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| {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} | |||
| | Title =About Last Night… | |||
| | Series =South Park | |||
| ⚫ | {{Infobox television episode | ||
| | Image = ] | |||
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| series = ] | ||
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| | season = 12 | |||
| | Airdate =November 5, 2008 | |||
| | episode = 12 | |||
| | Total Time = 27 minutes | |||
| | airdate = {{Start date|2008|11|05}} | |||
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| production = 1212 | ||
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| director = ] | ||
| ⚫ | | writer = Trey Parker | ||
| | Guests = | |||
| | music = "]"<br>by ]<br>"]"<br>by ]<br>"]"<br>by ]<br>"]" | |||
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| season_article = South Park season 12 | ||
| ⚫ | | episode_list = List of South Park episodes | ||
| | Prev =] | |||
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| prev = ] | ||
| | next = ] | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| "'''About Last Night…'''" is the twelfth episode in the ] of the American animated television series '']''. The 179th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on ] in the United States on November 5, 2008. | |||
| The episode depicts ] after winning the ] against ]. In a satire of American partisan politics, mass hysteria ensues as ] celebrate with drunken rioting and ] experience apocalyptic panic. Meanwhile, Obama, McCain, and their respective campaign staffs are revealed to be a gang of jewel thieves who ran for president as part of a heist. In a parody of the films '']'' and '']'', Obama and McCain use the hype and fear of Election Night to carry out a high-tech heist from the ]. | |||
| "'''About Last Night…'''" is episode 1212 (#179) of the animated series '']''.<ref name=South Park Studios>{{cite web|url=http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/1212/|title=South Park Episode Guide - 1212}} ''South Park Studios''. Accessed November 2, 2008</ref> The episode first aired Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 10:00 PM ], less than a day after ] was declared the winner in the ]. Excerpts from speeches given by Obama and ] the night before are included in the episode. This episode is commonly referred to as "Obama's Eleven" for its notable parody of '']''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/928/928073p3.html|title= How South Park Pulled off "About Last Night..."}} ''IGN''. Accessed November 11, 2008</ref> | |||
| Parker and Stone briefly considered parodying ]'s '']'' by having then-President ] gallantly take the blame for the Smithsonian heist. They decided against it, however, as they felt that jokes about President Bush had been "done to death". | |||
| ⚫ | ==Plot== |
||
| Following the announcement of the election results, ] and ] address their supporters on nationwide television as the South Park townspeople gather to watch. Randy and the other Obama supporters (including the Marshes and Broflovskis, except for Ike) celebrate drunkenly after drinking beer in the streets, cheering and screaming his name as well as his campaign slogans, while McCain supporters (including Ike Broflovski and the Stotches) sit despondently inside, fearing that it is the end of the world. Ike attempts ] by jumping out a first-story window; he survives but appears to be badly injured, and Stan and Kyle start trying to get him to the hospital. | |||
| ⚫ | ==Plot== | ||
| In a secret meeting, Obama and McCain reveal that they are both members of an elite team of professional thieves who are planning to steal the ] from the ]. In order to get it, they must break into the building from underground, using a secret escape tunnel that connects directly to the ] in the ]. The two candidates orchestrated their campaigns to ensure that one of them would become president-elect and thus gain access to the tunnel. The thieves are counting on the whole country being distracted by the election results to buy them enough time for the heist. ] is also in on the plan, as is ]; Palin is revealed to be an eloquent and intelligent ], whilst Michelle has only pretended to be Obama's wife in order to fool the media. | |||
| Following the announcement of the ] results, ] and ] address their supporters on national television as the people of South Park watch. The town's Democrats, including ] and the ], express a belief that Obama is the ], crudely taunt their Republican neighbors and begin to celebrate drunkenly in the streets. | |||
