South Park Season 29 Just Found The Funniest Replacement For Kenny

The following contains spoilers for episode 4 of “South Park” Season 29, “Guinea Pig on a Stick.”

Season 29 of “South Park” has been a hilarious experiment. After three decades, the adult animated comedy has officially changed its name to “South America,” mirroring the titular town changing its name in reference to the sitting President of the United States renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario. After Season 28 took on some shockingly big targets, mostly involving AI and the Trump administration, the current season has taken on billionaires, data centers, the e-bike craze, “looksmaxxing” and “aura farming,” and even the beef crisis in the U.S.

Back in the season premiere, “South Park” even brought back Mike Judge as the unmuffled voice of Kenny McCormick — only to kill him yet again in that same episode. We haven’t seen Kenny since then, and it appears the show will not bring him back this season. Still, the show must go on, and it seems “South Park” has found the funniest replacement possible.

It’s none other than Randy Marsh, father of Stan Marsh. Yes, the adult man with a mustache and a drinking problem is now a main member of the South Park gang, and it works surprisingly well. That’s because Randy is now the size and look of a 10-year-old (though still with a mustache) thanks to an overuse of anti-aging creams from Sephora in Episode 3 of the new season. It’s ridiculous, it’s very funny, and it’s pure “South Park America.”

One of the biggest issues with “South Park” the last 10 years or so has been the increased focus on Randy Marsh. This alone isn’t inherently an issue, as Randy is the focus of some of the all-time best “South Park” episodes, like “The Losing Edge” (an episode that gets referenced in last week’s episode of the current season). But a problem arose when writers decided to stick Randy up in his weed farm and separate him from the rest of the town. It was funny for the first couple of episodes, but season after season it quickly lost steam.

So, when Randy finally sold the farm and moved the family back to South Park/South America, things finally were on the right track. Last week, Randy got into looksmaxxing and transformed into a 4th grader, which was funny, but not a big part of the plot. That changed this week, when it became obvious that Randy was going to remain a 4th grader for a while longer. He’s even referred to throughout the episode as Little Randy, and is an integral part of the story of the episode alongside Stan, Kyle, and Cartman. This results in some hilarious scenes of Stan being angry at his dad for trying too hard to act cool (like when he shows off his Italian brainrot on Roblox) or for being drunk at school.

Little Randy feels like a uniquely “South Park” way of doing something like “Pickle Rick” from “Rick and Morty,” both a dumb one-off gimmick and one of that show’s deepest episodes. Little Randy could have been a one-off silly gag about how childish Randy is, but instead the show turns him into an essential part of the story and of the kids’ dynamic.

This is important, because one common criticism of “South Park” is how disconnected the adult and kids’ storylines feel. Having Little Randy, however, bridges the two. It allows Randy to still be involved in the adult stories because he knows that world, such as in this week’s episode when he is the one that suggests the boys try going to a farm to investigate the lack of beef in South America. Plus, seeing Randy be his beer-chugging self at middle school is inherently funny, and adds a new dynamic to the nearly 30-year-old show by placing him with the other 4th graders, especially now that Stan has to be constantly embarrassed by his father hanging around.

The fact that Little Randy is older also allows “South Park” to humorously explore current slang and references in an organic way. There’s a lot of potential to mine with Randy being both a kid and an adult for the remainder of the season. If Kenny is gone, at least we have Little Randy.