Line #24 Recap/SouthParkS1E2WeightGain4000


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beefcake.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: Living proof that you can reach your goals by following your dreams.]]
3
4	'''Original air date:''' 8/27/1997 [[note]]Produced as the second episode, but aired third after [[Recap/SouthParkS1E3Volcano Volcano]].[[/note]]
5
6	Cartman wins an essay contest over Wendy Testaburger and uses a dangerous, muscle-building protein powder to get in shape. Meanwhile, the Mayor wants to use the publicity from Kathie Lee's visit to South Park to get out of the "pissant, white-bread mountain town" and further up the political ladder, and Mr. Garrison plots his revenge against Kathie Lee Gifford.
7	----
8	!!This episode contains examples of:
9	* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Mr. Garrison's exclamation of "To Hell with Kathie Lee Gifford!" during rehearsal of the school's play (in which he has the pioneers attacking the Indians savagely) is met with boos and a dismissal from directing the play.
10	* AbnormalLimbRotationRange: Mr. Hat's head rotates as he exclaims, "KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLL!"
11	* AccidentalHero: Cartman's 700-pound butt saves the day when the stage crumbles from underneath him, sending Kathie Lee Gifford flying and preventing her from getting shot by Mr. Garrison. Then again, it's Kenny who ends up biting the bullet in her stead, so it might double as UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom.
12	* AesopAmnesia: Played with. Wendy talks Mr. Garrison down (until Stan screws things up) by saying that sometimes in life you're going to lose no matter what you do, and that you can't bear grudges against the person who beat you, only to then show that she hasn't gotten over her own grudge against Cartman's winning the essay contest. However, her grievance against Cartman is more legitimate than Mr. Garrison's grudge against Kathie Lee Gifford (since Cartman actually cheated, while Kathie Lee was just more talented than Garrison), and she begrudgingly drops the matter when it becomes clear that no-one in town really cares, since it's what got Kathie Lee to visit their town in the first place.
13	* AllForNothing: Though Wendy and Stan manage to talk Mr. Garrison down, it all ends up being for naught when Mr. Hat takes the shot anyway. Though Kathie Lee isn't killed, it's unlikely she would've been anyway since she was still in her bulletproof glass dome anyway when the shot was fired, and it can't be said that [[TheyKilledKennyAgain the end result]] was any better. After Mr. Garrison blows his cover, Kathie Lee is escorted out of South Park, Mr. Hat gets off with some therapy, and the TV crew all pack their things and leave because they have no celebrity to record, meaning that the mayor never got all the press she yearned for, and that the boys (sans Cartman) didn't get to be on television, or even perform their play. To add insult to injury, the townspeople shrug off Wendy's attempts at exposing Cartman as a fraud because all they cared about was the celebrity appearance, meaning that Wendy's attempts to do good ended up being all for naught. At least she'll get tuna fish sandwiches from Cartman's mom.
14	* AnimalLover: Both Stan and Wendy like dolphins very much, the latter even making her essay for the contest on the suffering of bottle-nose dolphins.
15	* AntiHero: Stan is a KnightInSourArmor. Initially apathetic to the whole assassination plot, he's convinced to help put an end to it when [[MoralityPet Wendy]] sweet-talks him into it.
16	* AntiVillain: Though his motivations are incredibly petty, Mr. Garrison becomes this when Mr. Hat starts egging him on to kill Kathie Lee, as he's extremely reluctant and later backs down when convinced by Wendy.
17	* ApatheticCitizens: Nobody in town cares that Cartman cheated on the essay, much to Wendy's chagrin.
18	* AttentionWhore: The Mayor and everyone else in town are eager to have a celebrity show up in South Park to make a name for themselves. For them, that's above everything else in the episode, including murder and morbid obesity.
19	* AxCrazy: Mr. Hat, who convinces Mr. Garrison to kill Kathie Lee as revenge for out-shining them during a talent show.
