Kyle Broflovski

Template:South Park character Kyle Broflovski, also spelled Kyle Broflofski, Kyle Broflowski or Kyle Brovlofski, is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. His birthday is on May 26th.

Voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone, Kyle is one of the four central characters, all of whom are eight or nine years old boys. Stone has claimed that Kyle was loosely based on himself when he was younger. His most notable catch phrases are "You bastard(s)!" (following Stan's "Oh my God, you/they/we killed Kenny!"), and "I've learned something today" (usually before the end of an episode), or "suck my balls fat ass" as well as, "No we haven't, dude. No we haven't" after Stan's "Well, I guess we've learned our lesson." Kyle is mostly known for being Jewish, which was not officially revealed until Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo. When angered or frustrated, Kyle has a tendency to clench his fists and growl or yell angrily. Kyle and Eric Cartman share the AB negative blood type, as revealed in the episode Cherokee Hair Tampons. It was also told in this episode that Kyle is a diabetic.

Kyle typically displays higher moral standards than the other boys. Kyle also gets higher grades than his peers, and is the one who views things the most logically. Since Kyle is the more rational of his peers, he usually plays protagonist to Eric Cartman's antagonist. Kyle is on better terms with Stan Marsh, often to Eric's chagrin, although the friendship stops for a time in Prehistoric Ice Man, when they argue over the name of the ice man. He is the most caring and compassionate of the boys. His friendship with Stan has probably got deeper due to the many times Stan has saved his life (Cherokee Hair Tampons, Super Best Friends and Cartmanland). This is shown in It's Christmas in Canada, when they were seen leaning their heads against each other as they slept.

He wears a bright green hunting cap (or ushanka), a bright orange jacket with black trimmed pockets and dark green collar, dark green pants, and lime green mittens. He is rarely shown without his cap, but underneath it, he sports an auburn, curly 'Jew-fro', first seen in the episode "How to Eat with Your Butt", a hairstyle which he seems to resent. This is a nod to Stone's character in Cannibal! The Musical in which he wears the same style hat with an afro underneath. A photorealistic version of Kyle's appearance was produced as a police artist sketch for the episode "Free Willzyx"; however, his mother, Sheila, comments that it is "kinda a bad drawing".

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Family

Kyle uncapped getting his picture in How to Eat with Your Butt

His mother, Sheila, is very overprotective: she instigates a war between the USA and Canada in the feature-length movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut because of (Canadian natives) Terrance and Phillip's extremely scatological R-rated movie. Mrs. Broflovski is prone to making a mountain out of a molehill whenever something threatens her son. Even so, in the "Cherokee Hair Tampons" episode she turns to holistic and nature medicine when Kyle almost dies of kidney failure because he is diabetic, although his diet is the same as the other kids. Stan is very upset about the possible death of Kyle (much more than about the many deaths of Kenny, much to Kenny's annoyance), and ultimately saves him by tricking Cartman into donating one of his kidneys to Kyle (Cartman asked for ten million dollars for it). Cartman had to because he was the only other one with the AB negative blood type.

Kyle's father Gerald is a lawyer but, Kyle reiterates, they are not as wealthy as the Black family, also headed by a lawyer (probably because Gerald is not a very good lawyer and has gambling problems). In Season Three's Emmy-nominated "Chinpokomon", Kyle attempts to join the Chinpokomon fad; however, he is always a step behind his friends, never having the latest toys or games. Kyle has an adopted younger Canadian brother, Ike. He also has a cousin from Connecticut (Kyle Schwartz, "The Entity", "The Losing Edge") who is a Woody Allen-like Jewish stereotype.

Within his family, Kyle seems to have the strongest relationship with his brother Ike. Ike follows Kyle around and generally imitates his older brother whenever possible. For his part—and despite actions such as playing "kick the baby" (which features Kyle punting Ike like a football, usually through a window) —Kyle is fiercely protective of his little brother, and tries on occasion to educate Ike in the ways of the Jewish faith.

