<P> Early episodes tended to be shock value - oriented and featured more slapstick - style humor . While social satire had been used on the show occasionally earlier on, it became more prevalent as the series progressed, with the show retaining some of its focus on the boys' fondness of scatological humor in an attempt to remind adult viewers "what it was like to be eight years old ." Parker and Stone also began further developing other characters by giving them larger roles in certain storylines, and began writing plots as parables based on religion, politics, and numerous other topics . This provided the opportunity for the show to spoof both extreme sides of contentious issues, while lampooning both liberal and conservative points of view . Parker and Stone describe themselves as "equal opportunity offenders", whose main purpose is to "be funny" and "make people laugh", while stating that no particular topic or group of people be exempt from mockery and satire . </P> <P> Parker and Stone insist that the show is still more about "kids being kids" and "what it's like to be in (elementary school) in America", stating that the introduction of a more satirical element to the series was the result of the two adding more of a "moral center" to the show so that it would rely less on simply being crude and shocking in an attempt to maintain an audience . While profane, Parker notes that there is still an "underlying sweetness" aspect to the child characters, and Time described the boys as "sometimes cruel but with a core of innocence ." Usually, the boys and / or other characters ponder over what has transpired during an episode and convey the important lesson taken from it with a short monologue . During earlier seasons, this speech would commonly begin with a variation of the phrase "You know, I've learned something today ...". </P> <P> Parker and Stone met in film class at the University of Colorado in 1992 and discovered a shared love of Monty Python, which they often cite as one of their primary inspirations . They created an animated short entitled The Spirit of Christmas . The film was created by animating construction paper cutouts with stop motion, and features prototypes of the main characters of South Park, including a character resembling Cartman but named "Kenny", an unnamed character resembling what is today Kenny, and two near - identical unnamed characters who resemble Stan and Kyle . Brian Graden, Fox network executive and mutual friend, commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film as a video Christmas card . Created in 1995, the second The Spirit of Christmas short resembled the style of the later series more closely . To differentiate between the two homonymous shorts, the first short is often referred to as Jesus vs. Frosty, and the second short as Jesus vs. Santa . Graden sent copies of the video to several of his friends, and from there it was copied and distributed, including on the internet, where it became one of the first viral videos . </P> <P> As Jesus vs. Santa became more popular, Parker and Stone began talks of developing the short into a television series . Fox refused to pick up the series, not wanting to air a show that included the character Mr. Hankey, a talking piece of feces . The two then entered negotiations with both MTV and Comedy Central . Parker preferred the show be produced by Comedy Central, fearing that MTV would turn it into a kids show . When Comedy Central executive Doug Herzog watched the short, he commissioned for it to be developed into a series . </P>

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