Trey Parker

Perhaps the only South Park trivia cited so often as its six-day turnaround might be the one time creators exceeded it, owing to a power outage at South Park Studios. As it turns out, last week’s 20th anniversary premiere very nearly added another footnote to the record, as malfunctioning audio delayed “Member Berries” right up to an hour before showtime.

It’s hard to believe South Park will kick off its 20th year as early as this Wednesday, and given the famous six-day turnaround, our first details only now arrive. South Park will “Member Berries” by rebooting the national anthem in this week’s season premiere, the first clip of which you can watch right now.

South Park long ago put to rest notions of an imminent end with a three-season renewal through 2019, but it bears thought if video games like The Stick of Truth or The Fractured But Whole represent an enduring step for the franchise. Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker wonder this as well, pointing to games as a potential “future of South Park,” noting they’ve still kicked around a few movie ideas.

When you’ve five Emmys, four Tonys, one Grammy and was one Phil Collins song away from an Oscar that would’ve made you one of only 13 people to have an EGOT, what else is left to do? For South Park creator Trey Parker, you voice the bad guy in Despicable Me 3...

The infamously-short lead time on new South Park episodes results in advance promos lacking footage until a few days out, but with only days to go until the Season 19 premiere, Matt Stone and Trey Parker have at least something to tide fans over. Check out the full “trailer” for South Park’s Wednesday premiere, and find out what subject the boys tackle in the premiere.

South Park has put Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman through the wringer for almost 20 years of pop culture punishment, but did you know the show originated as one of the world’s first viral videos? Or that the first official episode took three months to animate by hand? Oh my god, we killed the 22nd episode of ‘You Think You Know TV?,’ straight from the bastards at South Park!

South Park Season 19 Teaser

Like SNL, too much hilarity has cycled through the news in the last few months alone, not to have South Park back in our lives. Thankfully, that long national nightmare is over, as in addition to the recent renewals, South Park has officially set a September return date to Comedy Central.

South Park will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, which is today’s reminder that you’re old and have been watching crudely animated children swear at each other for nearly two decades now. The venerable series, which made Comedy Central a serious player and gave popular culture itself a mean (but satiric!) kick in the butt, still isn’t showing signs of slowing down. As long as the world makes them angry enough to make fun of it, series creators Trek Parker and Matt Stone are going to be making South Park. And their network can’t help but enable them — they’ve renewed the show through 2019.

However infrequently South Park arrives each year, many begin to wonder how much longer the talents of Trey Parker and Matt Stone will keep the series in play at Comedy Central. We’ve certainly been through some reassurance before, but will the 20th season in 2016 mark the official end? Says Parker, “They have to f—ing cancel us, goddammit!”