Randall "Randy" and Sharon Marsh (néeKimble[1]) are the most prominent set of parents on the show. Their first names are derived from the first names of series co-creator Trey Parker's parents,[2] and Parker describes Randy as "the biggest dingbat in the entire show".[3] Randy is voiced by Parker. Sharon was originally voiced by Mary Kay Bergman, Eliza Schneider, and is currently voiced by April Stewart.
Randy and Sharon have known each other since childhood.[4] Taking liberties with its floating timeline, the show established Randy and Sharon as being a couple as young adults during the flower power era.[5] As husband and wife, the two tend to be content with each other. They maintain steady friendships with the parents of Stan's friends, and are revealed as enjoying the act of watching pornography together in order to enhance their sexual relationship.[6] Their marriage has not been without its frequent arguments, which are usually instigated when Sharon is annoyed, ashamed, or disgusted by Randy's eccentricities. The two even once went through a brief divorce. After quickly entering a new relationship, Sharon realized how much she was still in love with Randy, and the two promptly reconciled.[4] Randy and Sharon tend to showcase liberal viewpoints, having protested the 2003 invasion of Iraq[7] and supported Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential race.[8]
Like Parker's father, Randy is a geologist, making his first appearance in the series while monitoring a seismometer in the episode "Volcano". Aside from briefly taking a job as an associate at a Wal-Mart-like discount store,[9] and was portrayed as having this profession until he was fired at the end of the 12th season[8] but in You Have 0 Friends it was said that he got another job which has yet to be shown. He has also served on the city council, specializing in the town's parks and public grounds.[5] Randy has black hair, a mustache, and a cleft chin. He carries a few pens in one of the two front pockets on his light blue, collared, button-up shirt, and wears dark gray pants. Randy dropped out of high school,[10] but he has mentioned that he attended college.[11][12] One character has even implied that Randy has a doctorate.[13] Randy is a survivor of self-inflicted testicular cancer.[14] A recurring character trait of Randy's is his being prone to overreacting and obsessively seizing upon irrational ideas and fads, whether by himself or as part of a large contingent of the town's adult population. Though the show frequently depicts him to be a moderate drinker, numerous episodes have dealt with Randy's exorbitant behavior brought upon by his severe intoxication.[8][15][16][17] A few instances of personal achievement have made Randy a hero in the eyes of his friends and fellow townsfolk, such as being awarded a Nobel Prize,[18] and twice setting a record for producing the world's largest piece of human excrement.[19] He is also shown to be the toughest of the South Park parents, by frequently getting in fights at Stan's baseball games, usually winning. Randy has conversely been subjected to ridicule from the entire town, ranging from when he inadvertently accelerated the effects of global warming by suggesting the entire populace take on a more uninhibited approach to passing gas in order to avoid the hazard of spontaneous combustion,[18] to when he reluctantly exclaimed "niggers" while attempting to solve a puzzle during a live taping of Wheel of Fortune.[20] Randy is quite musically talented as he can play guitar as seen in Guitar Queer-O and is able to sing and dance. He was even part of a pop band in the 1980s called The Ghetto Avenue Boys.[21] He can also speak little Mongolian, having learned some in college, as illustrated in the episode "Child Abduction Is Not Funny".
Sharon Marsh made her first appearance in "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig". She has never been portrayed in a work capacity on the show, but was briefly depicted as a receptionist at Tom's Rhinoplasty, a local surgical clinic, in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. She has close-cropped brown hair, and wears a brown long-sleeved pullover adorned with red ruffles at the cuffs and collar, and dark blue pants (her sweater looks like an elongated version of the coat worn by her son). Sharon's breasts are the subject of infatuation by several of the town's prepubescent boys, including Butters, much to Stan's annoyance and disgust, though they are said to be very attractive, it is not known if Sharon knows of the town's opinion of her breasts.[22][23]
Shelley Marsh
Shelley Lynn Marsh is Stan's older sister. The character was voiced by Mary Kay Bergman until Bergman's death, and Shelley has subsequently been voiced by Eliza Schneider. Her new voice artist is April Stewart.
Shelley wears a white shirt and pink trousers. Her facial features are distinguished by her large braces and headgear. She speaks with a distinctively adenoidal voice. She has long brown hair and usually has an angry expression on her face when she interacts with Stan. On some occasions (most recently Pandemic, in which Randy told her to get back to her room, and Pandemic 2: The Startling where she was running from the effective "Guinea Empire" with her parents throughout the episode), she has been seen with her pajamas on; her pajama shirt is pink.
Shelley has an extremely aggressive temper and has very little respect for Stan and his friends, usually referring to them as "turds". In "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", she physically abused him, hurled him around their house, and in the feature film South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut, she demolished a wooden chair over his head. This does not mean she hates her brother, as in the former episode she lies to protect him from being sent away. There have been other moments when she also seems to have superhuman strength, and once had the ability to lift a piano over her head with ease, seen during "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics". She does help Stan when he is in real danger, although in "Pre-School" this was apparently only because she wants the privilege of beating up her brother all to herself.
