Craig Tucker is a fictional character in the adult animated television series '' South Park''. One of the main characters' fourth-grade classmates, he debuted in the season one episode " Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" with the rest of the third-grade class. His speaking debut was in "

Rainforest Shmainforest "Rainforest Shmainforest" is the third season premiere of Comedy Central's animated series ''South Park''. It originally aired on April 7, 1999 and is the 32nd episode overall. This episode features Jennifer Aniston providing the voice for Miss S ...

". A pragmatist, Craig commonly strays from the plans of the main characters in favor of more practical, realistic approaches and solutions to main issues. Since the season 19 episode " Tweek x Craig", Craig has been involved in a relationship with fellow fourth-grade student Tweek Tweak. Seemingly forced by the other townspeople at first, their relationship has been shown to evolve throughout ''South Park'' as a genuine sincere relationship, and have been shown to identify as gay.

Appearance

Craig is commonly seen wearing a blue chullo hat. He is characterized by this and his deep, nasal, monotone voice. In some scenes, including during a

head lice The head louse (''Pediculus humanus capitis'') is an obligate ectoparasite of humans. Head lice are wingless insects that spend their entire lives on the human scalp and feeding exclusively on human blood. Humans are the only known hosts of thi ...

check in "

Lice Capades "Lice Capades" is the third episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series ''South Park''. The 156th episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 21, 2007. In the episode ...

", Craig is seen with no hat and black hair. He is also seen as a stereotypical metrosexual in "

South Park is Gay! "South Park Is Gay!" is the eighth episode of the seventh season and the 104th overall episode of the American animated sitcom '' South Park''. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 22, 2003. In the episode, Kyle s ...

", and an

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

-styled

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu.Kawakami, pp. 2 ...

wielding a

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the '' tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge f ...

in "

Good Times with Weapons "Good Times with Weapons" is episode 112 of ''South Park''. The first episode of season 8, it originally aired on March 17, 2004. In the episode, the boys are transformed into Japanese warriors after they buy martial arts weapons at a local marke ...

Biography

Inception

In the beginning of ''South Park'', Craig was said to be the most violent and strongest student in the third-grade class (excluding Cartman). Cartman once claimed that Craig was the "biggest troublemaker in heirclass", and parents of his classmates have cited him as a "bad influence". In a

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

during the show's earlier seasons,

establishing shots An establishing shot in filmmaking and television production sets up, or establishes, the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is generally a long or extreme-long shot at the beginning of ...

of Mr. Mackey's office would feature Craig waiting outside, yet his activities were never seen. In the first several seasons, Craig has a habit of giving people

the finger In Western culture, "the finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent i ...

, a trait the show's official website attributes to his learning the behavior from his family, all of whom frequently use the gesture as well, most notably in the third season episode, " Tweek vs. Craig", in which his entire family take turns flipping each other off at the dinner table. This trait was used less throughout the show's runtime, and was last seen in the episode " Fun with Veal". Along with the rest of the characters, Craig moved to the fourth grade in "

Fourth Grade Fourth grade (also called grade four, equivalent to Year 5 in England and Wales, and Year 4 in Australia) is a year of Elementary education in some countries. In North America, the fourth grade is the fifth school year of elementary school. Stud ...

Rivalry with the main characters

Craig dislikes the four main characters ( Stan Marsh,

Kyle Broflovski Kyle Matthew Broflovski is a fictional character in the adult animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by and loosely based on co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the series' four central characters, along with his friends Stan ...

Kenny McCormick Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character and one of the four main characters in the adult animated television series ''South Park'' along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His often muffled and incomprehensible speech ...

and Eric Cartman) and rivals them in several episodes. Craig is a pragmatist and has no wish to become involved in any extraordinary adventures the other main characters on the show customarily experience. In the season 12 (2008) episodes " Pandemic" and " Pandemic 2: The Startling", Craig repeatedly castigates the main characters' propensity for engaging in schemes that catastrophically backfire upon them. He also complains that they just seem to blindly accept that these things happen to them. He decides that he will no longer participate in such schemes, and walks away from the one in which they find themselves in the latter episode. However, by taking this action he fulfills an ancient prophecy, by stepping on a mysterious platform that allows him to defeat the giant guinea pig monster responsible for that story line's conflict. He concludes from this that just because there are things in life that cannot be controlled does not mean that one should accept them without protest.

