South Park: Randy's Best Episodes Of All Time

Since its debut in 1997, "South Park" has been one of the funniest, and most politically incorrect, animated shows on TV. The brainchild of college friends and writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone, as of 2023, "South Park" has been the recipient of five Primetime Emmys and spanned more than 300 episodes. Fans of the show love its raunchy humor, incredible wit, and ability to stay relevant and current even through an ever-changing pop culture landscape.

The show mainly revolves around the lives of a group of elementary school boys, but undoubtedly, one of the funniest characters on the show is the Marsh family patriarch: Randy Marsh (Trey Parker). As the father of protagonist Stan Marsh and his sister Shelly and the husband to Sharon, Randy is one of the most outlandish people on the entire show. For the first 21 seasons of the show, Randy worked primarily as a geologist, but starting in Season 22 he began working as a marijuana farmer on the Tegridy Weed farm.

Randy is widely known for his penchant for alcohol, his short temper, as well as his relative naivete and gullibility. Still, he is one of the most beloved characters on the show and an integral part of the "South Park" franchise. Looking back, from "Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub" to "The Cissy," these are the best Randy episodes of all time.

Undoubtedly, one of the most hilarious Randy Marsh episodes in "South Park” is "Medicinal Fried Chicken" from Season 14. Randy is elated when he discovers that marijuana dispensaries have made their way to South Park, but is then bitterly disappointed once he realizes they're restricted only to medical patients. To obtain a medical marijuana card, Randy experiments with various different ways to give himself cancer, finally achieving so by microwaving his testicles.

With massively radiated testicles that he transports around in a wheelbarrow, Randy is finally able to obtain his medical marijuana license, and he begins visiting the dispensary. The rest of "Medicinal Fried Chicken" has Randy smoking obscene amounts of marijuana while his testicles become more and more inflamed, eventually allowing him to bounce around on them like a hoppity hop inflatable toy. From start to finish, the episode is one giant laugh, and Randy provides the best moments. 

From initially trying to give himself cancer by smoking, sun tanning, and undergoing radiation, to later using his testicles like a sit and bounce, it's hard to think of a more over-the-top depiction of the Marsh family patriarch. "Medicinal Fried Chicken" will forever be one of Randy's greatest episodes, even if he has to give up his giant testicles for prosthetic ones in the end.

While much of the plot centers around Eric Cartman and his issues with gender identity and expression, there is no doubt that the Season 18 episode of "South Park" called "The Cissy" is also one of Randy Marsh's best. In it, Randy reveals himself to be famous singer-songwriter Lorde, working with the record label to use her image as a cover. Obviously, the real Lorde is a twentysomething woman from New Zealand, making this one of the most outlandish — and hilarious — leaps of faith in the "South Park" universe.

The highlight of the episode is when Randy explains his true identity as Lorde to his incredulous son, Stan Marsh (voiced by Trey Parker). After explaining that he created Lorde to avoid using the men's bathroom after his co-worker Nelson, Randy proceeds to show Stan how he writes a Lorde song. He starts with a basic vocal line before manipulating it and adding drums and various effects to create a song about "feeling good on a Wednesday," causing Stan to faint once he realizes Randy's not lying.

The whole Lorde angle definitely makes "The Cissy" one of Randy's best episodes of all time. It's such a bizarre premise, and the episode's hilarious Lorde parody song "Push," sung by Sia, makes it unforgettable.

There are so many reasons that Season 13's "Pinewood Derby" is one of the best "South Park" episodes ever, and Randy Marsh is at the top of the list. In order to help his son Stan Marsh win the Pinewood Derby contest against the Hollis family, which Randy cares about but Stan doesn't, Randy disguises himself as the fictional Princess Leia from "Star Wars." As Leia, he breaks into the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and steals a superconductor that allows their derby car to achieve warp speed.

Once the town is visited by extraterrestrials over their discovery of warp speed, Randy takes over and becomes a representative for the entire world, but he can't stop lying. He goads Stan into murdering an alien — Baby Fark McGee-Zax (voiced by Trey Parker) — and he almost single-handedly ensures that Earth is never able to enter a super secret intergalactic federation. He's obsessed with no one discovering that they used any non-approved items to achieve warp speed, and he hilariously insists they didn't cheat — which they very clearly did.

Some of the best moments are when he is on the phone with all of the world leaders and he persuades them to nuke Finland after they want to come clean to the Space Cops, or when he teaches Stan how to lie to the police about the derby car. Truly an unforgettable Randy episode.

It's definitely one of the more disgusting and gross episodes of "South Park," but Season 11's "More Crap" is the ultimate Randy Marsh episode. The episode revolves around Randy's quest to gain a Guinness World Record for having the largest bowel movement — which should tell you pretty much all you need to know. He starts eating a diet primarily consisting of P.F. Chang's to break the existing record, only to later find out the lead singer of U2, Bono, is actually a living pile of feces and the official record himself.

The entire episode is amazing, starting with Randy acting like taking a huge bowel movement is actually some sort of accomplishment. His doctors start treating the massive fecal deposit inside him as if it was a child, giving him ultrasounds and talking about it being in the "turd trimester." The only one not enthused is his wife, Sharon, who thinks the entire thing is stupid and disgusting.

Still, Randy manages to beat the record in the end by defecating a bowel movement the size equivalent of 100 Katie Courics — the official rating system he gets from the European Fecal Standards and Measurements office. From start to finish, the episode is amazing and irreverent and definitely one of the best Randy episodes ever.

Culinary fans of "South Park" undoubtedly remember the episode "Crème Fraîche" from Season 14, and it's also one of Randy Marsh's best. In "Crème Fraîche," Randy takes up cooking as a hobby after constantly watching various programs on the "Food Network," which turn strangely erotic when he watches them by himself. It gets to the point where his wife ends up blocking the channel on their TV, causing Randy to call the Food Network hotline, which is a sensual hotline where they describe food instead of sex.

He is intent on making all kinds of new food for himself and the family, but he always neglects to do the dishes, telling Sharon that since he cooked, they should clean, much to her chagrin. Randy later takes a job at his son's school and finds himself in a cooking competition with Gordon Ramsay and other celebrity chefs. However, he gives up after making love with his wife, which then causes him to immediately lose interest in cooking and return to his job as a geologist.

"Crème Fraîche" is another quintessential Randy episode. It has everything that makes the character so funny, like his ability to turn anything into a sexual reference, but also shows how willing he is to drop everything and change his life in an instant. Prime Randy.

A true blast from the past, "South Park's" Season 16 episode "A Nightmare on Facetime" has a little bit of everything. It parodies both Blockbuster video and "The Shining," with Randy Marsh taking on the persona of Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance from the latter. Randy buys a Blockbuster video store for a cheap price, not realizing that streaming services and Redbox machines have largely made the store's business model obsolete. As no one enters the store, he starts seeing ghosts and having hallucinations, mirroring the experiences of Jack at the Overlook Hotel. A ghost in the form of a former Blockbuster employee starts trying to convince him to kill his wife, which he tries and fails at.

"A Nightmare on Facetime" is one of the most memorable "South Park" parody episodes, and Randy's character is what truly makes it hilarious. His increasing frustration gets funnier and funnier as he desperately tries to prove that buying the Blockbuster was a good idea. He ends the episode covered in frost and freezing in the snow, realizing his venture with Blockbuster has conclusively failed. The entire episode is classic "South Park," and Randy is the perfect parody for Jack Torrance in "The Shining."