"South Park" Closet episode

[Guest bighugbearphx]

Surprised that I haven't see anything posted here about the now infamous Nov 16 episode of South Park, in which they take on Scientology and poke some fun at Tom Cruise.

 

Nutshell summary of the episode: Little Stan stumbles on a Scientology recruiting set-up, and results of a test lead them to believe he is the reincarnation of L Ron Hubbard, the founding "prophet" of the religion. All the bigwigs from their L.A. office (including John Travolta and Tom Cruise) fly out to Stan's house to try and convince him and his parents that Stan should continue Hubbard's work for Scientology, writing down his thoughts so the millions of followers can buy ... err ... read his latest wisdom. After Tom Cruise asks Stan what he, as the reincarnated prophet, thinks of his acting ("It's OK, but not as good as the guy from Napoleon Dynamite"), Tom gets depressed and hides in Stan's bedroom closet to pout (setting up a bunch of "Tom, come out of the closet already!" puns). Eventually, when Stan learns what the religion is based on, he decides it is too weird and calls it a scam, at which time everyone (including Tom) threatens to sue him. Roll credits, with everyone's name changed to John or Jane Smith to prevent lawsuits.

 

I missed the original showing, but found it on the internet after I read about it in Entertainment Weekly (which prefaced the article with "What took them so long?") I thought it was hysterical, though I'd imagine Scientologists might disagree. Could also be some conflicts for South Park's creators, who are under contract to Paramount, which produces Cruise's "MI" films.

 

It is currently available to view, all 22 minutes of it, at:

http://www.xenutv.com/southpark-closet.wmv

The site doesn't require a membership, though I have no idea how long the link will be active. Catch it while you can.

[+ deej]

It's a hilarious episode.

 

"Mom! Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet!"

 

I'm no South Park fan, but this episode is worth watching for a real laugh.

[Guest skrubber]

I thought I was going to die laughing. A very funny and clever episode.

Tom Cruise and John Travolta won't comre out of the closet. Hilarious.

[+ ArVaGuy]

Caused quite the stir in our office the next day.

 

I am sure the lawyers are very busy tracking down all those "John Smiths" and "Jane Smiths."

[+ friendofsheila]

RE: "South Park" Closet episode

 

This sounds like fun. I've only seen about 1 1/2 episodes of this show and this one sounds worth downloading at work, then bringing home to watch.

 

Thanks for posting the link!