| Meanwhile, the town's Republicans, including the ], ] and ], sit despondently inside, certain that a liberal President means that the Apocalypse is at hand. Ike Broflovski, who supported McCain, attempts ] by jumping out a first-story window. Certain that Ike is badly injured, ] and ] put him in a child's wagon and try to take him to the hospital. | |||
| Obama persuades the ] to let him into the Oval Office, claiming that he wants to get ideas for redecorating it before he is sworn in. McCain and the others are stationed outside the museum as a construction crew to provide cover for any noise he makes. He finds the tunnel entrance and follows it to the museum, but when he breaks through the floor, he finds that new security measures have been put in place. Retreating to the Oval Office, he informs Michelle of this complication, and she mentions that she has hated posing as his wife for so long. Michelle bypasses the new system, Obama gets the team in, and Palin gets the diamond, which Obama hides in his anus as they make their getaway. | |||
| Meanwhile, Obama and McCain turn out to be friends and the leaders of a jewel heist club known as the "Presidential Crime Syndicate". Furthermore, ] is really an ace computer hacker and single mother who has faked marriage to Obama to make him electable. ] is secretly an extremely intelligent, poised, and articulate Englishwoman. The Syndicate has conspired to win the election by running Obama and McCain against each other, so that the winner can access a hidden tunnel from the ], break into the ]'s ], and steal the ]. | |||
| ⚫ | In South Park, Stan and Kyle search through the partying |
||
| ⚫ | In South Park, Stan and Kyle vainly search through the partying Democrats to find anyone who can drive Ike to the hospital. They watch as Randy, believing that Obama's win means that he no longer needs a job, punches his equally liberal boss in the face and breaks his nose. When ] attempts to restore order (after Stan called him over to his neighborhood), the drunken crowd assumes that he must be a Republican, loudly boos him, and overturns his police car. | ||
| ]Stan and Kyle find the Stotches building an "ark" to hold some of the McCain supporters, thinking that Obama's win will bring about the end of civilization. The boys' plea for help leads to a brawl among the adults, so they head for the hospital on foot. The emergency room is packed with patients who have either partied too hard or tried to kill themselves, depending on which candidate they favored. Randy is found here as well, trying to still party while singing ]'s "]" (replacing "Oh, Mandy" with "Obama"). Ike is put into a bed, but soon wakes up to carry out the last part of the thieves' plan, having faked an injury to get in there. He remotely detonates a bomb to blow up a parked airplane containing dummies that resemble the Obamas and McCains, then alters the hospital medical records to show that they and all the criminals are dead. | |||
| Stan and Kyle find the Stotches building an "]" while keeping many horrified conservatives from entering due to space limitations. The boys' plea for help leads to a brawl among the terrified Republicans and the boys head for the hospital on foot. They find the emergency room packed with Democrats who have partied too hard and Republicans who have tried to kill themselves. | |||
| Before the group boards their plane to leave the country, Obama announces that he is not going with them; he wants to stay and try being a real president. He asks Michelle and "their" two daughters (actually only hers) if they want to pretend to be the ] and live in the White House, and they take him up on the offer as the others leave. Once the celebrations in South Park have died down, the Stotches emerge from their "ark" to find that society has not instantly crumbled, and admit that they may have overreacted to the election results. Randy wakes up at home with a terrible ], finds both his pants and his television missing, and learns that he has been fired from his job. Holding Obama responsible for his own problems, he grumbles that he should have voted for McCain. | |||
| Obama and Michelle break into the Museum, cross a room full of lasers, and steal the Hope Diamond. Ike, who had been a member of the heist the entire time, blows up a private jet that contains dummies of the criminals and alters hospital records to declare everyone involved legally dead. The next day, as the Syndicate prepares to leave the country, Obama announces that he will not be going with them. Instead, he convinces Michelle to stay behind and "give this President thing a shot". | |||
