South Park turns 29 years young today (Aug. 13), and Comedy Central is marking the moment with a day-long marathon of fan-favorite episodes.
Co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone first introduced us to what would become the world of South Park with a pair of shorts, both titled The Spirit of Christmas, before the full-scale TV version that has since become an animated classic debuted on Aug. 13, 1997. The series’ inaugural episode, “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe,” focused on a supremely unfortunate alien abduction.
In the nearly 30 years since, South Park has gone on to win multiple Emmy awards, all while continuing to stay in the zeitgeist with a slew of topical mockeries. In 1999, the same year other key end-of-the-millennium works like The Matrix and blink-182’s Enema of the State album were released, Parker and Stone brought Cartman and company to theaters with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
In a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Parker reflected on the decades-long journey, and how he and Stone have managed to maintain what is largely the same creative process they’ve had from the very beginning.
“I think we do care,” Parker said in May. “I mean, we still do everything ourselves the way that we did, you know? When we’re doing a new season, it’s like we’re the band going in to make another album and we don’t know what’s going to come out.”
Fans will get their first taste of the duo’s latest “album” of new material soon enough, as the series’ 29th season is set to kick off on Sept. 16 via Comedy Central and Paramount+.
