Kyle Broflovski

Kyle Broflovski, voiced by Matt Stone, is one of the four then five main characters of South Park. Matt Stone has said that Kyle is loosly based on his early days of childhood. He was born on May 26th, and is the youngest of the original four; and second youngest of all five mains.

Appearance


Kyle wears a bright green hunting cap (or ushanka), a bright orange jacket with black trimmed pockets and dark green collar, dark green pants, and lime green mittens. He is rarely shown without his cap, but underneath it, he sports an auburn, curly afro-like hairstyle called a "Jew-fro", first seen in the episode "How to Eat with Your Butt", a hairstyle which he seems to resent. Kyle is only seen without his hat in four other episodes; "Lil' Crime Stoppers", "Quest for Ratings", "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" and "The Losing Edge". Kyle's hair is a nod to Stone's character in Cannibal! The Musical in which he wears the same style hat with an afro underneath. A photorealistic version of Kyle's appearance was produced as a police artist sketch for the episode "Free Willzyx"; however, his mother, Sheila Broflovski, comments that it's "kinda a bad drawing". In "Preschool" and "Make Love, Not Warcraft", Kyle's curly hair hangs out below his hat. In "The List", Kyle was voted the ugliest boy in class, out of sixteen students. Kyle lets this debilitate his confidence, as he stoops down to the level of the misfit ugly kids at school. Eventually it was found out that the list was a compromise, technically relieving Kyle of his place of ugliest kid. His actual ranking is unknown. Though Cartman was rated the ugliest.

In "Good Times With Weapons" his anime self is shown to have either brown or violet eyes.

Personality
Kyle appears to be the smartest, at least academically, of the original four, and second-most intelligent after Butters. Furthermore, he has shown probable psychic abilities (Cartman's Incredible Gift), and has even once crossed into another state of being in The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000.

Morals and Opimism
Kyle typically displays the highest moral standards of all the boys, although he lies in "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus". He is usually the immediate protagonist in the plotline (usually to Cartman's antagonist), being the boy who almost always keeps in mind the right thing to do. His strong morals might have originated from his religious foundation at home, but more likely from his parents, who are always seen encouraging Kyle to do the right thing. It has been made clear several times that Kyle is usually an optimistic boy, prefering to stay positive, friendly and supportive. Kyle is usualy naive in the fact that he would like to believe everyone has some good in them, causing him to fall for some of Cartman's tricks once in a while.

Knowledge
Kyle is portrayed as the smartest of the four boys, in school as well in real-life situations. Kyle also usually gets higher grades than his associates, and often provides the sober thought to plans or ideas made by the other boys. While he stays optimistic, he also looks on the realistic side of many plans the other boys think up. As Kyle is the most rational of his peers, he is a common protagonist in the show, usually to Cartman's antagonist.

Emotions
When angered or frustrated, Kyle has a tendency to clench his fists and growl or yell angrily. He will also swear and even walk off, frustrated. Kyle has also adapted the habit of pinching the bridge of his nose and shutting his eyes tightly when frustrated from Stan.

Religious beliefs
Kyle is of Jewish religion, but this detail is not officially revealed until "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", despite having been mentioned briefly in the second The Spirit of Christmas short (which pre-dates the television series), and in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". Cartman is known to makes derragatory remarks about the Jewish people, making comments such as "Shut your goddamn Jew mouth!"

