How many times has Kenny McCormick died in South Park?

One of the first jokes in Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s animated comedy “South Park” was the repeated comical death of Kenny McCormick. Kenny (Stone) was best friends with Stan (Parker), Kyle (also Stone), and Cartman (also Parker), and seemed to be the most…worldly of the four. Kenny’s face was usually mostly covered by an oversized orange coat, and all of his dialogue was muffled and incomprehensible. It would later be established that Kenny was incredibly impoverished and seemed to know much more about sex, drugs, and crime than an eight-year-old should know.

During the first six seasons of the series, from 1997 to 2002, Kenny died in almost every episode. Kenny’s deaths were often very demonstrative: the young man was impaled on a flagpole or cut in half with a chainsaw. When Kenny died, one of his friends would respond curtly, “Oh my God, they killed Kenny!” (with another chiming in with “Bastard!”). Both Kenny’s death and the reactive line of dialogue originated in Stone and Parker’s 1992 short film “Jesus vs. Frosty,” as well as their much cleverer 1995 short film “The Spirit of Christmas.” Kenny’s death was a cheap, shocking way to get laughs, and it was very effective. To add to the severity of Kenny’s many deaths, his corpse was often seen being chewed on by rats.

Kenny was also miraculously resurrected at the beginning of each episode, often without any fanfare. Sometimes it would just appear out of nowhere. Then, like clockwork, he would die once again. No one seems to have remembered that he had died many times before.

Eventually, Stone and Parker stopped killing Kenny, and the character now lives to the end of most “South Park” episodes. This, of course, begs the question: how many times did Kenny die? Fortunately, we have access to those numbers.

As mentioned, Kenny died regularly throughout the first six seasons of “South Park.” He was saved in “Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo” (December 17, 1997) as a show of Christmas mercy, but was killed fairly regularly beyond that.

In fact, Kenny would sometimes die multiple times in one episode. In “Pinkeye” (October 29, 1997), Kenny was killed when a satellite fell on him. While he was being embalmed, an incident with Worcestershire sauce brought him back to life as a zombie. Kyle then ended up cutting the zombie Kenny in half, killing him again. In an epilogue, Kenny once again dug up his grave, only to have his tombstone fall on top of him. Then a plane crashed into him. Recall that in 1997, a certain type of “shock” humor was just coming into vogue (largely led by the success of “South Park”) and many comedians began telling jokes that carried tired comedy tropes. the 80s to violent extremes. Kenny’s death was meant to be whimsically shocking in its casual violence.

The continuity of Kenny’s deaths is deliberately played with regularly. Sometimes Kenny’s death is a big deal and the characters cry over his loss. Other times, it’s so common that Stan and Kyle almost sigh at his “They killed Kenny” line and walk away like nothing happened. In the episode “Summer Sucks” (June 24, 1998), there is a flashback to when Kenny was in kindergarten and dies in the flashback. However, at present he is fine.

Counting all the multiple deaths during the first six seasons of “South Park,” Kenny died or was killed 98 times. This does not count the deaths Kenny experienced in the show’s title sequence, as they would be difficult to count correctly.

In the 1999 feature film “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” Kenny dies early in the film when he accidentally sets himself on fire after causing his own flatulence. At the hospital, the doctor (George Clooney) accidentally replaces his heart with a baked potato and he dies on the operating table. The film, however, follows Kenny to Hell, where he befriends Satan (Parker) and comforts the Dark Lord over his abusive relationship with Saddam Hussein (Stone). Kenny briefly returns to Earth during the film’s climax, says goodbye to his friends, and ascends to heaven. That counts as two deaths.

As mentioned, “South Park” started out as a pair of Christmas shorts, and a Kenny-like character dies in “Jesus vs. Frosty.” (The character named Kenny in that short resembles the eventual Cartman.) In the 1995 sequel, Kenny was given the correct name and also died when Santa Claus accidentally killed him with a psychic blast.

There were also, throughout its history, numerous original bumpers, shorts, specials, and commercials that Stone and Parker made, and Kenny died in many of them. These were made for “The Tonight Show”, the MTV Movie Awards, the movie “The Aristocrats” and other similar special events. In all the shorts and specials, about 22 in total, Kenny died 14 more times. Jay Leno’s chin even killed him once.

If one wanted to be especially liberal, one could also include the few “South Park” video games, all made with the participation of Stone and Parker. Kenny, during the video game stories, was offended. other 14 times. 98 (TV series) + 14 (specials and shorts) + 14 (video games) + 2 (the movie) = 128. Kenny has died a total of 128 times. Again, this is not counting the title sequence of seasons 7 to 11, where Death killed him. If you want, add those 71 additional instances, making a total of 199.

After a while, Matt Stone and Trey Parker began to tire of killing Kenny, and even took his death very seriously in the episode “Kenny Dies” (December 5, 2001). Kenny was hospitalized after being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and his friends had to deal with the sadness of losing a friend. Tragically, Stan was outside the room when Kenny walked by, and Kenny’s last words were “Where’s Stan?” Stan became deeply depressed after that.

On a DVD commentary track, Parker and Stone explained that Kenny had become a comic “prop” and that his death was becoming exhausting for them to write over and over again. They had also become fans of newer characters like Butters (Stone) and Tweek (Stone) and wanted to give them more screen time. After “Kenny Dies”, Kenny was off the show for most of the sixth season. He basically remained dead, save for a few ghostly appearances. In the sixth season finale, “Red Sleigh Down” (December 11, 2002), Kenny officially returned (again, without any fanfare), and has stayed alive (for the most part) ever since.

Cheekily, Stone and Parker decided, many years later, to canonically explain why Kenny died so many times. In “Cartman Joins NAMBLA” (June 21, 2000), Kenny dies, but his parents give birth to a little brother… who they also name Kenny. However, contrary to this explanation are the events of the episode “Mysterion Rises” (November 3, 2010). In that episode, it is explained that Kenny’s parents belonged to a cult that worshiped the powerful Lovecraftian elder god Cthulhu. Kenny, through his participation, became cursed, nay, destined to die every day, only to wake up, fully clothed, the next morning. The curse of immortality also meant that anyone who witnessed her death would forget her. Kenny is also stabbed to death in that episode. Nobody remembers it.