Life

While most of the South Park kids dislike Cartman, Kyle has a particularly strong hatred for him; the feud between the two has been a recurring theme. Cartman and Kyle often exchange insults, with Kyle the target of Cartman's Anti-Semitism, and Cartman being taunted about his weight. Whenever making a point, Cartman will often try to outsmart Kyle but usually winds up the loser of the argument. There are exceptions, in "Die, Hippie, Die", Cartman saves the town from a hippie music festival, and Kyle is forced to watch Cartman play with his new Tonka bulldozer in the school parking lot every day. In "Smug Alert" it was revealed that without Kyle to irritate, Cartman's life is empty. In "Kenny Dies", Kyle seemed to show empathy towards Cartman, suggesting that despite being easily angered by Cartman's teasing, he still considers him a friend. However, at the same time, he does not invite Cartman to his birthday party at Casa Bonita because he naturally doesn't consider Cartman to be a friend. He does, though, state that Cartman is his friend in "Up the Down Steroid," and he refers to Cartman as "my sort-of friend...ish," in the episode, "The Entity."

His friendship with Stan is obviously very strong. He has had his life saved 3 times by Stan (mentioned above) and, in the episode Fun with Veal, Stan got sores over his body which endangered his life, and Kyle did not leave his side for longer than to look out the window. They have only broken up six times (Prehistoric Ice Man, Super Best Friends (only because Stan didn't accept Kyle's new religion), Douche and Turd, Follow that Egg! (Stan suspected Kyle was dating Wendy) and South Park is Gay! (Kyle didn't conform to the metrosexual trend). In all these episodes, Stan has reconciled with Kyle (except South Park is Gay!). The depth of their friendship is taken into account on several occasions: Stan's willingness to save Kyle in Cherokee Hair Tampons, Kyle grief over Stan's agreement to go over the K-13 in Asspen and the fact that they slept leaning their heads against each other in It's Christmas in Canada.

Kyle's friendship with Kenny is not as strong as his friendship with Stan, nor is it adversarial (like that with Cartman) but is clearly existent, as he invites him to various arrangements of his and promptly beats up Cartman in defense of Kenny following his "permanent" death. Kyle has trouble accepting that Cartman is never sincere. Kyle keeps falling for Cartman's seemingly good intentions time and time again. This is seen in Casa Bonita, Cartoon Wars Part I, Kenny Dies, and other episodes. Kyle also seems to have the highest respect for Butters, although they aren't too close he invites him to his birthday in Casa Bonita. Perhaps it is Kyle's idealistic optimism that there is some good in everyone, even in Cartman. Sometimes, in episodes like Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes and Fat Butt and Pancake Head, Kyle will make it very clear that he knows Cartman is manipulating before finally giving in.

Perhaps the best estimate of Kyle's moral character occurs in the recent episode "Manbearpig"; at one point, Kyle nearly drowns trying to save Cartman's life, despite their past history. Although, in "Butt Out" he did not seem to care that the anti-smoking group members were trying to poison him. Despite Kyle's best-friendship with Stan, there are occasions when he sides with Cartman or Kenny instead and may even insult Stan, as depicted in "All About Mormons". Kyle can also be intolerant of other religions even though he is the only Jewish child in South Park.

Kyle also becomes sick more often than any of the other boys, possibly due to his diabetes. He experiences a painful infectious hemorrhoid when Cartman inherits $1 million dollars from his grandmother and uses it to buy his own amusement park.(Cartmanland) He also needed a kidney transplant (that only Cartman could provide) in Cherokee Hair Tampons. Even so, in the episode Chickenpox he was the only person in his class who didn't catch chickenpox, even after playing a game in which Kenny (who had chickenpox) spat into his mouth and he had to swallow it while saying something like "ookymouth" (an activity suggested by his mother in hopes that her son would catch chickenpox). He did catch it in the end, but only because he was near Stan and Cartman, who both had chickenpox.

Religion

Kyle is evidently the only Jewish kid in the town. Kyle's last name has been alternately given as Broslovski, Broflofski, Broflovski, and Brovlofski in the series, though the characters say "Broflovski" or "Broslovski" the most often. The name comes from the maiden name of Matt Stone's mother, Sheila Belasco (Broslovski had been changed to Belasco when her ancestor immigrated to America). In "Spontaneous Combustion" there is a shot of Kyle's father Gerald's law office - on the façade it says 'Brovlofski'. In "Sexual Harassment Panda" his name is shown as 'Broflofski'. The various spellings may be due to some confusion in trying to transcribe the Cyrillic surname Бровловский into the Latin alphabet; the letter в is normally transcribed "v" but when voiceless is often written as "f" in English, like in the name "Rachmaninoff". Parker and Stone have confirmed that Kyle's last name is indeed Broflovski, which is also the spelling used in the "4th Grade" intro, seen in episodes 412 to 513. [1]