In the episode "Cat Orgy", Shelley was dating Skyler, a twenty-two year old who has his own band. Skyler is also seen with his band in the episode "Timmy 2000". He pressured Shelley to have sex, and left her when she refused. She and Cartman got revenge by destroying Skyler's prized guitar and burying it in a cat litter box. When Skyler confronted them, they threw catnip at him, and in response, the cats that were following Cartman's cat, who was in heat, pounced on him in a sexual frenzy. Shelley also internet dated a boy named Amir in the episode "Over Logging" who she later met in California but could not properly look him in the eye.
"Grampa" Marvin Marsh is Stan's grandfather. He is voiced by Trey Parker, who also provides the voices for both his son Randy and his grandson Stan. According to the episode "Death", Grampa is 102 years old. In the episode "Grey Dawn", he revealed that he worked 55 years in a steel mill. In World War II, he flew Spitfire fighter planes over Germany. He is also familiar with typically British words as wankers and poofters.
At different times he has been indicated to be both Stan's maternal and paternal grandfather. In later episodes, he is indicated to be Randy's father. He also has the same last name as Randy. This is supported by "Fantastic Easter Special", in which Randy says his family has been in a society which guards a secret about Easter for years, and Grampa is shown to be a member. While in "Grey Dawn", he is called "Dad" by Randy, in the episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes", Sheila Broflovski asks Sharon Marsh "Sharon, isn't that your father?", to which Sharon replies yes. It is possible she refers to her father-in-law as her own father. He typically gets Stan's name wrong, often calling him "Billy," as his own grandfather called him.
In his first appearance, "Death", Grandpa Marsh desperately wants to die because he is old and fed up with life. After his own failed attempts at suicide, he turns to Stan to do the job for him. Stan approaches various people, including Jesus, for advice on the matter but they are all unwilling to answer. When Grandpa Marsh eventually does convince Stan to kill him, Death's sudden appearance foils the plan (although it turns out Death was actually looking for Kenny). Death points into the light where Grandpa Marsh's own grandfather (who refers to Marvin as "Billy"), whom he had killed when he was a boy, convinces him to wait for natural causes. In the episode "Grey Dawn", South Park's elderly residents are angered when their driving licenses are taken away after their bad driving kills a number of people. He started a movement to let the elderly keep their licenses, but it ultimately failed. He was later caught driving without his license (which had been taken away) and he was arrested. He was soon rescued by the AARP, whom he teamed up with to start randomly killing anyone in sight. After a brief period of complete control of South Park, and plans to overtake the entire country, maybe even the world, his group was thwarted when the four boys locked them out of the Country Kitchen Buffet (their only source of food). The group eventually surrendered, and life returned to normal.
In "The Red Badge of Gayness", Grandpa Marsh is the narrator to the crowd at the Civil War reenactment, and leads the group in its attempt to stop the Southern reenactors from taking over the country. In "Quintuplets 2000", he complains that Stan and the others should not be taken to a French Canadian circus to learn about the arts, though he later has sex with the grandmother of quintuplets performers from the circus, after which (or during which) she dies. In "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes", he becomes a greeter at the new Wall-Mart.
Randy apparently videotaped him in the bathtub in his video camera obsession.
'Grandma Marsh' was shown in the episode "You have 0 friends" but she's never been seen with the family. This could mean that Grandpa and Grandma Marsh are separated and Grandma's living somewhere else, but the South Park creators never mentioned what her story is.
Jimbo Kern
Jimbo Kern (sometimes portrayed as Kerns or Uncle Jimbo) is uncle to Stan. Earlier episodes indicated him to be the brother of Stan's mom Sharon, but an interview with Stone established him as the half-brother of Stan's father, Randy,[24] though their fraternal relationship is rarely explored on the show. Jimbo is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone. Jimbo is a Vietnam veteran and gun enthusiast, owning a local firearms store and leading an outdoors lifestyle. He is often accompanied by his war buddy Ned Gerblansky. Jimbo frequently keeps company with the town's working-class citizens, and often expresses a blue-collar point of view during the show's frequent satire of both liberal and conservative politics. Jimbo and Ned were inspired by characters series co-creator Trey Parker used to draw during high school.[25]
Jimbo made his first appearance in "Weight Gain 4000". His most prominent appearances in the series were in the early episodes "Volcano" and "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka", where most of his background was established. He served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot, attaining the rank of sergeant. It was in Da Nang where he met Ned, who has since remained to be Jimbo's best friend and sidekick. Both Jimbo and Ned often embellish the truth of their experience in the war together, saying that they wiped out the entire Vietcong by themselves. When on hunting retreats, Jimbo and Ned prefer to use military-grade weapons. In order to bypass certain hunting regulations, the two yell "It's coming right for us!" right before shooting an animal, whether or not their intended kill is actually doing so. Figuring to shoot at whatever species they please by exploiting a loophole, the two shout the phrase so as to make it appear that they are acting in self-defense. When tougher laws made it more difficult to do this, Jimbo and Ned continued their extensive hunting under the pretense of controlling animal overpopulation, even if the animals in question are endangered species. The two co-host a public-access television show called Huntin’ and Killin’, which generally generates no more than a dozen viewers per episode.
