Ike's Wee Wee

"Ike's Wee Wee"
South Park episode
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 3
Directed by Trey Parker
Written by Trey Parker
Editing by John M. Watson
Giancarlo Ganziano
Production code 204
Original air date May 20, 1998 (1998-05-20)[1]
Episode chronology

"Ike's Wee Wee" is the third episode in the second season of the American animated television series South Park. The 17th episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on May 20, 1998.[1] In the episode, school counselor Mr. Mackey is fired, and turns to drugs. Meanwhile, the boys misconstrue what circumcision entails, and try to save Kyle's younger brother Ike from his upcoming bris.

The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker. "Ike's Wee Wee" satirizes certain attitudes towards drug users, and explores whether family can only mean those who are related by blood. This episode introduced Ike's backstory as an adopted Canadian child. "Ike's Wee Wee" received positive responses from fans, as well as critics who especially praised the episode for its touching moments. A line often repeated by Mr. Mackey in this episode, "drugs are bad, m'kay?", has entered popular culture, and has been referenced in various songs, articles, and court documents.

Plot

Mr. Mackey, the school counselor, is giving a drug and alcohol prevention lecture for the class, emphasizing that smoking, drinking, marijuana, and LSD "are bad." He passes a sample of marijuana around the class so that the children can learn its smell, but it is never passed back up to the front. We later see that Mr. Garrison stole it. But as a result, Mackey is fired, and is later kicked out of his house by his landlord, leaving him homeless. A desperate Mackey gives in to trying marijuana one night in an alley, and later, LSD. Soon enough, Mr. Mackey becomes a drug-addled hippie, and meets a hippie woman, with whom he decides to get married. While on honeymoon in India, Mr. Mackey is captured by the A Team, Mr. Garrison and Principal Victoria and is taken into rehab. Mr. Mackey emerges clean from rehab and is given his job back.

Meanwhile, Kyle invites Stan, Cartman and Kenny to his younger brother Ike's bris. When they learn more about what a bris is, and misconstrue it as a party where they are going to "chop off his penis", Kyle is shocked and tries to find a way to hide his brother from his parents and the circumcision process. Kyle puts Ike on a train to Nebraska and makes an Ike-style doll out of meat bones in an attempt to not arouse his parents' suspicions. This backfires when the doll is eaten by a dog, and both the dog and doll are run over by a fuel tanker which then explodes in front of the Broflovskis' house, which leads to them to think that Ike is dead. It is at the funeral that Kyle finds out that Ike is not his biological brother, but was adopted from Canada due to the tombstone featuring the Canadian flag. Upon discovering this, Kyle decides that Ike is not his "real brother" and he no longer cares about him. His parents are shocked after Kyle reveals the truth, and Ike is retrieved from Nebraska (where he was used as a table post). During the funeral, Kenny falls into an open grave and a gravestone falls on him.

The day of the bris arrives, and Kyle is grounded for sending Ike away. When the mohel arrives to perform the bris, Ike flees to Kyle's room in terror. Seeing Ike in distress and some old pictures prompts a change of heart in Kyle, and he defends his brother fiercely before it is explained to him what a circumcision actually is, at which point Stan and Cartman decide they want to be circumcised too. They then watch the process; even though the boys pass out momentarily, Kyle is relieved to see Ike unharmed. The episode ends with Mr. Mackey attempting to explain drugs to the children again, and the boys arguing about whose bris should be the next.

Production

"That actually happened to me. In the seventh grade I had a counselor who came into class and passed around a little piece of marijuana. He lit it so everyone could see how it smelled like, and then it disappeared. And he was like, 'Where is it now? Who has it now? Can you please pass it back to the front.' But it was like, gone. So I just wrote down that experience, which became that scene."

Trey Parker[2]

"Ike's Wee Wee" was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker. The scene where Mr. Mackey loses the marijuana cigarette in class was inspired by a real event from Parker's life, where a counselor came into his class in seventh grade, and passed around a lit piece of marijuana, which then disappeared.[2] At the beginning and end of the episode, there are scenes where the kids imitate Mr. Mackey's voice to him, while he is oblivious to the fact that he is being made fun of. Parker and his classmates used to do the same thing to their counselor in junior high school who was the basis for Mr. Mackey's character.[3][4] Parker said that he was especially proud of Chef's line "There's a time and a place for everything, and it's called college", which is something Parker believes in, noting that if he had a child, he would tell him: "Do whatever you want, just wait till college because you don't know what the fuck's up right now."[5] Chef's sentence would later return in the season four episode "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000".