Kyle appears ambivalent toward his Judaism, although his parents are somewhat observant (Sheila Stone, mother of Matt Stone, was herself a secular Sephardic Jew). This is most likely part of his effort to fit in with his friends, who are Roman Catholic. Kyle is often more defensive than proud of his Judaism, and though he regularly attends such functions as "Jew Scouts", he often has a poor grasp on the history, traditions and rituals of his religion. This could also be the fault of his parents, who, in a misguided attempt to shelter their son, generally refuse to discuss with him the finer points of their religion. For example:

• When he heard that his brother Ike was going to have a bris, he was under the misapprehension that it involved cutting off the entire penis rather than just the foreskin. This was despite the fact that Kyle got circumsized himself.
• After seeing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, he told Cartman that Cartman was right about Jews all along and stood up in his synagogue to demand that Jews apologize for the death of Christ. Ironically, he killed Jesus personally in a later episode, though the act was not due to malice but Jesus' own request, so that he could resurrect himself and save Stan and the "Hare Club for Men" from being boiled alive like rabbits.
• When he learned of Catholicism's conditions for getting into heaven, he renounced his faith on the basis that if the Jews were right about the matter, it would make no difference if he were a Catholic, but if the Catholics were right, he would go to hell for not accepting Christ (see Pascal's Wager).
• In Chickenpox, when his dad told him about how society works, he thought of 'a better idea', send all the poor people to concentration camps so only rich people would live. Kyle's father promptly realised he was being intolerant of people less fortunate than himself and stopped this. He therefore at least in this episode did not have a very clear grasp of the Holocaust.

Kyle also sometimes expresses feelings of self-loathing. Kyle is always saying that Jews are just like everyone else, and is often distressed when they display behavior that is stereotypically Jewish. He is often brought to anger by Jews who conform to such stereotypes, namely his cousin (also named Kyle) from New York City who has hypochondriac tendencies, is very good with money, and is a poor athlete.

Also, Kyle seems to use the phrase "Jesus Christ!" more than most Jews, and sometimes even more than his Catholic friends. He is also willing and able to acknowledge Christ in the many episodes when he meets him.

He and Stan alternate as leader of their group/voice of reason (while their fathers are normally the leaders/instigators of mass hysteria in the town). Kyle is witty, but unlike his best friend Stan, he tends to be cautious and is less likely to want to get involved in uncertain situations.

As revealed in the episode commentary for the episode "Kenny Dies", Stone and Parker were going to kill off Kyle for a whole year instead of Kenny but decided not to.

In Season Eight, Kyle was the center on one episode—"The Passion of the Jew"—which parodied the controversy surrounding The Passion of the Christ. In the episode, he sees The Passion because of Cartman's continuing use of it as an excuse to pick on Kyle more than usual. It was also revealed in this episode that Kyle is afraid of Alan Alda, the reasons for this are unknown. Kyle was also featured prominently in the episodes "Cartman's Incredible Gift" and "Woodland Critter Christmas". In the former, he attempts to convince the local police that Cartman's "psychic powers" are entirely false; at the end of the episode, it is implied that Kyle has real psychic powers. In "Woodland Critter Christmas", the Satanic woodland animals attempt to use Kyle as birth vessel for The Antichrist because he is a "heathen" and is not baptized because he is Jewish. Stan attempts to stop this by teaching young mountain lions to give abortions, but Christmas is eventually saved by Santa Claus, who shoots all of the critters with a shotgun. However, the entire "Critter" episode is really just a story written by Eric Cartman, which ends with Kyle dying of AIDS.

In the October 27, 2004 election-based episode, "Douche and Turd", Kyle leads the campaign for Giant Douche to be elected the new school mascot at South Park Elementary after PETA leads a campaign against Mooey, the cow.

In the March 9, 2005 episode "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina", Kyle wanted to play basketball for the all-state team, but could not because the coach said he was not built for the game due to fact he is Jewish. Frustrated, Kyle gets a "negro-plasty," to make him black and tall. However, the surgery is a failure, as it was only purely cosmetic; after trying to perform a slam dunk, Kyle's knees explode as the plastic surgeon had made his knee joints out of Mr. Garrison's former testicles.

In "South Park Is Gay!" Kyle's friends make him over into a metrosexual, as being metrosexual was the "cool" thing to do. Kyle then decides to not conform with the rest of South Park and goes back to dressing normally, despite teasing from his schoolmates. After Kyle gets beat up by the boys in his class and is rejected by his friends, he travels to New York with Mr. Garrison and Mr. Slave to kill the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy guys. They then discover that the Queer Eye people are actually crab people in disguise that are trying to take over the world.

