Splitsider

Lost Roles is a weekly column that takes a particular comedic actor or writer and dives deep into all of their movie and TV projects that came close to happening but didn’t for one reason or another. This week, we turn our attention to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, just in time for the premiere of South Park's 16th season next week.

One of the biggest duos in modern comedy, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have developed and refined a distinct style that emanates from all of their projects. From The Book of Mormon to South Park, That's My Bush! to Team America, Parker and Stone's trademark blend of raunch [...]

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have agreed to continue making South Park for at least three more seasons on Comedy Central. Awesome! We're gonna see Kenny die so many more times! We really do put that kid through a lot. He's gotta be used to it by now, though, right?

Meanwhile, Parker and Stone did an interview even though they hate interviews, and explained their tendency to make fun of all sorts of religious and political viewpoints. In Parker's words, "Any side who thinks they're totally right is fucked up. That's the heart of every show." Luckily for everyone, there will probably be more than enough people [...]

About a month ago, Trey Parker and Matt Stone sat in and did a lecture on storytelling for a freshman NYU class for an MTVU show called Stand In. And now it's out, and the whole thing is in the above video. The show is only six minutes long, I guess? A bit of a disappointment, unless NYU classes are actually only six minutes long, in which case those kids have really pulled an amazing con on their parents, getting them to spend $60,000 a year for them to take web-video-length classes.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone's 60 Minutes interview is, in large part, an impressive look back at how often the South Park guys have just killed it, beginning with Cannibal! The Musical in 1993 and ending (so far) with this year's Book of Mormon. The most awe-inspiring aspect of Parker and Stone's success, however, would have to be the fact that they've sustained a functional 20-year-long creative partnership without some kind of Hollywood-style hotel-room-torching break-up. "At this point, it's kind of like a marriage," admits Stone. Says Parker, "It's funny. We're just at that level now where it just doesn't happen anymore where one of us can say [...]

Everyone who was too hung over to crawl out of their dorm rooms are not doubt kicking themselves now, seeing as how Trey Parker and Matt Stone crashed an NYU writing class. Granted it was for an episode of mtvU's Stand In set to air Oct. 3 and not some perfectly orchestrated surprise attack, but still, it's pretty unbelievable how crazliy engaged and excited Stone and Parker seem to be there. The Book of Mormon creators even walk the first year "Storytelling Strategies" class through an average day in the South Park writers' room. Look, they use a white board just like us! Those kids can already smell [...]

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are today's GQ Men of the Year, and here's how Jon Stewart describes their Broadway debut The Book of Mormon in his piece about the pair:

A doctoral dissertation in funny-as-shit satire. A hysterical, full-throated defense of faith that somehow also manages to make perfect sense of a lyric involving eye-fucking God. When you witness a work of such quality—and this is coming from someone who traffics in their field—there is only one thing to say, and I cannot say it emphatically enough: Fuck those guys.

Yeah, fuck them! I like this way of complimenting people. Fuck you! All of you! You're great! [...]

When we think of South Park, which concludes its 15th season next Wednesday (please catch up on Lindsey Bahr's excellent recaps if you're behind), we think of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They do nearly all of the voices, direct almost every episode (Trey, in particular), and write virtually every episode. Or do they? *Record scratch* Well, yes, they do, but they DO have help, from "staff writers" or "staff consultants," something that's not often mentioned. Below are only but a few of the fantastic writers who have helped shape South Park's vision over the years, and what they're up to these days.

Here's the trailer for 6 Days to Air, the documentary about how South Park is made that's airing on Comedy Central on Sunday, October 9th at 10pm. It looks pretty great! It follows Trey Parker and Matt Stone as they go from the opening of Book of Mormon to creating the new season of the show. With a turnaround on par with SNL (and featuring SNL's Bill Hader on the writing staff), it looks to be a pretty frantic system they've got in place. And by frantic, I mean that whenever they're trying to write a script, someone is always farting into the PA system.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone will stop by 60 Minutes this coming Sunday, Sept. 25 at 7:00pm to discuss the success of Book of Mormon, give a behind-the-scenes tour of South Park Studios and finally reveal once and for all whether or not they kiss their mother with those filthy, filthy potty mouths.

Oh fame, you are fickle temptress! While the Bill Hickses of the world receive your clammy embrace only after death, you mount yourself on a Dane Cook like a teenager after her first taste of Peach Schnapps! But there are no guarantees in this life. And there are no sure paths to becoming famous. Hundreds of top-notch stand-ups and sketch/improv performers are toiling away in obscurity at this very second (okay, maybe not this very second, but you get the gist).

So, how the hell do you become the next comedy sensation?

While most of our most renowned comedy performers have come up either through stand-up or sketch/improv (the two [...]

There have been a few South Park video games before, and there's even a relatively minor-looking Xbox Live Arcade game coming out soon called South Park: Tenorman's Revenge, but there's a new game in the works that looks to be far more ambitious. Simply titled South Park: The Game, this is going to be a vast open-world RPG set in the world of South Park. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are writing it, performing the voices, and overseeing the development, which I assume is more than they've done for past games.

And there's reason to believe it'll be good: it's being developed by THQ and Obsidian, the latter [...]

I don't even want to write this, I'm so afraid of being targeted by Scientology (Haha, no I'm not! Bleep blorp! Thetans!). Newly leaked documents apparently reveal that the South Park Scientology episode, which aired in 2005, kicked off an extensive church investigation into the lives of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. According to papers released by former Scientologist exec Marty Rathbun, Scientologists staked out the South Park studios and even plotted to get a mole into the writers room, which is both horrifying and hilarious. Operatives also pawed through the pair's garbage and went after their friends John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn. I can only assume [...]

This is really great: Vulture's Nine Commandments of South Park brings together a bunch of lessons Parker and Stone have learned about storytelling, their audience, taking themselves too seriously, and how to justify a talking piece of shit.

With the huge success of Book of Mormon, they're taking a bit of a talking-about-themselves victory lap, between this, their 60 Minutes piece and their talk to an NYU class for an MTV show. But if anyone's earned it, it's them. Few people can speak with authority about comedy writing, and specifically finding the balance between heart and filth in comedy writing, than they can, and it's [...]

With the insane success of Broadway's Book of Mormon, it's only natural to wonder if a movie will be made from it. After all, who can forget how great the movie version of The Producers was? But the answer is yes, yes they will adapt it for the screen; it just might not be for a while. Since the show is still selling out months in advance on Broadway, and a touring version is in the works for next year, there are still a lot of dollars to be made from the stage version.

But once they've squeezed every last drop from the beach towel soaked with [...]