The episode introduced Ike's backstory as a Canadian child adopted by the Broflovskis. Ever since the recurring characters Terrance and Phillip were established to be Canadians in the season one finale "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut", and the subsequent season two premiere "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus",[3][6][7] all Canadian characters on South Park have shared the same simplistic design: having simple beady eyes, and a floppy head made up of two halves.[8] While Ike had been on the show since its first episode, the writers originally did not know that he was going to be Canadian; he was retroactively made one based on his visual similarity to Terrance and Phillip.[6][9] Ike's backstory would play an important role in the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,[6] which involves a fictional American–Canadian war, as well as in future episodes of the series, such as the season seven episode "It's Christmas in Canada",[9] in which Ike's biological parents take him away from the Broflovskis, and bring him back to Canada.

"Ike's Wee Wee" features regular voice acting from series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for most characters, Mary Kay Bergman (credited as Shannen Cassidy) for female characters, and Isaac Hayes for Chef. Additional dialogue was provided by South Park audio engineer Bruce Howell, while Ike's lines were uttered by Howell's then-5-year-old son Jesse.[10][11][12]

Themes

"Ike's Wee Wee" raises the question of who really can be considered one's family. At first, Kyle's implicit idea is that family consists of "those for whom we care that are related by blood".[13] Based on this viewing of family, he no longer feels the need to help Ike when he learns that they are not related by blood.[13] As the story progresses, Kyle questions his initial beliefs, and forms the episode's central moral by saying that "Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about."[13][14] Thus, Kyle's reformed view of family not only includes his adopted brother, but his friends as well.[13] Kyle's questioning of his own morals has been likened to engaging in the dialectical Socratic method of inquiry.[13]

The other plot in "Ike's Wee Wee" satirizes certain drug subcultures, as well as drug use, and societal attitudes towards drug users. The way the episode portrays Mr. Mackey's lack of real knowledge about drug use and addiction has been described as an example of South Park satirizing left-wing politics, when "they lead to the sort of hypocrisy inconsistent with a proper open society."[15]

Cultural references

"Ike's Wee Wee" was written by South Park co-creator Trey Parker (pictured), and contains numerous pop culture references.

Part of the episode revolves around the practice of religious male circumcision in Judaism, and the related ceremony called the brit milah or bris, and the boys' misunderstanding of the tradition (to which they refer as "circumstition").[16] The boys believe that circumcision entails the cutting off of one's penis, which they refer to by the childish colloquial term "wee wee", except for Cartman, who insists on calling it "fireman". Cannabis is also referred to by various names, including weed, grass, pot, and marijuana, in which Mr. Mackey constantly pronounces the letter j as /dʒ/ (as in jam), which makes Kyle mispronounce the drug as "marry-Jew wanna".[16]

Drug use is often portrayed in conjunction with the hippie subculture, through hippie characters such as the two teenagers that give LSD to Mackey, and the woman that he befriends and eventually marries.[16] Jimbo and Cartman both use the term hippie pejoratively. During their argument, Jimbo tells Mackey that he should just go to a Grateful Dead concert, to which Mackey says he can't since Jerry Garcia is deceased. On two occasions, the episode shows people watching Teletubbies while high on marijuana or in rehab.[16][17] Teletubbies is a British children's television show that started in 1997. In his drug prevention speech, Mackey claims that LSD was made famous by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, former members of The Beatles. Both Lennon and McCartney are known to have experimented with the drug.[18]

While walking home, Mr. Mackey drunkenly sings the 1983 Pat Benatar song "Love Is a Battlefield". During Ike's supposed funeral, a bagpipe player starts playing the Hebrew folk song "Hava Nagila".[16] At the funerals, the priest uses the phrase "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust", from the Anglican burial service. When the townspeople start to harass Mackey, one of them shouts "Now we see what you and Homer Simpson have in common... Dope!" This references the famous catchphrase from The Simpsons, "D'oh!", which sounds similar to the word dope, meaning illicit drugs. At Kyle's house, Kyle's parents offers the boys a dish called "GaHekgafuga",[16] which is not a real dish.[19] When Mackey is in India, he is captured by members of The A-Team, and driven away in their van.[16][20] The A-Team is a 1980s action adventure TV series. Mackey is taken to rehabilitation to the Betty Ford Clinic, which is based on a real-life hospital.[17]

