Top 25 South Park Episodes mmkay (2023)

Narrowing down the best South Park episodes is no easy task. With 25 seasons and counting under its belt - as well as over 300 episodes - there's sure to be a lot to choose from. And that's not even to mention the fact that the show has consistently been one of the most critically acclaimed animated series since its debut in 1997.

So which ones have stood the test of time? We've dug deep into the best offerings from creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. These are the episodes packed with instantly quotable jokes that have become etched into the pop culture psyche. The classic episode of Kanye West is here, as is the hilarious Lord of the Rings parody from season 6. And don't worry, AWESOM-O, Black Friday, and World of Warcraft are all praised too.

Unfortunately, none of the latest episodes made it, as our roundup is full of stone-cold classics. But if you fancy a replay, read on for our guide to the 25 Best South Park Episodes and stream. mmkay?

25. 'Casa Bonita' (Season 7, Episode 11)

Kyle invites Stan, Kenny and Butters to Casa Bonita, a Mexican restaurant in South Park. Cartman is angry at being left out and turns on the charm, leading to Kyle suggesting that if Butters can't leave for some reason, Cartman can take his place. Come up with a devious plan to bring down Butters.

What makes this episode so funny are the lengths Cartman is willing to go to to get what he wants. He tells Butters that a meteor the size of Wyoming is about to hit Earth and hides Butters in a bomb shelter. Of course, Butters' parents are worried, so Cartman dives deeper and tells him that the meteor struck, civilization fell, and toxic radiation turned what was left of humanity into rabid zombies. If Trey Parker calls this episode one of his favorite episodes, it's definitely good enough for us.

24. „Grounded Vindaloop“ (Staffel 18, Folge 7)

South Park often mines technology for laughs, and "Grounded Vindaloop" does it almost perfectly. The episode is about call center workers, the matrix and much more. Better yet, it centers on one of the best relationships on the show: Cartman takes on Butters until he takes it too far.

Butters' breaking of all VR "rules" is hilarious, as is the incessantly annoying call center operator Steve. However, it's the twist ending (which we won't spoil here) that sets it apart from some of the other tech-based episodes. It's a sci-fi parody done right - and one of the slickest South Park episodes ever.

23. „Coon vs. Coon and Friends“ (Staffel 14, Folge 13)

South Park is often at its funniest when Eric Cartman shows his inability to be nice to others. This personality flaw reaches new heights in Coon vs. Coon and Friends as he draws the wrath of Cthulu to fight his friends. It's a concept that would be built on in South Park: The Fractured But Whole, but arguably it's made even better here, as Cartman and Cthulus' buddy-buddy partnership sees them defeating several easy targets, including the Burning Man Festival and Hilarious, the full grocery chain of supermarkets.

While the episode treads familiar ground and gobbles up the likes of Justin Bieber and LeBron James, it's the weird and wonderful ending that will stick in your memory. Kenny proves he's immortal once and for all as the hooded vigilante Mysterion - and the series finally reveals a dark secret: every time Kenny dies, his mother gets pregnant with a new Kenny. Rough… and a little awesome.

22. "Fish Sticks" (Season 13, Episode 5)

South Park has always been brilliant at mocking celebrities, and "Fishsticks" does an excellent job of mocking Kanye West.

As a result, Jimmy comes up with a joke. Of course, everyone in South Park finds this hilarious, and Cartman tries to steal credit for it all. As the joke becomes a worldwide phenomenon, the only person whonotKanye West gets the point, and asks increasingly desperately why everyone is laughing at him. After crashing Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Awards, Comedy Central played the episode four straight times.

21. "Go God Go" (Season 10, Episode 12)

Technically, this is a two-part episode, but "Go God Go" and "Go God Go XII" are invigorating for anyone who's ever put a big question mark in the religion column. Cartman tries to freeze himself to make the three-week wait for the Nintendo Wii bearable, but ends up in the year 2546. There's also an incredible subplot where Richard Dawkins helps Mrs. Garrison teach evolutionary biology (which leads to a passionate affair ). . At the end of Go God Go XII, one wonders if Cartman is caught in a time warp and doomed to repeat his mistakes forever.

20. 'Guitar Queer-O' (Season 11, Episode 13)

Parker and Stone couldn't resist stopping by Guitar Hero just as the world was getting excited about the video game series. In the episode, the main gang including Clyde, Token, Jimmy and Butters play the game, with Stan and Kyle breaking the 100,000 point record. The two are contacted by a talent agent and become rock stars within 24 hours.

