1. Economic Collapse
Episode: Margaritaville Some people may not agree that the Economic Collapse fits into an article about pop culture but to them I say it has affected us all. It has already made it into a number of newer shows for example the very basis of Comedy Central's Big Bad World is how difficult it is to find work. In the midst of all this depression and darkness though shone a beacon: South Park's Emmy Award winning episode Margaritaville. This episode so perfectly captures the frustration and disbelief people shared about the banks, governments and the economy as a whole. The framing narrative to this episode sees Stan trying to return a Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville machine and being fobbed off all the way up to United States Treasury. Here he witnesses what has to be up there as one of the funniest sight gags of all time; the officials behead a chicken and let its headless body decide the fate of a company. What makes it almost sad is how feasible this seems. Margaritaville isn't just smart; it's amazingly funny and one of my favourite South Park episodes of all time. As a whole it shows how clever South Park can be while retaining the delightfully puerile humour its viewership has come to expect.