A common plot device is referenced, where a shoulder angel (represents conscience) and a shoulder devil (representing temptation) appear near a character. This concept is spoofed in the episode, as both the devil and the angel suggest to Mackey that he should drink the beer. When Stan tells Kyle what he thinks a bris means, a dolly zoom is used, which is an unsettling filmmaking effect often used to show that a character is undergoing a major realization. The hallucinogenic effects of certain drugs are portrayed by different means. When inhaling cannabis, the alley that Mr. Mackey is in suddenly turns very colorful. After taking LSD, Mackey's head inflates like a giant balloon, and then literally detaches from his body, and floats away (humorously, the boys interact with Mackey by looking up at his head as it floats over them).

In the scene when the boys are talking to Chef, he leaves without answering the boys' sexual question, angrily saying, "Dammit, children, why do I always have to be the one to explain all this stuff to you. Ask your parents for once!" This is in reference to Chef's tendency to give advice to the boys. While the children are trying to think of what is the most important thing for a man, Cartman says "Ham?", to which Stan angrily replies, "No, not ham, you fat fuck!". This exchange was used verbatim between the same characters in The Spirit of Christmas, the 1995 short film that was the precursor to South Park.[21]

Broadcast, reception, and impact

Two episodes preceded "Ike's Wee Wee" in the second season of the show.[22] The episode scheduled for April 1, 1998 promised to resolve the cliffhanger ending of the first season finale, "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut", regarding the identity of Cartman's father,[23] but was in fact an April Fools' Day joke: "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus", an entire episode revolving around the two title characters.[24] The April 1 day episode was supposed to be a one-off, with the rest of the season starting in May.[23][25] However, following overwhelmingly negative fan reaction, the episode resolving the Cartman's father storyline, "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut", was moved from its planned May 20 air date to April 22.[24][26] "Ike's Wee Wee" then kicked off a 6-episode run of the season when it was broadcast on Comedy Central in the United States on May 20, 1998.[1][24][27][28][29]

"[...] 'Ike's Wee-Wee' was subtle and low-key – proof that deep in its mischievous little heart 'South Park' is a show with sweet, kind moments sandwiched between scatological humor that also has a point."

Allan Johnson, Chicago Tribune[22]

"Ike's Wee Wee" was met with favorable reviews. Critics especially praised the episode for its touching moments, in contrast with the off-color humor often employed in the series. In his review of the episode in the Chicago Tribune, Allan Johnson praised the episode, especially in comparison with the first two episodes of the season, and wrote that "'Ike's Wee Wee' ranks with some of the better episodes of 'South Park.'"[22] Upon the series reaching its 100th episode in 2003, the same writer also listed "Ike's Wee Wee" as one of the "top 10 episodes that have made [South Park] one of the most provocative comedies on TV."[30] A South Park review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said about the series that "[i]n the midst of all this potty-mouthed humor, there are moments that are downright touching", and particularly highlighted the ending of "Ike's Wee Wee" as an example, explaining that "all's well in the end, and Kyle and the boys learn a lesson about family values that even Dan Quayle would approve of."[31] In 2000, visitors of the Comedy Central website chose "Ike's Wee Wee" as their favorite episode during a voting called "South Park e-Lections", held around the time of the United States presidential election that year.[32][33]

Mr. Mackey's line "drugs are bad, m'kay?" has entered popular culture. The Eminem song "The Kids" – which is featured on the B-side of the single "The Way I Am" and the clean version of The Marshall Mathers LP – is thematically about drug use, and makes numerous references to South Park and impressions of the show's characters,[34] including an impression of Mr. Mackey's voice and the repetition of his line.[35] The song "Hip Hop Quotables" by Ludacris, from his album Chicken-n-Beer, also contains the line.[36] In 2008, the line was referenced in the dissenting opinion of a judge, in a case of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.[37] Also, in a 2010 marijuana-related court case at the Maryland Court of Appeals, Judge Clayton Greene, Jr. referenced the episode in his dissenting opinion, calling Mr. Mackey's words "immortal".[38][39] In 2011, during a judiciary committee hearing about a marijuana-related bill in Denver, Colorado, a representative showed off a potential packaging for edible marijuana products. According to a group called the Cannabis Therapy Institute, the label on the package, which bore the placeholder text "Legal and governmentally approved statement describing that pot is bad, M-ok", was a reference to the South Park episode.[40] Comedy Central sells a poker chip-shaped keychain that bears Mr. Mackey's picture, along with his famous line.[41]

