Carol McCormick

Mrs. McCormick
Character Information
Gender	Female
Race	Caucasian
Hair	Red
Age	26[citation needed]
Occupation	Dishwasher at Olive Garden
Religion	Roman Catholic
Voiced by	1997-1999: Mary Kay Bergman 2000-2003: Eliza J. Schneider Current: April Stewart
Relatives
Husband	Stuart McCormick
Son	Kevin McCormick
Son	Kenny McCormick
Daughter	Karen McCormick
Appearances
First	"Starvin' Marvin"

Mrs. McCormick is Kenny, Kevin and Karen's mother and the wife of Stuart. Her first name is uncertain, and Mary Kay Bergman affirmed in 1999 that her name is Mrs. McCormick, but fans often call her Carol, a name used for Sharon Marsh, Sheila Broflovski and Linda Stotch, three of the other main characters' mothers. In the series' early years she was also often called Peggy.

Background

Religion

Her family seems to be fairly religious (Roman Catholic, like most of the townspeople). She yells at Kenny for wanting to miss church in "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" and Stuart stood up for the Church in "Red Hot Catholic Love", where they seem to have been one of the few families in town to have not converted to atheism. The family is sometimes shown praying before their meals, which is ironic since their poverty means they eat little or nothing. They also continue to pray after Kenny has died on a few occasions, and Kenny's funerals, when they occur, are always religious in nature.

After Kenny's "permanent" death in "Kenny Dies", Kenny is cremated. Though traditionally cremation is not approved by Christian churches, many Christians do it anyway.

In "Coon vs. Coon & Friends" it is revealed that she joined The Cult of Cthulhu for free beer and regrets it because she has to rebirth Kenny every time he dies.

Interests

She seems to like knitting. In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", she is seen knitting when Kenny tells her that he made her favorite drink. She also says that making a sweater is better than molesting children in "The Wacky Molestation Adventure".

Voice acting

From 1997 to 1999, Mrs. McCormick was voiced by Mary Kay Bergman. Bergman described the character as one of her five favorite voice roles in the series (together with Liane Cartman, Sheila Broflovski, Wendy Testaburger, and Shelly Marsh), also mentioning that she based the voice of the character on a "female version of Bill Clinton". After Bergman's death, the character was voiced by Eliza Schneider, from 1999 till 2003. From 2004 till present, Mrs. McCormick's voice has been provided by April Stewart.

Appearance

Mrs. McCormick on the SP-site

Mrs. McCormick wears a lime-green T-shirt which usually reads "I'm with Stupid", and dark blue jeans. The arrow is supposed to point at Stuart, but she is usually standing on the wrong side of him, so it points off in some other direction. Her hair is red, and similar in style to that of little Red's, but her bangs go in the same direction as Wendy Testaburger's. She has a shadowy patch on her right cheek, which may be a bruise, or simply filth.

In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", her shirt had an American flag embroidered on it, accompanied by the phrase "God Bless". When the McCormick's went on the John Denver experience, however, it appeared as a solid green T-shirt. In "Best Friends Forever" it is a solid, but darker green.

For special occasions, she wears a fake fur coat with a red bathing suit top underneath and a red miniskirt, although in recent seasons she seems to have a much more black fancy shirt and dress with a veil.

At night she wears a nightshirt with several bunnies on it and pajama pants.

As of "The Ring", like many other adults, her appearance has been cleaned up, including small subtle changes to her hairstyle, T-shirt, arms and pants.

Personality

Her original appearance

Like her husband, Stuart, she is drunk more often than not (though she does seem a lot more controlled with her drinking). She and Stuart are usually fighting and bickering, with Mrs. McCormick saying that if Stuart would stop drinking and being lazy, and get a job, they might not be so hungry and poor. Like Stuart does to her, she sometimes beats him physically, once giving him a black eye. Although she and Stuart have not been shown onscreen to be physically abusive to their children, except for the one time she smacked Kenny when he refused to share his blanket with his brother in "Spooky Fish", they were arrested for being physically and emotionally abusive to their children in "The Poor Kid", though the McCormick kids seemed puzzled by hearing that. She seems to have strength, seeing as when she hits Stuart. She also tackled Gerald Broflovski to the ground in I'm a Little Bit Country.