Kyle appears ambivalent toward his Judaism, and there are conflicting clues as to the religiosity of his family - for example, while they dress similarly to many religious Jews (Gerald, for example, always wears a yarmulke), they apparently do not keep the Sabbath or follow very strict sexual lives (Sheila Stone, mother of Matt Stone, was herself a secular Sephardic Jew). Kyle's basic indifference to religion may be part of his effort to fit in with his friends, who are Roman Catholic. Kyle is often more defensive than proud of his Judaism, and though he regularly attends such functions as "Jew Scouts", he often has a poor grasp on the history, traditions and rituals of his religion. This could also be the fault of his parents, who, in a misguided attempt to shelter their son, generally refuse to discuss with him the finer points of their religion. For example:
 * When he heard that his brother Ike was going to have a bris, he was under the misapprehension that it involved cutting off the entire penis rather than just the foreskin. This was despite the fact that Kyle got circumcised himself.
 * After seeing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, he told Cartman that Cartman was right about Jews all along and stood up in his synagogue to demand that Jews apologize for the death of Christ. Ironically, he killed Jesus personally in a later episode, though the act was not due to malice but Jesus' own request, so that he could resurrect himself and save Stan and the "Hare Club for Men" from being boiled alive like rabbits, but this act, at the request of Kyle, was only done because Jesus promised to never let Cartman know about it.
 * When he learned of Catholicism's conditions for getting into Heaven, he renounced his faith on the basis that if the Jews were right about the matter, it would make no difference if he were a Catholic, but if the Catholics were right, he would go to hell for not accepting Christ (see Pascal's Wager).
 * In "Chickenpox", when his dad told him about how society works, he thought of a "better idea", which involved sending all the poor people to concentration camps so only rich people would live. Kyle's father promptly realized he was being intolerant of people less fortunate than himself and stopped this. He therefore at least in this episode did not have a very clear grasp of the Holocaust or other forms of genocide.

Shelia Broflovski
Kyle's mother, Sheila, is known to be extremely overprotective as she instigates a war between the USA and Canada in the feature-length movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut because of (Canadian natives) Terrance and Phillip's extremely scatological R-rated movie. Sheila is prone to making a mountain out of a molehill whenever something threatens her son. Even so, in "Cherokee Hair Tampons" she turns to holistic and nature medicine when Kyle almost dies of kidney failure because he is diabetic, although his diet is the same as the other kids. Stan is very upset about the possible death of Kyle (much more than about the many deaths of Kenny, much to Kenny's annoyance), and ultimately saves him by tricking Cartman into donating one of his kidneys to Kyle (Cartman asked for ten million dollars for it). Cartman had to because he was the only other one with the AB negative blood type.

Gerald Broflovski
Kyle's father Gerald is a lawyer, but, Kyle reiterates, they are not as wealthy as the Black family, also headed by a lawyer (probably either because Gerald isn't a very good lawyer or because of his gambling problems).

Ike Broflovski
Kyle has an adopted younger Canadian brother, Ike.

Within his family, Kyle seems to have a strong relationship with his brother Ike. Ike follows Kyle around and generally imitates his older brother whenever possible, despite actions such as playing "kick the baby" (which features Kyle punting Ike like a football, usually through a window). When Kyle discovered that Ike was Canadian and was adopted, he rejected Ike as his brother because they weren't genetically linked. He made ammends with his brother though, and looks out for Ike in a brotherly fashion. When Ike's real parents returned and took Ike away, Kyle went to Canada to get his brother back by appealing to the Prime Minister. Also, when Ike entered in an un-healthy relationship with his teacher Kyle attempted several times to get Ike out of it, eventually talking him out of jumping off of a building with his teacher.

Kyle Schwartz
Kyle also has a cousin from Connecticut, Kyle Schwartz, who is a Woody Allen-esque Jewish stereotype.

