Kenny McCormick, voiced by Matt Stone, is one of the 4 main characters of South Park (along with Stan, Kyle and Cartman). Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, he first appeared in the short films both entitled "The Spirit of Christmas" in 1992 and 1995. He is voiced by Mike Judge in the feature film "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" and Eric Stough in the episodes "The Jeffersons", "Lice Capades" and Mysterion Rises.[1]
Kenny is most famous for dying in nearly every episode in the first five seasons of South Park. He is also easily recognizable for almost always wearing an orange parka (or just having his face hidden) that covers most of his face and muffles his speech. In the episode Mysterion Rises, Kenny, who is revealed to be the superhero Mysterion, reveals that he has the power to never die and that he just wakes up in his bed the next day. He then claims that he is upset that his friends never express that they remember him dying.
The character was taken off the show in the fifth season episode "Kenny Dies", but returned in the following season, in the capstone episode and has since been a regular character; however, he now only dies occasionally. In most of the episodes in the 10th and 11th seasons, he tends to recede into the background, though this tendency seems to have ended with the 11th season finale. Throughout the twelfth season, Kenny did not die once. Kenny died three times in total in Season 13, and twice so far in Season 14.
Quick Answers
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First Appearance
Early versions of the character first appeared in Parker and Stone's two pre-South Park shorts, "The Spirit of Christmas" (1992 and 1995). In the first Spirit of Christmas short, the character resembling Kenny is unnamed, while the character resembling Cartman is named Kenny. The unnamed Kenny character also speaks unmuffled in the first short. Both of these characters get killed in the short. In the second Spirit of Christmas, a character with both Kenny's appearance and name appears and dies.
Kenny's first South Park appearance within the series was alongside Kyle, Cartman and Stan in Cartman Gets An Anal Probe
Character Inspiration
Kenny, like many of South Park's characters, is based on a real person; in this case it was a childhood friend of Trey Parker's also named Kenny. In a 2000 interview Trey said that the real life Kenny was the poorest kid in the neighborhood and wore an orange parka that made it difficult for anyone to understand what he was saying. Trey continued stating that real life Kenny would disappear from time to time causing the others to wonder if he was dead.[2]
Characterization
Appearance
Kenny wears an orange snorkel parka, orange pants, and brown gloves. Almost all of the time, Kenny has his hood on so that only his eyes and (invisible) nose are visible. Underneath his hood, he has messy blond hair, which looks somewhat similar to that of Tweek Tweak, another character on the show. His hair varies in shade - while it is normally yellow like Tweek's, sometimes it is orange-blond, similar to Bradley's hair. When he gets frightened, or when he's crying, he pulls the strings of his hood, making the face of his hood tighten. In "South Park is Gay", Kenny has a parka that is light purple with a part of his hair coming out of the hood, black pants, and brown boots with a black stripe down them. Later in the episode, he buys another parka that is pink and fluffy.
He is shown at times to have almost nothing on underneath his parka, as seen in the episodes "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000", the film, "Lil' Crime Stoppers", and "Lice Capades", though mostly he does have a white T-shirt on. Kenny is shown to have blue eyes in the episode "Starvin' Marvin", in which a mutant turkey pulls out his eye and in a close-up, a blue iris is momentarily visible. However, in an early draft for South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut, Kenny is described as having hazel eyes. In the film and "A Very Crappy Christmas", it is shown that Kenny sleeps in his underwear, making him the only one of the boys who does so (Kyle, Cartman, Stan, and Butters all wear pajamas, and Tweek Tweak rarely sleeps and thus has no pajamas, except in "Child Abduction is Not Funny"). However, in other episodes, he is shown sleeping in his parka. It would seem that his parka was made from pieces of his bedroom curtains, because in the episode "Quintuplets 2000", when we see Kenny practicing opera singing, we see his curtains in the background. They are of orange material, and a huge part of one is missing.
After South Park: BLU, he is unhooded in several episodes; however, in the episode "Super Best Friends", when Stan finds Kenny drowned to death in the pool, he has a bald fade due to every kid having shaved their heads earlier in the episode, making him indistinguishable from the others (minus Cartman). In "Margaritaville", when the boys are playing with squirrels, Kenny is shown wearing part of his "toga" (a bedcloth) over his face, mimicking how his parka covers his face. More parts of his face--and his hair--are still visible, such as in "W.T.F", when he is in his wrestling outfit, he wears headgear that covers most of his face; in the same episode, when playing his wresling alter-ego El Pollo Loco (a parody of Mexican wrestler Rey Mysterio), he wears a mask that also covers most of his face. In "The Losing Edge", he wears a baseball cap that covers up a little of his right eye and forehead.
In the original Christmas short, he looks generally the same, but he wears green mittens. His mouth is visible and his voice is intelligible (it sounds a little like Craig's or Clyde's). He only has one line, though.
