South Park Creators Bring Trump’s ‘Little Guy’ to Kimmel

Trey Parker and Matt Stone promised Jimmy Kimmel a peek at their “deepfake AI rig” — and delivered one of the most gloriously low-tech reveals in late-night history.

The South Park creators stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night to talk about 28 seasons of the Comedy Central institution, and things got memorable fast. Parker teased that during their latest season, the show had pulled off a deepfake of the president that “kinda got famous” — then reached into his pocket to demonstrate exactly how they did it.

“We actually brought our deepfake AI rig to show you how we did Donald Trump’s wiener on the show,” Parker said, before producing a small beige finger puppet, complete with hand-drawn cartoon eyes in classic South Park style.

“For the show, we just put it on like this. And there’s his little guy. Can you believe we did that?” Parker said, wiggling the puppet at the audience.

Kimmel, who slipped it onto his own pinky later in the segment and greeted it with “Hello, little fella — why are you making so much trouble?” — had already weighed in on the prop’s proportions. “I think you’re being generous, I have to say,” he told Parker.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=y2IhrZH4mL8%3Frel%3D0%26enablejsapi%3D1

“If he doesn’t burn down the Smithsonian, I hope that that winds up in the Smithsonian one day,” Kimmel added — a line that landed a little differently given Kimmel’s own recent history with the Trump camp. The host has been in the crosshairs more than once lately, from weeks off the air after MAGA circles distorted a joke about the reaction to Charlie Kirk’s killing, to the more recent uproar when Trump and Melania publicly called for his firing after misreading a quip about the president dozing off in meetings.

The finger puppet made its debut last summer in one of South Park‘s most talked-about episodes, which ends with the residents of South Park settling a lawsuit with the president and agreeing to film pro-Trump PSAs. The final scene features a realistic deepfake of Trump tearing his clothes off in the desert, collapsing, and revealing the little finger puppet. It was exactly as chaotic as it sounds.

JD Vance as Tattoo, and 29 Seasons In

The finger puppet wasn’t the only thing Kimmel wanted to dig into. He also pressed Parker and Stone on their decision to reimagine Vice President JD Vance as Tattoo — the bewildered little character played by the late Hervé Villechaize on Fantasy Island — which has become one of the season’s running gags.

Parker said it started with Tattoo being one of the first impressions he ever did. “When I was like nine years old,” he said. The joke grew from a bit about Mar-a-Lago feeling like Fantasy Island, and Vance just… fit. “It was just gonna be a one-off joke,” Parker explained. “We were like, ‘Oh, we’re just gonna have him be Tattoo, and it’s gonna be one shot.’ And we all just loved it so much, and we loved him as a little character.”

The two also touched on 28 seasons at Comedy Central, their beloved Denver restaurant Casa Bonita, a 15th anniversary special for The Book of Mormon with original Broadway cast members, and the fact that the internet has apparently decided they’re the richest comedians in the world. (They did not confirm or deny.)

Season 29 of South Park is on the way — and if Monday night’s appearance is any indication, the finger puppet is just getting started.