Here’s Why Trey Parker and Matt Stone Don’t Do Projects Apart From Each Other
The greatest comedy duo in the history of television will only ever work on anything if they can work on it together. Just think about it, when have you ever seen either Terrance or Phillip go solo?
When South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were students at the University of Colorado at Boulder, they met in a film class wherein they bonded over their shared love of Monty Python and making fun of any and every race, religion, political ideology and celebrity under the sun. Before Parker and Stone even graduated, they founded their own film production company and wrote, produced, directed and starred in their very first feature-length film, Cannibal! The Musical.
Fast-forward more than 30 years, and the list of Parker and Stone’s credits in the entertainment industry is full of massively successful TV shows, a Tony Award-winning musical, a healthy handful of cult-classic comedy films and roughly zero solo projects. In the 2011 Comedy Central documentary 6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park, the pair explained that they don't work apart because their strengths and weaknesses are perfectly compatible.
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It's basically the same reason why South Park episodes are so much better when Parker and Stone put Cartman and Butters together.
“Even though we’re a partnership, the way that the stories, either in South Park or the movies, are expressed is completely through Trey,” Matt Stone said of his partner’s particular writing strengths during an interview in 6 Days to Air. “Like, Trey’s the chef.”
And while the entertainment world of today understands that Parker and Stone are always a package deal, Stone says that Hollywood suits didn’t understand the duo’s mutual reliance early on in the meteoric rise of South Park, nor did they seem to know that Parker usually plays the role of director in their movies and shows. “When we first started getting famous, I got offers to direct studio comedies,” Parker revealed of the solo directing career he didn’t want. “In my head, I was like, ‘You really don’t know what you’re doing. It’s not in my DNA.’”
“Whatever I’ve got channels through him,” Stone said of his chemistry with his creative partner. “Or where I can get to be tough is exactly where Trey’s not. And where he can be tough is exactly where I’m not.”
For example, Stone explained how the difference in temperament between him and Parker makes them very different collaborators for the rest of the creative staffs on their many projects. Said Stone, “You won’t get in an argument with Trey; Trey’s not going to argue with you about some things. And I’ll argue about your, fuckin’, everything, all the time.”
Even on South Park itself, that dynamic is plainly visible — that asshole Kyle is always antagonizing poor, conflict-averse Cartman about something stupid.