Jimbo is one of the few characters on the show with a square-shaped head, as opposed to the round shape that is commonly associated with the show's animation style. He wears bright orange safety apparel consisting of a cap and jacket, as well as a dark green hunting vest and brown pants. Jimbo strives to fit the mold of that of a fun uncle to his nephew Stan, of whom he states is very proud.[26][27] Jimbo is impressed by Kenny and his habit of making profane remarks, and offers advice to Cartman on how to better attain revenge.[28]
Jimbo is shown on numerous occasions to drive a Hummer.[26][29][30][31][32] He likes to place bets on local sporting events, such as elementary school football games[27] and boxing matches.[33] Jimbo campaigned in opposition of a proposal to change the South Park flag because the flag depicted the town's racist past. As a show of friendship with Chef, Jimbo agreed to a compromise with supporters of the change.[34] Jimbo has also publicly voiced his opinion on other occasions, such as when he was displeased with a fireworks ban,[32] and clashed with protesters of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.[7]
Gerald and Sheila Broflovski are an upper middle-class married Jewish couple who raise their nine-year-old son Kyle and three-year-old Canadian-born adopted son Ike in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado. Gerald is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone and Sheila was originally voiced by Mary Kay Bergman and is currently voiced by Mona Marshall. Their first names are derived from the first names of Stone's parents, Gerald and Sheila Stone.
Though they are named for Stone's parents, Gerald and Sheila's characters are not largely inspired by the couple. While Stone's mother is Jewish, his father is a gentile of Irish descent, and Stone says they raised him in an agnostic household. Stone decided to portray the character of Gerald as recognizably Jewish, stating that doing so "creates more opportunity for comedy".[35] Gerald grew up in South Park, and met Sheila while they attended college.[36] The two moved back to Gerald's hometown when Kyle was younger because Sheila wanted to raise her children in a small town environment,[37][38] but briefly moved to San Francisco when Gerald felt that South Park wasn't "progressive" enough.[31] In a few instances, Sheila indicated displeasure with Gerald's indulgent and hypocritical behavior,[39][40] and Gerald occasionally displays subdued annoyance with his wife's meddling in others' lives. Their marriage has been portrayed as more stable than those of the other prominent adult couples in the series, and the couple once overcame a temporary setback in their sex life when Gerald briefly suffered from erectile dysfunction, implying Gerald finds Sheila unattractive.[18]
Gerald and Sheila have been referred to as Serbian Jews,[41] and they mutually share a strong devotion to their Jewish religion, while expressing deep concern during the multiple times Kyle's faith in Judaism becomes enervated. The couple tend to showcase liberal viewpoints, having protested the 2003 invasion of Iraq[7] and supported Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential race.[8]
Gerald made his first appearance in episode "Starvin' Marvin". He is a lawyer who also serves on South Park's council as the city attorney,[5] and his role in this profession has been put on display in episodes in which a trial or legal issue plays a large part in the plot.[39][42][43] He commonly wears an olive-green jacket over a purple shirt and forest green trousers. He sports a contemporary beard and separated mustache, and is almost always seen donning a pink yarmulke. When not wearing the yarmulke, Gerald is shown to have male-pattern baldness. He is generally a kind, amiable person, though at intervals he has been shown to assume a snobbish attitude that disaffects his friends and family. Gerald was once seen to have a repressed gambling problem,[44] and prior struggles with a fictional form of inhalant abuse known within the show as "cheesing".[39]
Sheila made her first appearance in the season one episode "Death" (where she was originally named Carol), and she exhibits several traits commonly associated with those of a stereotypical Jewish mother, most notably her tendency to stick her nose into other people's business. She wears her hair in a beehive, and typically wears a midnight blue suit jacket over a light gray blouse, with a dark red skirt and gray stockings. She speaks with a New York Jewish accent, is overweight, and appears to be of less-than-average height relative to the other female adults on the show. Apart from being briefly appointed to the fictional federal position of "Secretary of Offense" under the Clinton Administration, Sheila is a stay-at-home mother. As a result of hearing something shocking or inappropriate, she is often heard exclaiming "WHAT, WHAT, WHAT!?", saying each word in rapid succession and putting more emphasis on the last "what". Sheila has been depicted as being a huge fan of Barbra Streisand.[45]
In earlier seasons, Sheila would often protest against things she deemed harmful to children or to the Jewish community. She led a group to New York City to protest Terrance and Phillip, a Canadian comedy duo whose television show's toilet humor is what she believed to be a negative influence on Kyle.[46] Her outrage escalated in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut when she further protested Terrance and Phillip by forming "Mothers Against Canada", which eventually instigated a war between Canada and the United States. After a failed attempt to execute the two, she directly kills them by shooting them in the heads.