Mrs. McCormick does care for Stuart deep down, though, as she was concerned for him when he went ill after consuming a drink mixed with abortion medication, got his nose broken on the John Denver experience, and was molested by the entire NAMBLA Society in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA". Mrs. McCormick also seems to think that the McCormick residence primarily belongs to her, as in "Chickenlover", she says (regarding Stuart): "I want him out of my house! He ain't worth a shit! He can't even hold a fuckin' job!" and yells a similar phrase at him in "Best Friends Forever". However, Stuart and Gerald built that same house when they were teenagers, as revealed in "Chickenpox".

In the episode "Mysterion Rises" it is revealed she had been part of a cult centered around Chthulu ten years before the series' events and that she had been with Stuart at the time. Although she and her husband claim to have been extremely drunk while there -something their son does not question- it is hinted their involvement may have been greater. It is also revealed Kenny under the guise of Mysterion -they are unaware of his identity- has been manipulating them to make them act better, promising him not to get high at night, not to fight as much, and to pay their children an allowance.

Family

Father

It is unclear if Kenny's grandfather, seen in "Fat Camp", is her father or Stuart's, as his name was not given. However, Gerald mentions in "Chickenpox" that Stuart's father was an unemployed drunkard like Stuart; what can be taken from this is ambiguous.

Mother

In "Best Friends Forever", it is mentioned that Kenny has a deceased grandmother.

Stuart McCormick

Main article: Stuart McCormick

Stuart is her husband. With Mrs. McCormick being twenty-five years old, and Stuart being around Gerald Broflovski's age, there is approximately eight years between them. Little is known of their past, but they have been together for at least ten years (likely as old as their eldest son) and share a love of drinking and drugs. Although they fight extremely often and have severely beat each other, it seems to be reinforced that they do care about each other, particularly in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA".

Kevin McCormick

Main article: Kevin McCormick

Kevin is Mrs. McCormick's eldest son and child. He has not had many speaking roles, but when he does talk, he often repeats himself, implying that he is not very intellectual. Nothing is known of his relationship with his mother, although she did instruct Kevin to shoot his father.

Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick

Main article: Kenny McCormick

Kenny is her second child and youngest son. She apparently had him when she was only sixteen. She does care deeply about her son, crying and being horrified at many of his deaths, and arranging funerals, despite an implied knowledge of the repetition of them. She tries to make extra allowances for him during her pregnancy so he doesn't feel left out or ignored. She is, however, somewhat confrontational with him at times, such as "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut". She is afraid of his alter-ego Mysterion, whom he uses to scare his parents into submission and manipulate them. When her children are taken away she doesn't want to see them go.

Karen McCormick

Main article: Karen McCormick

Mrs. McCormick's youngest child and only daughter. She's very timid and shy, and seems to be a bit of a crybaby. She depends on her older brother Kenny to protect her most of the time, but is being held by her mother, and later asks for her mother, implying a closer relationship between the two.

