We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
I never watched South Park (that particular type of humor is just kinda meh to me), but I absolutely get the Blame Canada reference (and now have it stuck in my head). I will say “Blame Can” was not enough, but “Blame Canad” absolutely is.
For the statistics: Millennial.
Some people – I’m one of them – simply don’t care much about pop culture. I manage to absorb a lot of it anyway, but maybe David aggressively doesn’t care. If we’re charitable, perhaps time n Europe accounts for it? I don’t know how much of his formative years he spent overseas, if any. I have a friend who is Spanish, viciously smart, just arrived in the US last year, and beyond clueless about American pop culture at even the mot elementary level. I didn’t move to the US until the early 80s and get a pass for anything before then.
I admit that, despite having been a South Park watcher, I didn’t get the reference until you added letters. But damn, did I enjoy that Robin Williams performance. Especially the Fosse-style bow at the end!
Robin Williams really was one of the greats. RIP.
When I was starting out my career, 1 of my co-workers would tape the episodes and about 10 of us would watch them in the conference room on the VCR at lunch the day after they aired. There was an episode in the second season where Cartman thought he was a Vietnamese prostitute. The president of the company (who was Vietnamese) heard all the laughing and walked in right as Cartman uttered the line, “Sucky sucky? Five dorra!
Me so horny! Me love you long time!”. Nobody got in trouble, but we all decided not to watch South Park at work after that. I think when a show has been around for almost 25 years, you can reference it freely. And yes, I get the reference.
South Park has definitely reached an age where it can be freely referenced much like The Simpsons. But these references should also be aged references. Once South Park went to the continuing story line they lost me, so a reference to the new streaming specials would not land with me, or I suspect most people.
Blame Cana… is a perfectly cromulent reference.
I am a boomer, my wife is Gen X, and we watch South Park.
Once again, I am a paying member and this is all that I see of the “members only content”
https://www.theautopian.com/you-can-probably-guess-the-thing-david-tracy-assumed-80-of-you-wouldnt-recognize-tales-from-the-slack/
What does this mean? You provided a link to the article. Are you complaining that you can’t access it, or complaining that it isn’t the content you want?
No, I am ONLY seeing the image, I am not seeing any of the contents of the article.
Email Hardigree, he’s in charge of that.
Please email me: matt@TheAutopian.com
Wow! You’re a fucker, Uncle Fucker.
Shut your fucking face, Uncle Fucker!
Wow, I DID see this movie in the theater, memory overwrote most of that experience, but I almost passed out from laughter when T&P song spontaneously erupted. Then again with the pokemon dog shit taco scene.
Dude I missed half the jokes because the theater was one continuous roar of hysterics. What a classic.
You’re a boner biting bastard, Uncle Fucker!
BAAAHAAAA, I’m in stitches!
Blame Canada people absolutely get. Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football may need context for some of the readers. It was…terrible.
Bear in mind that many pop culture references are NOT international. For example, I’m an Australian space cadet (born late may ’61, for those who want an obscure reference).
I got the short version of the “Blame Canada” reference, but Dennis Miller ? Never heard of her.
I think he lost his mind when his (awesome) show was canceled.
I think that the real question is who is the second person in the Autopian staff poll who didn’t get the reference? I normally expect this site to adhere to higher levels of journalistic integrity than concealing this kind of critical information.
Oh, that was on the reader Discord, haha.
But if I start reading the Discord, too, I’ll never get anything done! I already spend too much time here. BTW, so happy to see your byline here. I definitely missed your writing after you left Herbland
Aww, thanks.
I am truly curious how and why DT has so many massive blindspots to popular culture.
That is such a well known thing; it was everywhere for several years and, as stated, was performed at the Oscars…
Like I have a friend who was raised in a pretty weird cult and they are familiar with South Park. My old roommate who was not allowed to watch TV until he left home would get that reference…
Never heard of it
I get the reference, and usually use it at least once a month. It usually comes out at work when people won’t admit their mistakes, so blame Canada!
I do something similar and blame Fluffy Bunny for everything.
I actually get the reference, but that is very rare for me. I don’t even understand what the title of this column is referencing – what the hell is a “slack” and why are there tales from it?
