Those alive in 1995 likely recall the impish virality of Matt Stone and Trey Parker's irreverent animated short "The Spirit of Christmas." It was the one where Jesus got into a fistfight with Jesus Christ, each one repeatedly dropping f-bombs. "Spirit" was sneakily passed around Hollywood and on college campuses — sometimes on VHS, sometimes through floppy disks and downloads — gaining a great deal of underground attention. The short eventually started playing at animation retrospectives, and, in my experience, exploded in popularity thanks to screenings at the annual Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation. By 1997, Stone and Parker were asked to develop "The Spirit of Christmas" into a TV series by Comedy Central. The network wanted something as crass and irreverent as the sh

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