How Randy Marsh Proves That Trey Parker Has Become His Father

Randy Marsh wasn’t always a ketamine-addicted weed farmer who once intentionally gave himself testicular cancer. In South Park’s early days, he was more or less a regular old dad. 

With the series’ Tegridy Farms plotline officially concluded, fans of the long-running series began reflecting on how, exactly, Stan Marsh’s dad landed on a path of cocaine dealing, Lorde impersonations and competitive shitting. “So what caused Randy to become the most responsible parent to the craziest parent in South Park?” one fan asked in a popular post shared to the series’ subreddit. 

Alongside theories pinning Randy’s descent into madness on Chef’s Season 10 death and The Simpsons-inspired concept of “Flanderization,” several argued that the reason for his personality change was simple: South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have gotten older. “Randy used to be Trey’s dad. Then Randy became Trey,” a fan wrote of the character, who was famously inspired by Parker’s geologist father. 

“The character shifted into a mouthpiece for the creators,” a second agreed. 

Parker and Stone wouldn’t disagree. In 2016, the co-creators reflected on Randy’s growing presence in the series, explaining that as they aged, they found themselves relating more and more to the famous cartoon dad. “We’re old now,” Stone joked during the show’s 20th anniversary panel at San Diego Comic-Con. “That’s why Randy’s become a big character.” 

“The first five to ten years, I’d record Randy and do an impersonation of my dad,” Parker recalled. “Now I just do my voice. That’s just me.” 

At the panel, Parker and Stone also admitted that these Randy-themed storylines probably wouldn’t last forever. And so, as the pair enter their 60s and beyond, South Park could end up centering on Grandpa Marsh and, as Parker put it, “all his stories.”