A photo-realistic version of Kenny's appearance was produced as a police artist sketch for the episode "Free Willzyx", showing his nose.
To see more pictures of Kenny, visit Kenny McCormick/Gallery.
To see all the images of Kenny's deaths, visit Kenny McCormick/Gallery of Deaths.
Voice
Kenny's speech is muffled, so that it is often difficult to hear what he says (although the closed captioning sometimes verifies his lines), though his lines have become somewhat more intelligible in later episodes. An example of this is in the episode "Chinpokomon", where he appears to say "Fuck you" to Cartman after he attempted to trade another Chinpokomon for Kenny's Penguin. His unique muffled voice is accomplished by his voice actor Matt Stone, speaking into his cupped hand. He speaks clearly and without his hood in "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut", "The Jeffersons", and "Lice Capades" with proper, unmuffled lines. He also cheers in "The Losing Edge" and groans and is seen naked in "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000" but doesn't speak and his backside is seen. Kenny is also shown without his hood in "Lil' Crime Stoppers", "The Losing Edge", "Good Times With Weapons", "Lice Capades", "The Jeffersons", "Super Best Friends", "Margaritaville", "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut", "W.T.F", "Pee", and "Sexual Healing".
In the film, Kenny's voice unhooded is performed by Mike Judge, creator of "Beavis and Butt-head" and "King of the Hill". In "The Jeffersons" and "Lice Capades", Kenny's unmuffled voice was performed by Eric Stough, a former Director of Animation at South Park Studios and a now-producer of the show, making it sound considerably different than it did in the movie. In the original Christmas short, his mouth is visible and he has an unmuffled line ("Yeah!") which sounds slightly nasally (a bit like Craig or Clyde).
Despite that his mouth is rarely shown and covered by cloth, he vomits in "Major Boobage" and his mouth is clearly seen, though it disappears when he finishes vomiting. In the episode "Pinkeye", when Kenny (as a zombie) attacks a lady giving the boys candy, you can see his mouth as he starts to eat her. Also in the episode "Fat Camp", when Kenny is paid to eat all kinds of disgusting things for money, you can clearly see his mouth as he eats a dissected piece from a Manatee in class.
Personality and impact
Kenny On Facebook
Kenny is the most sexually knowledgeable and experienced of the group. In earlier episodes, when an unknown term is introduced to Stan, Kyle and Cartman, Kenny will be called upon by his friends to clarify, although sometimes Kenny does not know the meaning of the term. His muffled responses are often met with laughter or further confusion. He tried desperately to get his girlfriend to give him a BJ in the episode "The Ring" (and subsequently died of sexually transmitted disease), and even gave Howard Stern a "hummer" for ten bucks while promoting the Krazy Kenny Show in "Fat Camp". His knowledge may be gleaned from his parents or from the pornography which Kenny is shown to possess in "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants". He often performs disgusting acts for money such as dissecting a Manatee, eating its spleen, regurgitating it, and eating it again, drinking from Jimbo's gas tank, or washing his hair with battery acid. Stan and Kyle noticed this behavior in "Fat Camp" and created the "The Krazy Kenny Show" which starred Kenny doing undesirable acts for money such as eating mice, pretending to kill newborn babies in front of their mothers, and washing his hair in battery acid. In "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" he creates a haiku:
When you rub your dick
You might find a discharge that
Winds up on the floor
Although he is something of a silent protagonist, Kenny still seems to be very empathetic when it comes to his friends. In "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?" he is quick to show worry about the prospect of Timmy going to Hell. in "Best Friends Forever", Kenny's will states that Cartman will receive his PSP because he feels sorry for him. Kenny also alludes to his many deaths and his friends' attitude towards them in "Cherokee Hair Tampons", when he gets angry at Stan for crying over Kyle's impending death and not recognizing Kenny's at all. Kenny is ultimately revealed to be a heroic character in "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" when he saves the world by sacrificing himself.
Kenny is also shown to be very loyal to his friends, even when he is insulted or ridiculed. In the episode "Jewbilee", Kyle betrays Kenny by ratting him out to the elders. Afterwards, Kenny ends up saving everyone by sacrificing himself. In the early seasons, Cartman consistently insults Kenny for being poor and constantly reminds him how much he hates him. In "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", in which Cartman is possessed by the late Kenny; Kenny is shown to be a fan of Rob Schneider. When Cartman refuses to watch Rob Schneider's films, Kenny's soul keeps trying to get him to change the channel back.
Originally, Kenny barely said anything in the episodes because his voice was muffled and no one could really understand him. But starting in the episode "Major Boobage", Kenny has had more lines and has played a bigger role. "Major Boobage" and "The Ring" are the two episodes that have focused on Kenny since then.
Kenny is also a candidate for the identity of Mysterion, who is a child superhero in The Coon since Kenny is always hooded and so is Mysterion. He also stares blankly out into space when Eric asks Kenny about what he thinks of The Coon (Eric's vigilante character) in the same episode.
