Smug Alert!

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“Smug Alert!”
South Park episode
Kyle's dad, Gerald, showing off his new hybrid car.
Episode no.	Season 10 Episode 141
Written by	Trey Parker
Original airdate	March 29, 2006
Season 10 episodes
South Park - Season 10 March 22, 2006 – November 15, 2006
The Return of Chef Smug Alert! Cartoon Wars Part I Cartoon Wars Part II A Million Little Fibers ManBearPig Tsst Make Love, Not Warcraft Mystery of the Urinal Deuce Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy Hell on Earth 2006 Go God Go Go God Go XII Stanley's Cup

← Season 9	Season 11 →
List of South Park episodes

Smug Alert! is episode 1002 of South Park. It first aired on March 29, 2006.

1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 Pop culture references
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Kyle's father Gerald buys a new hybrid [Toyonda Pious], and drives around showing it off to everyone; he then begins an unwelcome campaign to convert the other townspeople to environmentally friendly vehicles. He has started to annoy his friend Randy, who complains that Gerald now preachily talks with his eyes closed, and that he almost likes the smell of his own farts. Deciding that they cannot live among such backward attitudes, Gerald decides that the family must move to San Francisco.

Stan is horrified that his best friend is leaving South Park; Gerald tells him that the family will not return to South Park until everyone feels the same way as him about the environment. Meanwhile, Cartman is joyous over Kyle leaving and, after holding a farewell party for Kyle that everyone BUT Kyle is invited to, he decides to fill the void Kyle will be leaving behind by ripping on Butters, whom he now calls a "stupid Jew." Stan, however, coldly predicts to Cartman that, without Kyle around to rip on, his life will be empty. After the Broflovskis leave, Stan writes a song about the importance of hybrid cars, which gets on the radio and, incredibly, causes everyone to drive hybrids (and act as smugly as Gerald about it). Stan is praised for opening everyone's eyes, then meets Ranger McFriendly, protector of the environment, who surprisingly criticizes what Stan has done; for, although smog rates are down, people who drive hybrids create a toxic gas in the air called "smug". South Park now has the second-highest levels in the country, after San Francisco.

In San Francisco, Kyle's father is glad to meet like-minded "progressive" people, who, mid-conversation, loudly fart, bend over and sniff with pleasure, then resume discussing their philosophies. Kyle finds it difficult to fit in with the other kids, who spend their time taking drugs to deal with their parents' "smugginess". Kyle refuses the offer of acid, but after seeing that his dad is even more arrogant than before (sniffing his own fart), Kyle asks for "maybe just half a hit," while Ike asks for three.

The cloud of smug over South Park develops, and begins to combine with that of San Francisco. In a series of scenes parodying the film The Perfect Storm, McFriendly then reveals that the cloud of smug from George Clooney's 78th Academy Awards acceptance speech — which claimed that Hollywood was "ahead of the curve" on social issues — will soon drift into the center of the "super cell" and create "the perfect storm of self-satisfaction", which would heavily damage South Park and completely destroy San Francisco (much to Stan's dismay.) Cartman, meanwhile, finds Butters too nice and, due to his lack of self-esteem, unwilling to defend himself like Kyle, he quickly loses patience and wishes that Kyle would return, just as Stan had predicted.

Stan is forced into helping the town eliminate hybrid cars, but Cartman — desperate to get Kyle back so he can resume hating him — secretly goes to San Francisco with Butters, planning to infiltrate the city and rescue his foe. Afraid of San Francisco's lesbian and hippie movements (which he hates), Cartman wears an "anti-smug suit" (connected to a hose with an air supply managed by Butters). Just as the storm hits, Cartman finds the Broflovskis in their house, completely stoned on acid and smug. The scene fades out. Later, the storm has destroyed thousands of homes in South Park, while San Francisco has "disappeared completely up its own asshole", leading everyone to think Kyle's family is dead; but the Broflovskis reappear, explaining they mysteriously awoke on a bus, and thanking a "guardian angel", not knowing that Cartman saved them. Even though Butters knows about this, Cartman convinces him to keep quiet about it, not wanting to let Kyle know about it.

With all their cars destroyed, the townspeople vow never again to buy hybrids. But Kyle points out that hybrids really are a good thing; the people who drive them should just not be smug about it, or act as if they're above everybody else. But the people admit they are not ready to drive them without being smug — "it's simply asking too much" — so they return to driving SUVs and other high fuel consumption vehicles. Cartman talks to Kyle, saying that everything's back as normal, to which Kyle agrees. Cartman then call Kyle a 'sneaky Jew rat', and in response, Kyle calls Cartman a fatass and storms away. Cartman smiles at this, relieved to have the status quo returned.

[edit] Trivia

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

The hybrid cars seen most in the episode are called the Toyonda Pious and Hindsight, parodying the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight. A Pious station wagon as seen driven by Jimbo, isn't one of the actual model designs for the Prius. The Pious is a subtle jab at the "green religion" form of environmentalism.
On the original television presentation, the first two minutes had an original score. On the DVD release, It was changed to a song.
Though George Clooney and the South Park creators are close friends (voice-over work for the show as well as Clooney's promotion of the short "The Spirit of Christmas" playing a key role in helping the series get off the ground) his political views have caused Stone and Parker to mock him in recent years.
All quotes from the Clooney acceptance speech are the real words he used, although it is Trey Parker saying them rather than actual audio of the speech.
According to the commentary, this episode came directly from the creators' annoyance at people in California with the same attitudes as the people in the episode. One instance in particular involved Trey Parker's mother getting a smuggy compliment one day after receiving a hybrid car from her son as a gift.
The song which is playing in Gerald's car at the beginning of the episode is an original recording of Begin the Beguine from the famous musical Jubilee. The version heard in the episode sounds very similar to that recorded by Artie Shaw.

[edit] Pop culture references

The song Cartman sings at Kyle's going-away party is a slightly altered version of the chorus to Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) by Steam.
Ranger McFriendly is a reference to Officer Friendly from Princess, a Flash cartoon Parker and Stone created.
One of the shops in San Francisco is called Jen and Berry's Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream, which is a parody on Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt. It is shown at the corner of Haight Street and Ashbury Street, where there is an actual Ben & Jerry's.
The song that Stan writes (entitled "People Now") parodies The Youngbloods' "Get Together".
"A Smuggy Day (In San Francisco Town)" is a parody of "A Foggy Day (in London Town)".
This episode was heavily based on a series of commercials for the Volkswagen Passat which aired in mid-2006, where drivers of flashy cars drove around with megaphones announcing the reasons for their vehicle choice. The closing shot shows the rear of a Passat with "Lowest Ego Emissions".
While Stan is writing his song, a poster spoofing Mad Max from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior can be seen on his wall.
The scene where the radio DJ is speaking and you only see the jaw area of his face may be a reference to the female radio DJ from the film The Warriors.
The "perfect storm of self-satisfaction" is a play on words parodying Clooney's film The Perfect Storm.
Kyle's computer screen reveals he is reading the blog of Jason Kottke.
When Kyle and the family first get to San Francisco, the music playing as shots of the city are shown is a parody of the music in Monk (set in San Francisco) complete with the jazz snare at the end of the theme tune.