Home release

"Ike's Wee Wee" was released on VHS in April 1999, along with the episode "Chickenlover", on a video titled South Park: Volume 8.[42] The episode saw its first DVD release in December 1999, on a disc called South Park: Volume 4, which also included "Chickenlover", as well as "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut" and "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut".[43] South Park: The Complete Second Season was released on DVD on June 3, 2003.[44] On these home releases, "Ike's Wee Wee" has a humorous introduction by creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who are playing music to the elderly in a retirement home. Episodes of season 2 have also been released digitally, on services such as Amazon Video,[45] the iTunes Store,[46] and Xbox Live Marketplace.[47] Like most episodes of South Park, "Ike's Wee Wee" is available to watch for free on the show's website, SouthParkStudios.com.[48]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Boys Set Out To Save 'Ike's Wee-Wee' In The Second Season Debut Episode Of 'South Park,' May 20 At 10:00 P.M. ET/PT" (Press release). Comedy Central. May 18, 1998. Archived from the original on August 17, 2004. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  2. 1 2 News post dated April 30, 2001. In: "Behind the Scenes: News Archive: April 2001". South Park Studios. Archived from the original on February 24, 2002. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  3. 1 2 South Park Comes Home. The US Comedy Arts Festival. Aspen, Colorado. March 7, 1998. Archived from the original on January 11, 2001. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  4. ↑ Parker, Trey; Stone, Matt (2002). South Park – The Complete First Season: Episode Commentary (Audio commentary for "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo") (CD). Comedy Central.
  5. ↑ Pond, Steve (June 2000). "Interview: Trey Parker and Matt Stone". Playboy. Playboy Publishing. 47 (6): 65–80.
  6. 1 2 3 News post dated April 28, 2001. In: "News Archive: April 2001". South Park Studios. Archived from the original on August 21, 2002. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  7. ↑ Parker, Trey; Stone, Matt (2002). South Park – The Complete First Season: Episode Commentary (Audio commentary for "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe") (CD). Comedy Central.
  8. ↑ McFarland, Melanie (September 30, 2006). "Oh my God, 'South Park' killed a decade!". seattlepi.com. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  9. 1 2 Parker, Trey; Stone, Matt (2006). South Park – The Complete Seventh Season (Audio commentary for "It's Christmas in Canada") (DVD). Paramount Home Entertainment.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Cheplic, Matt (May 1, 1998). "'As Crappy As Possible': The Method Behind the Madness of South Park". Millimeter. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  12. ↑ "FAQ: Who does the voice of Kyle's little brother Ike?". South Park Studios. March 2, 2002. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Devlin, William J. (2007). "8: The Philosophical Passion of the Jew: Kyle the Philosopher". In Arp, Robert. South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today. Blackwell Publishing (The Blackwell Philosophy & Pop Culture Series). pp. 88–90. ISBN 978-1-4051-6160-2.
  14. ↑ Becker, Matt (2008). "Chapter 8: 'I Hate Hippies'". In Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew. Taking South Park Seriously. SUNY Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-7914-7566-9. In fact, the idea that family is more about for whom you care than about whose blood you share is the central moral of 'Ike's Wee Wee.'
  15. ↑ Curtis, David Valleu; Erion, Gerald J. (2007). "10: South Park and the Open Society: Defending Democracy Through Satire". In Arp, Robert. South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today. Blackwell Publishing (The Blackwell Philosophy & Pop Culture Series). pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-1-4051-6160-2.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Parker, Trey (1998). "South Park: 'Ike's Wee Wee' script" (PDF). Comedy Central, South Park Studios. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  17. 1 2 McGuire, Mark (February 18, 1999). "'Teletubbies' are just a bit overbearing for this guy". Record-Journal. Albany Times Union. p. A6. Retrieved January 4, 2012. There was an episode of 'South Park' that nailed it, showing a group at the Betty Ford clinic getting a substitute fix and easing withdrawal symptoms by watching the show.
  18. ↑ Hertsgaard, Mark (1995). "We All Want to Change the World: Drugs, Politics, and Spirituality". A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0-385-31377-3.