20	* BaitAndSwitchComment: After Kenny got crushed by a teepee:
21	-->'''Mayor [=McDaniels=]''': Oh my God!
22	-->'''Mr. Garrison''': They did it a lot better this morning, they had more energy.
23	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Throughout the episode, Chef expresses his desire to take the "beautiful, sultry queen of sexual fantasy" Kathie Lee to bed. As it turns out, she's ''too much'' of a "beautiful, sultry queen of sexual fantasy" for even ''[[LovableSexManiac him]]'' to handle.
24	-->'''Kathie Lee:''' Hmmm, how about a little more of that good lovin' Chef?\
25	'''Chef:''' Damn woman, I just gave you sweet loving five minutes ago. You trying to kill me?
26	* BittersweetEnding: Wendy manages to save Kathie Lee, and Chef succeeds in getting her in bed, but South Park fails to make a name for itself on national television, and Wendy fails in exposing Cartman's fraud (well, she does succeed, but nobody cares).
27	* BlandNameProduct: The keyboard used by the band on stage is by "Boland".
28	* BorrowedCatchphrase: Cartman starts using the Weight Gain 4000 guy's motto, and keeps it throughout the episode.
29	-->'''Beefcake guy:''' And say with me: 'Beefcake!'\
30	'''Cartman:''' Beefcake!!\
31	'''Beefcake guy:''' BEEFCAKE!!\
32	'''Cartman:''' BEEFCAKEEEE!!!
33	* ButtMonkey: Wendy is constantly ignored and cheated out of her rightful credit for her paper, and her grievances are shrugged off by the other characters, who have SkewedPriorities. She even fails to do good at the end, although she does get Mr. Garrison to step down and give up his mission to kill Kathie Lee.
34	* CannotTellAJoke: Mr. Garrison gets a flashback to him at the National Talents Finals when he was a kid and he told the overused "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" KnockKnockJoke. This leads to a mostly silent crowd with one person clapping in a slow manner. [[SubvertedTrope It does earn him a surprisingly good score from the judges though.]]
35	* CallBack: Kyle's "big fat ass" rant is actually just a toned-down version of his "fat fuck" rant from ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSpiritofChristmas Jesus vs Santa]]''.
36	* DeathOfAChild:
37	** After Cartman's weight breaks the stage and causes Mr. Garrison to miss his shot, Kenny gets a bullet through the forehead which sends his corpse flying into a flagpole. This event gets the 'Save Our Fragile Planet' essay contest trophy presentation cancelled, though nobody apparently bothered to retrieve Kenny's body from the flagpole by the end of the episode.
38	** During the school play, a kid on the Indian side resembling Kevin Stoley gets hit and collapses at Bebe's feet, with blood oozing out of a gash on his head. It's unclear whether he died or merely suffered a concussion, though.
39	* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: Mr. Garrison when he exclaims "To Hell with Kathie Lee Gifford!" right in public.
40	* DisproportionateRetribution: Mr. Hat's attempt to kill Kathie Lee for outdoing him in a talent show when they were kids.
41	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Parodied InUniverse with the Weight Gain 4000. Cartman predictably falls for it.
42	--> Hey!! You need to get in shape fast?! Wanna look your best?! Tired of the other guys getting all the chicks?! Are you tired of being a 90 pound weakling?! Then bulk up quick, with Weight Gain 4000!! With over 4,000 grams of saturated fat per serving, its patented formula is designed to enter the mouth, and go directly to the stomach where it is distributed to the bloodstream. Now available in stores everywhere. Get some today, and say with me: 'Beefcake!' ''[in small text]'' May cause irreversible damage before the Weight Gain 4000 advertisement shows up.
43	* EarlyBirdCameo: Cartman is watching "Jesus 'N Pals" on the TV before the Weight Gain 4000 ad pops up. Jesus as a character will be properly introduced in "[[Recap/SouthParkS1E4BigGayAlsBigGayBoatRide Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride]]".