| The following morning, South Park's Republicans emerge from their "ark" and realize that the world has not ended. Realizing that they can vote Obama out later if he does a bad job, the Conservatives decide to give the new President a chance. That same morning, Randy Marsh wakes up on his couch with a severe ], his pants missing, and his TV having been stolen by ] while he was out partying. Stan delivers a message from Randy's boss, telling him that he has been fired, and Randy—taking this as evidence that Obama lied to the voters—flies into a rage and shouts that he should have voted for McCain. | |||
| ==Themes== | |||
| An interpretation of the episode summarized its contents as a condemnation of those who care too much about political issues.<ref name="sl" /> The episode satirizes the variety of reactions from liberals and conservatives in the aftermath of election returns: "somewhere between a boozy orgy of celebratory puking in the streets and apocalyptic panic".<ref name="tg">{{cite news |last=Vine |first=Richard |title=President Obama, South Park-style|newspaper=] |date=November 12, 2008 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/nov/12/barack-obama-south-park|accessdate=May 26, 2014}}</ref> The episode deliberately exaggerates both reactions to illustrate the absurdity.<ref name="ign1" /> | |||
| ==Production== | ==Production== | ||
| {{Quote box | |||
| According to interviews with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, this was the only version of the episode produced, as a McCain version proved "too daunting a task." Parker was inspired to do the episode by a scene in an episode of '']'' showing ] dressed as ] and wearing a McCain button, which Parker found "lame". The overreaction of supporters of both Obama and McCain also informed the episode's content. The episode was completed the morning of the day it aired, with Comedy Central seeing only excerpts of the show beforehand. The heist plot was chosen because it was neutral with respect to who won the election, though the plot depicted Obama winning because the creators felt in the final weeks before the election that Obama would win. The scenes depicting the victory and concession speeches were animated with generic speech filler in the place of lines from the actual speeches and the backdrops behind the candidates that would be added after the real Obama and McCain gave their actual speeches, though Matt Stone expressed amazement at how the filler they wrote matched the content of the actual speeches later heard on Election Night. The creators explained that had McCain won, they would've dealt with their own "]" situation at a later time, perhaps redubbing lines in which characters mention the election results, purposely doing it badly in the style of '']''. Stone also explained some of the rationale behind deciding which characters would be depicted supporting which candidate, though he admitted that some of these choices were arbitrary.<ref name=Los Angeles Times>{{cite web|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/11/south-park-crea.html|title='South Park' creator on his tricky Obama-beats-McCain election episode}} ''Los Angeles Times''. Accessed November 7, 2008</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/928/928073p3.html|title= How South Park Pulled off "About Last Night..."}} ''IGN''. Accessed November 11, 2008</ref> | |||
| | quote = "We purposely stay politically confusing. We play the spectrum from doing things that are either not political at all or spot on. ... I think stuff that works the best is not when we talk about the politics, like "If he takes ], he can win the whole thing!" It's more the emotions behind the politics, and why do people feel this way. And admitting we're all human beings." | |||
| | source = —] on staying apolitical<ref name="ign" /> | |||
| | width = 25% | |||
| | align = right | |||
| | style = padding:10px; | |||
| }} | |||
| The episode's plot originated before the season began, when the writing team began brainstorming episode ideas.<ref name="ign" /> Parker and Stone noticed that an episode from the run could air the day following the election, and set their sights on producing an episode.<ref name="ign" /> Parker was particularly set on producing the episode after seeing the uproar over a joke from a recent '']'' episode ("]"), in which the character of ], dressed as a ], sports a ] button. ''South Park'' had previously criticized the program with the 2006 two-parter "]" and "]", and Parker intensely disliked the joke.<ref name="lat" /> Rather than focus the episode's plot as satiric commentary on modern politics, the duo instead decided to create an absurd, action-movie plot inspired by the film '']''.<ref name="lat" /> "We've all heard about everything; we've talked about everything to death," Parker said. "And it's like, let's just put him in a diamond heist movie. They're just diamond thieves, and it's not about the politics at all anymore."<ref name="lat" /> After coming up with a neutral plot that would not disclose who would win the election, it gradually became obvious over the season that Obama would emerge the winner.<ref name="ign" /> | |||