The fun really begins when Stan is encouraged by his manager to ditch Kyle and team up with a kid, Thad, who has memorized all the buttons for all the songs. Stan soon becomes addicted to the game Heroin Hero. While the episode satirizes the stereotypical rock-and-roll lifestyle we imagine rock stars to be, it also satirizes obsessive, score-chasing gamers.

19. 'Imaginationland' (Season 11, Episode 10)

Possibly the best three-part episode in South Park history, Imaginationland is so rich in characters, subplots, and generally laughable humor that it's worth watching over and over again. In the first part, Cartman searches with Kyle for a goblin who will offer to suck Cartman's balls if he manages to find the seemingly fictional creature (hence the episode's alternate title, "Kyle Sucks Cartman's Balls").

What follows is a crazy, psychedelic journey into the world of cartoons and a Disney-style warped world, with the pesky, catchy "Imagination" song. There is also a parody onThere Soldier James Ryan, a great scene starring Michael Bay, M. Night Shyamalan, and Mel Gibson, plus a whole terrorist subplot that's almost as absurdfast, makes sense.

18. 'Marjorine' (Season 9, Episode 9)

poor butter. The child cannot take a break. In "Marjorine," Cartman is convinced that the girls have a device that can predict the future. In an attempt to infiltrate their secret club, Cartmen convinces Butters to fake his own death and return to school as a girl. Meanwhile, Butters' parents believe their son has actually died and fear that he will return as a spawn of Satan.

At the end of the episode, the ailing Butters is locked in the basement while his father kills a shop assistant so he can earn a living. Interestingly, Parker and Stone aren't the biggest fans of this episode, but we'll be damned if it doesn't make us laugh every time.

17. "Super Fun Time" (Season 12, Episode 7)

South Park's version of Die Hard reunites the hapless Butters with the evil Cartman. Mr. Garrison takes his class on a trip to Pioneer Village - a living history experience where actors pretend to be townsfolk - and they soon find themselves involved in a strange hostage situation. Strangely, none of the actors breaks the mold, making it easy fodder for villain Franz.

While all of this is happening, Cartman is dragging Butters to an arcade called Super Phun Thyme next door. When they return to Pioneer Village and see the police cars, they think they are in trouble and decide to sneak inside. Watching Butters finally drag Cartman's unconscious weight back to the school bus helps us pick the best South Park episodes.

16. "Best Friends Forever" (Season 9, Episode 4)

Trey Parker and Matt Stone often work on episodes up to the last possible moment to keep the show as timely as possible. Their tactics worked out devastatingly (and tragically) in Best Friends Forever, in which Kenny becomes addicted to the then-brand new PSP to the point of usually dying. After a conversation with God, Kenny is brought back to life and placed on life support. The media frenzy surrounding the case grows and grows as Kenny's legal guardians stand up for his right to die.

Cartman ends up hijacking the search for Kenny's will in order to get as much attention and money as possible, and a ridiculous fight between heaven and hell involving a gold PSP ensues. However, it's the real-world debate surrounding this episode that has made "Best Friends Forever" so controversial. Terri Schiavo, a woman in an irreversible vegetative state whose legal guardian pleaded for her right to die, died just hours after this episode aired. Trey and Parker have since admitted they used the case as a starting point for the episode, and the result is one of the funniest and at times heartbreaking South Park episodes ever filmed.

15. „The Losing Edge“ (Staffel 9, Folge 5)

A reverse Hollywood tale, "The Losing Edge," sees the kids of South Park band together to... lose baseball games on purpose. However, your opponents will have the upper hand in throw-versus-throw play, making for several fantastic sequences. One involves Stan and Kyle actually getting good at something but throwing that aside to not want to play baseball anymore. Even Kyle's cousin, Kyle Schwartz, can't suck enough to stop her from winning.

However, all of this is overshadowed by Randy, who is determined to dominate the drunk dad's baseball viewing scene until he meets his counterpart in the form of Bat Dad. The best South Park episodes have effortlessly intertwined their A and B plots, and no episode is as spectacular as the argument between Randy and Bat Dad that sees the South Park Cows banned from the league, much to Stan's delight.

14. "White People Renovating Houses" (Season 21, Episode 1)

In "White People Renovating Houses," South Park once again bets on a new technological fad. While Randy and Sharon Marsh are developing "open concepts" with their TV show White People Renovating Houses, Cartman becomes obsessed with his Amazon Echo (and mostly uses it to repeat childish phrases and swear words, much to the amusement of the rest of the gang). Trouble is, some people think the Alexas of the world are putting them out of work... so Randy replaces the devices with the unemployed townsfolk. Suffice to say, things aren't quite going according to plan.

