South Park: Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo

"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the ninth episode in the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on December 17, 1997. In the episode, the Jewish character Kyle feels excluded from the town's celebrations during Christmas, and is comforted by Mr. Hankey, a talking and singing lump of feces wearing a red hat. Mr. Hankey does not come alive in the presence of other characters, so they think that Kyle is delusional. In another plot strand, the townspeople remove all religious aspects of Christmas from South Park to remain politically correct and inoffensive. The episode was written and directed by the series' co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The Mr. Hankey character was based on an idea from Parker's childhood; when Parker and Stone conceived the South Park series, they wanted to make Mr. Hankey the lead character. Heavily influenced by the Peanuts Christmas special A Charlie Brown Christmas, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was the first Christmas-themed South Park episode, the first musical episode, and the only episode in season one (and therefore the first time in the series) in which Kenny does not die. It was a satire of political correctness and religious sensitivity. Parker and Stone felt the episode elevated South Park to a new level of popularity and relevance. The episode received generally positive reviews and has been described as one of the classic South Park episodes. It was viewed in about 4.5 million households during its original broadcast, the highest Nielsen rating to that date for South Park and the fourth-highest overall for a basic cable entertainment program of 1997. In addition to Mr. Hankey himself, the episode introduced the popular South Park songs "A Lonely Jew on Christmas" and "Kyle's Mom is a Big Fat Bitch". John Kricfalusi, the creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, accused Parker and Stone of stealing the idea for Mr. Hankey from him, which the duo vehemently denied.