In "Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow", Cartman seemingly knew that Kyle, and all Jews for that matter, carried Jew gold around their necks (as well as a Jew gold decoy bag). Ironically, Kyle tosses a bag off a railing that may have actually contained gold.

In "Fantastic Easter Special", Kyle had to kill Jesus because his superpowers only only work when he is dead. Kyle was very reluctant saying ("I'm a Jew. I have a few hang-ups about killing Jesus."). However, Kyle does eventually kill jesus saying "Eric Cartman can never know about this."

Talents

Athletics

Not only is Kyle one of the stars on his school's football team (as seen in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"), he is also apparently the best basketball player in South Park within his age group. Although he aspires to someday play for the Denver Nuggets, Kyle suffers from the "handicap" of not being tall and black, which he attempted to rectify with cosmetic surgery (with grisly results, in "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina"). His favorite sports team is the Denver Broncos.

Music

Kyle can play both the acoustic and bass guitar (as seen in the episodes "Hooked on Monkey Phonics" and "Christian Rock Hard"). He also showed his ability to play the flute in the episode "The Red Badge of Gayness". Despite this, Kyle is shown to have no rhythm in "Rainforest Schmainforest". However, as a member of "Something You Can Do With Your Finger", he can do the routine along with Cartman, Stan and Kenny, and he is also able to sing the song "Fingerbang" with the other 3 boys. He concurrently played the violin (badly) in "Summer Sucks" with Stan and Kenny. Kyle is able to play the recorder in the episode "World Wide Recorder Concert". Kyle seems to be a fan of the goth rock band, The Cure, going as far as declaring in the episode "Mecha-Streisand" that their 1989 album Disintegration is "the best album ever". He is also said to like rap in Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina.

Science

Kyle seems to have a good understanding of genetics, in 'Ginger Kids' he uses his class presentation to explain the genetic inheritance that leads to red hair, freckles and light skin. There are hints that his skills, or another of his talents, could have an impact on the future. Cartman, in 'Go God Go' part B, calls Kyle on his Timephone. In this call Cartman openly acknowledges "Kyle you are the smartest guy I know." The call means that Kyle is late for his ride, with him claiming that his "whole day is screwed up" the future is changed. Cartman's robot dog, K-10, turns into a robot cat called Kit-9.

Computer Skills

Kyle is quite a proficient hacker, as seen in the feature South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and plays World of Warcraft with the other boys in "Make Love, Not Warcraft". He also helped the CIA with his computer skills in the episode The Snuke.

Weaponry

Weaponry is the most surprising of all Kyle's skills. He seems to be able to handle weapons well for his age. Kyle is seen using an energy weapon in "Towelie", with surprising effectiveness. In the episode "Wing", Kyle is able to wield a Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle somewhat better than Cartman, despite both of them firing on full automatic and firing most of the rounds into the ceiling. In Red Sleigh Down, he was able to weild an assault rifle (though he didn't use it much). As far as marksmanship goes, however, Kyle is still nowhere near as good as Pip.

Language

As seen in the episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000", Kyle is proficient, if not fluent, in Pig Latin. Kyle also has a talent for the Haiku, as seen in "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods". He is, in fact, able to come up with Haikus insulting Cartman off the top of his head in a freestyling sort of way.

Personality and Love Interests

Kyle is the nicest out of the boys (next to Kenny). This was evident in the episode, Hooked On Monkey Phonics. In Hooked On Monkey Phonics, he fell in love with a shy girl named Rebecca, tried to teach her to love him. In one scene, Rebecca is holding a flower and it appeared that Kyle had his arm around her.There is a "blood war" between Kyle and Cartman, however, in the episode "Miss Teacher Bangs A Boy", they teamed up to stop Ms. Stevenson from having a affair with Ike. Also, in Kenny Dies, (the one and only time in the whole series) has Kyle hugging and comforting Cartman, which was really odd, because Kyle hates Cartman and Cartman hates Kyle. In Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society, he starts acting like a caveman around Bebe, meaning that he might have secret feelings for her, but he was in True Love in Hooked On Monkey Phonics, because when he first met Rebecca, he smiled at her and she shyly looked away and later that night, he goes upto Rebecca's house, knocks on the house and asks to see her, he says "hi" and then runs away.