The first celebrity guest star on South Park was voiced by George Clooney, whose performance consisted almost entirely of barks and grunts. In the fourth episode of the show’s debut season, airing on September 3, 1997, Clooney took on the role of a gay dog named Sparky. For the part, the actor only recorded animal noises.
How Clooney Got the Role
Matt Stone and Trey Parker were familiar with George Clooney before they approached him for a role. He had already appeared in films such as From Dusk till Dawn and Batman & Robin, though his greatest recognition came from playing Dr. John Carter on ER. The creators knew him through his efforts promoting their earlier short film “The Spirit of Christmas.”. Clooney had made copies of the tape and distributed them throughout Los Angeles.
When South Park got picked up, the creators called Clooney and asked him to play Sparky. “And they recorded me, and they just had me bark,” Clooney recalled in an interview with Variety.
The Sparky Episode
Stan learns in the episode that it’s “okay to be gay” after finding out his dog is gay. The show’s creators provide most of the voices themselves, including the main four characters, many supporting characters, and plenty of one-offs. Guest stars are rare, and Clooney’s was the first.
Guest Stars Over Time
While The Simpsons frequently brings in guest voice actors from other fields, South Park has relied on them far less often. Some well-known names did turn up during early seasons, including Jay Leno, Jennifer Aniston, and Malcolm McDowell. Musicians also made appearances, among them Robert Smith, Korn, Ozzy Osbourne, Meat Loaf, Primus, and Devo — most of whom came aboard for the Season 2 episode “Chef Aid.”, which centered on music.
In later seasons there were fewer celebrity guests. Bill Hader wrote several episodes and voices some characters across Seasons 15 through 19. Streamer PewDiePie shows up as himself in Season 18, while the musician Sia voices Lorde in that same season. Josh Gad voices a main character in an episode of Season 21.
Trek Parker told fans at a San Diego Comic-Con appearance that he had played Dungeons & Dragons with Elon Musk, who voiced himself in a few episodes during Season 20, which aired in 2016. Since then, more recent episodes have taken some veiled shots at the controversial billionaire.
The Clooney Cameo
Clooney also made a small cameo in the 1999 movie South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. He voices a doctor who tries and fails to save Kenny’s life. The doctor’s lines include the memorable line, “We accidentally replaced your heart with a baked potato. You have about three seconds to live.”
“And they recorded me, and they just had me bark.”
The Show’s Roots
Clooney’s appearance was a reminder of how the show started. The barks and grunts were part of the performance, and they fit the episode’s subject — acceptance of homosexuality — told in the show’s usual irreverent style.
The program has long since stopped depending on well-known guests to carry it.
Source material: “George Clooney's Voice Was Unrecognizable As South Park's First Celebrity Guest Star,” TVLine.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.