"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park.

The episode follows Kyle as he feels excluded from the town's Christmas celebrations due to being Jewish, finding solace in Mr. Hankey, a sentient piece of feces.

It was watched by 4.55 million viewers during its original broadcast, the highest Nielsen rating to that date for South Park and the fourth-highest overall for a basic cable entertainment program of 1997.

John Kricfalusi, the creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, accused Parker and Stone of plagiarizing his idea, which the duo vehemently denied.

In response to Mr. Garrison's question, Kyle suggests the "Mr. Hankey" song as a secular substitute, but is rejected because no one else believes in its eponymous subject, a living piece of feces.

The night of the play arrives, and with the performance stripped of all Christmas symbols, the children instead present a minimalist song and dance by Philip Glass.

[3] Parker shared the concept with future South Park co-creator Matt Stone when the two met at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the duo immediately knew they wanted to create a film or production involving Mr.

Parker and Stone never made the short film, but practically all of its elements were included in the future South Park episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", with the notable exception of the ending.

After the shorts began to generate interest for a possible television series, Parker and Stone conceived the idea of an adult-animated show with four children as main protagonists, and one of the minor characters included a talking stool named Mr. Hankey.

They contacted the Fox Broadcasting Company about the show's concept, and the network arranged a meeting with the duo at its office in Century City to discuss how it would proceed.

[5][6][7] After Comedy Central expressed interest in the series, Parker and Stone brought up the idea of a Mr. Hankey episode during negotiations with the network executives.

The unsuccessful efforts by the South Park Elementary School in the episode to include people of non-Christian denomination were inspired by similarly failed attempts Parker and Stone witnessed growing up.

[3] "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was written and directed by Parker and Stone, and first aired in the United States on Comedy Central on December 17, 1997.

[13] At the time they were writing the episode, Parker and Stone had seen a large number of news reports about government buildings refusing to allow the display of models of the nativity scene and other Christian holiday symbols, in an effort not to offend other religions.

Comedy Central officials would not allow the scene in the episode and it was changed to portray the idea that the baby had already eaten the stool off-camera, which Parker said he felt was actually funnier.

The episode was also the first time Mr. Garrison was portrayed as an anti-semite and racist, particularly when he asks Mayor McDaniels if she can get rid of all the Mexicans in South Park.

York University Professor Alison Halsall said of this aspect of the episode, "Again, Parker and Stone blur the sacred and the profane, in this instance, to gut holidays of their traditional meanings.

[22][23] M. Keith Booker, author of Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy, said although the episode is irreverent in its treatment of Christmas, "even if spearheaded by a singing turd, [it] is about as close as South Park ever comes to being sentimental and nostalgic".

"[25] Alison Halsall said "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the strongest example of a history of scatology, the study of excrement, throughout the South Park series.

[28] Larry Lieberman, the channel's vice president of strategic planning and new business development, said a sketch of a Mr. Hankey candy bar was drawn and circulated, but mainly as a joke; he said no serious discussions were held about producing such an item.

[11] A doctor prescribes Prozac, a real life antidepressant, to Kyle for his apparent love for feces, which he describes as "fecalphilia", a condition perhaps better known by the medical term coprophilia.

"[3] Following the success of "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", a large number of celebrities started contacting Comedy Central with the hopes of making guest appearances in South Park episodes.

This allowed Parker and Stone to practically take their pick of guest stars, and led to appearances by Natasha Henstridge in "Tom's Rhinoplasty" and Robert Smith in "Mecha-Streisand".

[35] Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, author of Taking South Park Seriously, said, "This episode arguably pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable, both for Christmas specials and television in general, farther than any previous one."

[28] Jacobs also said Mr. Hankey was so popular, he half-jokingly suggested Matt Stone and Trey Parker pursue a spin-off revolving around the character.

[41] Virginia Rohan of The Record said she liked Kyle's song and some of Kenny's antics, but that the episode was not as funny as The Spirit of Christmas shorts.

[42] In October 2004, the Comedy Central website held a poll to determine the top 27 South Park episodes for a television marathon; "Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo" came third, just behind "Good Times with Weapons" at #2 and "Fat Butt and Pancake Head" at #1.

"[1] Kricfalusi said he felt other elements of South Park were lifted from his work, and he told media outlets his company Spümcø was contemplating taking legal action against Parker and Stone.

[32] Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said Stone and Parker were not familiar with "Nutty the Friendly Dump" and that the claim was "ludicrous".

[45] Parker said Kricfalusi eventually contacted the South Park creators, "He wrote a letter back saying, 'Oh, OK, I see how it could just be a coincidence, but you should just admit to the press that you're a big Ren and Stimpy fan.'