Kenny McCormick (Eng.)

Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick, voiced by Matt Stone (Mike Judge in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut), is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. He is one of he four central characters, all of whom are nine-year old boys (though the characters were eight years old in the first three seasons).

He is well known for almost always wearing an orange parka, and for being killed in all but one episode during the show's first five seasons (although he seems unconcerned and only hates the fact that nobody cares that he dies), with only a few exceptions. In later episodes, Kenny has only died sporadically. Due to his hood, which covers his mouth in all but a few scenes in the show's history, his lines are muffled (which allows the writers to let Kenny say things that would normally be censored), though occasionally they are intelligible, and closed captioning sometimes clarifies his lines. He has only spoken without being muffled on three occasions: the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the episode "The Jeffersons", and, most recently, the episode "Lice Capades". When he is frightened, Kenny will tighten his hood, which hides his face and muffles his speech to an even greater extent.



Character

Kenny died in most of the episodes until the writers killed him off permanently in the fifth season, but he returned in the sixth season — although they dispensed with the practice of killing him in every episode, as they got bored with 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 would always be back for the next episode, although the explanations for his reappearance varies. One episode explained that his soul returns to his Mother, and 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 a two-part episode 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 seems to be 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 also 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. However, it would seem that, unlike Stan and Kyle, Cartman is vaguely aware of Kenny's deaths, as he referred to them in "Cartmanland". Kenny dies in Cartman's theme park, and when lawyers suing him mention "that boy who died", Cartman replies with "Who, Kenny? He dies all the time". Stan and Kyle also express annoyance and displeasure at Kenny's repeated gory demise, with Stan frequently exclaiming "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and Kyle answering with "You bastards!" 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. Also, in the episode "The Succubus," Cartman, who was blinded due to a failed Laser Eye Surgery procedure, asked if Kenny was okay after a Succubus rampaged, although this may be coincidence. 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 another episode, Kenny eats antacid tablets, thinking they're mints, and drinks a lot of water afterward. When Kenny explodes, the main characters and Kyle's dad find it funny, and Stan says, "That was a good one". Kenny's birthday is March 2nd.[1]

Kenny's unmuffled voice sounds like a slightly higher-pitched version of Stan Marsh's. In the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Kenny's voice is performed by Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill. In the Season 8 episode "The Jeffersons", Kenny's voice was performed by Matt Stone.


His father, Stuart McCormick, is an alcoholic, and they are extremely poor because of this, subsisting on welfare (although a drug dealer in "Lil' Crime Stoppers" says the McCormicks run a meth lab), something for which his friends (especially Eric Cartman) often tease him. Kenny has two siblings: Kevin McCormick, and a little girl who seemingly has no name and apparently did not exist until the episode "Best Friends Forever". Because Kenny's family is so poor, they eat frozen waffles with no side dishes for dinner and bread sandwiches for breakfast. In one Thanksgiving episode, Kenny won a can of green beans for his family, though they could not afford a can opener. Cartman frequently exploits his poverty by offering him money for performing strange or dangerous tasks. This appears to be somewhat of a paradox at times, as he 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 to get a PSP in South Park, or buying the Chinpokomon dolls, and being the only child in the town to have a Go Go Action Bronco, a battery-powered miniature car. Of course, Kenny's family also won a lawsuit against Cartman in Cartmanland, gaining at least $500,000.

Because Kenny's parka covers his mouth, muffling his voice, Kenny uses much profanity that would normally be censored. In the opening song during seasons 1-2, he says "I love girls with big fat titties, I love girls with deep vaginas," in seasons 3-5, he says "I have got a 10-inch penis, use your mouth if you want to clean it." [3] From season 7 to episode 7 of season 10, Kenny says "Some day I'll be old enough to stick my dick in Britney's butt." [4] The lines for the current opening are not known. [1] The times he does speak are rare and he'll usually only say a few lines. He speaks clearly in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, The Jeffersons, and Lice Capades (those are his proper, unmuffled lines, whereas he says "yippee!" in The Losing Edge and he groans in The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000).

Kenny is the most knowledgeable of the group when it comes to sex, and usually portrayed as the most perverted.(Although he doesn't know what a lesbian is, as demonstrated in "Tom's Rhinoplasty.") Often a sexual term will be introduced which is unknown to Stan, Kyle and Cartman, and Kenny will be called upon by his friends to define such terms. His muffled responses are often met with laughter or further confusion. His knowledge may be gleaned from his parents or from the pornography which Kenny is shown to possess (e.g. Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants). He is usually the first to perform disgusting acts (drinking from Jimbo's gas tank, giving Howard Stern a hummer for money). Stan and Kyle noticed this behavior in "Fat Camp" and created the The Krazy Kenny Show which starred him 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).

