s still plenty of that pottymouth South Park humor to be had though, as Kyle, Stan, and Kenny have to endure a holiday as at the home of Cartman’s extended family, all of whom possess his trademark Cartman-esque mannerisms. Meanwhile, the gang meets up with Manson and Cartman’s convict uncle, who broke out of prison. The episode follows that typical Christmas special formula, with holiday themes and a heartfelt moral to close it out – only with more Cartman than anyone could handle.

7 Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo (8.2)

As if a Thanksgiving and Halloween special weren’t enough for this iconic cartoon’s debut season, we also get a truly classic Christmas special with the introduction of the most unlikely of holiday mascots – a talking piece of poo. This overtly cheery talking feces, named Mr. Hankey, greets a bewildered Kyle from his toilet, helping to cheer him up as a result of his feelings of isolation of being Jewish on Christmas.

But Mr. Hankey’s primary goal is to restore the spirit of Christmas to the town of South Park, which has increasingly stripped their school pageant of all decor and themes representative of the holiday so as not to “offend” anyone. Despite its centering around a piece of excrement, this is a delightful episode that even sees Kenny make it out alive – this during an era in which he abruptly got killed every single episode.

6 Fantastic Easter Special (8.3)

By 2007, South Park had grown quite a bit more abstract and nuanced compared to the juvenile fart jokes and talking poo that comprised much of the early seasons. The weird levels are off the charts in this Easter special, making “Starvin’ Marvin” and “Mr. Hankey” look tame by comparison.

This episode somewhat plays with the bizarre concept of Easter as a religious holiday tied to Christmas, essentially asking the question, “just what is this egg and rabbit-themed holiday all about?” Well, in the twisted world of South Park, it’s apparently about a strange cult, cheekily named the “Hare Club for Men,” in which many of the fathers of South Park dress up as bunnies and worship a rabbit. And it only gets stranger from there.

5 A Nightmare On Face Time (8.4)

South Park is known nearly as much for its hilarious, creative Halloween-themed shows as it is for Christmas specials. “A Nightmare on Face Time” is a super funny spoof which almost writes itself with its hilariously clever premise that likens an old Blockbuster to the deserted hotel in The Shining. This episode also stands on the strength of one of the show’s funniest characters, Randy Marsh, who is in prime goofy form in this special.

Much like Jack Nicholson’s character Jack Torrance begins losing his mind as he wanders the eerie, vacant hotel, so too does Stan’s dad after buying a Blockbuster outlet only to find nobody is giving him business or even entering the store.

4 Pinkeye (8.5)

There is much to enjoy about this classic Halloween special, especially for fans of Chef, who takes center stage here and even busts out a Michal Jackson-esque zombie dance. Despite being only the 7th episode ever made, “Pink Eye” is still one of the most memorable and fun to watch, as it features a classic zombie premise and plenty of funny zingers throughout.

What has birthed this outbreak of pinkeye, which has caused those infected to act like the undead? Well, an infected bottle of Worcestershire sauce, of course! Hey, this is South Park, after all, what did you expect?

3 Spookyfish (8.6)

Much like “A Nightmare on Facetime” served as a clever spoof of The Shining, this similarly great Halloween comedy-thriller is a nod to Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Oh – it’s also got a side of trippy sci-fi parallel dimensions thrown in for good measure.

Basically, Stan gets a new goldfish from his “Aunt Flo;” a seemingly harmless pet that turns out to be evil. The fish murders a bunch of people including Kenny. Matt and Trey’s juvenile yet amusing use of “Spooky Vision” on the borders of the frame adds a bit of creative flair that gives this episode a sense of authenticity.

2 Black Friday Trilogy (9.0)

The hilarity, creativity, and level of detail packed into this South Park trilogy epic is truly impressive. One would think it’d be tough to successfully spoof HBO’s Game of Thrones so effectively, given all the content and the diversity of material it offers, but the showrunners have managed to pull it off, and so much more.

The “Black Friday” trilogy isn’t just a nod to Thrones, but really a compiled spoof of many aspects of geek culture, from anime to videogames (as the premise revolves around the boys fighting to get the coveted next-gen consoles). This is a spoof of nerd culture, materialism, and holiday specials as a whole, wrapped in an epic adventure. The zingers and clever references are spot-on, the animation is detailed, and the narrative is an entertaining one.

1 Woodland Critter Christmas (9.1)

It’s rather amusing that “Woodland Critter Christmas” has managed to become one of the most twistedly creative, beloved holiday specials in South Park history, given Matt and Trey’s admittance that this was desperately churned out in a few days to meet a deadline after a bout of writer’s block. But hey – often the greatest art comes from adversity, even if this particular art is pretty goofy and sadistic.

It features a myriad of seemingly cute critters who are actually violent, murderous Satanists, which Stan gets wrapped up in as part of a pretty crazy narrative. Still, it all makes sense after we’re shown the amusing twist ending, which reveals that this was all just a made-up tale in the warped mind of Cartman.

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.

More From Stephen Lagioia