Every show has a few bad installments, and the worst South Park episodes prove it is no exception. The long-running animated hit South Park has certainly seen its share of beloved episodes, many of which hit the funny bone of fans with its zany premises and clever satire. Characters like Cartman have some of the funniest quotes in the series, while Stan and Kyle are often given the best storylines. With this quirky cartoon extending all the way back into the 90s and the series renewed to air through 2027, there’s certainly no shortage of hits.

Still, given its long history and hundreds of episodes, there are bound to be some bad ones. Whether it is oddball concepts, off-color gags, annoying characters, South Park‘s trademark dark storylines, or just jokes that fell flat, there have been a few efforts that managed to disappoint audiences and even co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. While a lot of these examples tend to come from earlier seasons before the show gained its footing with its topical commentary, later seasons aren’t immune from bad episodes. Here are 15 of the worst South Park episodes that the show has ever aired in its two-decade run.

15

Spring Break — Season 26, Episode 6

Attempts To Lambast Right Wing Culture Fall Flat

While the newer seasons of South Park continue to be strong, the season 26 finale — “Spring Break” — fell flat for a variety of reasons. Firstly, both narrative arcs in the episode simply weren’t exciting. The episode focuses on spring break, which Mr Garrison and Rick decide to celebrate by going to Myrtle Beach, while Randy is at home with Stan while Sharon and Shelley go on vacation. Neither reaches the kind of thrilling and bombastic climax the show has been known for, which, especially given that it was a season finale, meant the whole episode felt quite flat.

However, where “Spring Break” truly suffers is that it attempts to parody a lot of Alt-Right culture, with figures such as Andrew Tate and Donald Trump being lambasted, but completely fails to make any kind of meaningful point. Randy espousing the views of Andrew Tate and protesting that he’s simply trying to teach his son about masculinity when questioned could have been much funnier than it was. As for Mr Garrison’s arc, suggesting that Trump (who he was South Park‘s version of) is addicted to political rallies may have elicited a single chuckle at first, but it was far from funny enough to carry an entire episode.

14

Mr Garrison’s Fancy New Vagina — Season 9, Episode 1

Perhaps The Most Transphobic Episode Of South Park

While there are multiple episodes of the show that have aged poorly, few can contend with season 9’s “Mr Garrison’s Fancy New Vagina”, which ranks as one of the worst South Park episodes when viewed retrospectively. The period of South Park where Mr Garrison identified as Mrs. Garrison has always been on shaky ground.

However, the episode where he undergoes sexual reassignment surgery is pretty difficult, if not impossible, to defend. The South Park episode makes no point beyond “Mr Garrison has his penis cut off.” It makes the procedure the butt of the joke rather than offering any kind of substance or insightful take, and the decision to include actual footage of the procedure was difficult to stomach even when the episode first aired.

Furthermore, gender reassignment is compared to, for example, Kyle undergoing surgery to make himself Black to be better at basketball and his father being turned into a dolphin. “Mr Garrison’s Fancy New Vagina” is pretty clearly a South Park episode that harkens back to the show’s most distasteful period.

13

The Return Of Chef — Season 10, Episode 1

South Park Creators Trey Parker And Matt Stone Let Personal Feelings Take A Joke Too Far

The controversy surrounding the exit of the late Isaac Hayes from South Park was well-documented at the time, and creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to address it in season 10’s “The Return Of Chef”. The episode was a response to Hayes’ comments following the show’s criticism of Scientology in a prior episode.

While it’s understandable that there were tense feelings, and Parker and Stone certainly had valid criticisms by pointing out that Hayes had no issue when other religions were made fun of, the episode that wrote Chef out of the show for good was still one of the worst. In “The Return Of Chef”, audio of Hayes in earlier episodes is badly used to make it seem as though Chef has been brainwashed.

While this could have been a funny concept, the decision to have Chef be a member of the “Super Adventure Club” and an outspoken pedophile seemed, especially in hindsight, to be somewhat childish and vindictive. Chef was a beloved character, and Hayes a respected musician, so this was an instance where Parker and Stone severely overestimated how much viewers held the decision to leave against him. This led to one of the worst South Park episodes because of the extent the show went to tearing Chef apart felt petty at best.

12

Chickenlover — Season 2, Episode 4

An Episode Focusing On An Incredibly Unfunny South Park Character

Many of the earlier South Park episodes don’t hit the mark quite as well as more recent installments. However, this doesn’t automatically make them among the worst episodes of the show, despite how much the quality of both animation and satire has improved over the decades. Season 2’s “Chickenlover” is an exception, however, due to the focus on a single character — Officer Barbrady.

Barbrady was later written out of South Park, and with good reason. As a character, he’s simply not funny, and since “Chickenlover” focuses on him so heavily, it really hasn’t stood the test of time. Officer Barbrady was initially conceived as a “stupid cop” stereotype though he was taken to the extreme.

However, in “Chickenlover,” this is taken a step further when it’s revealed Barbrady is illiterate — something a criminal tries to help him with by sexually assaulting poultry and leaving Barbrady crudely written notes. It’s an episode with no real underlying satire or point to make and instead just comes across as puerile (even by the standards of South Park). In defense of “Chickenlover,” though it does also introduce Cop Cartman and his “respect my authoritah” catchphrase though later episodes do it better.

11

Poor And Stupid — Season 14, Episode 8

The Entire Premise Of The Episode Falls Flat

Season 14’s “Poor And Stupid “is one ofthe worstSouthParkepisodes because , like several others ,the very concept falls flatand doesn’t reallyhave enoughhumor toit tocarryan entire episode .In thee pisode ,Cartman reveals that he wants to bea NASCAR driver when he grows up ,but believes he can’t because he’s not(as he putsit) “poor “or “stupid “enough .