| ] giving his ] after winning the election. Elements of the speech were included in the episode, broadcast less than 24 hours later.]] | |||
| Parker felt strongly over the course of the election season that Obama would win the election, so much so that he bet money on his victory in October.<ref name="lat" /> Parker used a sports betting website, which he normally used to gamble on football games, to predict the outcome; the website placed the odds heavily against McCain.<ref name="lat" /> The team initially intended to create an alternate version in case McCain won, but found the prospect too daunting, considering their quick production schedule. In a possible scenario in which McCain was declared the winner, the duo intended to air the completed episode as is and deal with what was termed their "]" moment later.<ref name="hr" /><ref name="lat" /> Possible outcomes included doing a drunken '']''-esque commentary over the completed version, in which lines are poorly dubbed over the dialogue.<ref name="ign" /> Rather than partying in the streets, Obama supporters would be rioting, while McCain supporters would hide in the Ark to protect themselves from the riot, rather than a world in which their candidate loses.<ref name="ign" /> "There was a really stressful fifteen minutes there where we thought 'Oh man, what if we're wrong?' We really banked on it", said Stone.<ref name="ign" /> | |||
| In choosing which characters would be liberal or conservative, Stone admitted the choices were sometimes arbitrary.<ref name="ign" /> The character of Randy getting inebriated was always something the team found humorous; as a result, it was natural he become a hard-partying Obama supporter.<ref name="ign" /> In contrast, Mr. Garrison, who in the series is a "self-hating gay man", is portrayed as a McCain supporter to provide irony.<ref name="ign" /> In one possible storyline, then-President ] would heroically take the blame for the diamond heist, in a parody of '']'', but it was rejected as jokes about Bush had become overdone.<ref name="ign">{{cite web |last=Fickett |first=Travis |title=How South Park Pulled Off "About Last Night..."|website=] |date=November 7, 2008 |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/11/07/how-south-park-pulled-off-about-last-night|accessdate=May 26, 2014}}</ref> The episode includes details such as excerpts from Obama's victory speech and the stage and podium on which he spoke.<ref name="lat" /> For the victory and concession speeches, Parker wrote placeholder lines until after the election's outcome. Following Obama's victory speech, the duo found it remarkable the amount of placeholder material that turned out similar to the actual speech.<ref name="ign" /> Comedy Central, as usual, saw few finished sequences before the episode went to air, but raised questions over one scene in which Obama's grandmother "fakes" her death (Obama's real grandmother had passed the day preceding the election).<ref name="lat" /> | |||
| The episode was completed on the morning of its air date, hours after they typically complete episodes.<ref name="lat">{{cite news |last=Milian |first=Mark |title='South Park' creator on his tricky Obama-beats-McCain election episode|newspaper=]|date=November 7, 2008 |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/11/south-park-crea.html|accessdate=May 26, 2014}}</ref> "We're delivering it right up against the wire every single week. ... Trey and I got home at 10:30 yesterday morning," said Stone to an interviewer the day following the episode's broadcast.<ref name="ign" /> | |||
| ==Reception== | |||
| Sean O'Neal of '']'' commended the episode's apolitical approach, but wished "tonight's inconsequential silliness had been a little funnier across the board".<ref name="av">{{cite news |last=O'Neal |first=Sean |title=South Park: About Last Night|newspaper=] |date=November 5, 2008 |url=https://www.avclub.com/south-park-about-last-night-1798205168|accessdate=March 12, 2022}}</ref> Alan Sepinwall of '']'' criticized the episode as a "half-hour '']'' sketch", commenting that only the first five minutes he felt were humorous.<ref name="sl">{{cite news |last=Sepinwall |first=Alan |title=South Park, "About Last Night"|newspaper=] |date=November 6, 2008 |url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/2008/11/south_park_about_last_night_ob.html|accessdate=March 12, 2022}}</ref> '']'' criticized the episode as a "lukewarm parody" in a 2010 article criticizing the creative state of the program.<ref name="nw">{{cite magazine |last=Alston |first=Joshua|title=Is 'South Park' Losing Its Edge?|magazine=] |date=March 23, 2010 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/south-park-losing-its-edge-69495|accessdate=May 26, 2014}}</ref> "While this episode was perhaps not as funny as it could have been, it manages to feel poignant," said Travis Fickett of ].<ref name="ign1">{{cite web |last=Fickett |first=Travis |title=South Park: "About Last Night" Review | |||