Upon seeing Kyle taking part in a school play which involved a nativity scene, Sheila pleads with the mayor to ban the use of any religious imagery within the town that could perceived as offensive to those of different beliefs.[47] In addition to her ethnicity, Cartman also despises Sheila's activism, which he perceives as an attempt to inhibit anyone's ability to have fun. Cartman has even expressed his hatred for Sheila by singing a song entitled "Kyle's Mom is a Bitch".
Ike Broflovski
Ike Moishe Broflovski is the adopted younger brother of Kyle, and is from Canada. Ike has black hair, and, like all Canadians portrayed on the series, is depicted as having small beady eyes and a Pac-Man-like head which flaps up and down whenever he speaks. Throughout the show's run, Ike's dialogue has consisted of sound bites provided by various small children of the show's production staff.[48]
Ike was born Peter Gints in Canada to Harry and Elise Gints, who soon gave him up for adoption because they were unable to raise him after their country had been "devastated by the Cola Wars".[49] He was adopted by Gerald and Sheila Broflovski, who have given Ike a Jewish upbringing, even providing him with a belated bris.[50] Taking advantage of a new Canadian law (episode- It's Christmas in Canada), the Gints briefly reclaimed Ike and brought him back to his homeland before agreeing to let him be reunited with his adoptive parents.[49] In earlier seasons, Ike's movements were often accompanied by cartoonish sound effects, and characters aside from his family frequently confused him for a small trashcan.
In the show's fourth season, Ike was established as a child genius. At only three-years-old, he can read entire John Steinbeck novels, he ran for president against a kindergarten classmate of his and won[51], regularly watches The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour[52], can participate in elaborate heist plans[53] and attends kindergarten.[54] He is president of his class, and is the only student of Canadian descent at his elementary school.[55] While typically wearing light blue footed pajamas, Ike will wear a suit and tie when attending class. Despite his extreme intelligence, Ike often replies to questions and commands with non sequitur, toddler-like responses such as "Cookie Monster!" and "I pooped my pants!" and "No", in addition to various nursery rhyme lyrics and nonsensical babble. On a few occasions, Ike has expressed sentences that are indeed relevant to the context of a situation. During the recent 13th season, it appears that the writers have at last developed Ike's verbal abilities to a more intelligible level.
Ike is more skilled at hockey than his Pee-wee league counterparts,[56] and planned to run off to Milan after starting an affair with his teacher, Ms. Stephenson.[57] Ike later showed a proficiency for computer hacking, joining presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama as part of a ring of professional thieves in an elaborate scheme to steal the Hope diamond.[58]
Ike's relationship with his older brother, Kyle, has been a recurring theme throughout the show's entire run, even serving as an integral part to the plot of the first episode of the series. In earlier seasons, Kyle reveled in playfully kicking Ike as if he were a football, preparing Ike by exclaiming "Ready, Ike? Kick the baby!" Ike typically responds, "Don't kick the baby!", after which Kyle repeats "Kick the baby." Ike then screams joyously as Kyle kicks him toward assorted targets such as a window or a row of mailboxes. Ike's genuine affection for his older brother persuaded Kyle to love him in return, despite Kyle initially shunning Ike for not being his true biological brother.[50] Kyle regards Ike as "true family",[49] and is normally devoted to ensuring Ike's well-being, having gone to great lengths to rescue and/or protect Ike in numerous episodes. In later episodes such as Fatbeard and Dead Celebrities, Ike has spoken full sentences and engaged in conversation with other members of the cast, and was the focus of the episode Dead Celebrities, with Kyle again working to aid his younger brother due to being haunted by the eponymous dead celebrities in the episode.
Kyle Schwartz
Kyle Schwartz is Kyle Broflovski's irritating, and stereotypicallyJewish cousin from Connecticut, with mannerisms distinctly modeled after Woody Allen. Kyle Schwartz has a goofy looking appearance with a fat head and small mouth. He has heavy breathing due to asthma along with bad eyesight for which he has large glasses.
He is voiced by Trey Parker. His voice is based on Tony Curtis's impression of Cary Grant in the movie Some Like it Hot. Tony Curtis's real name is Bernard Schwartz, which may explain Kyle's surname.
His first appearance was in "The Entity" when he had to stay with Kyle and his family since his mother was in the hospital. Due to the Jewish stereotypes that he displayed, his cousin was worried about his anti-semitic friend Cartman, whom he feared would constantly make fun of him. Kyle Broflovski then offered Cartman $40 not to make fun of Kyle Schwartz. Cartman initially tried to comply with the agreement, but when Cartman makes a concentration camp joke in class, he blows the deal. Kyle Schwartz then stated that Kyle Broflovski should have tried to low ball Cartman on the deal and offer him $12.50 at first, to the chagrin of Broflovski.
Angered by his ingratitude and personal quirks, the boys help Kyle Broflovski try to get rid of him. They tried to teach him to sled (they tied the sled to a bus headed for Connecticut), they played hide and seek with him in the airport (and was put in a box and placed on a plane to Antarctica) and they left him in the woods. He nevertheless kept returning to the Broflovski home. In the end his mother's condition improves, and he decides to go home after receiving $5 million from an investment bailout to the airlines. The boys suddenly see dollar signs and try to convince him to stay, but Kyle Schwartz replied by saying that he thought that Kyle (Broflovski), Cartman and Stan were "a bunch of douchebags" and "stereotypical rednecks", so Kyle Schwartz left.