"Craig's gang"

Despite his dislike of the main characters, particularly Cartman, he is often depicted as one of the boys who repeatedly join Cartman in his many schemes, at times serving as a right-hand man. According to the creators of ''South Park'', Craig's best friend is his classmate

Tolkien Black Tolkien Black (originally known as Token Williams and Token Black) is a fictional character in the adult animated television series '' South Park''. He was originally voiced by Trey Parker, later changed to series art director, storyboard art ...

. He is also close friends with

Clyde Donovan Clyde Donovan (formerly known as Clyde Goodman and Clyde Harris) is a fictional character in the adult animated television series '' South Park''. He is voiced by series co-creator Trey Parker. Clyde is a student at South Park Elementary School ...

and

Jimmy Valmer James "Jimmy" Valmer () is a fictional character from the American animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by Trey Parker. He is physically disabled, requiring forearm crutches in order to walk. Character biography In season 7 ep ...

, who are members of Craig's

clique A clique ( AusE, CanE, or ), in the social sciences, is a group of individuals who interact with one another and share similar interests. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardless of gender, ethnicity, or popular ...

known as "Craig's gang". Members of "Craig's gang" include: *Craig Tucker *

* Tweek Tweak (Craig's boyfriend) * Jason White (former) *

Butters Stotch Leopold "Butters" Stotch is a fictional character in the adult animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone and loosely based on co-producer Eric Stough. He is a student at South Park Elementary School. ...

(former)

Homosexuality and relationship with Tweek Tweak

In the Season 19 episode " Tweek x Craig", female students of Asian backgrounds started drawing homoerotic "

yaoi ''Yaoi'' (; ja, やおい ), also known by the '' wasei-eigo'' construction and its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created ...

" images of Craig and his classmate Tweek Tweak, depicting them as lovers (an acknowledgement of a trend popular among real-life ''South Park'' fans of creating

fanart Fan art or fanart is artwork created by fans of a work of fiction and derived from a series character or other aspect of that work. They are usually done by amateur artists, semi-professionals or professionals. As fan labor, fan art refers t ...

depicting the pair as a couple, several examples of which are featured in the episode). Immediately, the two try to repudiate the rumors about them prompted by this. They eventually resolve to stage a public "break-up" to end the rumors. Though Tweek fears he cannot do this believably, Craig encourages him that he indeed can. However, Tweek goes too far by claiming that Craig is a manipulative cheater, which has the effect of ruining Craig's reputation with girls. Tweek later reveals that Craig's encouragement gave him the confidence to believe in himself. Following the father-to-son talk between him and his father about how "you can't fight being gay", the two boys have been in a relationship. In later episodes, such as the season 21 episode " Put It Down" and the video game ''

The Fractured But Whole ''South Park: The Fractured but Whole'' is a 2017 role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft San Francisco and published by Ubisoft in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios. Based on the American animated sitcom ''South Park'', it i ...

'', they are shown to have become sincere romantic partners and identify as gay.

Reception

On a 2022 list of the 20 best ''South Park'' characters, ''We Got This Covered'' ranked Craig #9. On another 2022 top 25 list, ''Looper'' ranked Craig #13. ''CBR'' pointed out that "Craig has gradually become more of a supporting player to the boys, but he’s also become a lot more popular after the (romance) between him and Tweek", and ranked him on #5 of "10 Characters who Got Way More Popular Since the Beginning". Michael John-Day of ''WhatCulture'' ranked Craig as the 2nd most "underrated" ''South Park'' character in 2020.

Appearances in other media

He plays the role of a Rogue in '' South Park: The Stick of Truth'' and plays the role of Super Craig in '' South Park: The Fractured but Whole'' (a parody of Superman from

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Craig South Park characters Fictional gay males LGBT characters in animation Animated human characters American male characters in television Child characters in animated television series Child characters in animated films Comedy film characters Fictional characters from Colorado Fictional elementary school students Television characters introduced in 1997 Animated characters introduced in 1997 Fictional LGBT characters in television LGBT characters in animated television series