44	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
45	** Bebe wears an entirely pink jacket instead of the red and gray one that she's usually known to wear. A similar thing happened in "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" where she's shown wearing a green jacket instead.
46	** The climax of this episode takes place on the town's book depository, which will never appear again on any future episodes (something which Matt and Trey acknowledge in the DVD commentary), although it might've been destroyed in one of the season's many invasions and they didn't bother rebuilding it.
47	** Stan, Wendy, and Kyle actually showing concern for Mr. Garrison's mental well-being (even going so far as having Stan and Kyle visit him in the mental hospital[[note]]which doesn't look like the one from "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo"[[/note]] and say, "We hope you can come back to school real soon, Mr. Garrison" without any irony or sarcasm in their voice). In the later episodes, none of the kids would give a crap, and usually for good reason.
48	** During the play, Butters attacks Tolkien and punches Pip in the face. Not only would he not be this prone to violence when he became a proper character, but in his "debut" episode, "Two Naked Guys in a Hot Tub," he's shown to be good friends with Pip.
49	** On the subject of the play, it seems rather jarring that Mr. Garrison of all people would want to acknowledge the brutality of European settlers against Native Americans, given that he would be soon be implied to be something of a white supremacist.
50	* EasilyForgiven: Stan and Kyle don't seem to hold a grudge against Mr. Garrison (or Mr. Hat) for accidentally killing Kenny ([[SkewedPriorities and ruining their chances at being on TV]]), even visiting him at the mental hospital.
51	* EasterEgg: The design of the trophy that Gifford was going to give to Cartman before the asassination attempt is a reference to Parker and Stone's 1997 film ''Film/{{Orgazmo}}''.
52	* EskimosArentReal:
53	** Cartman seems to confuse Eskimos with dolphins. To him it's all just "a bunch of tree-hugging hippie crap."
54	** It's later revealed that Garrison marked Wendy down on her paper because he made the same mistake.
55	* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
56	** This episode establishes Kyle's bullying of Cartman all the time that still exists in the later episodes, although it's somewhat been overshadowed by Cartman's more brutal bullying of Kyle in later seasons.
57	** This is also the first episode to focus on Mr. Garrison's mental issues, and how potentially lethal they can be.
58	** While the boys were no strangers to TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior before, this is also the first episode to show how seriously they take their role-playing, with the pioneers going berserk on the Indians, and the latter group allowing themselves to be pummelled, with one of them (resembling Kevin Stoley), even suffering a concussion.
59	** It also establishes Cartman and Wendy's hatred of each other.
60	** Clyde can't tell that he's suposed to play an Indian despite having a feather on his head, establishing his BookDumb personality.
61	* EveryoneHasStandards:
62	** Even the LovableSexManiac Chef finds himself exhausted by Kathie Lee Gifford's insatiable sex drive.
63	** Wendy is somewhat of a SoreLoser and a grudge holder, but she draws the line at Mr. Garrison trying to ''[[DisproportionateRetribution kill his childhood rival]]'' for upstaging him at a talent show ''for kids'', even if she's not a fan of Kathie Lee Gifford herself.
64	** Kyle didn't seem to care when Wendy told them that Mr. Garrison was going to assassinate Kathie Lee Gifford, only caring about being on TV, but he's still horrified when Kenny gets killed instead.
65	* EvilCounterpart: Whether or not he's real or part of Garrison's delusions, Mr. Hat is this to Wendy.
66	** Both of them lose a contest that they were very invested on (and which makes their rivals very popular) and later try to make justice out of disdain against the winner (Kathie Lee Gifford and Cartman respectively) whom they believe won unfairly. However, Wendy has a more legitimate reason to be upset (since Cartman actually ''did'' cheat), while the reason Mr. Hat and Mr. Garrison lost the battle is because Kathie Lee had choreography and two dummies (which, while unfair on their part, wasn't cheating). Furthermore, Wendy was content with exposing Cartman, while Mr. Hat wanted to ''[[DisproportionateRetribution assassinate]]'' Kathie Lee. Both also stubbornly go ahead with their missions after being told not to, only for it to be AllForNothing (Mr. Hat fails to kill Kathie Lee and gets arrested, while Wendy successfully exposes Cartman only to realize that nobody really cared about the essay contest).