  19. ↑ "FAQ: What is the name of the dish that Kyle's mom is supposed to make in the 'Ike's Wee Wee' episode? Is it a real dish?". South Park Studios. December 11, 2004. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  20. ↑ "Video Clips: Season 2: Ike's Wee Wee: Off to Rehab". South Park Studios. Retrieved December 14, 2011. [...] Mr. Mackey and his new bride honeymoon in India until the A-Team takes him to rehab.
  21. ↑ User "Alyssa" (May 24, 1998). "Anyone catch this?". Newsgroup: alt.tv.southpark. Usenet: [email protected]. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  22. 1 2 3 Johnson, Allan (May 26, 1998). "The Antics Continue". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  23. 1 2 "Goin' South". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California: The McClatchy Company. February 25, 1998. p. F1.
  24. 1 2 3 Huff, Richard (April 3, 1998). "'South Park' Fans Aren't Laughing. Viewers Don't Suffer April Fools' Gladly, As Cartman's-father Episode Is Scratched". Daily News. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  25. ↑ Marin, Rick (March 23, 1998). "The Rude Tube". Newsweek. New York, New York: Newsweek Inc. p. 61.
  26. ↑ "'South Park' gives in to threats". Lawrence Journal-World – Extra. Lawrence, Kansas: The World Company. April 15, 1998. p. 1. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  27. ↑ "South Park: New season begins". The Vindicator. Youngstown, Ohio. May 20, 1998. p. C6. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  28. ↑ "'South Park' Kicks Off New Season". Press-Telegram. Long Beach, California. May 20, 1998. Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny find out that tradition can be pretty scary when a loved one's anatomy is involved in 'Ike's Wee Wee,' the second season premiere of the much-ballyhooed animated comedy 'South Park,' airing at 10 tonight on cable's Comedy Central.
  29. ↑ "South Park (a Title & Air Dates Guide)". Epguides. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  30. ↑ Johnson, Allan (April 9, 2003). "Whoever thought this show would last 100 episodes?". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  31. ↑ "Naughty boys: 'Very Bad Things' and 'South Park' flaunt a twisted sense of humor". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Block Communications. May 21, 1999. p. 42. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  32. ↑ "South Park e-Lections". Comedy Central. 2000. Archived from the original on November 17, 2000. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  33. ↑ Radestsky, Ary Tye (March 2001). "On the Download". Spin. 17 (3): 56.
  34. ↑ Bozza, Anthony (2004). Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem. Three Rivers Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-4000-5380-3.
  35. ↑ "Lyrics: Eminem : Kids [Explicit Version]". Official Eminem website. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
  36. ↑ "Ludacris set to headline 23rd annual Sun God festival". UCSD Guardian. May 11, 2005. Archived from the original on January 29, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2012. [...] 'Hip-Hop Quotables,' one of the funnier songs on any Luda album, with myriad pop culture references (including a pretty decent impression of South Park's Mr. Mackey) [...]
  37. ↑ Baird v. Department of the Army, 517 F.3d 1345 (Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit 2008).
  38. ↑ Hasselback, Drew (October 28, 2010). "Judge's decision references Cheech & Chong". financialpost.com. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  39. ↑ Smith v. State, 999 A. 2d 986 (Md: Court of Appeals 2010).
  40. ↑ Roberts, Michael (March 16, 2011). "Medical marijuana hearing nods to 'Drugs are Bad, M'Kay' South Park ep? (VIDEO, PHOTOS)". Westword. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  41. ↑ "South Park Drugs Are Bad Chip Keychain FK2003". Comedy Central Shop. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  42. ↑ "South Park, Vol. 08: Chickenlover/Ike's Wee Wee [VHS]". Amazon.com. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  43. ↑ "South Park, Vol. 4". Amazon.com. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  44. ↑ Blevins, Tal. "South Park: The Complete Second Season – DVD Review". IGN. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  45. ↑ "South Park Season 2, Ep. 4 "Ike's Wee Wee"". Amazon.com / Amazon Video. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  46. ↑ "TV Shows – South Park, Season 2". iTunes Store. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  47. ↑ "South Park: Season 2". Xbox Live Marketplace. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  48. ↑ "Full Episode Player: Ike's Wee Wee". South Park Studios. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
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