Yesterday we asked whether South Park could make Obama jokes that were actually amusing. As we suspected, the most cutting jokes in last night's episode focused on the crazed supporters of the candidate, while the politicians were parodied in a heist to steal the Hope Diamond from the Smithsonian, a dated reference to Ocean's 11. Still, the show had its fun with Obama as smooth movie star, imagining McCain and Obama as secret-handshake best buds and Barack as just a glitzy jewel thief in Michelle's eyes. All the clips come after the jump.
When the comedic challenge of a President Obama presidency was put before him, Trey Parker did as only he could do: voice the character in a slightly different lilt than every other resident of South Park he does on the show. In "About Last Night...", Obama and McCain have forged an unholy alliance to get one of them in the White House... purely as a pretext for the greatest heist ever pulled. Flanked by the Soderbergh crew and the British accent we all knew Sarah Palin had, they pulled off the most complex con in history, one that involved John McCain dressed in a football uniform and Barack's grandmother faking her own death.
The show stuck to portraying Obama as the cool, empathetic hero he is. In the South Park appraisal, Obama is more movie star than politician. With Obama in the slick George Clooney role and McCain his Brad Pitt counterpart, the humor comes out of having him scale underground tunnels and be referred to as 'B'. No matter what he does, he's worshiped. The show even lets the world coo over his announcement of the family dog's new name:
The biggest barbs were saved for the residents of South Park, who descended into total drunken bliss and complete depression depending on which ticket they supported. Despite being written before last night's wild celebrations, the aftermath was carbon copy of Obamania, and the end result was also painfully close to real life. The morning after, Obama supporter Randy Marsh wakes up hungover with no job, and no TV. In three words Robert Frost summed up everything he learned about life: it goes on.