Fictional character in the animated television series South Park
Fictional character
Clyde Donovan (formerly known as Clyde Goodman and Clyde Harris) is a fictional character in the adult animated television series South Park. He is voiced by series co-creator Trey Parker. Clyde is a student at South Park Elementary School, and is a member of Craig Tucker's Gang. He debuted as an unnamed background character in the series premiere "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" on August 13, 1997, and first spoke in the next episode "Weight Gain 4000".
Biography
Clyde attends South Park Elementary School as a third, eventually fourth-grade student of Mr. Garrison's class. The latter took the position of the 45th President of the United States and was replaced by Ms. Nelson in season 19. Clyde resides in South Park, Colorado, and lives with his father, Roger, and an unnamed sister. His mother, Betsy, died in the events "Reverse Cowgirl" after Clyde left the toilet seat up[clarification needed]. Though his name was 'Clyde Goodman' in the merchandise of the first few seasons, it was never used on the show[citation needed]. In "Quest for Ratings", he was named 'Clyde Donovan' during a news segment, but in "Lice Capades", he was referred to 'Clyde Harris' by the nurse. Eventually, his name later reverted back to 'Clyde Donovan' on his Facebook page in "You Have 0 Friends". He is a member of Craig's Gang, and consists of him, Craig Tucker, Tolkien Black, and Jimmy Valmer[dubious – discuss][citation needed].
In South Park: Post Covid is shown to be assisting for Kenny McCormick's death. However, he is also an anti-vaxxer, as "out of shellfishness", refuses to get the COVID-19 vaccine.[1]
Character
Creation and design
In the series premiere, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", Clyde is composed with construction paper and is animated through stop motion. In subsequent episodes, beginning with "Weight Gain 4000", he is animated via computer software, though his appearance is rendered to mimic the style of construction paper used in the first episode. Clyde is composed of primary colors and simple geometrical shapes but is not offered free range associated with hand-drawn characters; he is usually shown one angle and animated in an intentionally jerky fashion.[2][3]
Clyde has medium brown hair and wears a burgundy coat with blue trim and dark-gray pants. He occasionally wears blue mittens. He is also shown wearing a green t-shirt with a cow's face on it. On some occasions, Clyde can wear a red and white varsity jacket resembling his coat. Trey Parker speaks in his normal vocal range, and is edited with ProTools as the pitch is altered to make the sound like that of a fourth grader.[4] Matt Stone voiced Clyde in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", but would not do so again until the Coon and Friends trilogy wherein he voiced Mosquito, Clyde's superhero alter-ego.[citation needed]
Personality and traits
Clyde is shown to have low intelligence in some subjects, including math, such as in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, where, in solving five times two, he answers twelve, and Mr. Garrison refers to him as "a complete retard"[dubious – discuss]. On most things upsetting, he would sob uncontrollably, like in the episodes "Fourth Grade", "Fatbeard", and "It's Christmas in Canada". He also shows little to no interest when occasionally the show gets surreal.[citation needed]
In some episodes, such as "The List" and "Sarcastaball", Clyde is shown to be a jock who is interested in sports, and has a high opinion of himself.[citation needed]
In the South Park episodes "Post Covid", and "South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid", a grown up Clyde is presented as a main character and antagonist of the four main characters, who refuses to be vaccinated against Covid and gets killed in the end.[citation needed]
Reception
Clyde was ranked at #22 by Looper on a list entitled "25 Popular South Park Characters Ranked Worst to Best".[5]
