Chef (South Park)
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| Image:Chefpic.gif | |
| Jerome "Chef" McElroy Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Male |
| Hair: | Black |
| Age: | Unknown |
| Job: | Cafeteria worker at South Park Elementary |
| Religion: | Briefly converted to Islam in "Chef Goes Nanners" |
| First Appearance: | "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" |
| Last Appearance: | "The Return of Chef!" |
| Voiced By: | Isaac Hayes |
Jerome "Chef" McElroy Jr. was a recurring character on the Comedy Central series South Park. He was voiced by Isaac Hayes. The character was killed off following controversy with Hayes, who left the show.
Contents |
[edit] About Chef
Chef, as his nickname implies, is a school cafeteria cook at the South Park Elementary School. He was usually the only adult that the main characters on the show (Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick) consistently asked for advice. A typical introduction goes as such:
- Chef: Hello there, children!
- Kids (in unison): Hey Chef.
- Chef: How's it going?
- One or all of kids: Bad.
- Chef: Why bad?
One of the children then explained to him their problem. Chef used the word "children" often, even for the singular (for example, he referred to Eric Cartman as "children" in "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut," Stan Marsh as "children" in "Kenny Dies," and Butters Stotch as "children" in "Simpsons Already Did It"). He also tended to use "fudge" as a euphemism, particularly in early episodes.
While most of the inhabitants of South Park are white, Chef was one of the very few residents in town who is black; in fact the only other black people to consistently live in South Park are Token and his parents, who are not prominent characters until the fourth season. As a result, Chef (usually goodnaturedly, though not always) referred to most people in town with the racial slur "crackas," including the children.
Aside from cooking, Chef was passionate about singing - he wrote the song "Stinky Britches" which was later covered by Alanis Morissette - and "making sweet love down by the fire". He was based on such 1970s African-American singers as Isaac Hayes (who voiced him) and Barry White. Often, he agrees to give the boys advice in the form of songs, but winds up singing about having sex. Over time, however, like many earlier characters on the show, his role has diminished, and in later seasons he does not sing much even when he does appear.
Despite his preoccupations with women and sex, Chef is generally one of the few level-headed adults in South Park. In addition to dispensing advice to "the children", Chef spoke out against outrageous ideas, and has helped save South Park/the world in general from several disasters. However, Chef is not above performing nonsensical acts, such as buying a fancy TV that he can't even program (and that eventually turns into a combat robot).
In earlier seasons, Chef was often approached by the children when they were unfamiliar with a sexual term or practice. This happened so often that it got on Chef's nerves, several times he would say things like "Goddammit, children, why do I always have to be the one to teach you these things?", but go on to explain to them whatever they wanted to know anyway.
Chef’s last name suggests he could be at least partially of some Celtic descent, and indeed his parents live in Edinburgh, Scotland (see 'Parents' below).
In the episode "Chef Goes Nanners" he briefly converted to Islam (possibly the Nation of Islam), and adopted the name Abdul Mohammed Jabar Rauf Kareem Ali.
In the episode "The Return of Chef" he dies after joining the Super Adventure Club, but is later resurrected in that same episode as Darth Chef.
[edit] Parents
- Main article: Chef's Parents
Chef's parents first appeared in the episode; "The Succubus", when they came over from Scotland for Chef's wedding. They told the boys of their many encounters with the Loch Ness Monster, and his attempts to swindle $3.50 ("tree-fiddy") out of them by dressing up as a girl scout and an alien, and even using young Chef by posing as his imaginary friend.
Chef's folks also made another appearance in "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", where they try and save Cartman's 'time' by extracting Kenny's soul from inside him. Chef's mother also offers "tree-fiddy" to Kenny to leave Cartman, to which his father replies "Now don't go offerin' the soul no tree-fiddy woman!"
The two were not seen amungst those who attended thier son's funeral.
