"No, writing musicals is the hardest thing in the world. And it was really funny, because I remember when the South Park movie came out, there were some critics that said, 'Well it's obvious that in order to get it to be 90 minutes they filled some time with music.'"
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Parker’s complaint lands because it inverts a lazy critical reflex: treating songs as padding, not labor. The joke is surgical. He’s talking about musicals, but he’s really talking about how certain reviewers signal seriousness by distrusting pleasure. If dialogue is “story” and music is “extra,” then anything that breaks the realist frame gets filed under indulgence. Parker, a writer who built a career on weaponized silliness, is calling that bluff.
The first sentence is a provocateur’s absoluteness: “the hardest thing in the world.” It’s hyperbole with a purpose. Musical writing isn’t just joke-writing plus melody; it’s narrative engineering under stricter physics. Songs have to carry plot, character, rhythm, and emotional escalation while sounding inevitable, not dutiful. When it works, it feels effortless, which is exactly why outsiders assume it’s filler. Parker is pointing to a perversity in cultural reception: difficulty is often mistaken for ease when the craft disappears.
His South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut example sharpens the subtext. The critics’ line reveals a suspicion that animation, comedy, and musical theatre are inherently unserious, so any formal flourish must be there to hide thin storytelling. Parker flips that: the songs are the storytelling. He’s also defending comedy as composition, not improvisation - a medium where timing and structure are everything.
Underneath the sarcasm is a quiet flex: the musical numbers didn’t “fill” time; they earned it. And the fact that people missed that is the punchline he’s still enjoying.
The first sentence is a provocateur’s absoluteness: “the hardest thing in the world.” It’s hyperbole with a purpose. Musical writing isn’t just joke-writing plus melody; it’s narrative engineering under stricter physics. Songs have to carry plot, character, rhythm, and emotional escalation while sounding inevitable, not dutiful. When it works, it feels effortless, which is exactly why outsiders assume it’s filler. Parker is pointing to a perversity in cultural reception: difficulty is often mistaken for ease when the craft disappears.
His South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut example sharpens the subtext. The critics’ line reveals a suspicion that animation, comedy, and musical theatre are inherently unserious, so any formal flourish must be there to hide thin storytelling. Parker flips that: the songs are the storytelling. He’s also defending comedy as composition, not improvisation - a medium where timing and structure are everything.
Underneath the sarcasm is a quiet flex: the musical numbers didn’t “fill” time; they earned it. And the fact that people missed that is the punchline he’s still enjoying.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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