67	** They also enlisted the help of someone to assist them with their missions (Garrison and Stan), but Wendy sweet-talked him into helping her, while Mr. Hat threatened and gaslit the already unstable Mr. Garrison (complete with [[RedEyesTakeWarning shiny red eyes]]) into helping him with his mission.
68	** In the climax of the episode, Mr. Hat served as the devil on Mr. Garrison's shoulders who [[ToxicFriendInfluence pushes him to give in to his jealousy and desire for vengeance]], while Wendy served as the angel who convinces him to put give up on his resentment and jealousy. Wendy wins, though Mr. Hat then tries to do the dirty work himself.
69	* EvilIsPetty: Mr. Garrison and ''especially'' Mr. Hat, for wanting to assassinate a celebrity because she upstaged them on a talent show when they were kids.
70	* EvilLaugh: Mr. Hat (through Mr. Garrison) lets out one when Mr. Garrison agrees to help him kill Kathie Lee.
71	* FatIdiot: Cartman is fatter and dumber than ever in this episode, as he remains completely oblivious to how Weight Gain is ruining his physical integrity, right up to the day he's unable to leave his bed due to his morbid obesity.
72	* ForgottenFallenFriend: Though everyone's a little shocked when Kenny gets his head impaled on a flagpole, he's completely forgotten by everyone after that, with nobody bothering to remove his corpse even when Mr. Hat is arrested. Barbrady later pours salt on the wound by saying that they're lucky "nobody was hurt".
73	* GetARoom: Cartman sings "Two little hippies sit'n' in a tree..." to Stan and Wendy after the former defends the latter.
74	* GilliganCut:
75	-->'''Cartman:''' I have to go home and get in shape.\
76	'''Stan:''' Yeah, right! You'll go and sit in front of the TV and eat cheesy poofs, ass-master!\
77	'''Cartman:''' Screw you, hippie!\
78	(cut to Cartman snacking on cheesy poofs in front of the TV)
79	* GreenEyedMonster: Mr. Garrison and his puppet Mr. Hat have a murderous hatred for the celebrity Kathie Lee Gifford because she upstaged them at a talent show when they were kids, which apparently earned her her celebrity status while Garrison only became a jaded 4th grade teacher.
80	* HeelRealization: Mr. Garrison has one after Wendy tells him about her self-destructive experience with holding grudges. At the mental hospital, he apologizes for ruining everybody's chances of being on TV ([[ForgottenFallenFriend though not for killing Kenny]]).
81	* HiddenDepths: Stan initially didn't seem to care about Kathie Lee's assassination attempt, but once Wendy sweet-talks him into helping, he proves to be of great help; he's the one to spot Mr. Garrison at the book depository, and he's the first to enter the room to try and talk down a gun-wielding maniac, despite all the odds being against him, although he ends up screwing it up after mentioning Kathie Lee's achievement, unintentionally provoking Mr. Hat.
82	* HistoryWithCelebrity: Garrison lost a high school talent show to Kathy Lee Gifford. He plans to kill her when she comes to town.
83	* HitlerAteSugar: Wendy rebuffs Cartman's boasts of fame by muttering "Hitler was famous too" under her breath.
84	* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: At the end of the episode, Cartman's addiction to Weight Gain 4000 causes him to become morbidly obese to the point of being unable to leave his bed.
85	* IgnoredExpert: Wendy is clearly more knowledgeable on certain subjects than her own teacher, though unfortunately he's the one to grade the papers. Subverted at the end when Garrison actually listens to her insight and gives up his mission to kill Kathie Lee (although Mr. Hat is not as forgiving).
86	* InsaneTrollLogic:
87	** Cartman is skeptical of the dolphin's supposed intelligence since they always get trapped in fishnets.
