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This page contains trivia for "Fishsticks". Remember, trivia must be factual, provable, and it is always best to cite your source for not-so-obvious trivia. If you would like to dispute a trivia point, please discuss it in the talk page.

Trivia[]

  • According to the DVD commentaries, the central premise of the episode came when series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker had an idea about a salmon dressed as the daredevil Evil Knievel after going to see a salmon jump at a writer's retreat in Seattle. They later drew a connection to the music video for Kanye West's "Touch the Sky", which depicted Kanye West jumping the Grand Canyon while dressed as Evil Knievel, which they later developed into the basis for the episode.
  • Kanye West's response was uncharacteristically humble and understanding, something that surprised both Stone and Parker as well as the mainstream press. Stone and Parker felt that their treatment of West was not nearly as harsh as that of Carlos Mencia. The full response that West posted on his blog follows (the original text was posted entirely in upper case, but has been re-formatted for readability):
South Park murdered me last night and it's pretty funny. It hurts my feelings but what can you expect from South Park! I actually have been working on my ego though. Having the crazy ego is played out at this point in my life and career. I use to use it to build up my esteem when nobody believed in me. Now that people do believe and support my music and products the best response is thank you instead of "I told you so!!!" It's cool to talk shit when you're rapping but not in real life. When you meet Little Wayne in person he's the nicest guy for example.
I just wanna be a doper person which starts with me not always telling people how dope I think I am. I need to just get past myself. Drop the bravado and just make dope product. Everything is not that serious. As long as people think I act like a bitch this type of shit will happen to me. I got a long road ahead of me to make people believe I'm not actually a huge douche but I'm up for the challenge. I'm sure the writers at South Park are really nice people in real life. Thanks for taking the time to draw my crew. That was pretty funny also!! I'm sure there's grammatical errors in this... That's how you know it's me!
  • Kanye West also referenced the episode in some of his later songs, including "Gorgeous" on his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), with the lyrics, "We make 'em say "oh" / 'cause the world so pimpish / Choke a South Park writer with a fish dick" and the track "Made in America" on his album Watch the Throne (2011), with the lyrics "A million hits and the web crashes, damn! / South Park had them all laughing / Now all my n****s designing and we all swaggin'" It was also referenced in a leaked demo of his 2021 song "Life of the Party" which appeared on his deluxe version of his 10th studio album Donda, in which he says "South Park had jokes about fish sticks / 'Til this day the whole team can kiss this dick".
  • This episode aired months before Kanye West's infamous "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you..." controversy at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. In the aftermath of the incident, Comedy Central repeatedly aired this episode for two hours straight.
    • Although this is the reason because Comedy Central and MTV were both owned by Viacom.
  • The arena where Kanye performs at to an audience of people dressed in fish costumes is designed similar to Madison Square Garden in New York.

References to Popular Culture[]

  • The song that plays at the end called "Gay Fish" is a parody of Kanye West's "Heartless". While making the song, the show creators realized that they had to sing off-key in order to make the characteristic auto-tune pitch-shifting sound.
  • Cartman references frozen food manufacturers, Gorton's Fisherman and Va de Kamps as potential buyers for the Fishsticks joke to use in commercials.
  • Comedians who appear in this episode including Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman and Ellen DeGeneres. Several have made prior and subsequent appearances on the show.
  • Carlos Mencia has been accused of stealing jokes in real life. He reportedly has stolen jokes from Joe Rogan, George Lopez, Bill Cosby, Ari Shaffir, Paul Rodriguez, Morgan Murphy and D.L. Hughley.
  • Cartman mistakes Kanye for rapper Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. Puff Daddy appeared in the episode "Douche and Turd" in order to try to force Stan to vote.
  • Cartman saying "Flame on!" and setting himself aflame to defeat the Jewbots is a reference to the Fantastic Four character "The Human Torch".
  • "Hava Nagila", a Jewish folksong, can be heard when Cartman envisions an army of Jew-Bots.

Deleted Ending[]

Kanye_West_Gay_Fish_Alternative_Ending

Kanye West Gay Fish Alternative Ending

Alternate Ending

In a deleted scene from South Park: The Complete Thirteenth Season DVD, Kanye West died from being in the water too much. The coast guard retrieved his body and it was revealed that his body was bloated, with his eyes bulging and him smiling oddly. The scene ends with the coast guard closing his eyes.

Dubbing Changes[]

International Titles[]

Language Title Translation
Czech Rybí koule Fishsticks
French Bite au nez de poisson
German Leck mich am Stäbchen Lick my (fish)stick
Hungarian Halrudi
Italian Bastoncini di pesce Fishsticks
Latvian Zivju Nūjiņas Fishsticks
Polish Rybie filety Fishsticks


  1305: "Fishsticks" edit
Story Elements

Fishsticks JokeKanye WestEllen DeGeneresThe Ellen DeGeneres Show • "Gay Fish"

Media

ImagesScriptExtrasWatch Episode

Release

South Park: The Complete Thirteenth Season

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