| |website=] |date=November 6, 2008 |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/11/06/south-park-about-last-night-review|accessdate=May 26, 2014}}</ref> | |||
| "Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always turned around ''South Park'' episodes with impressive speed, but Wednesday night was ridiculous," said ] of '']''.<ref name="hr">{{Cite web |last=Hibberd|first=James |title='South Park' takes on Barack Obama|work=] |date=November 5, 2008 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/south-park-takes-barack-obama-50919/|accessdate=March 12, 2022}}</ref> | |||
| ==Home release== | |||
| "About Last Night...", along with the thirteen other episodes from ''South Park'''s twelfth season, were released on a three-disc DVD and ] set in the United States on March 10, 2009. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and two special mini-features, ''The Making of 'Major Boobage'' and ''Six Days to South Park''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season Blu-ray Review |publisher=Blu-ray.com |date=February 26, 2009 |last=Liebman |first=Martin |url=http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/South-Park-The-Complete-Twelfth-Season-Blu-ray/3434/ |accessdate=January 25, 2017}}</ref> | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| *"]", a ''South Park'' episode about the ] | |||
| *"]", a ''South Park'' episode about the ] | |||
| *"]", a ''South Park'' episode about the ] | |||
| *"]", a ''South Park'' episode about the ] | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| {{reflist|30em}} | |||
| <references /> | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{Episode navigation|parent=]|prev=]|next=]}} | |||
| * Full episode at South Park Studios | |||
| * {{IMDb episode|1312843}} | |||
| {{South Park episodes|12}} | |||
| {{Barack Obama}} | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| {{Joe Biden}} | |||
| {{John McCain}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
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Latest revision as of 15:27, 18 January 2025
12th episode of the 12th season of South Park
| "About Last Night..." | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| South Park episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 12 Episode 12 | ||
| Directed by | Trey Parker | ||
| Written by | Trey Parker | ||
| Featured music | "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang "Who Let the Dogs Out?" by Baha Men "Mickey" by Toni Basil "Clair de lune" | ||
| Production code | 1212 | ||
| Original air date | November 5, 2008 (2008-11-05) | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| South Park season 12 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"About Last Night…" is the twelfth episode in the twelfth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 179th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 5, 2008.
The episode depicts Barack Obama after winning the presidential election against John McCain. In a satire of American partisan politics, mass hysteria ensues as liberals celebrate with drunken rioting and conservatives experience apocalyptic panic. Meanwhile, Obama, McCain, and their respective campaign staffs are revealed to be a gang of jewel thieves who ran for president as part of a heist. In a parody of the films Ocean's Eleven and Entrapment, Obama and McCain use the hype and fear of Election Night to carry out a high-tech heist from the Smithsonian.
Parker and Stone briefly considered parodying Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight by having then-President George W. Bush gallantly take the blame for the Smithsonian heist. They decided against it, however, as they felt that jokes about President Bush had been "done to death".
Plot
Following the announcement of the 2008 presidential election results, Barack Obama and John McCain address their supporters on national television as the people of South Park watch. The town's Democrats, including Randy and Sharon Marsh and the Broflovskis, express a belief that Obama is the Messiah, crudely taunt their Republican neighbors and begin to celebrate drunkenly in the streets.