88	--->'''Wendy:''' ''(who wrote a paper on them and lost to Cartman)'' [[BigWhat WHAT?]]
89	** As it turns out, Garrison ''agrees'' with this take, which is part of the reason why Wendy's paper didn't win.
90	* IntercourseWithYou: Chef's song to Kathie Lee, which he gets at the end of the episode.
91	* {{Irony}}: Mr. Garrison's puppet turns out to be the puppet master behind his actions.
92	* IRejectYourReality: Cartman refuses to acknowledge taking Weight Gain 4000 is only making him fatter, even when he's become so obese he can't leave his bed.
93	* IsThisThingStillOn:
94	-->'''Mayor [=McDaniels=]:''' (crying) Nohoho nooo. Now I'll be stuck in this Podunk town forever, with all these stupid hick, redneck, jobless, truck-driving idiots!
95	-->'''Ted:''' Uh, Mayor, the mic is on. ([=McDaniels=] has an OhCrap face.)
96	* IveComeTooFar: Garrison's rationale why he has to proceed to assassinate Kathy Lee Gifford while the kids try to talk him out of it.
97	* {{Jerkass}}: Cartman cheats in the essay contest and goes out of his way to boast about his unearned success to his friends and classmates, even mocking Wendy's environmental essay which lost to him.
98	* JerkassHasAPoint:
99	** Kyle's insults at Cartman may be [[YouAreFat mean-spirited]], but he's right to point out that his excessive obesity was making him a burden for everyone, since he ends up getting Kenny killed when the stage crumbles from under him.
100	** The Mayor is an egomaniac who considers everyone in her town a bunch of incompetent hillbillies. This episode doesn't exactly prove her wrong.
101	* JerkassToOne: Wendy makes it clear to Stan that she normally would've let her resentment towards the winner go had said winner not been [[FatBastard Cartman]].
102	* KarmaHoudini: After Mr. Garrison tries to kill Kathie Lee, all the blame goes to his puppet Mr. Hat and the former is able to return to teaching after his companion "goes through some therapy".
103	* KidsAreCruel:
104	** Kyle does nothing but hurl abuse at Cartman as he gains weight. JerkassHasAPoint, however, as Cartman's addiction to Weight Gain makes him so obese that he can't even get out of his own bedroom by the end of the episode.
105	** During the school play rehearsal, the pioneer kids clearly take some delight in beating up the Indian kids, with Stan beating Clyde to a pulp with the butt of his gun [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness and Butters throttling Pip while punching him in the face]]. It doesn't help that Pip and Kenny, two of the show's resident {{Butt Monkey}}s are also featured amongst the Indians.
106	* KnockKnockJoke: Garrison tells the classic orange-banana one at the talent show as a kid.
107	* LackOfEmpathy: Stan, Kyle, and Cartman don't seem to care when Wendy tells them about Mr. Garrison's plans to assassinate Kathie Lee, though it's {{Downplayed}} with Stan as he helps stop Garrison anyway after some convincing.
108	* MoralityPet:
109	** Wendy is this for Stan, convincing him to give up his chance to be on television to help her stop Mr. Garrison from killing Kathie Lee Gifford. When she starts asking nicely, Kyle already knows Stan is lost.
110	** She's also this to Mr. Garrison to an extent, managing to convince him to put an end to his lifetime grudge by sharing some of her own experiences.
111	* MurderByMistake: Mr. Hat accidentally shoots Kenny in the head while taking aim at Kathie Lee, thinking she was still on the stage.
112	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Mr. Garrison briefly reacts this way after shouting "To hell with Kathie Lee Gifford!" right in front of the Mayor. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't save him from being dismissed from directing the play, which led to him attempting to kill Kathie Lee all the more.
113	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: After Wendy successfully talks down Mr. Garrison, Stan accidentally reignites Mr. Garrison' (or more appropriately, Mr. Hat)'s anger by insensitively expressing awe at his retelling of Kathie Lee's performance at the talent show, causing Kenny's death when Mr. Hat fires at her.