Also, whenever he is faced with something overly frightening or unpleasant, he tends to tighten his hood up to cover the rest of his face as if to hide from whatever is bothering him.
Kenny is also known to have the most vile mouth in the group; he cusses mainly whenever he has dialogue.
Kenny also is known to be a character that takes no guff from Cartman, usually saying "Fuck" to him whenever he is insulted by him.
In the episode Pandemic, it's shown that Kenny has an interest in Peruvian music.
In Poor and Stupid he is shown to be a rather large fan of Nascar racing, he feels offended by Cartman's behavoir when he says that only poor and stupid people are Nascar racers/ fans.
Kenny may also be a fan of Monster Trucks, as a 4x4 poster can be seen in his room on occasions.
It is also good to note that Kenny is a righty, as he usually holds writing utensils in his right hand.
Deaths
- See also: Kenny's deaths and List of Kenny's deaths.
Kenny McCormick is best known in the show for his recurring death in nearly every episode of the first five seasons, often followed by some variant of "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and "You bastards!" from his friends Stan and Kyle, respectively. The gag has many precedents, going back at least as far as the regular cry, "You rotten swine! You've deaded me!" by Bluebottle voiced by Peter Sellers in "The Goon Show" in 1951. In the first few episodes, Kyle said the entire phrase. Later on, it varied, depending on who killed Kenny.
Kenny has died and come back over 103 times in the South Park franchise (80 in the series, to date, two in the early animated shorts, six in other authorized TV parodies, six times in the video game, and twice in the movie). He is also killed nine different ways in the opening sequence. Kenny’s most recent death was in season 14 in the first episode, "Sexual Healing", in which he chokes himself to death in a Batman suit while masturbating, hoping to "orgasm really hard".
Kenny died in almost all the episodes until the writers killed him off permanently in the fifth season, in "Kenny Dies", but he returned at the end of the next season's finale, "Red Sleigh Down", remarking that he's "just been over there" (pointing off screen). By the sixth season, Matt and Trey got rid of the practice of killing him in every episode; they got tired of the joke. The reason why Kenny died continuously was given in an interview with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who stated vaguely that it was because Kenny is poor. Kenny is always resurrected for the next episode, although the explanations for his reappearance varied. One episode explained that his soul returns to his mother, takes to another body, is reborn, and then grows to be 8 or 9 years old in record time, while another simply had Kenny magically reappearing out of thin air in the second part of the two-part episode "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" after he was run over by a train in the first.
None of the other characters seem to find this at all unusual. Stan merely greeted Kenny when he materialized, and no one else even blinked. Kenny himself is sometimes aware of the fact that he is constantly killed, expressing resentment over the fact that Stan was worried about Kyle's impending death while never mourning Kenny, and opting to take home economics classes over wood shop partly because he was afraid of getting killed by the dangerous power tools in the shop class, and cheering after realizing he had survived the episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo". In his will in the episode "Best Friends Forever", Kenny says "In the highly likely event of my death..."
Other characters occasionally seem to be vaguely aware of Kenny's deaths. In "Cartmanland", Kenny dies in Cartman's theme park, and when the lawyers suing him mention "that boy who died," Cartman replies with, "Who, Kenny? He dies all the time." It would seem that the others are also aware of Kenny's deaths, but are quite nonchalant about them since they know he will re-appear. Even Stan mentioned that Kenny died all the time in the episode "Gnomes", in which the gnomes accidentally crush Kenny, and mourn over this tragedy, but are confused as to why the kids don't seem to care. In "Chef Goes Nanners", Kenny eats antacid tablets, thinking they're mints, and drinks some water afterwards. When Kenny explodes, the four boys and Kyle's dad laugh and applaud, and Stan even says, "That was a good one." And in "4th grade" Kenny dies on a wheeled sled and Stan says "Well who didn't see that coming." In other episodes, however, Kenny's death is sometimes taken more seriously for plot purposes, especially in "Kenny Dies" where it is considered a major dramatic event in the boys' lives. In "City on the Edge of Forever (Flashbacks)" Stan at one point reacts incredulously to the idea Kenny could have ever died more than once, and Cartman agrees that it "wouldn't make sense."
Kenny survives a few episodes in the first five seasons:
- "City on the Edge of Forever (Flashbacks)", which takes place entirely within Stan's dream. Kenny only dies within the dream (and a false flashback that Cartman has in the dream).
- "Rainforest Schmainforest", when he is struck by lightning and then revived with CPR by his new girlfriend Kelly.
- The "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?"/"Probably" two-parter, when he is run over by a bus in Part 1 and presumed dead. When the bus stops in Mexico in Part 2, he is scraped from underneath the bus by a Mexican man and found to still be alive. This being an error due to the fact his body was left behind after the bus hit him in Part 1.
