“South Park” co-creator Trey Parker says the show will get back to its roots in its forthcoming season instead of turning on President Trump in a bid for higher ratings.
Mr. Parker, who debuted “South Park” in 1997 with co-creator Matt Stone, told The Los Angeles Times in an interview published Friday that satirizing current events is getting “boring.”
“We would do an entire season and there would be one moment that played off something that had just happened and people would go, ’South Park is the show that does that.’ And that’s just not true. We’re not,” he said.
“We did start to become that, though, especially the last season,” he continued. “We fell into the same trap that ’Saturday Night Live’ fell into, where it was like, ’Dude, we’re just becoming CNN now. We’re becoming: Tune in to see what we’re going to say about Trump.’ Matt and I hated it but we got stuck in it somehow.
“This season I want to get back to Cartman dressing up like a robot and [screwing] with Butters, because to me that’s the bread and butter of ’South Park’: kids being kids and being ridiculous and outrageous but not ’did you see what Trump did last night?’ Because I don’t give a … anymore,” he said. “We probably could put up billboards — ’Look what we’re going to do to Trump next week!’ — and get crazy ratings. But I just don’t care.”
Mr. Parker said he doesn’t think Mr. Trump is particularly funny, but he uses the same comedic tools that “South Park” does in order to reach his audience.
“He’s not intentionally funny but he is intentionally using comedic art to propel himself,” he said. “The things that we do — being outrageous and taking things to the extreme to get a reaction out of people — he’s using those tools. At his rallies he gets people laughing and whooping.
“I don’t think he’s good at it. But it obviously sells — it made him president,” he added.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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