Kyle appears in "Red Sleigh Down", where he calculated how many presents Cartman would get for Christmas, concluding that he would still owe two presents even if he found a cure for cancer and AIDS before Christmas (ironically, in the later episode "Tonsil Trouble", Cartman did find a cure for AIDS).
He appeared in "The Losing Edge", where the boys, playing on the South Park baseball team, had to get the worst person they could find (Kyle Schwartz) to play for them because they did not want to qualify for a tournament.
The word schwarz means "black" in the German language, but in Yiddish it has also a side meaning of "bad luck".
Cleo
Kyle's grandmother and Sheila's mother who died three months before "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery". The boys dug her up in an attempt to scare the fifth-graders on Halloween, later on her corpse is eaten by a dog which later coughs it up at the end of the episode. Kyle often makes remarks regarding his grandmother. In the episode "A Ladder to Heaven" when the boys attempt to get to heaven, Kyle calls out to his grandma to see if they have made it yet. In the episode "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", Kyle came to believe, through a reading by "psychic" John Edward, that Cleo wanted him to attend Jewleeard, a Jewish academy school, but Stan eventually convinced him that Edward was a fraud. It is also worthwhile to note that Cleo's last name was Broflovski although she was Sheila's mother and not Gerald's.
Cartman-Tenorman family
It has been suggested that this section be split out into another article titled Cartman family. (Discuss) (April 2010)
Liane Marie Cartman, originally voiced by Mary Kay Bergman and later by Eliza J. Schneider and April Stewart, is the mother of Eric Cartman. In the early days of South Park, her promiscuity, often with total strangers, was a running gag. Trey Parker named the character Liane after his ex-fiancée Liane Adamo who was unfaithful to him.[59]
Ms. Cartman is about average height for a woman in South Park. She has brunette hair and wears a light blue top with red trousers. She shows great deference to her overweight son Eric Cartman, usually referred to as simply Eric, and has been seen on numerous occasions bowing to his will, constantly spoiling him rotten. It is seen that they have a great bond with each other. Since the episode "Tsst", she has begun to grow resistant to his whining and his demands — seen in a way in "Go God Go" and "Go God Go XII", where she is quite stern with him when he shows great impatience regarding the release date of the Wii console. This may be a one-off, as she continues to spoil him and defend him in later episodes.
Despite her wholesome exterior and love for her son, Liane is a thoroughly promiscuous woman. She was once a crack whore, has taken part in German coprophilia films and seemingly has no problem with casual sex. In later episodes, she has almost never had a sexual relation with a stranger (the last stranger she had sex with was a plumber in "The Death of Eric Cartman").
From the season two episode "Cartman's Mom Is Still A Dirty Slut" until the season fourteen episode "201", Cartman (and the viewers) believed that Liane was intersex (had both male and female genitalia) and was actually Eric's father (his mother was still unknown). But in "201" it was revealed that this was a secret the entire town told to protect the Denver BroncosAmerican football team – Jack Tenorman, a Broncos player, was Eric Cartman's actual father, and Liane was his mother after all.
The Tenormans
Jack Tenorman was the father of Eric Cartman and Scott Tenorman. Unaware that Jack was his father, Cartman murdered Mr. and Mrs. Tenorman in the episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", and fed them to their son Scott. Upon discovering (in "201") that Mr. Tenorman was his father, Cartman was distraught — not at his unconscious patricide, but at the fact that his father had ginger hair, Cartman's hatred of gingers being well-known.
Mrs. Tenorman was Jack Tenorman's wife and Scott Tenorman's mother. She was murdered by Eric Cartman and fed to her son Scott in "Scott Tenorman Must Die".
Scott Tenorman is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Tenorman and half-brother of Eric Cartman, who he is five years older than. In the season five episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Scott plays a series of pranks on Cartman. Cartman makes it seem that he is planning revenge via an ill-conceived plot to make a donkey bite off Scott's penis, but in fact this is a bluff — he actually has Scott's parents murdered and feeds part of their corpses to Scott mixed up with chili. Scott returns in "201" as the deranged leader of the ginger kids, and aims to kill Cartman via a sadistic carnival (modelled on one featured in Batman: The Killing Joke). He also reveals that Jack Tenorman was Cartman's father. Before Scott can murder his half-brother, the fight between the Super Best Friends, celebrities, and gingers spills over into the carnival. Scott escapes in the confusion.