Stan Marsh
His friendship with Stan is very strong, and has been asserted on the show many times. They are best friends and are the closest out of the four boys. They have both reffered to themselves as "Super best friends." Kyle's had his life saved by Stan three times, however he did help to save Stan's life in "Fantastic Easter Special". Though they have broken up or had serious fights six times (in the episodes "Prehistoric Ice Man", "Douche and Turd", "Super Best Friends", "South Park is Gay!", "Follow that Egg!" and "Guitar Queer-o"), they have always reconciled in the end. He sometimes becomes angry with Stan because of differences in belief, mostly due to outside influence, or to Kyle's rivalry with Cartman, which Kyle often becomes preoccupied with, worrying Stan. Even on one occasion Kyle denounced Stan as his friend because he sided with Cartman on a vote of who should be the new school mascot. The depth of their friendship is taken into account on several occasions, arguably most so in "Guitar Queer-o", where their falling-out creates the major conflict of the story. Generally, they are seen together on the show, standing next to each other as well as sitting together on the school bus. In the episode "The List", he is voted on a "corrupted" list ugliest. This depresses him a great deal and even inspires him to turn to arson, but Stan, seeing this, tries to get the girls to change the list. In "Imaginationland Episode III", Kyle goes to various extreme measures, including breaking into the Pentagon, to stop the government from nuking Imaginationland, being the only one to hear Stan inside it.

They almost always side together on topics, mainly when it is Cartman who is oposing them. It is generally Stan who is siding with Kyle on disputes with Cartman, due to the fact Kyle and Stan are best friends. Kyle and Stan's friendship has been mocked several times by others (Particularly Cartman), and Stan's dad Randy Marsh even told Stan that they shouldn't hang out too much together or else people would start to think they are 'funny', meaning Homosexual.

Eric Cartman
While most of the South Park kids dislike Cartman, Kyle particularly dislikes him; the feud between the two has been a recurring theme. Cartman and Kyle often exchange insults, with Kyle the target of Cartman's antisemitism, and, in return, Cartman being taunted about his weight. Whenever making a point, Cartman will often try to outsmart Kyle but usually winds up the loser of the argument. There are exceptions, however, as in "Die Hippie, Die", Cartman saves the town from a hippie music festival, and Kyle is forced to watch Cartman play with his new Tonka bulldozer in the school parking lot every day. In "Smug Alert!" it was revealed that without Kyle to irritate, Cartman's life is empty to the point that Cartman actually goes and saves Kyle and his entire family from the Smug Storm. In "Kenny Dies", Kyle seemed to show empathy towards Cartman, suggesting that despite being easily angered by Cartman's teasing, he still considers him a friend. However, at the same time, he does not invite Cartman to his birthday party at Casa Bonita because he naturally doesn't consider Cartman to be a friend. He does, though, state that Cartman is his friend in "Up the Down Steroid", and he refers to Cartman as "my sort-of friend...ish," in the episode "The Entity."

Despite his obvious outrage towards Cartman, in "Up the Down Steroid", Kyle showed that he was really concerned about him going to hell if he goes to the Special Olympics. Kyle has even saved Cartman's life once in "Manbearpig" where Cartman swallowed fake treasure and became ill when the four boys were stuck in a cave. Cartman brings Kyle back to life in "Imaginationland Episode II" when Kyle was attacked by Manbearpig.

Kyle has trouble accepting that Cartman is never sincere and keeps falling for his seemingly good intentions time and time again. This is seen in "Casa Bonita", "Cartoon Wars Part I", "Kenny Dies", and other episodes. Perhaps it is Kyle's idealistic optimism that there is some good in everyone, even in Cartman. Sometimes, in episodes like "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes" and "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", Kyle will make it very clear that he knows Cartman is manipulating before finally giving in.

Kenny McCormick
Kyle's friendship with Kenny is not as strong as his friendship with Stan, nor is it adversarial (like that with Cartman) but is clearly existent, as he invites him to various arrangements of his and promptly beats up Cartman in defense of Kenny following his "permanent" death. Although his friendship with Kenny is not as noticable when Stan or Cartman are around, when the two are alone together they have been known to be quite friendly towards eachother.

Butters Stotch
His friendship with Butters is fairly decent, as Kyle treats Butters more nicely than the other boys. However, he is not against using Butters as a "guinea pig" when it comes to experiments or undercover jobs. He also occasionally makes fun or Butters, swears at him or calls him names. Butters has been shown to harass Kyle, as Shown in "The List", and he has also "bullied" him for being jewish, usually under Cartman's influence.