114	* NutritionalNightmare: The titular substance seems to be some variety of protein shake, but it's taken to the point of absurdity. Cartman gains four pounds and has trouble getting inside the bus after one day of drinking it, and by the end of the episode, he's bloated to the point of immobility. The ad contains [[RattlingOffLegal a quick disclaimer]] that the substance "may cause permanent damage to the kidneys and liver."
115	* OhCrap: The Mayor when she realizes her rant against South Park had been recorded on the mic.
116	* PlagiarismInFiction: Cartman's essay turns out to be ''Walden'' with Creator/HenryDavidThoreau's name crossed out.
117	* PoliceAreUseless: Officer Barbrady tells Mr. Garrison (armed with a gun, which he compliments) where to get a "good, clear shot--er, view of Kathie Lee", and confiscates a camera from a fan, telling him, "No pictures of Kathie Lee!" Later on, Stan tells Barbrady that Mr. Garrison is going to kill Kathie Lee. Barbrady flashes back to himself telling Mr. Garrison to go to the book depository, but then acts like Mr. Garrison "could be anywhere!" Immediately after Barbrady rushes off to issue an APB, Stan and Wendy find out on their own where Mr. Garrison is.
118	* RageBreakingPoint: The Mayor scolds Mr. Garrison for his brutal depiction of the play, saying that Kathie Lee will not condone it. Which led Mr. Garrison to angrily curse on Kathie Lee (see 0% Approval Rating).
119	* RightlySelfRighteous: Wendy spends most of the episode being passive-aggressive towards Cartman and trying to expose him as a cheater, with several characters accusing her of being a SoreLoser. While the claim is true, there were a lot of hints that Cartman actually was cheating, such as him not even remembering what he had written about. Later in the episode, she snoops in Mr. Garrison's desk and discovers that Cartman actually ''did'' cheat, proving her complaints correct.
120	* SadistTeacher: In an attempt to upstage Kathie Lee, Mr. Garrison forces the kids to beat each other senseless for their school play ([[KidsAreCruel not that they complain much]]). On the day of the rehearsal, in which one of them suffers a concussion and another one ([[TheyKilledKennyAgain Kenny]]) possibly ''dies'', he criticises "their lack of energy".
121	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After Kenny gets shot and killed, Kathie Lee's security security men immediately drive her out of South Park and away from the shooter. The TV crew soon follow suit.
122	* ShoutOut:
123	** Mr. Garrison uses the "You talkin' to me?!" scene from ''Film/TaxiDriver'' to decide whether he has the right gun.
124	** Mr. Hat then uses the "I would have gotten away with it if not for you meddling kids" from ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' when Barbrady arrests him.
125	* SkewedPriorities:
126	** Stan and the other boys when they hear that Mr. Garrison is about to kill Kathie Lee:
127	--->'''Stan:''' [[HypocriticalHumor Wendy, you've got to prioritize]]. What's more important? Being on TV or some stupid assassination?
128	*** It's later revealed that everyone in town shares his opinions, as shown when Kenny is killed and everyone else is only upset that it drove Kathie Lee away.
129	** To a lesser extent, Kathie Lee, who despite knowing that there's at least one person trying to kill her on South Park, she still goes back to sleep with Chef. To be fair, Mr. Hat had already been arrested.
130	* SlaveToPR: The entire adult townsfolk is revealed to be this, as are the kids sans Wendy. The worst offender is the Mayor, who is borderline obsessed with her public image and views Kathie Lee's visit as a publicity stunt.
131	* SleevesAreForWimps: Cartman, shows up to the bus stop wearing a wifebeater when he first starts using the Weight Gain 4000.
132	--> '''Kyle:''' What the hell is wrong with you, Cartman? Haven't you noticed the three feet of snow on the ground?
