The Turret will be comedy central
Josh Marshall

South Park is leaving Colorado and coming North in the University Bound and Underground national tour. The tour will be hosted and headlined by the up and coming comedian Wade McElwain.

South Park has become a household name since first appearing last August. The animated series features four foul-mouthed kids (Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman) living in the town of South Park, Colorado.

Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone constantly push the limits of good taste and humour in the weekly half hour show, which airs Friday nights, at 9:30 on the Comedy Network, and at midnight on Global.

Each episode features unusual subject matter, including flaming farts, a talking turd, and Barbara Streisand as the ultimate evil.

Two of the characters in the show, Terrence and Philip, are Canadian, a fact that Stone and Parker seem especially happy about. They claim the two are their favourite characters and Parker says, "I would love to see 'The Terrence and Philip Show' as a spin-off."

McElwain explains that the show constantly pushes the envelope, which is good because it encourages free speech. He says, "Some of it is like, 'wow, I can't believe they got away with that', but hey, if they can do it, good for them." In University Bound and Underground, never before seen footage of the series will be shown at twenty-four campus pubs across Canada, including a night at the Turret on Monday, November 2nd. The tour will feature a screening of the "director's cut" of the first South Park episode which never aired because of its raunchy content, and the video short "The Spirit of Christmas."

This five minute video, which is the first appearance of the South Park characters, features Jesus and Santa Claus battling for ownership of Christmas. Both episodes boast tasteless humour and subject matter, the ingredients a South Park fan always looks for.

Although Wade McElwain describes the show as "a dirty little cartoon," and himself as a "dirty little comedian," he says his comedic style does not have much in common with that of South Park.

He describes his comedy as more of an intellectual journey in which he poses philosophical questions. As a graduate from the University of Western Ontario, McElwain likes to use his degree "to a degree" in his comedy routine. "I try to push the parameters--not like I'm rude, but I just like to ask philosophical questions in a way that hasn't been proposed to people," he explains.

McElwain entered the comedy world after graduating from Western. His original plan was to go to law school but he says, "I always had an inkling for it [comedy]. People told me I was funny and should try it." Since entering the comedy scene, McElwain won The Search for Canada's Funniest New Comedian at the 1997 Molson Canadian Comedy Festival. He recently appeared at Montreal's Just For Laughs comedy festival, and has recorded a one-hour special for The Comedy Network Presents, which will be aired early next year.

McElwain is glad to have been chosen to tour with South Park, saying it is a good chance to travel and get some exposure. "It's nice to have this kind of support and to be involved with something fun," exclaimed McElwain, "It's another reason to party." He believes he was picked for the job because he is a rising star on the comedy scene, as well as a recent university graduate, and thus best suited for the job. McElwain believes that the University Bound and Underground has equal parts South Park and Wade McElwain. He hopes one is not more predominant than the other. "It's a marriage of the two, and we are catalysts for each other."

In the Laurier community, South Park has a following. Third year Political Science major Jameel Bandali enjoys the show, saying, "It's intelligent, in a moronic sort of way." When asked why the show has become popular, Bandali commented, "I think timing was key to its success; it was fresh because it was so offensive, and yet it plays on the mentality of the 'Springer generation.' It increased the threshold of offensive tolerance that Beavis and Butthead established."

Other students are not so positive about the show. Dave Merritt, a third year Computing student says he sometimes watches the show and admits to finding it funny, but adds, "I do think they sometimes take the jokes too far. Right after laughing I think, 'that was pretty offensive.' They can be really cruel to specific parties."

Whatever the response, Stone and Parker seem to adopt P.T. Barnum's philosophy that it doesn't matter whether you are loved or hated, as long as people know the name. South Park certainly has become a well-known name across Canada and the U.S.

The University Bound and Underground tour boasts prizes ranging from a big-screen TV and VCR as well as advanced copies of the South Park soundtrack CD. VIP passes are required, and can be obtained from the Turret in advance.

Congratulations to Josh Marshall on winning the Jane Campbell award for excellence in the General English program. His fat cheque will no doubt go towards debauchery. Good work Josh!