The repeated deaths of Kenny McCormick were a staple of South Park for its first five seasons before show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone got tired of coming up with new scenarios to off Kenny every single week and decided to kill him for good. Of course, he eventually came back to life (with the occasional death every so often sprinkled in to future seasons), but despite only being a consistent presence in the show’s budding years, the tradition stands as a running joke that fans still reference to this day. So to celebrate that and Kenny’s magical immortality in the face of gruesome death, here is a list of the character’s funniest ends.
Kenny Got Run Over By a Train
The unending deaths of Kenny are much more appealing when they aim for something more inventive than simply getting smacked in the face or run over by a car, and yet the sight of a train flying out of nowhere and crushing the poor kid works with hilarious simplicity. We know it’s coming, but we can’t help but laugh when it arrives.
Flock of Pissed Off Turkeys
Absurdism is the name of the game when it comes to successful Kenny deaths. We’ve seen them so many times with often similar methods that when Parker and Stone branch out from the normal and wild with things it catches us off-guard with a good shock laugh. It rarely gets better than a flock of turkeys pecking at Kenny and then plucking out his eyeballs.
Kenny Dies While Laughing
So many Kenny deaths rely on being as gross as possible with their methods that it’s refreshing to see one that’s just as simple as it is unexpected. Kenny isn’t safe from anything in his relentlessly unlucky life, not even his own laughing pleasure.
Antacid Tablet Explosion
On the other hand, a truly gross Kenny death can be a work of crudely animated art with the right set-up and payoff. Seeing that puffy orange hoodie balloon like Violet from Willy Wonka and then explode into nothing but his flying insides is a sight to behold.
“Who Is They?”
Admittedly the death itself in this clip is as cliche as it gets, but it’s Kelley’s reaction to Kyle and Stan’s usual “Oh my god…” routine that really gets the laughs here when she points out how their routine makes absolutely no sense here. It’s great to see the show poking fun at its own running joke.
Spontaneous Combustion
Just like Kenny dying from his own laughter, this method is just as head-slappingly simple but it’s even more gut-bustlingly funny. The best laughs are truly the ones you can’t predict from miles away.
Chain-Sawed in Half
This is absolutely one of the most violent of all the deaths on South Park, Kenny or otherwise, and the fact that it’s Kyle that does the deed makes it all the more funny. For sheer gruesome value, it rarely gets better than this one.
Failed Heart Surgery
Free of the constraints of TV censorship, plus the benefit of a longer running time, the South Park movie used this opportunity to wisely make its Kenny death the longest and most elaborate one yet, complete with a George Clooney cameo lampooning his E.R. fame. It starts from the simple act of Kenny lighting his own fart on fire and continues to escalate from there as he’s cut open and stitched back together, culminating in a weird and silly punchline that only Parker and Stone’s crude sense of humor could dream up.
