The Best Visual Gag In South Park According To Reddit
As an animated comedy series celebrating its 25th anniversary, "South Park" is full of repeating visual gags that lend continuity to the show and also provide viewers with running inside jokes to appreciate episode after episode. Because the show is animated, there is great potential for bizarre, unrealistic, and satirical visual gags that would not be possible in a live-action show. For example, all Canadians on "South Park" inexplicably have faces that are split in two by their massive mouths. Another running visual joke is how sometimes, a character will show another character a photograph of Stan Marsh (voiced by Trey Parker), Kyle Broflovski (Matt Stone), Eric Cartman (Parker), and Kenny McCormick (Stone), and instead of appearing as their cartoon selves, they appear as real children or as highly sophisticated drawings. The jokes afforded by the show's one-of-a-kind animation style may be one of the best things about "South Park."
Not every visual joke on "South Park" needs to be repeated in order to be effective; in fact, some of the best South Park episodes feature visual jokes that do not continue beyond that episode. For example, in Season 6, Episode 7 "The Simpsons Already Did It," all of the regular "South Park" characters are drawn in the visual style of "The Simpsons" while Butters/Professor Chaos (Stone) realizes that all of his plans to take over the world have already been done on "The Simpsons." Although "South Park" mostly focuses on characters living in small-town Colorado, some of the show's best jokes are also those that incorporate outside people, places, and other elements.
Crossing the border into Nebraska is a fan-favorite visual gag
In Season 2, Episode 16 ("Merry Christmas Charlie Manson"), Liane Cartman (Mary Kay Bergman) takes Eric, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny all on a road trip to visit Cartman's grandmother in Nebraska for Thanksgiving. The whole time they are driving through Colorado, there is a background of snow-covered trees, grass, and mountains, along with a bright blue sky peppered with the occasional white cloud. However, immediately once they cross the border into Nebraska, the landscape completely changes to brown earth with small green plants growing out of it, and a gray sky. This change in scenery is also accompanied by an abrupt change in music, from a jolly holiday tune to a slow country guitar riff. Lastly, a sign reads "You're now entering Nebraska, sorry!" (as opposed to the real sign, which according to Omaha.com, depicts the state slogan, "the good life").
Redditor u/gmpasch said that crossing the border into Nebraska is their favorite visual gag that "South Park" has ever done. Apparently, they were not alone, as the post received approximately 21,000 upvotes. The main reason fans loved this gag seems to be its accuracy. u/Megaman1981 commented, "I'm from Nebraska originally, and lived in Colorado for many years. I've made the trip back to Nebraska to see family many times. I can confirm this is what it's like." While u/grubas described Nebraska as "500 miles of corn," u/TotallyNotTy added, "It's astounding, you look around and immediately know when you've crossed the border from Colorado to Nebraska."