Mr. Hankey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo redirects here. For the episode, see Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo (episode)

*South Park* character
Mr. Hankey

Gender:	Male
Hair:	None
Age:	Unknown
Job:	Spreading joy on Christmas
Religion:	Unknown
First appearance:	Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo
Voiced by:	Trey Parker

In the television series South Park, Mr. Hankey, the "Christmas Poo", voiced by Trey Parker, is a talking piece of human feces; a scatological counterpart to Santa Claus but with the lighthearted flair of 1960s-era Rankin & Bass holiday specials. He emerges from the toilet bowl on Christmas Eve and brings presents to good boys and girls whose diet has been high in fiber. He is especially close to Kyle, consoling him during his Christmas-Hanukkah depression and generally appears to help the boys out with something or gives them advice.

In his first appearance, he appeared anthropomorphic only to Kyle and Chef, symbolising that Mr. Hankey has to be believed in to exist, although he often leaves a trail behind that is attributed by the adults to antisocial behavior by Kyle. Due to his physical state, he can only emerge from the sewers during the Christmas season or he will dry up and die. In one episode where Mr. Hankey is revived from near death, it is revealed that Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls have healing qualities for him. Mr. Hankey has appeared in at least four Christmas episodes, and inspired an actual retail CD Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics in which he has his own theme song. In one episode, he departed from the Christmas theme to drive a snooty indie film festival out of town with a tornado made of sewage, in a parody of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

His trademark line is a high-pitched "Howdy-ho!" To bring the joy of Christmas around the world and his main mode of conveyance is the PooChoo Train, a train made of raw sewage. His voice is nearly identical to that of Towelie, another character from South Park. When he comes out of the toilet he sings his Mr. Hankey song. Mr. Hankey also has a wife named Autumn, as well as three kids named Simon, Cornwallis, and Amber. Simon was born with a single peanut lodged in his head, causing him to be retarded. The other children are normal.

John Kricfalusi (creator of Ren and Stimpy) threatened to sue Parker and Stone, claiming that Mr.Hankey is a facsimile of his character, Nutty the Nutmeg Poop. Trey Parker, who created Mr. Hankey, has denied it. Mr. Hankey was created, according to Trey Parker, because his father scared him into flushing the toilet as a young child else suffer a bite from Mr. Hankey. This was revealed in the season 2 VHS/DVD interview. Matt Stone claimed he finally revealed to Trey that this was a falsehood when they met at college.

Mr Hankey has made many appearances on unrelated television shows, including brief appearances in Top 100 Cartoon Characters (2006), Desperate Housewives (2006), Mission Impossible 3 (2006) and Family Guy (2005). His exploits are not limited to the USA; multiple appearances on the UK's You are what you eat and Eurotrash and reputedly a two-minute section in the hugely popular Life on Mars series 2.