Story Time:
Mrs 10001010 and I (she’d hate it if she knew she was being referred to that way) saw the South Park movie at the theater. It was a mid-day showing a couple days after it had come out so the theater was half empty. Anyhow, right before the lights drop this little old lady and like 5 or 6 elementary aged kids come in and sit in the front row. Old lady pulls a bunch of yarn out of her purse and starts knitting (crocheting? I don’t know the difference) and the little monsters take seats next to her. She kept her nose in her yarn the whole time and didn’t watch the movie at all and must have had her hearing aids out because she didn’t even look up during Uncle Fucker. Anyways, since the SP movie is basically a musical and they were all sitting on the front row where there’s like 10′ of empty concrete in front of them all the kids were out of their seats and dancing around during Blame Canada and Uncle Fucker and the rest. It’s like super meta that the exact thing the movie was about was happening right there in front of us in the theater.
So, long story short, yes David, anybody who hasn’t been living underneath a rusty XJ gets the reference. I hate you guys, I’m going home 🙂
That’s freakin awesome. Our block’s Cool Mom used to take a bunch of us kids to the drive in her microbes Friday nights and we would do that kind of stuff. I’m glad the weirdness continues
(early-mid 70s. Likely got paid so our parents could have a night out)
“Blame Can…” by itself, and out of context, could be missed by many, but “Blame Canada” in its entirety? Hell no, people know THAT. And poor David missed a HELLUVA good movie; in fact, i just might need to rewatch it soon, i love a good musical. /GenXer
but now i’m looking forward to David waking up “tomorrow” and seeing these comments; thanks, Matt!
You’d think Matt was telling us to stick out our gyat for the rizzler the way David protested.
Don’t worry Davey, you’ll always be my sigma.
Remember when David rizzed up baby opossum? Poss is the new rizz king.
How has Tracy never seen the South Park movie? He’s old enough to be my brother
I never watched the movie, I haven’t seen South Park in a solid 20+ years, and I instantly got the reference and got a sensible chuckle from it.
do yourself a favor: “Blame Canada” is but one of the MANY memorable bangers on that soundtrack; watch the movie, it stands up 100%
The blame Canada meme has been viral in Pittsburgh all football season. The whole city would get that joke.
Seconded. And much like the show turns out Canada wasn’t to blame.
Wow, 120% of Gen Z! 😉
I think the Boomer estimate might be a little too high, but after my dad had heart surgery he named his medical pillow “Stewie” after the FG character, so who knows.
(After people have the chest-opening type of heart surgery, the sternum needs time to heal. That healing can be interrupted by coughing, sneezing, etc. so patients are generally given pillows they can clutch to their chests to minimize disruption. There was one in the Amazon wish list that Torch’s better half set up.)
Motherfrapping Gen-X getting passed up again but we’re used to it by now.
*I type while wearing my flannel shirt and listening to grunge.
You know, this was a mistake, but I’m gonna keep it because it’s just so funny to me.
It’s 100% spot on, definitely keep it in!
Shit: I’ve got a flannel on. Never was cool enough to do grunge, tho. Case in point: also wearing flannel pj bottoms @ 6:45 pm.
I’d love to see this question asked on an Autopian Twitter poll. Anything digital is going to skew younger…and even if the Zoomer heathens haven’t seen South Park, they know the meme.
Also, why is David the one who’s the decider on if enough people will get a pop culture reference? Is 99% of pop culture a massive blindspot for him? Like we’re talking worse visibility than a 5th gen Camaro.
“Also, why is David the one who’s the decider on if enough people will get a pop culture reference?”
I ask myself this every time one of these comes up.
It’s an easy article for Tales from the Slack every time. It drives engagement. It’s funny. David’s probably a good sport about it.
Out of everyone’s great talents at this site, the ability to take a joke might be one of the best. No one is too self-serious or important, making them relatable and us love them all the more.
…what self-respecting youth is still on Twitter?
This cannot be ‘star-ed” enough!
Ooof. I walked into that one. I meant to imply the web in general skews younger than the general public but yeah, Twitter’s age floor seems to be millennials. If only Facebook hadn’t botched Threads so badly…
Honestly, let FB botch Threads, too. Facebook made Instagram suck and I have no doubt they’ll ruin Threads, too. Whatever comes next really shouldn’t be led by Musk or Zucc.
Blame Canada is probably the only thing I remember from the South Park movie! Regardless, David is mistaken. For anything that’s been in production for over 25 years, it’s clearly known across generations!
