Orange County, CA — According to a new tell-all book, the creator of the Comedy Central show South Park based the popular character Eric Cartman on his childhood guinea pig. The book Everything You Wanted to Know About South Park But Were Afraid to Ask was written by Orange County native Britney Ballserly after conducting over 400 hours of taped interviews with Mr. Stone and his partner Trey Parker.
“The guinea pig was named Eric Cartman,” said Matt Stone, speaking with Mr. Ballserly, recalling a troubling moment during his childhood. “We thought he was laughing for two weeks straight. Then he died.”
The book, released later this summer, discusses the origins of all the South Park characters, including Kyle Broflovski, modeled after an elderly family friend who survived the Holocaust. Stan Marsh is loosely based on a vagrant who used to buy underage pair alcohol at a local 7-eleven. Kenny was based on the neighborhood kids who sometimes survived long enough to give them names. Of course, they eventually died anyway, like Kenny and the guinea pig.
“It’s clear that the pair [Stone and Parker] has had many deaths in their young lives—a lot,” said Ms. Ballserly, speaking of her encounters with the South Park creators. “It’s what gave them their dark sense of humor and Stone’s irrational fear of rodents.”
According to Ms. Ballserly, Mr. Stone has never been able to have another pet. However, Trey Parker is an avid collector of animals, with his favorites being feral cats and ferrets.
