Since debuting in 1997, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s South Park has been expanding its cast list. It primarily focuses on the quartet of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny, but others have occasionally come in to take the spotlight. For instance, Butters, Tweek, Timmy, Jimmy, and Stan’s dad, Randy Marsh. And, of those aforementioned characters, the one who has arguably become as much a main character as the quartet is Randy (though Butters, too, has become a lead).

And in truth, this expansion has proved to be a mixed bag. For a while there, Randy’s domination of the B-plots (and, sometimes, A-plots) was a can’t-lose situation. But then, he became as important to the show as the quartet. The effect started to wear off, especially once his intelligence seemed to dip with each subsequent appearance. The show has corrected this course a bit, but here’s the evolution of Randy Marsh, for better and worse.

The Early Days of South Park

Each episode of South Park’s first season is important. And, in the case of what is arguably the year’s weakest, “Volcano,” it was the introduction of Randy. That said, while he was established as a geologist, he wasn’t yet established as Stan’s dad. That’d take a few more episodes.

In fact, his presence isn’t really felt throughout the first season at all. But, save for Kyle’s mom (who, interestingly, was named Carol at first) and her crusade against Terrance & Phillip, none of the boys’ parents have much of a presence the first year. That would essentially continue through Season 2, but one exception is the sophomore year’s “Clubhouses,” which makes phenomenal use of both of Stan’s parents.

It was in Season 3 that Randy started to get a bit more screen time. Most notably, there’s “Spontaneous Combustion,” an underrated episode that got better with age. That episode and “Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub” stand as rare examples of an early-day episode where Randy guides the action of the A-plot. But, the first time Randy started to receive expansion as a character (AKA became less of just a parent character and more of a memorable presence in the town) was Season 4’s “Something You Can Do with Your Finger.”

South Park’s Randy Starts Getting Some of the Silly Stuff

Season 6 is notable in the series’ run for lacking Kenny. After all, he was “permanently” killed off towards the end of the previous season. This left room for other characters to take the spotlight, namely Butters, then Tweek. But there was some gold for Randy to mine, as well.

Specifically in “Red Hot Catholic Love.” It’s one of the few episodes where Father Maxi had a prominent role, but Randy was the best part of the B-plot. Cartman may have discovered that humans can shove food up their butt and defecate out their mouths, but it’s funniest watching Randy get all excited about it and try.

It was like this in a few episodes from Season 7 and Season 8, AKA Randy doesn’t lead the B-plots, but he’s the episode’s scene stealer. Season 7’s “Red Man’s Greed” and “Grey Dawn” serve as examples because, on the former front, there’s his line “It’s cool on my tongue” when Randy pours beer into his mouth and, on the latter, there’s his running towards the boys from the distance screaming incoherently.

Season 8’s “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes,” “Goobacks,” and “You Got F’d in the A” gave him the purpose of directing the B-plots. In “Wall-Mart,” which features a handful of Randy Marsh’s most memorable freakout moments, he’s the one who demonstrates the town’s residents’ susceptibility to the store’s mysterious charms. In “Goobacks,” he plays holier than thou with his son until it’s his job that’s taken. And, in “You Got F’d in the A,” which is one of the best episodes for Butters fans, Randy’s the one who attempts to educate Stan on what to do in a dance-off (and gets hilariously served himself).

Leading the Occasional A-Plot & Owning the B-Plots in Seasons 9 Through 14

The trajectory that occurred throughout seasons six through eight only became more prominent the following half-decade. In Season 9, Randy led the B-plot of “The Losing Edge” and outright stole the episode in the process. He also did the same for that season’s “Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow.” But it’s “Bloody Mary,” one of South Park’s most controversial episodes, where he got the most screen time and agency. After all, it’s an episode that essentially abandons the concept of a B-plot, with everything revolving around a bleeding statue of the Virgin Mary and Randy’s attempt to get to it to solve his alcoholism instead of, you know, restraining himself.

Season 10’s “Make Love, Not Warcraft” is notable for many reasons, and one of them is the fact that Randy desperately wants to join in on the boys’ activity. Specifically, playing World of Warcraft. Like in “Red Hot Catholic Love” and “Something You Can Do With Your Finger,” it shows that he’s effectively become one of the boys, a far cry from his beginnings as a standard parental figure.

Randy and South Park Jumped the Shark

The issue with having Randy’s brain and personality effectively age in reverse is that there are limits to what’s logically acceptable, even in a show where there’s a war in Imaginationland. By the time Season 18 rolls around, he’s performing “C**k Magic” at a kid’s birthday party, which is hilarious. And yet, that’s the same season that had him dress up as Lorde. It’s an occasionally funny gag (“I am Lorde, ya, ya, ya”), but it’s also pretty bizarre.

That trait would continue in subsequent seasons, e.g., his past obsession with Christopher Columbus in Season 21’s “Holiday Special.” But it was in Season 22, with the establishment of Tegridy Farms, that the character would jump the shark. It’s a fine concept for an episode or two, but it’s effectively become the entirety of Randy’s personality and goals, and even though the show has admitted in one of the Paramount+ specials that the character is basically unrecognizable by this point, the Tegridy Farms aspect hasn’t yet been shaken as of the latest episodes. South Park is streaming on Max and Hulu, with some specials available on Paramount+.