South Park writer Pam Brady has revealed what she believes to be the “most misogynistic” joke that she regrets including in the show.
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The writer was involved with the long-running cartoon from its inception in 1997 until 2008. Brady was involved with establishing the tone of the irreverent show, as well as some of its most beloved characters.
Speaking to Fox News during this year’s SXSW, she revealed the joke she felt went over the line – a gag from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, the show’s 1999 film adaptation. According to Brady, it was based on an “old frat joke”.
She explained: “One character said, ‘I don’t trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn’t die’. I remember it was just like the most misogynistic frat boy joke that I’d heard of at that point … but we’re reclaiming it”. The line was said by the character of school teacher Mr. Garrison.
The subject of what is and isn’t acceptable in modern comedy is a divisive subject, and Brady said there is more caution now than there was in the past. “I do think you have to be more careful now, what you say,” she said, alluding to an episode that wouldn’t air today in her view.
“South Park had an episode where they represented … I’m not going to say what it was, but it was just someone you wouldn’t want to represent on a show” she said. “You could do it 20 years ago, but you can’t do it now”.
When discussing whether that is a good thing, she admitted to being in “two minds about it”, before saying: “I think times change and I think sometimes it’s good that you go, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t do something that’s like, a racist phrase that your grandparents would use. And that’s sort of just evolving”.
When asked if comedy has been “stifled”, she disagreed, but instead clarified by saying: “You need to be smarter to make a joke… to earn that trust, it’s changed. But I think that’s the fun of it. How can you make a joke now, where everybody’s in on the joke? I think that’s the trick. Nobody wants to feel bad and, you know, we don’t want to do stuff that just makes people feel bad”.
Recently, an archived memo emerged that explains the exit of series regular Isaac Hayes from the show, leaving the role of Chef in 2006.
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