- "Fat Camp", in which a kid from drug rehab who had previously been posing as Cartman is forced by Stan and Kyle to dress in Kenny's orange parka and climb into Ms. Crabtree's uterus as part of a television stunt. His dead body is later squeezed out, followed by the corpse of another kid resembling Harry Potter. Kenny was serving jail-time in New York after performing a sex act on Howard Stern during his live radio show at the time.
- In the fifth season episode "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow", Earth Day activists hack all of Kenny's limbs off, but he is not shown to die at any point in the episode.
- "Cripple Fight" - the hawk takes him, but he is seen in scouts later.
In addition to escaping death in a few episodes, Kenny does not appear in the episodes "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus", "Cat Orgy", "Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub", and "Pip" and therefore does not die in any of these episodes. However Cat Orgy and Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub are all part of the same night as Jewbilee, so technically he did die during those episodes.
Kenny has died only rarely during seasons 7 through 11. Some "deaths" are not actual instances of Kenny dying, but are still accompanied by Stan and Kyle's remarks, such as when Kenny's character was killed in "Make Love, Not Warcraft".
The episode "Cripple Fight" suggests that Kenny's deaths are caused by his parka. When Timmy gives Jimmy a nearly identical parka, a series of unfortunate and fatal events repeatedly happen behind him (meaning they all miss him); a voice can even vaguely be heard screaming, "There's Kenny! Kill him!", but Jimmy does not even notice. On the other hand, in some episodes, Kenny dies without the parka, such as "The Jeffersons" when Mr. Jefferson tosses him up through the ceiling (thinking it was his son) and killing him.
Kenny seems to know about the catchphrase said after he dies ("Oh my god, they killed Kenny!"), as evidenced in Season 1 when he says the catchphrase himself, with Kyle replying "You Bastards!" Interestingly, Kenny's father is killed in the episode Death when he uses a slingshot to throw himself at the headquarters of Cartoon Central. Mr McCormick is seen several episodes later and is currently a recurring character. This suggests that regeneration after death runs in Kenny's family.
However, in Mysterion Rises, Kenny reveals that he has a superpower. He cannot die. He reveals this to Captain Hindsight, revealing that he sometimes "Sees a bright light", "Heaven", or "Hell". He also states that the worst part is that nobody remembers, even if they see him die.
Kenny's line in the theme song
Kenny's lines in the first and second seasons are:
I like girls with big fat titties; I like girls with deep vaginas.
- In season 3, this changed to:
I have got a ten inch penis; use your mouth if you want to clean it
- In season seven, this changed to:
Someday I'll be old enough to stick my dick up Britney's butt.
- In season ten part two, the theme was revamped and Kenny's lines were:
I like fucking silly bitches; I know that my penis likes it.
Background and family
Kenny's family is one of the poorest families in South Park. Even worse is that it's also fairly large [1] Because Kenny's family is so poor, they eat frozen waffles with no side dishes for dinner and bread sandwiches for breakfast. In "Starvin' Marvin", Kenny won a can of green beans for his family, though they could not afford a can opener. In "Sexual Healing", Kenny's family ate microwave pizza. Cartman frequently exploits Kenny’s poverty by offering him money for performing strange or dangerous tasks. In "The List", Cartman frequently mentions that his family eats Pop-Tarts for dinner. This is actually proven at the end of the episode; Kenny and his family are all seen eating Pop-Tarts before a stray bullet kills Kenny at the dinner table. In "Best Friends Forever" it is shown that all of Kenny's possessions are kept in a small cardboard-box.
Despite his family’s poverty, Kenny always manages to stay current with trends in toys and video games, such as maintaining a World of Warcraft subscription (and a computer to play it on), being the first kid in south park to get a PSP, or being able to buy Chinpokomon dolls as well being the only child in the town to have a Go Go Action Bronco, a battery-powered miniature car.
Stuart McCormick
He is Kenny's alcoholic father. He is usually seen hanging out with the other men in South Park, or arguing - and sometimes beating - his wife. Stuart is an alcoholic, which is the most likely reason behind his family's poverty.
Carol McCormick
She is Kenny's young mother. She is said to have had Kenny when she was only 16 years old which would imply that she had Kevin when she was 13 or 14 years old. In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", it is implied that after Kenny dies, his soul returns to her, takes to another body, and is reborn (though this was likely just a cutaway joke.)
Kevin McCormick
He is Kenny's older brother. He is very untidy in appearance. He hasn't had very many speaking lines, but when he does speak, he seems to repeat much of what he says. His voice sounds similar to those of Terrance Mephisto, Bill, and Fosse, but he must get the accent from his mom. He's seen with a few band aids on his face.
Karen McCormick
See "Best Friends Forever" for details
She is Kenny's reclusive younger sister. She first appeared in "Best Friend's Forever", when she and the rest of the McCormicks visited Kenny in the hospital. She has had no speaking lines, and her name has not yet been given, although Matt Stone has called her "Karen".
