page_title: Fishsticks (South Park)
section_title: Cultural references
hierarchical_section_title: Fishsticks (South Park) / Cultural references
caption_attribution_description: English: Carlos Mencia performing during the Tour for the Troops concert at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on December 1, 2009
context_page_description: "Fishsticks" is the fifth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 186th overall episode of the series, it was originally broadcast on Comedy Central in the United States on April 8, 2009. In the episode, Jimmy writes a joke that becomes a national sensation, and Cartman tries to steal the credit while rapper Kanye West is the only person in the country who fails to get the joke, but cannot admit that he does not get it because he believes himself to be a genius.
  The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. The episode was conceived from a joke among Parker and fellow co-creator Matt Stone about a fish dressed as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, which eventually turned into a joke about Kanye West not understanding a joke about why liking fishsticks made him a gay fish. The way Cartman tries to steal credit for the joke was inspired by real people Parker and Stone have worked with in the television business.
  Parker provided the voice of West in the episode and during the song "Gay Fish", a parody of West's song "Heartless".
context_section_description: A Kanye West song in the episode about the fact that he is indeed a "gay fish" is a parody of the West song "Heartless", from his 2008 recording 808s & Heartbreak and satirizes the rapper's usage of Auto-Tune pitch audio processing. When West first confronts Cartman and Jimmy, Cartman mistakes him for Puff Daddy, another rapper and record producer.
  Carlos Mencia, host of the former Comedy Central show Mind of Mencia, is portrayed in "Fishsticks" as knowingly stealing credit for a joke he did not write; this is a reference to accusations other comedians have made that Mencia plagiarizes jokes from other people. Mencia's death scene in the episode, as well as his claims that he uses a catheter to relieve himself, are a reference to Lalin, a character who uses a wheelchair in the 1993 crime film Carlito's Way.
  Talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno and Ellen DeGeneres were featured in the episode.  Kimmel is voiced by his real-life brother Jonathan Kimmel, who previously served as a writer and voice actor on South Park.
  During a fantasy sequence, Cartman says "flame on" and turns into a fiery, flying superhero; this is a reference to the Human Torch, a superhero and member of the Fantastic Four.
caption: Carlos Mencia, stand-up comedian and former host of Mind of Mencia, is spoofed in "Fishsticks"
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Comedian Carlos Mencia performs during the Tour for the Troops concert inside Hangar 4 at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, Dec. 1, 2009. Mencia, Kid Rock, Twisted Brown Truck Band and singer/songwriter Jessie James kicked off their tour at the base to thank the troops. The entertainers also visited the 39th Security Forces Squadron, Incirlik?s American Forces Network studio and the 39th Force Support Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Sara Csurilla/Released)", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D300", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:12:01 00:00:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "724", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1376", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1488", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5384", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:12:01 08:21:37", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:12:01 00:00:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "80", "EXIF SubSecTime": "51", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "51", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "51", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1668", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1210", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1346", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "120", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}