It seems there's been no official memo about the grace period between celebrity deaths and telling jokes about them. If there was one, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of "South Park," must not have gotten it. On Wednesday's season premiere episode, the duo lambasted every recently-dead celebrity from pitchman Billy Mays to Michael Jackson, in all his child-like glory.
The episode was a parody marathon, skewering so many current issues and people at once that the "Imaginationland" series seems trite now. All of the recently-dead celebrities from this year's high-profile croak-a-thon were stuck in purgatory thanks to Michael Jackson, whose soul couldn't rest because he never got to live his dream of, apparently, being a little girl. And Parker & Stone's purgatory just so happens to be an airplane (with passengers including Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine - with a noose around his neck, Ed McMahon, Walter Cronkite, DJ AM and many more) perpetually stuck on the runway - get the metaphor?
The spirits have taken to haunting Kyle's little brother Ike as a result, which leads to a hilarious "Ghost Hunters" spoof that was spot-on in appearance and even better at unveiling the hysterically artificial show for the crock that it is. Ike, who has never said so much in a show, comes off as creepy and adorably funny as hell at the same time, but not quite as creepy as seeing Ike and Kyle’s parents having sex.
Dead celebrities and scam reality shows weren't the only targets, either; other referential victims included toddler beauty pageants (featuring some way-below-the-belt judge bahavior), The Sixth Sense and Chipotle, with Billy Mays hawking “Chipotlaway” to clean the blood stains out of your underwear.
Yes, the suggestion here is that Chipotle makes you defecate blood. Lots and lots of it. Cartman's total acceptance of the consequence of eating such delicious strip-mall fare baffles Kyle, who is understandably flabbergasted by the ordeal. The joke runs the entire episode, but somehow doesn't get old. Perhaps that has something to do with the side-splitting return of Michael Jackson, who takes over Ike's body before cutting into some classic MJ dance moves (albeit in a toddler's body) and commentary that left me gasping for air.
