It was a long-established South Park gag that no one knew who Eric Cartman’s father was. In fact, it took the popular Comedy Central sitcom over 200 episodes to finally name Cartman’s biological dad. Whenever Cartman would be depicted watching TV in the living room or playing World of Warcraft in the basement, the only other occupant of the household was his mother, Liane Cartman.
Liane has faced Cartman’s abuse for as long as we can remember, all the way back to the first episode in 1997. As for his father, he was never in the picture. Despite Cartman’s obnoxious and narcissistic personality, he’s deeply hurt by the absence of his father, which has been apparent during his most vulnerable moments.
Cartman’s father left before he was born, so he never got to meet him, but one of South Park‘s many, many sub-plots revolves around Cartman’s relentless search for the man his mother loved once upon a time. However, when Cartman finally got the answer he’d been searching for, it wasn’t the heartwarming father-son reunion you’d expect. And this is South Park, after all.
Possible father figures were teased as early as Season 1, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to keep audiences guessing until Season 14 when South Park hit a major milestone by airing its 200th episode. To celebrate reaching 200 episodes, Parker and Stone released a double-whammy, titled “200” and “201.”
It was in “201” that Cartman’s father was revealed to be Jack Tenorman (it should be noted that both “200” and “201” are unavailable on streaming services due to their controversial depiction of the prophet Muhammad). Tenorman previously appeared in Season 5’s “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” widely revered as one of South Park‘s best-ever episodes.
In “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” the episode’s namesake pranks Cartman, so the latter exacts his revenge by having Scott’s parents killed, dismembered, cooked into a pot of chili, then fed to Scott. It’s deeply ironic that one of Scott Tenorman’s parents, Jack Tenorman, also happens to be Cartman’s father. That would make Scott his half-brother, and his pointless revenge scheme more of a slap in his face than a triumph.