Original artwork, not a still
Stan and Kyle's running exchange, South Park
Stan: Oh my God, they killed Kenny! Kyle: You bastards!
— South Park • 1997
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is a ritual lament for a character nobody is allowed to keep: the joke is how little the boys, and later the audience, ever mourn him. The Goon Show's Bluebottle had a similar cry in 1951, but this version became the show's calling card and the shorthand for any running gag where someone is destroyed on schedule. Kenny died for good in Season 5 and came back at the end of Season 6, and the line never went away.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for South ParkShow the scene
The running gag begins in the very first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" (South Park, Season 1, 1997). Waiting at the bus stop and then searching for Kyle's kidnapped little brother Ike, the boys meet the alien visitors' spaceship, which blasts Kenny with a star-shaped object. He is flung into the street, and Stan and Kyle cry out the line for the first time; Kenny then gets up, is trampled by cattle and is finally run over by Officer Barbrady's police car. Kenny kept dying, and the boys kept saying it, for the first five seasons.
Sources (2)
- South Park Archives: Cartman Gets an Anal Probe (episode synopsis)Synopsis, the spaceship and Kenny sceneReference checked
- South Park Archives: Kenny McCormickCharacter summary and Trivia on the recurring death gagReference checked
Context reviewed