Grandfather
See "Fat Camp" for details
He didn't have any speaking lines either, but he appeared in "Fat Camp", when Kenny, as a stunt on the 'Krazy Kenny Show', gave him a full-body massage on live television.
Friends and Relationships
Friendship/Conflict with Eric Cartman
Cartman generally seems to tolerate Kenny, although he regards him as being lesser than him because he is poor, and can even at times be seen to treat Kenny as sort of a general laborer/servant, he is also very abusive, both physically and verbally. Cartman does appear to consider Kenny as his best friend out of the other three boys, although he is not above exaggerating the depth of their friendship in order to achieve or obtain something he wants, usually after Kenny dies or is incapacitated, such as in the episode "Best Friends Forever". In the same episode, Kenny described his general attitude toward his friendship with Cartman as his feeling sorry for him, because everyone else hates him. However, it is also shown that the two share a "best friends forever" necklace (hence the title of the episode). However it is implied that Cartman managed to sneak the necklace onto Kenny's neck in order to prove to everyone that he and Kenny were indeed best friends. In the episode "Kenny Dies", Kenny agrees with Cartman's assessment that the two are best friends, as Kyle and Stan are.
Kenny will go along with Cartman if he talks about something he agrees on (such as the time he giggled uncontrollably when Cartman farted in Kyle's face in "Canceled"), or Kyle and Stan if he gets really annoyed by Cartman's attitude. Although muffled, Kenny has often called Cartman by his first name "Eric", such as in Probably..., when he calls Cartman on the phone from Mexico and later when Jesus sends Cartman to Mexico as punishment. On occasion, he is known to punch Cartman when Cartman rips on him for being poor, and Cartman has been shown beating up Kenny when Kenny refuses to go along with his ideas. (particular in the early seasons). In fact, in "Cartmanland", Kenny was invited to go to Cartman's theme park, when Kyle and Stan couldn't come. Cartman has shown to get angry and defensive after Kenny has died, while Stan and Kyle take it like it's nothing and have sometimes used it to get what they want (such as asking for ice cream with butterscotch in "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut"). He is also aware of Kenny's deaths.
Kenny has also been known to detest or mock Cartman on occasion, such as when Cartman degraded NASCAR fans by crashing a stolen car into a lake in Poor and Stupid - Kenny stormed down to Cartman's house to yell at him (nearly destroying the door in the process) - he was even prepared to kill Cartman in defence of NASCAR's reputation. He also laughed when Kyle and Stan abandoned Cartman for cheating at a war game when he yelled "I can play with myself all day!" in Clubhouses. In Jackovasaurus, Kenny got mad at Cartman again when he started claiming he hated Kenny. He then tried to distract Cartman by pretending to be a new species of antelope (so that the Jackovasauruses could be smuggled to France), but instead got mauled by a bear.
It should be noted that although his voice is muffled, Kenny can be heard using Cartman's first name, "Eric", making him the only one out of Cartman's primary three friends to do so. However, in "Chickenlover", Kenny called Cartman by his surname when Cartman was at his house.
Friendship with Stan Marsh
Although Kenny and Stan don't seem to share the same bond that Stan and Kyle do, Stan does seem to think of Kenny as a close friend. In "Kenny Dies", out of the 3 boys, Stan has the hardest time dealing with Kenny dying, and can't even bare to see him in the hospital. When Stan finally realizes that Kenny passed on "for good", he feels like he's Kenny's worst friend (until they hear about Cartman's selfishness). The two boys often hang out with one another when Cartman and Kyle get into their arguments and Stan and Kenny don't want to listen to it, such as in "The Passion of the Jew". In "Best Friends Forever", Stan and Kyle fight against Cartman to not have Kenny's feeding tube removed to save Kenny's life.
However, in "Cherokee Hair Tampons", when all hope seems lost to save Kyle and Stan breaks down crying in front of Kenny because of Kyle's impending death, he doesn't seem to care or even acknowledge the fact that Kenny dies all the time. This angers Kenny and makes him leave Stan to go home - which in turn causes his death by walking under a falling piano, and even then Stan still fails to notice or care.
During the first 5 seasons, Stan would merely say, "Oh my god, they killed Kenny!", after one of Kenny's classic deaths, and then he wouldn't acknowledge him again after that.
Friendship with Kyle Broflovski
Kenny and Kyle's relationship doesn't seem to be as strong as it is with the other boys. Kyle doesn't seem to really even notice Kenny a lot of the time. There is even a time in the episode "Chickenpox" when Kyle says that Kenny isn't his friend (this could be to get out of going to his house).