Extended Cartman family
The extended Cartman family is shown in the episode "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", where he and the others go on a trip to Nebraska to visit them for Christmas. Most of his relatives (except for his grandmother) appear to be similar in matter to him; all fat (this is in direct contradiction to the episode "fat camp" in which Eric's mother Liane states that the Cartman extended family is in fact not genetically fat as she had led her son to believe), with the same speech impediment and catchphrases such as "Kickass!", "I'll kick you squah in the nuts", "Respect mah authoritah!", and "No, *name* that's my pot pie. No, *name* that's a bad *name*!". The family is seen again in the episode "Cartmanland" at his grandmother's funeral, where she leaves her estate (valued at $1,000,000) to Eric, citing that all the other family members would have spent it all on crack. His grandparents' names are Harold and Mabel, his uncles' names are Howard and Stinky. He has an aunt, Lisa, and three cousins, Fred, Alexandra (who, unlike the rest of the Cartman family, is thin (although Liane is also thin)) and Elvin. He also has a great-grandmother, Florence, and a relative named Fat Bob. Also, a possible father and sister were briefly shown in the unaired version of the pilot episode.
Stuart and Carol McCormick are both unemployed alcoholics raising their nine-year-old son Kenny, older son Kevin and youngest daughter Karen under poverty-stricken circumstances. Stuart is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone. Carol was originally voiced by Mary Kay Bergman and is currently voiced by April Stewart.
The McCormicks are one of the poorest families in the town of South Park, living in a small, dilapidated house overrun by rats. Aside from Stuart once mentioning that he was missing work,[60] he and Carol have always been portrayed as being unemployed with little means of income; they are involved in methamphetamine production,[61] and Eric Cartman has mentioned numerous times that the two are dependent on welfare.
Stuart has a horseshoe moustache, wears a stained button-up shirt, a trucker hat that reads "SCOTCH", and dirty trousers. Carol has long red hair, and usually wears a novelty "I'm with Stupid" T-shirt (the arrow of which usually points to the left), or a T-shirt depicting an American flag and the phrase "God Bless America". Both appear to always have either bruises or dirt on the side of their faces, and both speak with a Southern accent. The two have a volatile relationship; at times they are portrayed as happy and content as a couple,[62][63] but are more customarily shown to despise one another. They frequently fight and argue,[36][64][65] with Carol often declaring her displeasure with Stuart's alcoholism, joblessness, and what she sees as his overall worthlessness as a person.[36][64]
Stuart was childhood friends with Gerald Broflovski, and the two worked together as teenagers at a pizza store. Having been unable to hold a steady job since, Stuart later felt contempt for and had a falling out with Gerald after Gerald went on to attend college and became a lawyer.[36] Early in the show's run, it was revealed that the McCormick's house was actually a play fort Stuart and Gerald built when they were young.[36] The two later reconciled their differences, and Stuart has been portrayed as maintaining a friendship with Gerald and other adult characters on the show by keeping company with them at a local bar.
Kevin McCormick
Little is known about Kevin. He appears to be older than Kenny by a few years and has parted brown hair which sticks up. His voice is provided by Trey Parker and sounds like Bill, Terrance and Fosse, three of Kenny's classmates, though with a Southern Accent.
Karen McCormick
Kenny supposedly has a little sister, who made small cameos in Best Friends Forever. Nothing is known about her, other than being a small girl, looking about four or five years old, has brunette hair, and that Matt Stone once referred to her as Karen.
Grandfather
Kenny's unnamed grandfather appears in "Fat Camp" which has Kenny giving him a "sensual full-body massage" in front of a live audience for money. Kenny's grandfather is also mentioned in "Chickenpox", where Gerald Broflovski implies that he was an unemployed drunk much like Stuart. He also appears to have masturbation problems.
Stephen (sometimes portrayed as Chris) and Linda Stotch are a middle-class married couple who raise their eight-year-old son Butters in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado. Stephen is voiced by series co-creator Trey Parker, and Linda is voiced by Mona Marshall.
