28 years after its debut in 1997 and South Park is still capturing headlines. In fact, the premiere of Season 27 was a genuine watercooler conversation starter. It also nabbed 5.9 million viewers across Comedy Central and Paramount+ throughout its first three days of availability. That’s the most-watched premiere for the show since Season 3’s “Rainforest Shmainforest” back in 1999. And while HBO Max subscribers are about to lose the show as it becomes a Paramount+ exclusive, where there’s a loss there’s also a gain. Why? Because there is now an opportunity for fans to spend time with Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny for free. And like “Rainforest Shmainforest,” it’s from the IP’s zeitgeist-capturing days.
Specifically, the theatrical film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is now available with the click of a button over on Pluto TV. It was a hugely important part of South Park‘s history, from netting Trey Parker an Oscar nomination to confirming that Saddam Hussein and Satan are in fact in a relationship.
Bigger, Longer & Uncut wasn’t the first time Parker and Matt Stone displayed their musical talent, but it arguably remains the best example. While “Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo” had the lovely “The Lonely Jew on Christmas,” Bigger, Longer & Uncut had “Blame Canda” (the song responsible for the aforementioned Oscar nomination), “What Would Brian Boitano Do?,” “Mountain Town,” and “Uncle Fu**a.”
The film hit theaters very early within the show’s run. Specifically, its June 30, 1999 debut came between the Season 3 episodes “Tweek vs. Craig” (June 23) and “Sexual Harassment Panda” (July 7).
The narrative follows the core four boys as they sneak into an R-rated Terrance and Phillip movie. This, of course, is a meta take on what Parker and Stone knew underaged audience members would absolutely be doing to enter Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The expletive-laden movie results in the four boys having fouler mouths than they already did, which gets all of their parents in an uproar (especially Kyle’s mom, who leads a crusade against the Canadians).
We also see Kenny die, as one might expect. But, this time, we see what happens afterwards. He goes down to Hell, where he learns of Satan and Saddam Hussein’s plot to rise to Earth and make it their new domain.
Speaking of Kenny, Bigger, Longer & Uncut showed fans something that, even after just two years, they had already been itching a long time for: Kenny’s face. We even hear him speak without the parka obscuring his voice. But unlike the next time he did so, Season 8’s “The Jeffersons,” his voice was provided by Beavis and Butt-Head‘s Mike Judge, as opposed to Matt Stone per usual.
Judge wasn’t the only cameo in Bigger, Longer & Uncut, either. We also got the Police drummer Stewart Copeland (who composed the amazing soundtrack for Spyro the Dragon) as a soldier, Monty Python‘s Eric Idle as Dr. Vosknocker, A Bug’s Life‘s Dave Foley as the Baldwin brothers, Minnie Driver as Brooke Shields, Brent Spiner doing a really solid Conan O’Brien impression, and George Clooney as Dr. Gouache, who replaces Kenny’s heart with a baked potato. Clooney had previously voiced Stan’s dog, Sparky, in Season 1’s “Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride.”
Check out South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut on Pluto TV and let us know what you thought of it in the comments.