13. "The Ring Companions Return to the Two Towers" (Season 6, Episode 13)

Trey Parker and Matt Stone consider this spoofing episode of The Lord of the Rings to be one of their best, and who are we to disagree? Stan, Kyle and Cartman are attending a merry cosplay day when their Fellowship of the Ring video is accidentally swapped out for a kinky film.

As it should be, it's Butters who is ruined by the experience of watching Stan's parents' porn, and he soon becomes obsessed with finding out what it all means. At the end of the episode, Butters is rocking back and forth in the basement, muttering Gollum's famous line, "My darling." Another of the best scenes in the episodes shows the parents trying to explain the content of the porn video to their unsuspecting sons. It's more than a little crampy.

12. "Make Love, Not Warcraft" (Season 10, Episode 8)

If you've ever wondered what Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny would look like morbidly obese then look no further than Make Love, Not Warcraft. The boys are playing the legendary MMORPG when a high-level player starts ruthlessly taking them out. The plan they come up with to defeat the player is simple: they need to hide and kill low level boars until they are high enough to defeat the villain.

This episode benefits from some funny lines from Stan's father, Randy, and is relatively straightforward, which, despite some hilariously brutal parodies of MMO players, makes it a perfect no-nonsense entry point for South Park-curious WoW fans.

11. "Scott Tenorman Must Die" (Season 5, Episode 4)

Swapping pubic hair for money is one of many laughs in this iconic episode introducing Cartman's nemesis, Scott Tenorman. To get revenge, Cartman uses a series of tactics to train a horse to eat Scott's penis during a chili cook-off in front of his favorite band, Radiohead. Of course, that doesn't work, so Cartman is forced to do something else, resulting in the untimely deaths of Scott's parents.

Yes, it's a little crazy, but we promise it's worth watching for the last five minutes alone. At the end of the episode, Cartman licks the tears of unfathomable sadness off Scott's face while Kyle and Stan wonder how Cartman could sink so low. There is also a piggy dance where you can cackle.

10. 'Tsst' (Season 10, Episode 7)

If you don't laugh at "Tsst," you may never laugh at anything again. Cartman's mother is fed up with her wayward son and decides to call in a group of behavior experts. The first is a Mary Poppins-esque Brit who manipulates Cartman to within an inch of her mind. The second is the dog whisperer Cesar Millan.

Together, Cesar and Liane bring Cartman in line by pinching his neck with the dominant "tssst" sound. Watching Cartman bang on deck provides some of the funniest moments of the episodes, and Cartman's comparison of his treatment to that of the Jews under Hitler is ridiculous in its utter absurdity. Listen to The Omen's music at the end of the episode for a little horror movie recap.

9. "You Have 0 Friends" (Season 14, Episode 4)

Kip Drordy is probably the saddest and loneliest character in the South Park universe... which makes him laugh. Stan is forced to have a Facebook profile, making his life a nightmare and causing him to be sucked into a Tron-like world of thumbs ups and likes. Elsewhere, Kyle adds Kip to his friends list out of pity, only to be ostracized by everyone else for his choice of boyfriend.

Considering the episode released in 2010, Parker and Stone managed to predict how powerful the world of social media was going to become while also parodying some of its more ridiculous facets like chat roulette. That they also managed to give this episode a happy ending is even more impressive.

8. 'AWESOM-O' (Season 8, Episode 5)

Cartman has been torturing Butters for 21 seasons, but sometimes his schemes are so elaborate you can't help but admire him for them. In AWESOM-O, Cartman pretends to be a new robot friend in order to uncover all of Butter's innermost secrets, but ends up discovering that Butters has his own blackmail material (imagine Cartman dressed as Britney Spears and carrying a Justin Timberlake carton fucks cleavage and you're on the right track).

What begins as a simple episode soon becomes much more interesting when Butters brings AWESOM-O to Los Angeles, where his robotic abilities are used to pitch movie ideas. We never get tired of Cartman screaming "lame" every time something weird happens while he's tucked into his cardboard robotic suit, or the moment it's stolen by the US Army to be repurposed as a weapon of mass destruction program. Ridiculous, but one of our favorites.

7. „Up the Down Steroid“ (Staffel 8, Folge 2)

This utterly horrifying but hilariously funny episode is the perfect example of Parker and Stone's risk-taking humor. Jimmy and Timmy compete in the Special Olympics, but Cartman wants a share of the $1,000 prize. To do this, he pretends to be mentally retarded, only to discover that he is so terribly unfit that he can't beat the other kids. At the same time, Jimmy got hooked on steroids in a Lance Armstrong parody.

