Kenny McCormick

Kenny McCormick
Background information
First appearance(s)	Jesus vs. Frosty (South Park)
Feature films	South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut South Park: Post Covid South Park: Post Covid - The Return of Covid South Park: The Streaming Wars
Short films	Jesus vs. Frosty (South Park)
Television programs	South Park
Video games	South Park video games
Character information
Full name	Kenneth McCormick
Alignment	Good/Neutral
Gender	Male
Species	Human
Relatives	Stuart McCormick (father) Carol McCormick (mother) Kevin McCormick (brother) Karen McCormick (sister) Grandpa McCormick (paternal grandfather)
Pet(s)	Sparky
Allies	Kyle Broflovski (Best friend) Stan Marsh (Close friend) Eric Cartman (sometimes)

Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is one of the 4 main characters of South Park. Kenny himself debuted in the 1992 shorts. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his mouth—is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. He is friends with Stan and Kyle, while maintaining a friendship with Eric Cartman. Kenny is regularly teased for living in poverty, particularly by Cartman. Prior to Season Six, Kenny died in almost every episode, with only a few exceptions. The nature of the deaths was often gruesome and portrayed in a comically absurd fashion, and usually followed by Stan and Kyle respectively yelling "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" and "You bastard(s)!". In the episode "Kenny Dies", Kenny dies after developing a terminal muscular disease, while Parker and Stone claimed that Kenny would not be returning in subsequent episodes and insisted they grew tired of having Kenny die in each episode. For most of season six, his place is taken by Butters Stotch and Tweek Tweak. Nevertheless, Kenny returned from the year-long absence in the season six finale "Red Sleigh Down", and has remained a starring character since, although he only appears once in Season 20. His character no longer dies each week, and has only been killed occasionally in episodes following his return. Kenny's superhero alter ego, Mysterion, first appeared in the season 13 episode "The Coon". It is revealed in the season 14 three-part story arc “Coon 2: Hindsight”, “Mysterion Rises” and “Coon vs. Coon and Friends” that Kenny canonically has an ability to resurrect after dying, though he is always the only one who can ever remember dying, despite his friends always bearing witness. It is revealed that each time he dies, Kenny's mom spontaneously gives birth to him, and then is put back in his orange parka and in bed, to regenerate overnight. This was due to his parents’ involvement in the cult of Cthulhu, whose meetings they would only attend because of the free alcohol. Kenny has bright-blond hair, a light skin color, (no visible eye color due to how the series is animated), and an average eight-year-old height. He wears a large orange parka whose large hood conceals his blond head completely with a faded-brown inside, matching faded-brown gloves, matching orange pants that match his parka, and black shoes.

Appearance

Kenny has bright-blond hair, a light skin color, (no visible eye color due to how the series is animated), and an average eight-year-old height. He wears a large orange parka whose large hood conceals his blond head completely with a faded-brown inside, matching faded-brown gloves, matching orange pants that match his parka, and black shoes.

Personality and traits

While most child characters on the show are foul-mouthed, Kenny is often even more risqué with his dialogue. Parker and Stone state that they depict Kenny and his friends in this manner in order to display how young boys really talk when they are alone. While Kenny is often cynical and profane, Parker notes that there nonetheless is an "underlying sweetness" aspect to the character, and Time magazine described Kenny and his friends as "sometimes cruel but with a core of innocence". He is amused by toilet humor and bodily functions, and his favorite television personalities are Terrance and Phillip, a Canadian duo whose comedy routines on their show-within-the-show revolve substantially around fart jokes. Kenny is shown to desire intercourse in the episode "The Ring", when Kenny gets a girlfriend and is overjoyed to find out that she has a reputation as a slut. Kenny is also lecherous, and often portrayed as being eager to do and say disgusting things in an attempt to impress others or earn money. Conversely, his alter-ego Mysterion is seemingly mature, principled, and serious-minded, the only exception being one instance in "Mysterion Rises" in which he takes delight in irritating Cartman. As Mysterion, he convinces his parents to take better care of themselves and their children, as seen by their reaction when he questions them about the cult of Cthulhu. He also uses his disguise to protect his sister Karen (who refers to Mysterion as her "guardian angel"), as revealed in "The Poor Kid"; however, in all of his guises, Kenny is depicted as being uncommonly selfless, dying for the sake of others and spending all of his time working so he could buy his little sister a doll.

In the trilogy of episodes "Black Friday", "A Song of Ass and Fire" and "Titties and Dragons", in which the boys play-act characters from the TV series Game of Thrones, Kenny cross-dresses as a fantasy-style princess with a wig and dress similar to the video game character Princess Zelda, and becomes a Japanese-speaking moe anime character at one point. When Cartman complains, "You're never going to be a real princess", Princess Kenny responds (via her translator, Stan) angrily to Cartman, calling him a "ball-licking lesbian".

This portrayal continues in the video game South Park: The Stick of Truth where Cartman notes that playing a "chick" is "just how [Kenny] seems to be rolling right now". Kenny's sister also refers to Kenny as a girl, if you talk to her in the McCormick house. Throughout the game, Kenny posts 'status updates' referring to herself as "the cutest of them all".

