The Inspiration and Story Behind Kenny
While developing South Park, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone observed that most groups of friends in small towns included one “poor kid.” In Parker’s group growing up, this friend was named Kenny. Aside from his poverty, the real life Kenny apparently had a tendency to miss school a lot. When he failed to show up at the bus stop, Parker and his friends would jokingly suggest that he had died since the previous day, then act nonchalant whenever they saw him again. Together, these two facts helped to inspire the South Park character Kenny McCormick. (Whether or not the real Kenny was unintelligible under an orange parka is unknown.)
Interestingly, in South Park‘s original short, The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Frosty, “Kenny” was the name of the fat kid who eventually evolved into Cartman. He was killed off by the demonic Frosty first, complete with catchphrases, while another character who resembles modern Kenny died a bit later with no such fanfare. By The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Santa, however, Kenny had his proper name, design and fatally bad luck.
While Kenny’s constant deaths are his best known attribute, he has gained more longevity since the seventh season.