The F-You ‘South Park’ Episode and the Precarious State of Comedy in 2025

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 847 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

LIVE SHOW in Los Angeles on August 27. ⁠⁠Click here for tickets! Matt is joined by Mosaic’s Michael Lasker to talk about the explosive new 'South Park' episode, the buzz around town, and how Matt Stone and Trey Parker continue to push the envelope and get away with it (02:38). Later, Michael explains what the market is like for comedy right now, what is being sold, what studios are looking for, why theatrical comedies are struggling, the pullback on sitcoms, and whether there is reason for optimism (07:29). For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Email us your thoughts! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Host: Matt BelloniGuest: Michael Lasker Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie LopezTheme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	A reminder before we get to today's show that our next live taping of the town will be on
0:04.3	August 27th in Los Angeles with me and a very, very special guest. We'll be at the L-Rate
0:10.0	theater in L.A., and tickets are on sale now at the ringer.com slash events. Again, that is
0:15.2	Wednesday, August 27th. Just click on the link in this episode description to get your tickets.
0:21.1	Hope to see you there.
0:23.2	I've rolled out uni because I want to live at home.
0:25.8	I've ruled out uni because I want to earn money.
0:29.1	I've ruled out uni because of my grades.
0:33.4	Study with the Open University and there's no need to rule out anything.
0:37.3	With our respected degrees, you can learn from home and work alongside study.
0:41.3	We're open to all. Plus, you'll have the support of expert tutors.
0:45.3	So rethink your future with the degree you didn't think was possible.
0:49.3	The Open University, the future is open.
0:53.3	It is Thursday, July 24th. For as long as we've been doing this show,
0:58.1	it's been a pretty depressing conversation around comedy and film and TV.
1:02.8	The studios don't think comedies are theatrical anymore, and the streamers don't make that many
1:06.7	because they're global platforms and the genre doesn't travel as far as drama as an action does.
1:11.8	In TV, pilot season is dead.
1:13.8	The broadcast networks are barely making scripted comedies.
1:16.9	I counted six total comedies on the entire fall schedule across the four networks.
1:21.9	Maybe seven if you include Ryan Murphy's 911 show, which is unintentionally funny.
1:26.5	And many of the shows that are considered
	...

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