Girls
Next to Cartman, he seems to be the least interested in girls, of all five main characters.

Bebe Stevens
Bebe Stevens, a girl in Kyle's class, fell in love with him in the Episode Clubhouses. She was especially turned on by his ass. Bebe said in a note (that was read alouds to the class by Mr. Garrison,) that she wanted to wear his ass as a hat. In the episode, Bebe is helped by Wendy to try to pursue a relationship with Kyle, who is olivious to the attempts. It was evident, however, that Kyle didn't share her feelings later in the episode: when Kyle, Stan, Wendy and Bebe play Truth or Dare in Stan's clubhouse in the episode Clubhouses, Kyle is dared by Wendy to kiss Bebe "on the lips." Kyle expresses fear and shock, and after kissing Bebe, he flees from the clubhouse in terror. Debatably, Bebe was the source for Kyle's first kiss, as it is the first time on-screen Kyle is shown to kiss a girl. His overal dislike of girls and lack of a "crush" before this episode suggests it is unlikely that he had a kiss previously to this. Furthermore, Kyle was forced by his friend Stan and Wendy to kiss Bebe, which also makes the audience doubt he kissed girl before this experience, at least on his own will. At the end of the episode "Clubhouses", Bebe decided she couldn't take the "codependancy" of a relationship, and broke up with Kyle (in a manner of speaking), although Kyle argues that they were never dating.

The only time Kyle ever showed any interest in Bebe was when she began developing breasts in the episode, "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society". He is the first one to realize an unusually attractive difference in Bebe (although he can't figure out what exactly it is). However, all of the boys in the class develop a "crush" on Bebe in this episode, which is why Kyle's liking to her is nothing original or based on personality. Later in the episode, Kyle helps her to throw rocks at cars with the other boys.

In "Follow That Egg!", Kyle initially gets paired with Wendy to take care of the egg, while Stan gets paired with Bebe. Some fans believe this event, as well as others, seem to forshadow that Kyle will one day fall in love with Bebe, and they will properly get together as Kyle was paired with Stan's love interest, and Stan was paired with the girl who formerly had a crush on Kyle. However, the posibility of a former reltionship is doubtful.

Rebecca Cotswolds
In "Hooked on Monkey Phonics", Kyle develops a crush on a home-schooled girl named Rebecca Cotswalds that he meets at South Park's 15th Annual Spelling Bee. Despite the other boys making fun of him, Kyle makes several attempts to woo Rebecca over, including serenading to her at night outside as she watched from her bedroom window. Kyle also visits her house several times and briefly talks with her akwardly.

Rebecca appears oblivious to Kyle's crush on her, probably because of the fact she is homeschooled and portrayed as having little knowledge of social situations. However, she definatly has some interest in him back, as the two eventually kiss. Rebecca had no idea of what love was, or even how to kiss, considering the idea and the outside world to be "silly". The only concept of 'love' she had was that of a "mate", and said that her provider would select one for her when it would come time to "increase the herd". Since Rebecca didn't understand the meaning of "love," or "kiss," her kiss with Kyle pleasantly surprized her, and she agreed to go to the South Park Elementary's school dance that night with him. However, at the dance, Rebecca came dressed as a "whore," in skimpy clothing, obviously a reaction to her first experience of love. She then began to flirt with all the boys, breaking Kyle's heart.

After the commotion of the dance, she kisses Kyle again, but Rebecca is never seen in another episode, possibly because she decided to continue being homeschooled, whereas her brother Mark, who was also homeschooled, started going to public school. Kyle does not show any sadness about Rebecca in following episodes, maybe because he simply got over her.

Ms. Ellen
In "Tom's Rhinoplasty", Kyle (along with Stan and Cartman) had a crush on their substitute teacher, Ms. Ellen. Stan eventually confessed his love for Ms. Ellen, however, she then explained to Stan that she was a lesbian, to the surprize of all three boys. They are later shown in the episode licking carpet and eating cardboard, strong refrences to lesbian sex. Kyle shows no sadness on learning of Ms. Ellen's sexuality later in the series.

