"T.M.I." is the fourth episode of the
fifteenth season of the American animated television series ''
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'', and the 213th episode of the series overall. "T.M.I." premiered in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
on May 18, 2011. The episode centers on
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom '' South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main chara ...
being sent to an anger management class after he protests what he mistakenly believes to be the school's publicizing the male students' penis sizes. "T.M.I." was written and directed by series co-creator
Trey Parker
Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. P ...
, and was rated
TV-MA
The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the television industry and the federal communication commission (FCC), and went ...
-L in the United States.
Plot
At South Park Elementary,
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom '' South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main chara ...
has a meltdown in the cafeteria, swearing over the publicly posted results of the students' annual school physicals, which document how much each student has grown in height, mistakenly understanding them to be a list of all the boys'
penis sizes. Embarrassed because his number is the smallest, and shorter than his real length, he organizes the measurement all of his male schoolmates' penises and posts his own findings in the hall. He is then called to
Principal Victoria
''South Park'' is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. The ongoing narrative revolves around five children, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCor ...
's office, who explains what the first list actually documented
height
Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is).
For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is abou ...
differentials. To make matters worse, Cartman has found that his
penis
A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do n ...
really is the smallest of all the boys in the school. Principal Victoria observes that Cartman's habit of
overreacting, and his tendency to be quick to anger, has often led to such situations, and this time, he did this to himself. She refers him to a consultation session with a psychiatrist, who tests him to see how he deals with anger. While the psychiatrist tries to incite him into anger with insults about his
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
, Cartman calmly sends some text messages. The psychiatrist then receives a phone call from his wife, who informs him that she just received a text from someone named
Mitch Connor, implicating him in an affair with a 14-year-old girl, before committing
suicide by gunshot
A suicide method is any means by which a person chooses to end their life. Suicide attempts do not always result in death, and a nonfatal suicide attempt can leave the person with serious physical injuries, long-term health problems, and brai ...
while on the phone. Cartman then menacingly replies to the psychiatrist, "I'm not fat; I'm big-boned."
Soon after, Cartman is sent to an
anger management
Anger management is a psycho-therapeutic program for anger prevention and control. It has been described as deploying anger successfully.Schwarts, Gil. July 2006. Anger Management', July 2006 The Office Politic. Men's Health magazine. Emmaus, PA: ...
class, which he shares with a number of other people, such as
Tuong Lu Kim
'' South Park'' is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. The ongoing narrative revolves around five children, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny M ...
,
Michael the tall Goth and a member of the
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...
. It soon becomes apparent that every person in the class has issues with their penis size (even the masculine female of the group). Meanwhile,
Randy Marsh
Randall Gilbert Marsh (born April 8, 1949) is an American former umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1981 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues from 2000 to 2009. Marsh wore the uniform number 30.
Major Lea ...
gives a talk to the fourth grade class about human sexual behavior, presenting a ridiculously complicated formula for calculating "adjusted penis size" — or "T.M.I." — that transforms his below average penis length to above average. Soon afterward, the
Surgeon General of the United States
The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. Th ...
delivers her own talk to correct Randy's inaccurate information, presenting the government's official but equally bizarre T.M.I. formula that prompts Randy to beat her up in front of the class. This results in his attending Cartman's anger management class, where the two of them incite the group to riot against the federal government.
They take over a
FedEx
FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...
shipping center, mistakenly believing it to be a government office, Randy names their group the "Pissed Off and Angry Party" and presents their demands to a national television audience: the resignation of the Surgeon General,
Obama's birth certificate
During Barack Obama's campaign for president in 2008, throughout his presidency and afterwards, there was extensive news coverage of Obama's religious preference, birthplace, and of the individuals questioning his religious belief and citi ...
, "moms to stop trippin'", and to "fuck
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 ...
". The movement spreads around the country, with other FedEx locations being taken over. Even
Butters joins in when his T.M.I. falls in the smaller range. In response, Cartman's psychiatrist develops a theory that the true source of everyone's anger is their embarrassment over their very small penis size. After he informs the Surgeon General, she addresses the nation on TV. She says that although the government's formula for calculating T.M.I. is accurate, the national "average" value has been re-defined downward to . The violent movement instantly breaks up, since every man involved now falls into the "above average" range—except for Cartman, whose penis remains under the new average. Cartman's frustrated remarks are dismissed by the Pissed Off and Angry Party's former members as they proclaim that "America is back!"
Reception
In its original American broadcast on May 18, 2011, "T.M.I." was seen by 2.415 million viewers, according to
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
.
''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'',
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
, and ''Assignment X'' all gave "T.M.I." generally positive reviews. Sean O'Neal of ''The A.V. Club'' rated the episode A− and praised it as a character-based episode "that managed to turn the minute, ridiculous happenings in a small Colorado town into a microcosm of what's going on in the country." Ramsey Iser of IGN called "T.M.I." "a solid episode with plenty to like" but not "top of the line ''South Park'' material", giving a rating of 8 out of 10. Carl Cortez of ''Assignment X'' wrote that "T.M.I." was "not perfect, but good", and compared it favorably with the two preceding episodes. He praised it for its simplicity and "the inspired lunacy that makes ''South Park'' so great".
References
External links
"T.M.I."Full episode at South Park Studios
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tmi
Human penis
South Park (season 15) episodes
Fiction about FedEx