Trey Parker says the upcoming season of his hit comedy series South Park won’t be telling the same “boring” President Trump jokes that other shows tend to.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Parker laments falling into the Trump joke “trap” in season 20 and explains why South Park’s 21st season will avoid lambasting the president.
“It’s just gotten boring,” Parker told the outlet. “We weren’t ever really that show. 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.”
Of course the highly-anticipated 20th season of the long-running Comedy Central show started last fall with an episode that revolved around presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, whom were branded “Turd Sandwich” and “Giant Douche,” respectively. The unusually linear and contemporary storyline also heavily featured Mr. Garrison as a thinly-veiled Trump-like character running to become U.S. President.
Ultimately, last season’s Trump-heavy political plot line was an unfortunate “trap” Parker seems to regret falling into.
“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 [Stone] and I hated it, but we got stuck in it somehow,” Parker explained.
“We probably could put up billboards [saying] ‘Look what we’re going to do to Trump next week!’ and get crazy ratings,” Parker said. “But I just don’t care.”
Giving some insight into what loyal fans can expect to see next season, Parker said:
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 [expletive] anymore.
Personally, Parker says President Trump is “not intentionally funny, but he is intentionally using comedic art to propel himself.”
“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,” Parker said of the president. “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.”
Season 21 of South Park will premiere on Aug. 23 on Comedy Central.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson
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