How Does South Park Get Away With So Much

When something controversial happens, information technology's actually just a matter of time before it is satirized on South Park.

That's just how it is. The show has been on the air for xv seasons, and Trey Parker and Matt Rock started depending on current events for fresh material years agone. Because the show made it very clear in its very first episode that it has no boundaries, South Park can pretty much go away with anything.

And so, y'all just knew that South Park was going to touch the Penn State scandal at some point. As far every bit current events become, there'southward nix bigger correct now. Moreover, kid molestation is not exactly fresh territory for South Park.

Inevitably, Parker and Rock were going to get there.

And they did with Wednesday night's flavor finale, titled "The Poor Kid."

The Penn State jokes start flight when Kenny and his siblings are taken into a police station and stashed in the "soft room." That'southward where they are greeted past a case worker named Mr. Adams, who fancies himself as a scrap of a comedian.

"I've been looking over my file and see yous kids have all been horribly physically and emotionally abused," Mr. Adams said. "Oh, whoops! That isn't your example file. It's the Penn Country University Gazette. Ha! I'k joking. That's only a joke. We like to have fun hither. Information technology is your case file. I was all just similar, 'It'south the Penn State Gazette,' to be similar a joke. Nosotros take fun."

He continued: "At present listen, you lot're going to be put into a foster home, so I demand to know would y'all like to go to Neverland Ranch, the Catholic church or Penn Land Academy."

Approximate what those three places take in common.

Last but non least: "I'm going to become you lot to smile! A Penn State administrator walks into a bar…Where's that grin? How well-nigh this ane? Joe Paterno doesn't walk into a constabulary station…C'mon, that's a skillful i!"

Well, there were the jokes, and viewers had two options: Laugh or don't express mirth.

Personally, I didn't express joy, and I suspect I'm not the only one. For many, the circumstances at play in the Penn Land scandal are ones that should not be used for comedy. As if that wasn't enough, information technology'southward certainly way too soon to be making jokes.

Simply that's non why I didn't laugh. I didn't laugh simply because these jokes weren't funny.

In recent seasons, South Park has turned into a real hit-or-miss show. Information technology is not equally consistently funny as it used to be, and that's because many of the jokes simply experience forced. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

This is a case of the latter. It didn't surprise me that Parker and Stone decided to use the Penn Country mess for comedy, only they just apparently did a lousy job of using it for comedy that is actually funny.

At that place is a way that they could have used Penn Country for comedy gold. A skillful comic listen can make annihilation funny, no matter how sensitive the subject thing may be. You only have to have your best shot and hope people express joy.

That's exactly what Due south Park did, and it swung and missed.