Though along with Stan, Kyle's shown his definite concern for Kenny and does view him as a very close friend. In "Best Friends Forever", Kenny gives all of his belongings (excluding his PSP) to Stan and Kyle, and Stan and Kyle fight very hard to save their friend from Cartman and his supporters. He also invites Kenny to his birthday party in "Casa Bonita". Kenny often sides with Kyle on many issues, even over Cartman, like in "Douche and Turd", where Kenny supports Kyle's mascot instead of Cartman's. Also in "Jewbilee" Kyle asked Kenny to come to Jew scouts so it would be fun.
Friendship with Butters Stotch
After the episode "Kenny Dies" and after Kenny's comeback in Season 6 ending, he seems to have less of a major role (until season 11), sharing with Butters. The episode "Kenny Dies", where Butters drew a picture of him and Kenny (as best friends) together in an airplane in which Kyle delivered to Kenny at the hospital, indicates that Butters sees Kenny as a really close friend. Kenny played the "good cop" and comforted Butters in "Lil' Crime Stoppers", and Butters tried to help Kenny during "Major Boobage". The two were also playing together in a sandbox in the episode "Eek, A Penis!". Butters took Kenny's place when Kenny died, leading to that the two should interact more often. In "Guitar Queer-o", Kenny and Butters can be seen hugging when Stan and Kyle break 100,000 points on . Also, in "The Ring", Butters seemed quite alarmed when he discovered Kenny had a new "whore" girlfriend. Kenny can also be seen shaking Butters' hand after kissing Sally in "Butters' Bottom Bitch"
Relationship with Kelly
Kenny briefly had a girlfriend named Kelly in "Rainforest Schmainforest" (she was first to admit her feelings for him), who came to his aid during one of his famous "death" scenes. In the next episode, "Spontaneous Combustion", he spends a lot of time at a new girlfriend's house but the viewer never sees her. Because Kenny had started dating Kelly in the previous episode, it is safe to assume that they are one and the same. Kelly hasn't been heard of since (although she was seen at the dance in "Hooked on Monkey Phonics", possibly having arranged to meet up with Kenny, but not being able to as he is dead at that point). If you look closely, you can actually see parts of Kenny's parka with Kelly at the dance.
Relationship with Tammy Warner
In the episode "The Ring", Kenny gets a new girlfriend, the fifth grader Tammy Warner. She happens to be the only person in the school poorer than Kenny. Classmates at school call her a slut because she gave a boy named Dave Darskey a BJ in the parking lot of TGI Fridays. Kenny finds out later in the episode that she did this because she got worked up watching the Jonas Brothers. This prompts Kenny to go and buy her Jonas Brothers tickets, hoping it is the way into her heart, and other body parts. After the concert, Tammy is called backstage where she is given a purity ring by the Jonas Brothers themselves, which stops her from doing anything 'naughty'. Eventually, due to boredom, they take off the purity rings and Tammy gives Kenny a BJ. Unfortunately it is this act that kills Kenny in the end - in the last few minutes it shows his funeral scene, in which the Vicar is heard to say: "And so, as we commit this young child to the earth, let us all be reminded that syphilis is still a deadly disease, and it can be caught even if using protection."
Friendship with Craig Tucker
Even though Kenny usually rivals against Craig and his friends along with Stan, Kyle and Cartman, they all seem to still get along with him for the most part when the two groups aren't in disagreement. They can all been seen playing and working together in episodes like "Free Willzyx" and "Guitar Queer-o". Craig and Kenny chose to be partners in "Super Fun Time". Craig even allowed Kenny to join him in making his "Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens" video when Cartman wouldn't let Kenny join their report team in "Quest for Ratings". This can explain that Kenny would be hooded all the time, joining Cartman's crew with super nice hair style and unhooded, would reveal Kenny's face (then best reason to avoid this is that Kenny is too poor).
However, in episodes like "Pandemic 2: The Startling", Kenny has shown dislike for Craig by saying that he doesn't like him. Though it could have merely been out of frustration that Craig refused help them again.
Friendship with Millie
In the episode "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", Rob Schneider was possessed by Kenny, after eating a meat loaf that Kenny was inside. Then, during a commercial for a Rob Schneider movie coming out, he was seen trying to kiss Millie which may conclude that Kenny had a crush on her. Also in the episode Something You Can Do with Your Finger, Kenny chose Millie to rub and hug him for their music video.
Hero
Despite these problems, Kenny is often portrayed as the hero of the group; indeed, many of his deaths have been acts of heroic self-sacrifice. Among others, he fixed the Hell's Pass Hospital backup generator by using himself to connect two wires (resulting in electrocution), and he once smashed a shell with his head to release Moses from captivity inside the shell (smashing his head in too). Arguably the most touching of these deaths was in South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut, when he wishes for everything to be back to normal despite that he would knowingly go to hell in the process (he instead almost immediately ascended to Heaven, where he was gifted with a Halo, wings, and thirty or so busty, naked women. Apparently one saving the earth from eternal damnation causes God to overlook one not being a Mormon. His ascension also marked the first, and to date only time his entire face has been seen (in other instances he has some form of cover, such as a baseball cap or a snorkel mask) and the first time his voice could be heard clearly.