Trivia

• At the end of "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", after Kenny gets run over by the ambulance taking Stuart to the hospital, she gives birth to a baby who looks just like Kenny (parka and all). When Stuart says that this is the 50th time it's happened, she tells him it's the 52nd. This initially indicates that every time Kenny dies, he returns to her body, takes the form of another fetus, is reborn, and then grows to be the age before his death within a day's time. However, because in the second half of the story arc, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut"/"Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut", Kenny materialized out of thin air after dying in the previous part, this is most likely a cutaway joke. Oddly, Matt Stone and Trey Parker claim that this is the canon explanation. This is later reaffirmed in "Coon vs. Coon and Friends" when at the end Kenny kills himself and Mrs. McCormick gives birth to a new Kenny, placing him in Kenny's clothes. It is assumed that this happens because of the Cult of Cthulhu meeting they went to.
• While Stuart has a good eight years on her, she is seen winning nearly every fight they have: In "Chickenlover", she gives him a black eye and ends up being injured by Eric Cartman, much to the amusement of Kenny and Kevin. In "Mysterion Rises", Mrs. McCormick and Stuart McCormick fight over a joint, and she is seen punching Stuart. In "Make Love, Not Warcraft", she is seen slapping Stuart in the face while Kenny plays his game.
• She is apparently a good seamstress as she knitted Kenny's Orange Parka from a torn orange drape in his room.
• Her last name suggests that she has Irish/Scottish heritage.
• Mrs. McCormick can be heard crying for her children in "The Poor Kid", while Stuart is telling the police that they are hurting his arm; this shows that Carol possibly cares for her children more than Stuart does.
• If Mrs. McCormick is eight years younger than Stuart, and she had Kevin when she was thirteen, then this would mean that Stuart was twenty - one when he got her pregnant. Since nine months have to pass in order to give birth, it is highly likely that she was in fact twelve when she first met Stuart.
• Mrs. McCormick and Stuart have met Mysterion before, as shown "Mysterion Rises", but do not suspect Mysterion is someone they know, or even notice when Mysterion runs passed them in "Coon vs Coon and Friends".
• Mrs. McCormick has a good memory as revealed in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", when she recounts that she had gotten pregnant fifty - two times, with each previous child dying.
• Mrs. McCormick usually stands on the left side of her husband, thus causing the arrow on her t-shirt to point somewhere else.

Prominence

• "Starvin' Marvin" - First appearance. She and Stuart cheer Kenny on while he's fishing for a can of preserved food.
• "Chickenlover" - Mrs. McCormick and Stuart are shown to be fighting when Cartman, as a police officer, investigates on them.
• "Spookyfish" - Demands information from Stan in a near drunken tirade when Kenny doesn't come back home.
• "Chickenpox" - Makes Kenny give the other boys chickenpox.
• "The Red Badge of Gayness" - Cries when she reads that Kenny had died again.
• "Quintuplets 2000" - Travels to Romania with Kenny.
• "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" - She and Stuart are trying to have another baby.
• "Fat Camp" - She and Stuart are proud that Kenny has his own live TV show.
• "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" - She and Stuart are arrested for child molestation along with all the other adults in South Park.
• "Cartmanland" - She and Stuart sue Cartman because Kenny died on one of the rides in his amusement park. They are only mentioned and don't actually appear in this episode.
• "How to Eat with Your Butt" - She and Stuart get Kenny to apologize to the Thompsons, when he unintentionally tricked them into thinking that their lost son had been discovered.
• "Kenny Dies" - Mrs. McCormick, Stuart, and family mourn Kenny's semi-permanent death.
• "A Ladder to Heaven" - Breaks down when she and Stuart show Kyle, Cartman, and Stan the urn in which holds Kenny's remains.
• "Best Friends Forever" - She and Stuart fight to have Kenny's feeding tube put back in.
• "The List" - She is shown eating cereal and Pop-tarts for dinner, with the rest of her family, and is shocked and horrified when Kenny is shot with Bebe's bullet.
• "Sexual Healing" - She is the one who finds Kenny after he dies.
• "Coon 2: Hindsight" - Awakened by the Coon alarm.
• "Mysterion Rises" - Mysterion confronts them and we discover they were part of Cthulhu's cult.
• "Coon vs. Coon and Friends" - We learn that every time after Kenny dies, his soul returns to her and she gives birth to him again, placing the newborn in his parka and tucking him in his bed.
• "The Poor Kid" - Gets arrested, along with her husband.

References

South Park families

Main characters' families Broflovski Family | Cartman Family | Marsh Family | McCormick Family Other characters' families Adams-Makowski Family | Barbrady Family | Biggle Family | Black Family | Burch Family | Charlotte's Family | Cotswolds Family | Daniels Family | Donovan Family | Garrison Family | Gray Family | Gueermo Family | Hakeem Family | Hankey Family | Harrison Family | Mackey Family | Malkinson Family | Mephesto Family | Nelly's Family | Red's Family | Rodriguez Family | Stevens Family | Stotch Family | Tenorman Family | Testaburger Family | Tucker Family | Turner Family | Tweak Family | Valmer Family | White Family