Who Voices Towelie On South Park?
There are many entertaining seasons of "South Park," and several have impacted fans in more ways than one. Season 5 of the Emmy-winning series was full of memorable and outrageous moments like Scott Tenorman getting the worst meal of his life. Another significant occurrence from that run of episodes included introducing the one and only Towelie.
Out of all the characters South Park has introduced over the years, not many of them smoke more cannabis than Towelie. The walking talking towel, known for his signature catchphrase "Don't forget to bring a towel," has had a wild ride of an arc on the series. He started out as Smart Towel RG-400 and was built for the purpose of keeping everyone the right amount of dry with each use. However, he eventually stumbles onto marijuana, and becomes a massive stoner. Despite being constantly under the influence of the wacky tobacky, the character is pretty active on the show. The sentient blue and white-striped piece of cloth has been part of a hostage situation involving Oprah (Nicole Draco). He raised a family, headlined the episode "Intervention," and worked with Randy Marsh (Trey Parker) at Tegridy Farms, creating special strains of marijuana.
After witnessing his hilarious escapades throughout the series, there is no denying that Towelie is arguably the funniest towel in the animated comedy, but who brings him to life every time the exceptionally absorbent character enters the frame on "South Park?"
Vernon Chatman voices Towelie on South Park
Towelie is voiced by veteran comedy writer and producer Vernon Chatman. Chatman has played the character in 15 episodes and specials and served as producer on the series for 152 entries, including the "Streaming Wars" and "Covid" specials (via IMDb). He has also voiced several other characters on the show, including Tiger Woods and Dominic Cobb from the "Inception" parody. In addition to his work on "South Park," Chatman has been a major player behind the scenes in the comedy world. The four-time Emmy award winner has an impressive list of credits, including "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "The Chris Rock Show," and "Louie." But how exactly did a guy like Chatman start voicing a talking stoner towel?
On the Creator Commentary (via YouTube) for Season 5, Episode 8 ("Towelie"), Matt Stone and Trey Parker talked about how Vernon Chatman was chosen to voice Towelie. "When we were down in Hawaii we were coming up with the idea of how to do the show or what the plot for the show should be, and I was going yeah, [Impersonates Towelie voice] and they were like, 'Well, dude that's just Mr. Hankey," Parker recalled about the ordeal. "So it's like, 'We'll have Vernon do it.' One of the writers, Vernon, did it, talked like that and basically just did that voice." When it comes to voicing a pothead towel, no one, not even the creators of "South Park," can do it better than Vernon Chatman.