Despite being perverted, Kenny actually appears as the kindest and most laid-back of the group, always prepared to help out his friends without question (When Butters was still an official friend in early Season 6 episodes, the boys would always softly remark how Kenny would help them out). Indeed, several of his deaths have been acts of self-sacrifice on behalf of others.

Kenny almost always wears an orange hooded anorak with brown gloves (although he does remove it during the movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and in episodes #504 "Super Best Friends", #402 "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000", #706 "Lil' Crime Stoppers", #807 "The Jeffersons", #905 "The Losing Edge", and, forced by his classmates, in #1103 "Lice Capades"). In addition, in season 7's "South Park Is Gay!", Kenny's hair is sticking out of his (blue and then pink) parka, but it is never actually removed (this also happened towards the end of "Manbearpig", although again the parka is never fully removed). In these episodes he would usually have some type of accessory accompanying him such as a red baseball cap in #905 "The Losing Edge". Underneath his hood he has messy blonde hair. He also is shown to have almost nothing on underneath[2]. In the season 8 episode, "Good Times With Weapons", his anime self is shown to have blue eyes. Kenny is also shown to have blue eyes in the episode "Starvin' Marvin", in which a mutant turkey pulls out his eye in close-up, and a blue iris is momentarily visible.

A photorealistic version of Kenny's appearance was produced as a police artist sketch for the episode Free Willzyx.


Relationships

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. However, 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), and in the episode "Kenny Dies", Kenny seems to agree 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, or Kyle and Stan if he gets really annoyed by Cartman's attitude. On occasion, he is known to punch Cartman, an act which subdues him. Because of his parka, it appears that Kenny is the tallest of the boys.

In the episode "Chickenpox" we learn that Kyle's and Kenny's dad used to be best friends before they had a falling out.

Kenny briefly had a girlfriend named Kelly (in "Rainforest Schmainforest"), who actually 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 seen or heard of since. In the Biggest Douche in the Universe, he was seen trying to kiss Millie, so he might have a crush on her.

Talents

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 plays violin as seen in "Summer Sucks."


[edit] Videogaming
Kenny is shown to have a large mastery of strategic videogaming in "Best Friends Forever", reaching Level 60 in the PSP Game "Heaven vs Hell", and was known by the angels as the heaven's equivalent of Keanu Reeves (Neo, the One or Constantine). In "Make Love, Not Warcraft" he is a human hunter in the game World of Warcraft, although it would be impossible in the genuine World of Warcraft universe, as humans can't be hunters. In Towelie, he plays the 2001 Okama Gamesphere with the other boys until his death, at which time Towelie takes his place. He has also died while playing video games, such as in the "Chinpokomon" episode, he dies of a 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" - something he does in spite his tendency to die. He is also able to throw shurikens correctly, as demonstrated by hitting Butters directly in the eye with one in "Good Times with Weapons".

Acting
In "The Jeffersons", he poses as Michael Jackson's son (only to end up dead when Jackson hurls him into the ceiling). Kenny also 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.

Sports
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 baseball in the season nine episode "The Losing Edge". In the first of those three episodes, the number on the back of his shirt is the number 13. This is probably a joke because 13 is an unlucky number and Kenny is an unlucky person. In the second of those episodes, his number is 69, a reference to his perverted sense of humor.

Computer Skills
In "Christian Rock Hard" he teaches Stan and Kyle how to download music for free off the Internet. He also helped save the World of Warcraft in "Make Love, Not Warcraft".

Death

Kenny 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've killed Kenny! You bastards!" from his friends Stan and Kyle, respectively. However, in the episode Family Guy Goes Global, Stan and Kyle say "you killed Kenny, hope you're happy". 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 95 times in the South Park franchise (78 in the series, to date, two in the early animated shorts, six in other authorized TV parodies, four times in the video game, and once in the movie. He is also killed two different ways in the opening sequence. In one of them it briefly shows his head being cut off with a pair of scissors).

Kenny's usual death in every episode ceased following the start of the fifth season. The reason given by Trey Parker and Matt Stone was that it was becoming too hard to find a unique way of killing Kenny.

According to his mother in Cartman Joins NAMBLA, every time Kenny dies she simply gives birth to another baby boy and names him Kenny. In the episode she says this is about the 52nd time this has happened, all this is most likely a crude joke.

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.