Deaths

Prior to season six, Kenny died in almost every episode. The nature of the deaths was often gruesome and portrayed in a comically absurd fashion, and usually followed by Stan (or Kyle) respectively yelling "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!" with Kyle yelling "You bastards!" Shortly afterward, rats would commonly appear and begin picking at his corpse. In a following episode, Kenny would reappear alive and well, usually without any explanation. Most characters appear oblivious or indifferent to the phenomenon, although occasionally one will acknowledge awareness of it. In "Cherokee Hair Tampons", Kenny gets irritated and offended when Stan laments Kyle's critical condition while utterly ignoring Kenny's past demises. Eric Cartman commented on Kenny's deaths in the episode "Cartmanland" when he is being sued for unsafe rides insisting to attorneys representing his family that "Kenny? He dies all the time!" In "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", as the episode is about to end, the kids point out that "something feels unfinished", and Kenny celebrates as "The End" sign appears; it is the first episode in the series he survives.

Near the end of the production run of the show's fifth season, Parker and Stone contemplated having an episode in which Kenny was killed off permanently. The reasoning behind the idea was to genuinely surprise fans, and to allow an opportunity to provide a major role for Butters Stotch, a breakout character whose popularity was growing with the viewers and creators of the show. In the episode "Kenny Dies", Kenny dies after developing terminal muscular dystrophy, while Parker and Stone claimed that Kenny would not be returning in subsequent episodes. The duo insisted they grew tired of upholding the tradition of having Kenny die in each episode. Stone stated that thinking of humorous ways to kill the character was initially fun, but became more mundane as the series progressed. When they determined that it would be too difficult to develop the character because he was too much of a "prop", Parker and Stone finally decided to kill off Kenny permanently.

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For much of season six, Kenny remained dead, though he still appears to possess Cartman's body, and both Stone and Parker entertained the idea of eventually bringing the character back. According to Stone, only a small minority of fans were significantly angered by Kenny's absence to threaten a boycott of the cable channel Comedy Central, on which South Park is aired. For most of the season, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman fill the void left by Kenny by allowing the characters Butters Stotch and Tweek Tweak into their group, paving the way for those characters to receive more focus on the show; nevertheless, Kenny returned from the year-long absence in the season six finale "Red Sleigh Down", has remained the main character since, and has been given larger roles in episodes.

The first explanation given for Kenny's deaths and reappearances was given in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", wherein the McCormicks have a baby exactly like Kenny, including the characteristic orange parka, shortly after the former Kenny dies. Mr. McCormick exclaims, "God, this must be the fiftieth time this has happened", to which Mrs. McCormick quickly replies, "Fifty-second". This explanation is expanded upon in the Season 14 episodes "Coon 2: Hindsight", "Mysterion Rises" and "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", in which Kenny, while playing superheroes with his friends, claims his "superpower" is immortality. He actually dies several times during these episodes—even committing suicide more than once—reawakening alive and unharmed in his bed each time. He is frustrated and angry that no one can remember him dying every time he regenerates and longs to know the source of his power, which he views as a curse. Unbeknownst to him, his parents were previously connected to a Cthulhu-worshipping death cult. After Kenny shoots himself the second time, Mrs. McCormick awakes with a scream, shrieks "It's happening again!", and minutes later, is shown gently placing a newborn Kenny in his bed. "We should never have gone to that stupid cult meeting," she grouses as she and her husband return to bed.

In "Put It Down", he is killed off-screen by a driver on his phone, as his picture is shown among those of kids killed by a driver on phone texting tribute. In "Bike Parade", Jeff Bezos tells Alexa to kill Kenny, and Cartman hauls his coffin while riding his bike in the parade. "The Pandemic Special" sees Kenny being gunned down by the police when they are equipped with military weaponry to deal with the children breaking free from COVID-19 quarantine.

In South Park: Post Covid, as a millionaire scientist in the future finding the cause of COVID-19, McCormick dies due to a time travel experiment that got him a variant named COVID Delta+ Rewards. This death is undone in South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid after Stan, Kyle, and Cartman time travel to the past.

External Links

• South Park wiki
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_McCormick

v - e - d

Media Pilot Shorts: South Park: The Spirit of Christmas • South Park (pilot) • TV Series: South Park • Films: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut • South Park: Post Covid • South Park: Post Covid - The Return of Covid • South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 1 & 2 Video games South Park • South Park: Chef's Luv Shack • South Park Rally • South Park 10: The Game • South Park: Let's Go Tower Defense Play! • South Park: Tenorman's Revenge • South Park: The Stick of Truth • South Park: The Fractured but Whole • South Park: Phone Destroyer • South Park: Snow Day! Characters Stan Marsh • Kyle Broflovski • Eric Cartman • Kenny McCormick • Butters Stotch • Wendy Testaburger • Craig Tucker • Clyde Donovan • Tolkien Black • Jimmy Valmer • Randy and Sharon Marsh • Gerald and Sheila Broflovski • Liane Cartman • Mr. Garrison • Mr. Mackey • Chef • Terrence and Phillip • Mr. Hankey Seasons 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 Locations South Park, Colorado (USA) • South Park Elementary Songs South Park Theme Song • Chocolate Salty Balls • Blame Canada • What Would Brian Boitano Do? • Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld Related Trey Parker • Matt Stone • South Park Studios • Comedy Central • MTV Entertainment Studios