Stephen and Linda began appearing towards the end of the show's fourth season, in correlation with their son Butters becoming a more significant character. Their most prominent role as a couple occurred during the season five finale "Butters' Very Own Episode", where they have to deal with the issues of Stephen's extramarital homosexual affairs and adhering to their concocted story about their son being abducted when Linda mistakenly thought she had successfully murdered Butters. Stephen and Linda were portrayed as having established a friendship with the parents of the show's other main child characters, joining them for book club meetings[66] and vacationing with them in Aspen.[67] In keeping with the show's tradition of portraying adult South Park residents as frequently seizing upon irrational ideas, both Linda and Stephen have also been commonly depicted in this manner. Stephen even instigated one such concept when he constructed a mountain bunker as a proverbial "ark" to provide shelter for John McCain supporters who thought Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential race would bring about chaos and the end of civilization.[8]
Though minor characters representing Stephen made appearances in earlier episodes, he was established as father to Butters in "The Wacky Molestation Adventure". In "Butters' Very Own Episode" his name was established as "Chris". He has alternately been called both "Chris" and "Stephen" in subsequent episodes, and has been referred to mostly as "Stephen" since the season nine episode "Die Hippie, Die". Series co-creator Matt Stone acknowledged the sudden and unexplained name changes as an oversight by himself and the show's production staff.[68] He is commonly shown wearing an olive-green, long-sleeved dress shirt, with a white necktie and blue pants, and wears his brown hair in a flattop style. Although he was once seen working in a cubicle-filled office,[69] his specific profession has yet to be established. In addition to his tendency to be an overzealous disciplinarian, Stephen also adheres to a strict method of running his household, such as demanding that items in the kitchen pantry be alphabetized, noting that a well-organized pantry is "what keeps a family together".[70]
In his first role as a major character, Stephen was discovered to have been frequently going to a gaymovie theater and a bath house to have casual sex with men.[71] Assuring Linda that he only did so out of curiosity, he promised to suppress any future homosexual urges,[71] and Stephen expressed slightly homophobic tendencies in later episodes. It was revealed that he had an ongoing bet with Linda over Butters's sexual preference, with Linda losing when Butters proclaimed that he had a new girlfriend, indicating Stephen's hope that Butters would not turn out to be gay.[72] Once misinterpreting Butters to be bi-curious, a fearful Stephen sent him to a reparative therapy ministry. Later, Stephen is shown coming to terms with the possibility of Butters being bisexual, and, despite his earlier promise to curb his homosexual impulses, proudly reveals to his son that he himself is still bi-curious.[73]
Linda, despite being a strict disciplinarian herself and rarely objecting to the punishments Stephen personally gives Butters, is usually shown to be a sympathetic mother towards her son. Serving on the city council as the town's treasurer, she is also an engineer.[5] She customarily wears a maroon sweater with a calf-length purple skirt, and her blonde hair in a layered bob cut. Her role in "Butters' Very Own Episode" established her as being prone to mental breakdowns,[74] as she attempted to kill Butters and herself after learning of Stephen's homosexual activities. She has frequently suffered from relatively minor breakdowns in subsequent instances, particularly during the numerous episodes when Butters either goes missing or is mistakenly presumed to be dead.[75][76][77]
Extended Stotch family
Butters has an aunt and uncle living in Los Angeles as seen in the episode "AWESOM-O". He also mentions he has cousins in Florida in "Major Boobage" and an Uncle Bob who he admits sexually molested him in "The Return of Chef". He has a grandmother who suffered a stroke after seeing him on TV with testicles on his chin who his parents visited in the hospital.
List of other families
The Tweaks
Tweek Tweak's family. Tweek's parents run a coffee shop called "Tweak Bros. Coffee". It was nearly put out of business by the new business in town, Harbucks (a parody of Starbucks). After a huge feud both businesses learned to work together. The Tweaks are their own product's most devoted fans. Even their son consumes several cups of coffee a day (despite his age), hence his constant twitching and general nervousness. They usually have heart-to-heart talks with their son in times of concern or crisis (such as child abduction or their company going out of business), but unfortunately they often oversimplify or overexaggerate the problems making Tweek's paranoia worse - generally speaking, every time Tweek has a new concern or problem his parents tend to aggravate it. Richard Tweak wears a maroon jumper which is his shirt for work (hence the name tag on it) and black trousers. He has a long pointed nose and dark curly brown hair. Mrs. Tweak, whose first name has not been revealed on the show, wears a blue dress with a white apron, and long light brown hair.
Tweek's parents have appeared in several episodes, most notably "Gnomes" and "Child Abduction Is Not Funny". Mr. Tweak is voiced by Trey Parker and Mrs. Tweak has been voiced by Mary Kay Bergman and Eliza Schneider. She has not spoken or made an appearance since the South Park is Gay! episode, which aired under the latter voice actress's tenure. She would now be voiced by April Stewart or Mona Marshall if she had a speaking role in recent episodes.
The Blacks
Token's family. The only African-American family in South Park and also the wealthiest. In "Here Comes the Neighborhood", it is revealed that Token's mother, Linda, is a chemist (although Randy Marsh is considered the only scientist in South Park), and his father is a lawyer.
Cartman always makes fun of Token for being black and is very stereotypical toward him. Token's last name in the series was originally "Williams." The name 'Black' is given, due to the fact that he is the only black child in South Park. Some of Cartman's racist comments include that Token has a bass guitar in his basement and that he knows how to play it, both of which turn out to be true, despite Token not knowing it. Cartman bases these assumptions about Token and his family on nothing more than the stereotype that "if you're black, you can play bass."
The Donovans
The family Clyde (Was portrayed as Harris in one episode) comes from. It is unclear what the status of the nuclear family is. Clyde has stated that his father is a geologist (although Randy Marsh is considered the only scientist in South Park). In the episode "The List", it is said that Clyde's father owns a shoe store. It is unclear if Clyde's father changed careers or this was merely a continuity error. The family was accidentally referred to as the "Harrises" in "Lice Capades", however, this was changed back to Donovan in the later re-airings of the episode.
Some confusion comes up from times when the name "Donovan" is used in episodes not related to Clyde or his family; for example in "The Jeffersons" Stan refers to Michael Jefferson's new home as "the Donovan's old place," and Priest Maxi is found having sex with a "Mrs. Donovan" in "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?" It is unclear if either of these references should be seen as related to Clyde's family, or if the show's creators merely reuse this surname, similarly to how they reuse the name "Kevin" amongst background characters.