Talents
Kyle, along with the other boys, is portrayed as having multiple useful and trivial talents.

Video Gaming
Kyle is often seen playing video games, such as Guitar Hero in his best friend, Stan's house, as well as other places. In the episode, "Guitar Queer-o", the boys compliment Kyle's skill on Guitar Hero 3, and later in the episode Kyle passes the million point mark with Stan in dual player mode, despite the fact that the feat was thought to be amazing and practically impossible.

Health
Kyle becomes sick more often than any of the other boys, excluding Kenny if his many deaths are considered as heath issues.He experiences a painful infectious hemorrhoid when Cartman inherits $1 million dollars from his grandmother and uses it to buy his own amusement park in "Cartmanland". He also needed a kidney transplant (that only Cartman could provide) in "Cherokee Hair Tampons". In the episode "Guitar Queer-o", sickness apparently prevents Kyle from practicing playing Guitar Hero as much as Stan does. However, in the episode "Chickenpox" he is the only person in his class who does not easily catch chickenpox, even after playing a game in which Kenny (who had chickenpox) spit into his mouth and he had to swallow it while saying "ookymouth" (an activity suggested by his mother in hopes that her son would catch chickenpox). He does catch it in the end, collapsing onto the ground melodramatically, though this only occurs after prolonged exposure to the sick Stan and Cartman.

Kyle and Cartman share the AB negative blood type, as revealed in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons". It was also revealed in this episode that Kyle is a diabetic. His diabetes may be the root for his many heath concerns.

List Of Health Issues
(not complete)
 * Kidney Failure in "Cherokee Hair Tampons"
 * Hemorrhoid in "Cartmanland"
 * Chicken Pox in "Chickenpox"
 * Unnamed (non serious) sickness in "[[Guitar Queer-O"
 * Diabetes mentioned in "Cherokee Hair Tampons"
 * AIDS in "Tonsil Trouble" (also mentioned in "Cartman Joins Nambla")

Death and revival
Kyle is killed in "Imaginationland Episode II" by asphyxiation due to ManBearPig strangling him while being electrocuted by the imagination portal. He is revived quickly by Cartman, who performed CPR on him. In the next episode, "Imaginationland Episode III", Kyle is killed again when a nuclear warhead exploded within Imaginationland, killing everyone but Butters who then imagined everyone and everything in Imaginationland back to life.

In the DVD commentary for Season five, Trey Parker and Matt Stone mentioned that they originally wanted to kill Kyle off for a whole year, but decided to kill Kenny off instead.

Name Dispute
Kyle's last name has been alternately given as Broslovski, Broflofski, Broflovski, and Brovlofski in the series, though the characters say "Broflovski" or "Broslovski" the most often. The name comes from the maiden name of Matt Stone's mother, Sheila Belasco (Broslovski had been changed to Belasco when her ancestor immigrated to America). In "Spontaneous Combustion" there is a shot of Kyle's father Gerald's law office - on the facade it says 'Brovlofski'. In "Sexual Harassment Panda" his name is shown as 'Broflofski'. The various spellings may be due to some confusion in trying to transcribe the Cyrillic surname Бровловский into the Latin alphabet; the letter в is normally transcribed "v" but when voiceless is often written as "f" in English, like in the name "Rachmaninoff". Parker and Stone have confirmed that Kyle's last name is indeed Broflovski, which is also the spelling used in the "4th Grade" intro.

Catch Phases

 * "Oh my God, They killed Kenny! You Bastard(s)!"
 * "You know, I've learned something today."
 * "Holy Shit, dude!"
 * "That son of a bitch!"
 * "Goddamit, Cartman!!"
 * "Fat ass."
 * "Cartman, you fat Fuck!"