This is one of those episodes that makes you feel guilty about laughing, but then again, when doesn't watching South Park? It's hard not to smile at the exchange between Timmy and Jimmy (especially considering Timmy can only say his own name) and Cartman's scientific approach to appearing disabled. South Park at its most embarrassing.

6. "Dances with the Smurfs" (Season 13, Episode 13)

When Cartman is named the school's new morning announcer, he begins to abuse power, accusing Wendy Testaburger of trying to suppress his civil liberties. Once he gets his own TV show, he goes on a political rampage, accusing Wendy of trying to kill Smurfs.

What follows is basically the story of Avatar, itself a product of Dances With Wolves. It also includes references to Fox News, the Tea Party protests and Sarah Palin. Considering that the vast majority of the episode features a half-naked Cartman with blue face paint, it's deceptively clever and very funny.

5.'Smug Alert!' (Season 10, Episode 2)

Determined not to sit back and watch humans destroy the world (his words, not ours), Kyle's father Gerald coughs up a new hybrid car and embraces a new, greener lifestyle. The problem is that while using the greener vehicle does reduce smog levels, it comes with an unintended side effect of smug. Finally, unable to cope with the small-minded commoners of South Park, Gerald relocates the family to sunny San Francisco, the only place in the country more smug than South Park. Surely this episode is worth watching for that pun alone?

4. "Black Friday" (Season 17, Episode 7)

Just in case you were thereanyDoubting what Parker and Stone are making of Black Friday's consumer frenzy, Season 17's seventh episode is the first of a three-part arc that pays homage to Game of Thrones and reflects exactly what we'll be doing for the best Black Friday bargain ( who, in Randy Marsh's case, takes a temp job at the mall).

Divided into two familiar factions - Xbox One fans and PlayStation 4 fans - the kids of South Park are trying to rally the undecided to their cause and secure the console of their dreams. "Winter is coming... and next-gen gaming systems are hitting the shelves!"

3. "Night of the Living Homeless" (Season 11, Episode 7)

According to the South Park County-based "expert" on homelessness, the best way to eradicate homelessness is not to give away money, so you force the unfortunate souls to move on. However, Kyle struggles with this ethical dilemma and inadvertently makes matters worse by mercifully donating twenty dollars to a homeless man. Thus begins a fight that has dozens of homeless people shambling through the city like zombies in hopes of receiving a similar donation. Kyle's father, Gerald, ends up donating all his money and becoming a homeless zombie as well, while Cartman inexplicably jumps at the homeless man on his skateboard.

In addition to parodying zombie movies, Night of the Living Homeless offers a steaming dose of satirical social commentary. Sublimate.

2. "Good Times With Guns" (Season 8, Episode 1)

Remember when your parents told you not to play with sharp objects or you'll tear your eyes out? 'Good Times with Weapons' is a living, breathing reminder of that...especially when the sharps in question are "authentic" Far Eastern weapons and they're called Butters (poor,armButter).

Pretending to be orphans to circumvent parental permission rules, the boys stock up on a selection of frighteningly brutal weapons to role-play with ninjas and mess with Professor Chaos. Cue Kenny throwing a shuriken to defeat the Prof, then clamoring to get Butters treated without getting arrested.

1. "The Death of Eric Cartman" (Season 9, Episode 6)

Would South Park be the same without Cartman? If our episode number one is anything, the answer is definitely no. The Death of Eric Cartman brings together everything this series does best; the bully's vicious insanity, Kyle and Stan getting their own backs, and Cartman's laugh-out-loud relationship with Butters. When Eric eats all of the crispy KFC chicken skin before the other boys get a taste, the gang teams up to completely ignore him. Cartman doesn't understand why someone would just ignore him and comes to the obvious conclusion that he's dead.

Of course, poor Butters is five steps behind and thinks if Cartman is dead he must be able to see ghosts. As if that wasn't funny enough, Butters' parents put him through a series of traumatizing anal tests, while Cartman decides to atone for his sins with gift baskets. HeThenhas to deal with a hostage situation. We also get another interpretation of "Lou, lou, lou, I've got some apples". We could watch this episode, the best of the best episodes of South Park, over and over again.

If you enjoyed our ranking of the best South Park episodes, check out our breakdown of theThe best Rick and Morty episodesand theThe best Simpsons episodesto.

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