Awesom-O

Did You Know?

• The episode was released on a three-disc DVD set for the eighth season on August 29, 2006, with audio commentaries by Parker and Stone.
• It was also released on the 2-disc DVD collection "A Little Box of Butters".

Plot

Cartman disguises himself in a crude cardboard suit as a robot named "A.W.E.S.O.M.-O 4000" and places himself in a crate from Japan on Butters's doorstep. He befriends Butters while in the robot suit to learn Butters' most embarrassing secrets for blackmail. Butters falls for the trick and reveals personal secrets. Just as Cartman is about to reveal his identity, Butters mentions he knows a secret of Cartman's: a videotape of Cartman doing a Britney Spears dance routine to a life-sized cutout of Justin Timberlake while dressed as her and making out with the cutout, which Butters plans to show the next time Cartman plays a prank. Cartman, terrified, searches desperately for the tape while still in disguise but cannot find it. He begins starving because Butters believes robots do not need to eat, and Butters forces the robot to do all his chores. With Ms. Cartman's agreement, Butters' parents, who know the robot is really Cartman but think it is an elaborate game, let Cartman accompany Butters on a trip to Los Angeles to see his aunt. Cartman, hungry and worn out, eats toothpaste in a bathroom. At Catamount Pictures, two movie producers hire AWESOM-O to create movie ideas; Cartman comes up with over two thousand film concepts, 800 starring Adam Sandler, which the producers find brilliant. The fortune earned is donated to charity by Butters. The U.S. military captures Cartman after a film producer tries to engage in sexual activity with him, and conveys him to a secret base.

Production

"Awesom-O" was produced in three days, one of the shortest production cycles in South Park history, while series co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone attended a wedding in Hawaii. Initial commercials teased a return of Lemmiwinks from Season 6's "The Death Camp of Tolerance", but as the air date neared, the promo was changed to reflect the plot of "Awesom-O". The episode opens with a cold open stating that Lemmiwinks will not appear due to tragic events in Hawaii; Lemmiwinks later returned in the Season 15 episode "Bass to Mouth". The name AWESOM-O derives from Honda's ASIMO humanoid robot. Butters' song "Let Me Tell You About My Robot Friend" is a parody of "Girlfriend" by Harry Nilsson. Parker and Stone have selected it as one of their 15 favorite episodes; Parker noted the situation of Cartman stuck in the robot costume felt original, and Stone highlighted the scene where Cartman eats toothpaste. The episode is regarded as an early satirical prediction of AI slop, satirizing the automation of creative thought producing a flood of lame ideas.