The Odd Real-Life Inspiration Behind Kenny On South Park

In a Paley Fest interview from the turn of the millennium, "South Park" co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone disclosed that Kenny is based on a boy Parker knew when he was growing up in Colorado.

Parker commented, "There was actually a friend of mine whose name was Kenny. Seriously, we should have changed names more than we did." Like the fictionalized Kenny, he wore a big orange coat that muffled whatever he was saying. The actual Kenny's similar poverty also inspired the animated character's cruel fate: "He was the poorest kid in the neighborhood and he would always sort of like disappear, like 'what happened to Kenny, is he dead?'" He'd always pop back up a few days later too, just like the cartoon version.

Parker and Stone eventually tired of the running gag, so they killed him for good in the Season 5 episode "Kenny Dies," and filled his absence in the main cast with characters like Butters and Tweek. Although Matt Stone later told the Knoxville News-Sentinel (via Lad Bible) that it was "that easy of a decision" to kill Kenny permanently because he was "so sick of that character," Season 6's finale saw Kenny get resurrected once again. Subsequent episodes like Season 14's "Mysterion Rises" would later explore why Kenny continues to die and return to life. He doesn't expire every episode, but Kenny's mortality is, to this day, one of the most-known recurring jokes in television history.