Talents
Weaponry
Kenny is shown to be good with weapons. In "Volcano", he blows up the fish in the lake and shoots a ram down. He also shows skill with a shuriken in "Good Times With Weapons". Kenny is shown in "Towelie" to be able to do a backflip when they sneak into the "military base", while climbing the fence. He was able to obtain a sniper rifle in "Poor and Stupid", but it got confiscated by a security guard.
Music
Kenny has a very good opera voice (after taking lessons), as seen in "Quintuplets 2000". He uses this talent to travel to Romania where he sings for money. He is also a proficient drummer as seen in "Christian Rock Hard" and "The Red Badge of Gayness" and plays violin as seen in "Summer Sucks." He can also sing and dance at the same time, extremely evident in "Rainforest Schmainforest", "Something You Can Do With Your Finger" and "Elementary School Musical".
Gaming
Kenny is shown to have a large mastery of strategic video gaming in "Best Friends Forever", reaching Level 60 in the Game "Heaven vs Hell", and was known by the angels as the heaven's equivalent of Keanu Reeves (Neo or Constantine). In "Make Love, Not Warcraft" he is a human hunter in the game World of Warcraft (a race/class combination not actually possible in the game until the release of the Cataclysm expansion). In "Towelie", he plays the 2001 Okama Gamesphere with the other boys until his death, at which time Towelie takes his place. In the "Chinpokomon" episode, he suffers a non-fatal seizure while playing a game about bombing Pearl Harbor.
Fighting
Kenny has fought on a few occasions. He also holds the ability to perform his "Spin Blossom Nut Squash" on command, as seen in "The Return of Chef" . He is also able to throw shurikens correctly, as demonstrated by hitting Butters directly in the eye with one in "Good Times with Weapons". He occasionally gets into physical confrontations with Cartman due to Cartman's abusive nature, as shown when Kenny was able to easily overpower him when he tried to stop Stan and Kyle from entering the Wall-Mart with a dagger. It is also shown in many other episodes he has rather good accuracy with long range objects.
Acting
Kenny dressed up as a pregnant underage girl to get morning-after abortion pills (though the only thing he wore was a long, blond wig) in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA". He dressed up and posed as Michael Jackson's son in "The Jeffersons". He also acted in the episode "W.T.F" as a wrestler.
Sports
He played football in the season one episode "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", was part of the dodgeball team in the season two episode "Conjoined Fetus Lady", and played Center Field on the baseball team in the season nine episode "The Losing Edge". In "The Losing Edge" and "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", the number on the back of his shirt is the number 13, a joke on how Kenny is unlucky due to being in poverty and dying all the time. In "Conjoined Fetus Lady", his number is 69, a reference to his perverted sense of humor. Kenny can also play tetherball, but ended up getting strangled by it in "Mecha-Streisand". In Poor and Stupid Kenny is shown to love NASCAR.
Computer Skills
In "Christian Rock Hard" he teaches Stan and Kyle how to download music for free off the Internet. He also helped along in "Make Love, Not Warcraft". In the "The Ungroundable", Kenny was seen playing Call of Duty: World at War with all of the other children. He also had a laptop from One Laptop per Child in "You have 0 Friends".
Vigilante
In "Coon 2: Hindsight" he is included in the group of Coon and Friends. In "Mysterion Rises", it is confirmed that Kenny is Mysterion. His secret power is that he is unable to die. He remarks on how many times he dies but saying that he just ends up waking up in his bed, alive, and that no one reacts to his death. He views his "power" as a curse.
Absents
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
- Simpsons Already Did It
- Child Abduction is not Funny
- The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers-Possessing Cartman.
- The Death Camp of Tolerance-Possessing Cartman.
- The Biggest Douche in the Universe-Possessing Cartman and Rob Schneider.
Season 9
- Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow (One Time Error)
Season 10
Season 11
- Imaginationland Episode II
- Imaginationland Episode III
References in other media
- In the book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating, there is an article about Kenny, by Southern Illinois University philosophy professor Dr. Randall Auxier, entitled: "Killing Kenny: Our Daily Dose of Death."[3]
- In Episode 3 of the anime FLCL, there is a scene best seen via freeze frame in which a car ornament in the likeness of Kenny can be seen impaled through the head with an arrow.
- In his 2007 television special Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, ventriloquist comedian Jeff Dunham and his puppet Walter remarked while looking into the camera, "This is Comedy Central! I can see Cartman. I can see Kenny. Oh, he just got killed."
- The rapper Master P released a single in 1998 entitled "Kenny's Dead" as part of the Chef Aid album.
