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“Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo”
South Park episode
Mr. Hankey about to be flushed down the toilet.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 10
Written by	Trey Parker Matt Stone
Directed by	Trey Parker Matt Stone
Production no.	110
Original airdate	December 17, 1997
Season 1 episodes
South Park - Season 1 August 13, 1997 – February 25, 1998
Cartman Gets an Anal Probe Weight Gain 4000 Volcano Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig Death Pink Eye Damien Starvin' Marvin Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo Tom's Rhinoplasty Mecha-Streisand Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut
	Season 2 →
List of South Park episodes

"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the tenth episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park which originally aired on December 17, 1997.

Related article: Christmas controversy

This Christmas-themed episode of South Park opens as the children rehearse their Christmas play. They are performing a Christian Nativity, and when Kyle's mother hears of this, she is angered by the play, because her son, a Jew, plays the role of Joseph. Mrs. Broflovski is offended by the Christian imagery, and demands that the religious elements be taken out of the public school Christmas pageant. Kyle suggests they celebrate Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo as a non-religious substitute, but since he is the only one who believes in Mr. Hankey, his suggestion is rejected.

Mrs. Broflovski's demands trigger uproar in the town, and so it is decided that anything offensive to anyone will be removed from the Christmas celebrations, including Santa Claus, wreaths, trees, stars, lights, and candy canes. Kyle is embarrassed by his mother's actions, and turns to Mr. Hankey for solace, who, it turns out, is a real-life talking piece of poo. Kyle tries to introduce Mr. Hankey to the masses, but no one believes in him, and most are in fact horrified at the idea of a talking piece of poo. Kyle's efforts result in mishaps, such as flinging Mr. Hankey (who looks like a normal piece of poo to everyone else) at Cartman and slipping feces into Mr. Mackey's coffee. Mr. Mackey declares Kyle a "clinically depressed fecalphiliac on Prozac" and Kyle's friends have him committed.

Ultimately, the school Christmas pageant is stripped of all semblance of Christmas, as anything that does resemble Christmas is deemed offensive by someone. Instead, the children present a minimalist song and dance created by Philip Glass. The parents, astounded by how awful the pageant is, begin blaming one another for destroying Christmas, and a fight breaks out. Finally, Mr. Hankey reveals himself to everyone, and scolds everyone, saying that in spending so much time trying to find what's wrong with Christmas, they forgot everything that was "so right about it" — singing songs, cookies and goodwill towards men. The townspeople release Kyle from the asylum and apologize, and they all watch Mr. Hankey fly away with Santa Claus.

This is the first episode in which Kenny doesn't die. During the course of the episode, Kenny is told to unplug Christmas lights (plugs are by a dripping water tap), and also to climb to the top of a ladder to remove a star hanging above the stage with a shark tank below him, two actions where Kenny does risk his life. At the end of the episode, Stan and the others comment on something not being quite right, as if something is wrong with the end picture. When the words "The End" appear before the credits, Kenny cheers in relief.

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Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo (South Park episode)

• After the children's choir finishes singing, the episode opens with Stan arriving on the stage and reciting the story of the birth of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, in much the same manner as Linus did in the famous "A Charlie Brown Christmas" special.
• Three popular South Park songs debuted in this episode: "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", "Kyle's Mom is a Stupid Bitch" and "The Lonely Jew on Christmas".
• Just after the fight at the Christmas play, there is a fake live-action commercial for the "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo Playset". It features a family of a mom, her son and two daughters. The mom uses a fish net to recover a piece of feces from their toilet, and they dress it up with clothes and accessories from the set. The baby daughter then eats the Mr. Hankey. It is edited in syndication, though.
• After this episode aired, John Kricfalusi, of Ren and Stimpy fame, accused Parker and Stone of ripping off a character from his George Liquor flash cartoons called Nutty the happy dump. However, the court ruled out the case as "too ridiculous". Ironically, the episode actually featured a reference to Ren and Stimpy when Mr. Mackey calls Kyle a "sick little monkey".
• During the beginning of the credit roll the credits quickly cut off and show a scene at the Public Access Station. Inside Jesus is in a room alone, singing happy birthday to himself. He then blows out the candles and the credits continue. The fact that no one is there acknowledges the fact that everyone in town forgot that Christmas is Jesus's birthday. This could possibly be what Stan believed they were forgetting, as when Kenny dies they see it as 'unexpected'.

• "Mr.Hankey the Christmas Poo" at South Park Studios