Medicinal Fried Chicken
Meanwhile, Randy Marsh gets a medical referral for marijuana by giving himself testicular cancer, which makes his testicles grow to grotesquely huge proportions.
"Medicinal Fried Chicken" was first broadcast when Detroit was considering revising state cannabis laws and restricting fast food eateries.
The episode provided social commentary against both types of laws, and suggested legislating lifestyle choices is ineffective and inevitably leads to black markets.
The illegal fast food market subplot was heavily influenced by the 1983 film Scarface, with Cartman resembling fictional drug lord Tony Montana and KFC founder Colonel Sanders as antagonist Alejandro Sosa.
The episode also included several jokes about Pope Benedict XVI and the child sexual abuse scandals that had been surrounding the Catholic Church at the time.
[1][2] "Medicinal Fried Chicken" received generally positive reviews, with many commentators praising the social commentary and sophomoric testicle jokes alike.
After some research and a few unsuccessful attempts, Randy successfully gives himself testicular cancer by irradiating his scrotum with a microwave oven, making his testicles grow so large that he has to use a wheelbarrow to carry them.
Randy finds that his larger testicles are rather attractive to women, including his wife, Sharon Marsh, so he encourages his friends to also get testicular cancer.
Colorado completely bans marijuana once again and then allows KFC to reopen locations in the state, which are now re-branded as "Medicinal Fried Chicken."
[3] The episode was first broadcast around the same time a great deal of discussion regarding marijuana laws had been generated in Colorado, where South Park is set and where Parker and fellow series co-creator Matt Stone are from.
[4][6] The episode was also based on new Colorado health care laws that threatened to put restrictions on fast food restaurants in the state.
on its exterior signs and resembles the KFC fast food eateries in appearance, which has drawn national media attention to the marijuana dispensary.
[1][2] Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC who died in 1980 but is still used heavily in the chain's advertisements, is portrayed as a living character in "Medicinal Fried Chicken", with his trafficking in illegal fast food likening him to a drug kingpin, and Corbin, Kentucky, the home town of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken, depicted to resemble a South American hacienda/narcoplantation.
[8] "Medicinal Fried Chicken" includes several jokes about Pope Benedict XVI and the child sexual abuse scandals that surrounded the Catholic Church when the episode first aired.
[18] Although a slight drop from the 3.24 million viewers of the previous week's episode, "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs", the viewership for "Medicinal Fried Chicken" was considered a strong showing.
Modell particularly enjoyed that the other South Park men joined Randy in his absurd testicular cancer scheme, but said the Cartman subplot and drug film parody "fell a little flat".
[7] Carlos Delgado of iF Magazine praised the humor, the references to Scarface and the social commentary, of which he said: "The points were smart, articulate, and, in true South Park style, completely off the wall".