133	* SleazyPolitician: The Mayor has bigger political ambitions like becoming a Senator, and openly laments being stuck in a dead-end podunk town like South Park.
134	* SoreLoser:
135	** Downplayed with Wendy, who is upset at Cartman outdoing her at the presentation, but is more angry that he more than likely cheated on his paper (which he did), and most of her efforts are spent trying to expose him.
136	** Exaggerated with Garrison, who is so resentful that Kathie Lee bested him at a talent show that years later he tries to ''kill'' her as revenge.
137	* StrangeMindsThinkAlike:
138	** Cartman's belief that dolphins live in igloos seems to be shared by Mr. Garrison, judging from his comment on Wendy's essay.
139	** Seeing Kathie Lee in a glass dome and surrounded by guards, Mr. Garrison believes she has other lethal enemies.
140	* TakeThat:
141	** Cartman's subplot serves as a take on the effects of false advertising. Weight Gain 4000 promises to build muscle, and Cartman blindly believes it has fulfilled this function even after he only becomes extremely overweight, ignoring all sighs that it fails at its primary function even as his friends are pointing this information out to his face.
142	** The bubble Kathie Lee Gifford is in is one to Pope John Paul II's Popemobile during his trip to Denver. Parker and Stone reportedly stated that they believed the Popemobile's design was hilarious.
143	** While Kathie Lee Gifford herself isn't mocked as much as other celebrities, (she's presented as a relatively normal if somewhat slutty celebrity) and the conflict revolving around her isn't her fault, one of the Mayor's aides mentions that she likes children "when they're working in a sweatshop", a jab at the accusations that sweatshop labor was being used in manufacturing the Kathie Lee Gifford branded clothing. Furthermore, Wendy tells Mr. Garrison during the climax that "she's hurt a lot of people".
144	* TemporaryBulkChange: Cartman takes Weight Gain 4000 and winds up incredibly obese to the point that he makes Jabba the Hutt look skinny, remaining stubbornly unaware that he's gained weight. He's back to his typical weight the next episode.
145	* TheThemeParkVersion: The Mayor finds Mr. Garrison's depiction of the history of South Park adorable... [[SubvertedTrope until the kids portraying the pioneers enter and attack the kids portraying the natives brutally]].
146	--> '''Mayor:''' Mr. Garrison, we cannot have our children beating each other senseless in front of Kathie Lee Gifford.\
147	'''Mr. Garrison:''' Well, what do you want? This is how it happened in those days.
148	* TheyKilledKennyAgain:
149	** Kenny gets crushed by a teepee during the play, although it's unclear if he actually died in that instance.
150	** During the third act, when Mr. Hat takes a shot at Kathy Lee Gifford, the bullet hits Kenny on the head and sends him flying. His corpse lands on a flagpole, where he's impaled in the side of the head.
151	* ToxicFriendInfluence: Mr. Hat is the devil on Mr. Garrison's shoulder (or right hand), repeatedly egging him on to kill Kathie Lee over a talent show. When it all fails, he tries to do it himself and gets himself arrested in the process. Luckily, he's implied to be going through some therapy by the end of the episode.
152	* WithFriendsLikeThese: During the school play, being Kenny's friends don't stop Kyle and Stan from getting him crushed potentially to death when roleplaying as pioneers and Indians.
153	* YouAreFat:
154	--> '''Kyle:''' Cartman, you're such a fatass that when you walk down the street people go "GOD! DAMMIT THAT'S A BIG FAT ASS!"\
155	'''Cartman:''' No, they don't, you jealous weakling!\
156	'''Random passerby:''' GODDAMN! THAT'S A BIG FAT ASS!\
157	'''Cartman:''' ''Ay!!''
158	* YouMeddlingKids: As Mr. Hat is getting arrested:
159	-->'''Officer Barbrady:''' Thought you could get away with it, eh Mr. Hat?\
160	'''Mr. Hat:''' ''(casually)'' Well, I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids.

Context Recap / SouthParkS1E2WeightGain4000