World Wide Recorder Concert

"World Wide Recorder Concert"

"World Wide Recorder Concert" (also referred to as "The Brown Noise") is the 17th and final episode of season 3 in the Comedy Central series South Park. It was originally broadcast on January 12, 2000.

Plot synopsis

Four million children, including those from Mr. Garrison's class, are scheduled to play "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" at the televised Worldwide Recorder Concert in Oklahoma City led by Yoko Ono and Kenny G, but a flood caused the concert to be relocated in Little Rock, Mr. Garrison's hometown. This causes him considerable anxiety (as he confesses to Mr. Mackey) for he had "sexual molestation issues" with his father in the past.

In Arkansas, the boys encounter a hostile group of kids from New York, also there for the concert, who call them "queefs". At first, the boys do not understand what queef means; assuming the New York kids had made the word up, the boys try to get back at them by making up their own word: mung, which as it turns out, is a real word meaning "the stuff that comes out when you push down on a pregnant woman's belly." Even the other South Park kids know this word, leading to the four being jeered by both the New Yorkers and their own classmates. The boys want to find a way to get back at them, and when Cartman succeeds in his efforts to discover the legendary "brown noise", a sound made with the recorder that causes the listener to lose control of their bowels and "crap their pants", the boys plan to trick the New York kids into playing it. However, by accident, the altered sheet music for the concert is discovered by the organizer of the concert and is photocopied and redistributed to everyone.

Meanwhile, Mr. Garrison has confronted his father about the issues of sexual molestation, however, the issue was not that his dad had molested him, but rather that he felt neglected because his father had not touched him. When Mr. Mackey finds out about this, he fears Mr. Garrison is so distraught about the issue that he could actually die if Mr. Garrison Sr. does not molest him. Afterwards, Mr. Garrison is assaulted in the middle of the night by a mysterious stranger, and he sets off for the concert happy to have sorted things out with his father. After he leaves, Kenny G exits a closet and refuses $100 from Mr. Garrison's father, revealing that Kenny G is actually the one who molested Mr. Garrison.

In the middle of the concert, the boys discover that everyone is playing the altered sheet music containing the brown note and race to stop the concert. Alas, they are too late and the note is played, and with the power of four million recorders behind it, everyone in the world ends up defecating in their pants, whether they are watching the broadcast or not. Some, e.g. Kenny, soil themselves to death (although, at the end of episode, Kenny is seen, alive and healthy, in the bus with the other kids). The New York kids are very impressed by this and take back the negative feelings directed at them. Mr. Mackey ends up telling the boys what a queef is, describing it as "a vaginal expulsion of gas, m'kay." Mr. Garrison is passionately kissed by Kenny G before leaving and thanks him, noting that he kisses just like his father. The boys leave and drive off into the stars.

Episode ratings

United Kingdom rating

This was the first episode of South Park to be rated 18 in the UK for its video/DVD-release, due to the subplot in which Mr. Garrison wants to be sexually molested by his father. It remained the only episode to have the 18 certificate until the seventh season of South Park finally got its DVD set. On the Paramount Season 3 DVD set, "World Wide Recorder Concert" has been given a 15 rating in the UK.

External links

• World Wide Recorder Concert (The Brown Noises) Full episode at South Park Studios
• World Wide Recorder Concert (The Brown Noises) Episode guide at South Park Studios