Meanwhile, the town's Republicans, including the Stotches, Mr. Garrison and Mr. Mackey, sit despondently inside, certain that a liberal President means that the Apocalypse is at hand. Ike Broflovski, who supported McCain, attempts suicide by jumping out a first-story window. Certain that Ike is badly injured, Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski put him in a child's wagon and try to take him to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Obama and McCain turn out to be friends and the leaders of a jewel heist club known as the "Presidential Crime Syndicate". Furthermore, Michelle Obama is really an ace computer hacker and single mother who has faked marriage to Obama to make him electable. Sarah Palin is secretly an extremely intelligent, poised, and articulate Englishwoman. The Syndicate has conspired to win the election by running Obama and McCain against each other, so that the winner can access a hidden tunnel from the Oval Office, break into the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, and steal the Hope Diamond.
In South Park, Stan and Kyle vainly search through the partying Democrats to find anyone who can drive Ike to the hospital. They watch as Randy, believing that Obama's win means that he no longer needs a job, punches his equally liberal boss in the face and breaks his nose. When Officer Barbrady attempts to restore order (after Stan called him over to his neighborhood), the drunken crowd assumes that he must be a Republican, loudly boos him, and overturns his police car.
Stan and Kyle find the Stotches building an "ark" while keeping many horrified conservatives from entering due to space limitations. The boys' plea for help leads to a brawl among the terrified Republicans and the boys head for the hospital on foot. They find the emergency room packed with Democrats who have partied too hard and Republicans who have tried to kill themselves.
Obama and Michelle break into the Museum, cross a room full of lasers, and steal the Hope Diamond. Ike, who had been a member of the heist the entire time, blows up a private jet that contains dummies of the criminals and alters hospital records to declare everyone involved legally dead. The next day, as the Syndicate prepares to leave the country, Obama announces that he will not be going with them. Instead, he convinces Michelle to stay behind and "give this President thing a shot".
The following morning, South Park's Republicans emerge from their "ark" and realize that the world has not ended. Realizing that they can vote Obama out later if he does a bad job, the Conservatives decide to give the new President a chance. That same morning, Randy Marsh wakes up on his couch with a severe hangover, his pants missing, and his TV having been stolen by Eric Cartman while he was out partying. Stan delivers a message from Randy's boss, telling him that he has been fired, and Randy—taking this as evidence that Obama lied to the voters—flies into a rage and shouts that he should have voted for McCain.
Themes
An interpretation of the episode summarized its contents as a condemnation of those who care too much about political issues. The episode satirizes the variety of reactions from liberals and conservatives in the aftermath of election returns: "somewhere between a boozy orgy of celebratory puking in the streets and apocalyptic panic". The episode deliberately exaggerates both reactions to illustrate the absurdity.
Production
—Matt Stone on staying apolitical"We purposely stay politically confusing. We play the spectrum from doing things that are either not political at all or spot on. ... I think stuff that works the best is not when we talk about the politics, like "If he takes Pennsylvania, he can win the whole thing!" It's more the emotions behind the politics, and why do people feel this way. And admitting we're all human beings."
The episode's plot originated before the season began, when the writing team began brainstorming episode ideas. Parker and Stone noticed that an episode from the run could air the day following the election, and set their sights on producing an episode. Parker was particularly set on producing the episode after seeing the uproar over a joke from a recent Family Guy episode ("Road to Germany"), in which the character of Stewie, dressed as a Nazi, sports a McCain-Palin button. South Park had previously criticized the program with the 2006 two-parter "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II", and Parker intensely disliked the joke. Rather than focus the episode's plot as satiric commentary on modern politics, the duo instead decided to create an absurd, action-movie plot inspired by the film Ocean's Eleven. "We've all heard about everything; we've talked about everything to death," Parker said. "And it's like, let's just put him in a diamond heist movie. They're just diamond thieves, and it's not about the politics at all anymore." After coming up with a neutral plot that would not disclose who would win the election, it gradually became obvious over the season that Obama would emerge the winner.
