Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo (South Park episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo
Series = South Park


Mr. Hankey about to be flushed down the toilet.
Caption =
Season = 1
Episode = 10
Airdate = December 17, 1997
Production = 110
Writer = Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Director = Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Guests =
Episode list = List of "South Park" episodes
Season list = Infobox South Park season 1 episode list
Prev =
Next ="Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the tenth episode of Comedy Central's animated series "South Park" which originally aired on December 17, 1997.

Plot

:"Related article: Christmas controversy"This Christmas-themed episode of South Park opens as the children rehearse their Christmas play. They are performing a Christian Nativity, and when Kyle's mother hears of this, she is infuriated by the play, because her son, a Jew, plays the role of Joseph. Mrs. Broflovski is offended by the Christian imagery, and demands that the religious elements be taken out of the public school Christmas pageant. Kyle suggests they celebrate Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo as a non-religious substitute, but since he is the only one who believes in Mr. Hankey, his suggestion is rejected.

Mrs. Broflovski's demands trigger uproar in the town, and so it is decided that anything offensive to anyone will be removed from the Christmas celebrations, including Santa Claus, wreaths, trees, stars, lights, candy canes, and mistletoe. Kyle is embarrassed by his mother's actions, and turns to Mr. Hankey for solace, who, it turns out, is a real-life talking piece of poo. Kyle tries to introduce Mr. Hankey to the masses, but no one believes in him, and most are in fact horrified at the idea of a talking piece of poo. Kyle's efforts result in mishaps that are blamed on him, such as Mr. Hankey (who looks like a normal piece of feces to everyone else) leaping at Cartman's face (Kyle tries to restrain him in this instance, resulting with his hands covered in feces) and taking a bath in Mr. Mackey's coffee (this is Mr. Mackey's, as well as Mr. Hankey's, first appearances in the series [In the production sequence he was introduced in the episode "Damien" though. That episode first aired in February 1998.] ). Mr. Mackey declares Kyle a "clinically depressed fecalphiliac" and prescribes Prozac. Meanwhile, Stan and Cartman cannot take any more of the insanity created and send Kyle to a mental institution.

Ultimately, the school Christmas pageant is stripped of all symbols of Christmas, as anything that does resemble Christmas is deemed offensive by someone. Instead, the children present a minimalist song and dance created by Philip Glass. The parents, astounded by how awful the pageant has turned out, begin blaming one another for destroying Christmas, and a fight breaks out. Finally, Mr. Hankey reveals himself to everyone, and scolds everyone, saying that in spending so much time trying to find what's wrong with Christmas, they forgot everything that was "so right about it" — singing songs, cookies and goodwill towards men. The townspeople release Kyle from the asylum and apologize, and they all watch Mr. Hankey fly away with Santa Claus. Cartman and Kyle remark that something feels unfinished, and as Stan wonders outloud what it could be, the camera focuses on Kenny. "The End" shows on the screen, and Kenny rejoices because he has survived the entire episode. Jesus is shown across town, sitting alone in a TV studio singing "Happy Birthday" to himself. He is clearly upset that nobody came to celebrate his birthday.

Cultural references

* At first, Mr. Hankey is a parody of Michigan J. Frog, the singing frog from various Warner Bros. cartoons (most notably "One Froggy Evening.") In his cartoons, the frog sings and dances to showtunes for one amazed man, but when the man tries to show him to anyone else, he acts like a normal frog.

References

External links

* [http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/110/ Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo] on the South Park Studios Episode Guide
* [http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103765 Phillip Glass Musical at South Park Studios] (begins at 1:45 of this clip)