[edit] Hayes quits South Park
On March 13, 2006, Isaac Hayes was reported to have quit South Park over objections to the show's attitudes toward and depiction of various religions, claiming that the show had crossed the line from satire into intolerance. Despite the content of the official press release, however, there remains considerable speculation about the motivations behind his departure. Many believe that he quit due to the controversial episode "Trapped in the Closet", and its treatment of Scientology, as Hayes is a practicing Scientologist. Series co-creator and writer Matt Stone commented in a manner that suggested that Hayes practiced a double standard regarding the treatment of religion on South Park: "[We] never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin." [1] Others have suggested that Hayes left the show because of external pressure and that the decision was not voluntary. It was eventually reported, however, that Hayes did not quit the show, but that the original press release announcing his departure was put out by someone who was not authorized to represent him. As recently as January 4, 2006, Hayes defended South Park's style of controversial humor to The Onion's AV Club and XM's Opie and Anthony Show, going so far as to note that although he was not pleased with the show's inaccurate depiction of Scientology, he "understand[s] what [Matt and Trey] are doing." It has also been reported that Hayes suffered a stroke in the middle of January 2006 and may not be in a position to make major decisions for himself. The author or authors of the original press release remain unclear. [2][3] [4][5]
[edit] Death
The fate of the Chef character was revealed in the Season 10 premiere, in which voice clips taken from previous episodes were linked together to form new dialogue to support the plot of "The Return of Chef". In the episode, Chef is brainwashed into becoming a child molester by "Super Adventure Club", an organization which combines outdoors activities with bizarre religious beliefs (some of which seem akin to those held by the real-life Church of Scientology) and pedophilia.
At the end of the episode, Chef is burned, battered, impaled, shot, his face (including one eyeball) pulled off and limbs torn apart by a grizzly bear and a mountain lion (mountain lions in particular have previously served in South Park as agents of purification, most notably in the episode "Woodland Critter Christmas"), and he finally defecates as he dies.
The town holds a moving memorial service for him, in which Kyle gives a eulogy stating, "We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving, we should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains" - most likely a reference to Hayes and Scientology.
[edit] Darth Chef
Chef's body is secretly recovered by the Super Adventure Club, who manage to revive him as a "Darth" Chef, mimicking the ending to Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. He is revived by Super Adventure Club in a Darth Vader-like suit (albeit with a helmet similar to a chef's hat) and is given a red spatula lightsaber. After that, the Super Adventure Club leader begins the scene, which parodies Revenge of the Sith:
- Leader: Chef, can you hear me? Say Something!
- Darth Chef (With a respirator-assisted Vader-like breathing): Hello there, children. How would you like some salisbury steak?
- Leader: Yes, go on!
- Darth Chef: And for dessert, how would you children like to suck on my chocolate salty balls?
- Leader: Oh, you mean like a chocolate candy?
- Darth Chef: No, I mean my balls!
The leader is very happy about Darth Chef's reply and responds with an evil "yes...yeeeessss...hahahahaHA!!"
Currently, Darth Chef's voice is provided by Peter Serafinowicz, who voiced Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It is not yet known whether Darth Chef will be a recurring character.
Darth Chef appears along with many other characters in the background of the South Park opening sequence. It should be noted the name "Darth Chef" has been unanimously accepted by fans, but is never actually mentioned on the show (it is, however, mentioned on the official website).
[edit] Trivia
- Chef is based on a residence hall cafeteria worker at the University of Colorado at Boulder where Trey Parker and Matt Stone attended college. Chef still works there today, and is often seen at Libby Hall in the summers and winter, and Sewall Hall in the spring.[citation needed]
- Another story states that Chef originated from an acid trip while Matt Stone and Trey Parker were filming Cannibal! The Musical in 1993. They ran into a fat black man who held his arms out (like Chef) and said "Watch the children, y'all gots to watch the children!" [6] (Scroll down to the "In Production" section)
[edit] See also
[edit] External Links
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main characters | |||||
| Stan Marsh | Kyle Broflovski | Eric Cartman | Kenny McCormick | Butters Stotch | |||||
| Family members | |||||
| Gerald and Sheila Broflovski | Grampa Marsh | Ike | Jimbo Kern | Stuart and Mrs. McCormick | Richard and Mrs. Tweek | Liane Cartman | Randy and Sharon Marsh | Shelley | Stephen and Linda Stotch | Kyle Schwartz | |||||
| List of other South Park residents | |||||
| Big Gay Al | Dr. Doctor | Dr. Mephisto | Mayor McDaniels | Ned Gerblansky | Officer Barbrady | Priest Maxi | Sergeant Yates | Tuong Lu Kim | Mr. Slave | |||||
| South Park Elementary staff and students | |||||
| Students: 6th Graders | Bebe | Clyde | Craig | Dougie | Jimmy | Kevin | Kindergarteners | Pip | Timmy | Token | Tweek | Wendy Staff: Chef | Mr. Adler | Mr. Mackey |Principal Victoria | |||||
| Occasional characters | |||||
| Jesus | Mr. Hankey | Saddam Hussein | Satan | Terrance and Phillip | Towelie | |||||
| Minor characters | |||||