Parker felt strongly over the course of the election season that Obama would win the election, so much so that he bet money on his victory in October. Parker used a sports betting website, which he normally used to gamble on football games, to predict the outcome; the website placed the odds heavily against McCain. The team initially intended to create an alternate version in case McCain won, but found the prospect too daunting, considering their quick production schedule. In a possible scenario in which McCain was declared the winner, the duo intended to air the completed episode as is and deal with what was termed their "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment later. Possible outcomes included doing a drunken Mystery Science Theater 3000-esque commentary over the completed version, in which lines are poorly dubbed over the dialogue. Rather than partying in the streets, Obama supporters would be rioting, while McCain supporters would hide in the Ark to protect themselves from the riot, rather than a world in which their candidate loses. "There was a really stressful fifteen minutes there where we thought 'Oh man, what if we're wrong?' We really banked on it", said Stone.
In choosing which characters would be liberal or conservative, Stone admitted the choices were sometimes arbitrary. The character of Randy getting inebriated was always something the team found humorous; as a result, it was natural he become a hard-partying Obama supporter. In contrast, Mr. Garrison, who in the series is a "self-hating gay man", is portrayed as a McCain supporter to provide irony. In one possible storyline, then-President George W. Bush would heroically take the blame for the diamond heist, in a parody of The Dark Knight, but it was rejected as jokes about Bush had become overdone. The episode includes details such as excerpts from Obama's victory speech and the stage and podium on which he spoke. For the victory and concession speeches, Parker wrote placeholder lines until after the election's outcome. Following Obama's victory speech, the duo found it remarkable the amount of placeholder material that turned out similar to the actual speech. Comedy Central, as usual, saw few finished sequences before the episode went to air, but raised questions over one scene in which Obama's grandmother "fakes" her death (Obama's real grandmother had passed the day preceding the election).
The episode was completed on the morning of its air date, hours after they typically complete episodes. "We're delivering it right up against the wire every single week. ... Trey and I got home at 10:30 yesterday morning," said Stone to an interviewer the day following the episode's broadcast.
Reception
Sean O'Neal of The A.V. Club commended the episode's apolitical approach, but wished "tonight's inconsequential silliness had been a little funnier across the board". Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger criticized the episode as a "half-hour SNL sketch", commenting that only the first five minutes he felt were humorous. Newsweek criticized the episode as a "lukewarm parody" in a 2010 article criticizing the creative state of the program. "While this episode was perhaps not as funny as it could have been, it manages to feel poignant," said Travis Fickett of IGN.
"Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always turned around South Park episodes with impressive speed, but Wednesday night was ridiculous," said James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter.
Home release
"About Last Night...", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Park's twelfth season, were released on a three-disc DVD and Blu-ray set in the United States on March 10, 2009. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and two special mini-features, The Making of 'Major Boobage and Six Days to South Park.
See also
- "Trapper Keeper", a South Park episode about the 2000 U.S. presidential election
- "Douche and Turd", a South Park episode about the 2004 U.S. presidential election
- "Obama Wins!", a South Park episode about the 2012 U.S. presidential election
- "Oh, Jeez", a South Park episode about the 2016 U.S. presidential election
References
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (November 6, 2008). "South Park, "About Last Night"". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- Vine, Richard (November 12, 2008). "President Obama, South Park-style". The Guardian. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
- ^ Fickett, Travis (November 6, 2008). "South Park: "About Last Night" Review". IGN. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
- ^ Fickett, Travis (November 7, 2008). "How South Park Pulled Off "About Last Night..."". IGN. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
- ^ Milian, Mark (November 7, 2008). "'South Park' creator on his tricky Obama-beats-McCain election episode". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
- ^ Hibberd, James (November 5, 2008). "'South Park' takes on Barack Obama". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- O'Neal, Sean (November 5, 2008). "South Park: About Last Night". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- Alston, Joshua (March 23, 2010). "Is 'South Park' Losing Its Edge?". Newsweek. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
- Liebman, Martin (February 26, 2009). "South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season Blu-ray Review". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
External links
- "About Last Night..." Full episode at South Park Studios
- "About Last Night..." at IMDb
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- Cultural depictions of Barack Obama
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