As a member of the Oregon Trail generation who grew up in Colorado, I’m insulted by the idea that anyone would miss the South Park reference.
the real Parker/Stone deep cut would’ve been “Let’s Build a Snowman”
Holy Cow, I’m constantly amazed at David’s lack of cultural exposure. I have only occasionally watched South Park, but I definitely got the joke.
From a 2019 article in The Hollywood Reporter (and I bet these numbers haven’t decreased significantly, since it’s just been renewed for a 27th season):
“The 30 billion minutes of viewing on Comedy Central likely puts South Park in the upper echelons of viewing. Netflix users watched 32.6 billion minutes of Friends and 52 billion minutes of The Office in 2018.”
“For season 23, South Park averaged 1.4 million viewers per episode, including three days of delayed viewing. It averaged a 1.29 rating among adults 18-49 (within Comedy Central’s coverage area) and a 1.9 among men under 35.”
Of course, David probably wouldn’t get a Friends or The Office reference, either.
(https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/south-park-viewers-watched-30-billion-minutes-show-2019-1263298/)
I’m now thinking about someone yelling “pivot!” at David when something is definitely stuck and just having him look confused and actually try to pivot.
Literally LOL’ed at that.
Seriously, David’s opinions about cultural references should hereafter be summarily ignored. His influence over these decisions is just a bad omen for the site. I mean, I’m not superstitious, but I’m a little stitious…
To be fair (to be faaaaiiirr), if you run some pop culture reference by David and he gets it, you know it’s safe to include.
You didnt mention video in the same sentence as pivot. That’s what I appreciates about you, Drew.
It’s like the New York Times reporting on something “cool”!
I never watched Friends, but I still get the “pivot” reference. Some things are just in the culture … for the rest of us … not for David. He’s special.
Yeah, I never cared for Friends when it was on (did watch Seinfeld and Frasier, though, so not like I’m anti-NBC or anything), but have seen some reruns and clips here and there over the years to at least understand the main references.
On behalf of Gen-X, I have to point out we’ve been overlooked yet again, this time in the percentage guesstimate.
Oh well, whatever…nevermind.
Thinking the exact same thing. But I don’t care.
Just got hit with a typo. Unless Gen Z gets two different percentages.
120 percent of Gen Z watches South Park!
Annnnnd I just noticed that you beat me to this joke by 4 minutes. D’oh. 🙂
Ben Folds Five concurs…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Ohxr3RbP4&list=PLD6EB8F18F68BE0AC&index=10
I just want some percentages for Greatest Generation and Silent Generation South Park viewership, though.
Anecdotal, but I caught my very prim and proper Silent Generation(by 6 months or so) mother quietly singing “Kyle’s Mom Is A Bitch” a few years ago. When I gave her a hard time about it, she said, “but it’s so catchy”, and I couldn’t argue with that.
She’s certainly not wrong. My girlfriend’s parents are also Silent Generation, and they occasionally shock me with which goofy bits of contemporary pop culture they get and enjoy.
Well, his mom is a bitch and she does have stupid hair, the song is catchy and factual
Now I’m bored and old.
Caring about being overlooked is very un-Gen X of you, unless, of course, you’re just being sarcastic and that didn’t come through in text
eh, I don’t even know anymore…
Are you being sarcastic, dude?
So I tried to be clever, but YouTube inexplicably has no (English-language) clips of Bart and Lisa at the Smashing Pumpkins concert.
Which is fitting. I guess. Whatever.
I thought it might be too on the nose to post but I’m right there with you sir.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Yogd_fpko
Homer Simpson, smiling politely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vqgLWnxmd0
Those other gens can ignore us all they want but the fact remains that we grew up with real ass METAL transformers instead of that cheap plastic crap that didn’t even transform that came out afterwards. We had Knight Rider, Airwolf, Greatest American Hero, and A-Team on TV during the week and Dungeons and Dragons and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends on Saturdays.
What did they have? Car 54 before us and How I Met Your Mother after us, pfft!
CHiPs, Emergency, and MASH as well. Watched the first 2 for the cars mostly
CHiPs had the absolute BEST car chase/wreck scenes and I blame MASH for a lot of my open-mindedness I have as an adult.
And Emergency had all those houses sliding off cliffs scenes that convinced me I would never live in California.
(sour grapes, honestly)