The Testaburgers
Wendy Testaburger's family. The Testaburgers seem to be fairly well-off and fairly functional compared to most South Park families, though they seem to be less intelligent and socially aware than Wendy herself. Although, it seems that they don't pay much attention to her or listen to her; nevertheless they attempt to rein her in when she seems to be acting badly herself. Wendy's mother attempts to prevent her from getting breast implants in "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", while her Dad was indignant that Wendy supposedly wanted to dress like a whore in "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset", though he was eventually convinced to allow it by the store's whorish clientele. They also refused to listen to her excuses for beating up Cartman in Breast Cancer Show Ever, and forced her to promise that it wouldn't happen.
From what has been shown of Bebe's family, they are very stereotypical. Her mother appears in "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", where it is implied that she is dumb and managed to get by relying on her looks. In that episode Bebe is smart and more thoughtful than her mother, though she seems more interested in make-up and boys than Wendy. Bebe's father is briefly seen in "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset".
The Tuckers
The Tuckers are Craig's family. The family consists of Craig, his portly redheaded father Thomas, his mother, and his younger sister. Little is known of them except that flipping each other the middle finger appears to be the family norm. Craig's family's tendency for flipping each other off has been heavily ingrained into Craig, who for the first several seasons is implied to have been sent to either the principal's or counselor's office on a daily basis because of the habit. In the recent episode "Pandemic", neither Craig nor anyone in his family flipped anyone else off, even when they got into a heated argument with the Broflovskis and Marshes, but this is possibly because they only do it in each other's company.
All members of the Tucker family were first seen in the episode "Tweek vs. Craig", and were not seen again in their entirety until the "Pandemic" duology (Craig's sister only appeared in a photograph), but Mr. and Mrs. Tucker have made short cameos throughout the series.
Timmy's family
Timmy's parents are named Richard and Helen, and apparently suffer from the same form of mental retardation as Timmy himself. When they are interviewed on TV in "Timmy 2000", all they can say are their own names, just like their son.
The Vulmers
Formerly named Swanson, this is Jimmy's family. His father Ryan dresses much like Butter's dad Stephen, and apparently likes coffee and sexual exchange talk. At the beginning of the episode "Night of the Living Homeless", Mr. Vulmer displays the title "Chief of Fire Department." Very little is known about his mother Sarah. They also say the reason Jimmy was born as a handicap because they made fun of handicaps in high school and it was God's way of punishing them as said in the episode "Krazy Kripples".
References
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2002-12-04). "My Future Self n' Me". South Park. Season 6. Episode 616. Comedy Central.
^ abTrey Parker and Matt Stone (1998-09-28). "Clubhouses". South Park. Season 2. Episode 212. Comedy Central.
^ abcdTrey Parker and Matt Stone (2005-03-16). "Die Hippie, Die". South Park. Season 9. Episode 902. Comedy Central. Cite error: The named reference "hippie" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^ abcdeTrey Parker and Matt Stone (2008-11-05). "About Last Night...". South Park. Season 12. Episode 1212. Comedy Central. Cite error: The named reference "lastnight" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2010-4-10). "Medicinal Fried Chicken". South Park. Season 14. Episode 1403. Comedy Central. ((cite episode)): Check date values in: |airdate= (help)
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (1999-11-24). "The Red Badge of Gayness". South Park. Season 3. Episode 314. Comedy Central.
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2005-12-07). "Bloody Mary". South Park. Season 9. Episode 914. Comedy Central.
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2005-04-06). "The Losing Edge". South Park. Season 9. Episode 905. Comedy Central.
^ abcTrey Parker and Matt Stone (1999-04-14). "Spontaneous Combustion". South Park. Season 3. Episode 303. Comedy Central. Cite error: The named reference "combust" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2007-10-10). "More Crap". South Park. Season 11. Episode 1109. Comedy Central.
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2007-03-07). "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson". [South Park. Season 11. Episode 1101. Comedy Central.
^Trey Parker, Matt Stone (2003). South Park: The Complete First Season: "Weight Gain 4000" (CD). Comedy Central. ((cite AV media)): |format= requires |url= (help)
^ abcTrey Parker and Matt Stone (Dec. 17, 2003). "[[It's Christmas in Canada]]". South Park. Season 7. Episode 715. Comedy Central. ((cite episode)): Check date values in: |airdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
^ abTrey Parker and Matt Stone (May 27, 1998). "[[Ike's Wee Wee]]". South Park. Season 2. Episode 204. Comedy Central. ((cite episode)): URL–wikilink conflict (help)
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (April 2, 2008). "[[Canada on Strike]]". South Park. Season 12. Episode 1204. Comedy Central. ((cite episode)): URL–wikilink conflict (help)
^Trey Parker and Matt Stone (November 15, 2006). "[[Stanley's Cup]]". South Park. Season 10. Episode 1014. Comedy Central. ((cite episode)): URL–wikilink conflict (help)