- Kenny's deaths and the "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" catchphrase is well known in popular culture, and has appeared on various pieces of merchandise, from T-shirts to guitar straps (like the one used by The Police guitarist Andy Summers),
- In an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) vs Kenny G, when Kenny G dies Nick Diamond cries out "Oh my god! Flea Killed Kenny G! Flea killed Kenny G!" Then a child that is modeled like a kid from South Park calls out "You Bastards!"
- The golden Spacesuits in Danny Boyle's Sunshine (2007 film) are influenced by Kenny's trademarked Parka
- In volume 3 of the Shrine of the Morning Mist manga, one of the posters shown in Yuzu Hieda's room is that of Kenny McCormick. In episode 5 of FLCL, Lieutenant Kitsurubami's has a Kenny McCormick key chain and when Naota is having an awkward conversation with Mamimi, his appearance changes to resemble Kenny and talks with his voice muffled.
- In the film, Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, during the Vegetable Competition, a hooden child bearing a striking resemblance to Kenny can be seen at one point. When the crowd becomes agitated by the news of the Were-Rabbit having not been killed, the boy faints, possibly referencing the theme of Kenny dying.
- In the game Fallout, there is a man named Deputy Kenny, and when killed it says on his computer screen "Oh my god, you killed Kenny."
- In the popular MMOFPS 'Battleground Europe' when you type in the .wtf command one of the responses can be 'Maybe they were aiming for KenneY.' The misspelling is deliberate.
- In the 2007 The Police reunion tour, the guitar strap used by Andy Summers features Kenny being electrocuted (the words "Oh My God! They killed Kenny!" can be read on the strap).
- The Mezco series 1 toyline for South Park came with a "dead head", an arm that when split in half would reveal one of his bones, and 4 rats as a reference to how rats use to pick a part his dead corpse.
- In the audience participation for The Bawdy Castes live show of "Rocky Horror Picture Show", the audience is expected to exclaim "Oh my god, you killed Kenya!" when a character places his finger on the country of Kenya on a globe dramatically.
- In the video game Skate 3, you can unlock a board with a character who looks strangely like Kenny.
- The rapper Eminem referenced Kenny, along with the city of South Park, in the song "W.T.P" from of his album Recovery.
Quotes and Catchphrases
- "Holy shit, dude!"
- "Dude, FUCK YOU!"
- (to Cartman after he apparently kills Kyle) "You bastard!"
- "Girls like shaved balls."
- "Dude!"
- "Whoo-Hoo!"
- "Hi, ladies!"
- (First unhooded line spoken South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) "Goodbye, you guys!"
- (Unhooded in "The Jeffersons") "Aren't I a little too big to be Blanket?"
- (Unhooded) "Alright, but you guys owe me for this."
- "I'm Okay!"
- "Oh, your Penis!"
- "Hey Guys, what's up?"
- "I don't know, but I gotta think of something!"
- "Hey Mom, I fixed your favorite drink!"
- "That Does IT!!"
- "What's happening?"
- "Hey guys, I'm dyin-" (in Ike's Wee Wee)
- "SHUT UP CARTMAN, YOU BLOOD BELCHING VAGINA!"
- "Damn, I'd like to get a taste of her!"
- (To Kelly in Rainforest Schmainforest), "Heh, I'm not poor!", "That's good!", and "Okay, I can do that!"
- (Hoodless in Lice Capades) NO, NOT THE SOCKS, NOT THE SOCKS!
- "I almost made it to level 60."
- "But mom, I'm fucking sick!"
- (While his ghost is possessing Cartman's body) "Luckily, Cartman is big enough for the both of us."
- (While his ghost is possessing Cartman's body) "That's what 'lost' means, stupid!"
- (While his ghost is possessing Cartman's body) "I wanna watch, fat boy!"
- "Fucking awesome!"
- "Try this, Professor Chaos! Feel my wrath!"
- "Oh my God, they killed Cartman!"
- "Oh my God, they killed Mephesto!"
- "Asshole."
- "This is fuckin' ridiculous!!"
- "GOD DAMN IT, Cartman!!"
- "What's a good idea?"
- "But I wanna play NOW!"
- (As a preschooler) "Why don't we try and put out a REAL fire?"
- "Ya wanna watch 'Grey's Anatomy'?"
- "Con Te Partiro?"
- "Satan! You have to stand up to him!"
- "Wha-? N-no I don't!"
- "Woohoo! Yes! I did it! I did it! I-" (After reaching level 60 on Heaven vs. Hell for his PSP, shortly before being run over by an ice cream truck.)
- "Well That Does It! I Had Enough Of This Bullshit! Screw You Guys I'm Going Home!"
- "What? NASCAR fans aren't stupid! Cartman is!"
References
- ↑ FAQ Archives. South Park Studios. Retrieved on 2009-11-14.
- ↑ Trey Parker and Matt Stone Interview (2000).
- ↑ Staff (February 5, 2007). "Philosophy Speaker Presents "Killing Kenny: Our Daily Dose of Death"", GMC Journal, Green Mountain College.