LogFAQs > #969909380

#78: Poor And Stupid
https://i.imgur.com/K9XGaNP.jpg

Show: South Park
Original airdate: October 6, 2010

"Get out the way, ya idjits, I'm tryin' ta win this damn thing!"

Every once in a while, an episode of South Park just "clicks" with me, and Poor And Stupid, an absolutely hilarious spoof of NASCAR and its fans, had me in stitches for a half hour straight. The premise of the episode is as simple as it is ludicrous: Cartman dreams of becoming a NASCAR driver, but is in dismay because he doesn't believe himself to be "poor and stupid" enough to be one. He enlists Butters to help him, by giving away all his money and by making himself stupid by ingesting Vagisil because a commercial claims it will give him temporary memory loss. He then steals a NASCAR during a race, wrecks it, and because of the notoriety this earns him, the inventor of Vagisil sponsors him as a full-time NASCAR driver. The events that transpire during this entire sequence are comedy gold, and while it seems like the premise of the episode is to skewer NASCAR drivers, indeed, when the drivers themselves show up, they're actually quite articulate and intelligent, while Cartman's utterly over-the-top stupidity earns him the ire of his fellow drivers and the news media alike. The Vagisil inventor himself is equally hilarious and eminently quotable ("Every day! EVERY DAY!"), Butters is constantly funny as Cartman's crew chief, Kenny's attempts to stop Cartman while somehow avoiding getting killed add even more comedic spice, and this episode overall is just an example of how South Park often times will pay tribute and respect to something at the same time that it relentlessly skewers it. While Poor And Stupid got middling reviews and doesn't go down as an all-time great amongst the fandom, I couldn't stop laughing, and even watching clips to refresh myself for this write-up had me cracking up. It's a personal favorite for me, and deserves this ranking on my list.