About Tuesday Night

Last night's episode of South Park, "About Last Night," was all about the election results. With lines from Obama and McCain's speeches, it was clear they really made the thing in just one day. Impressive. For anyone interested, you can watch it here.

South Park may have undervalued the significance of the election, but nonetheless created an amusing episode. Having Obama and McCain be Clooney and Pitt in an Ocean's 11 style diamond theft plot didn't seem like the funniest of available options, but it did provide some amusing moments. Best was Sarah Palin revealing her folksiness as an act after telling the press she can run for VP again in 2009. Michelle Obama not really being married to Barack was sort of funny, but the mention of his grandmother went too far.

More relevant were the storylines of the supporters. There seems no better way to make people look stupid than to have Randy Marsh be their representative. But in mocking Obama supporters for all their celebrations, the show didn't acknoledge that they had pretty good cause for doing so. Funnier was the response of the McCain supporters, fighting their way into bomb shelters like in a disaster movie.

As much as South Park mocks the political process and partisan politics especially, they did end the episode on a bit of an up note. With Obama deciding to stick it out as president after the diamond heist and the McCain supporters coming out of the bomb shelter and realizing they are going to be ok, South Park may have come as close to supporting a president as they ever will. About Last Night may not be up there with Trapped in the Closet or Something Walmart This Way Comes as one of South Park's strongest zeitgeist episodes, but it does show South Park is always best when covering current events.