Characters Ranked by Speaking Appearances (Updated for S22)

[Big-Will]

This list is for S01 E01 to S19 E08, correct?

[JVM]

This list is for S01 E01 to S19 E08, correct?

I think it's to s18e10, based on the title and this quote:

I sort of lost interest in South Park for a while, but I'm really loving the current season so I've gone back and updated my personal document up to Sponsored Content. However, the way I have things set up is annoying to update, so I'm going to wait until the finale to change it along with possibly the format.

[Big-Will]

So, this was just something I've been working on, mostly out of curiosity. Basically, it's the characters ranked by how many episodes they speak in. I only did characters with 10+ speaking roles (so currently no Satan, Saddam, Towelie, Kevin Stoley, Santa, Mr. Hankey, Richard Tweak, etc. yet). Tell me if you think I screwed up somewhere, and thanks for reading this colossal waste of my time.

1. THE BOYS
2. Cartman - 246
3. Stan - 246
4. Kyle - 244
5. Kenny - 173
6. Butters - 168
   
   SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
7. Mr. Garrison - 139
8. Randy - 133
9. Sharon - 95
10. Mr. Mackey - 94
11. Clyde - 94
12. Sheila - 88
13. Gerald - 86
14. Liane - 85
15. Craig - 73
16. Steven - 67
17. Jimbo - 64
18. Jimmy - 61
19. Chef - 55
    
    RECURRING CHARACTERS
20. Principal Victoria - 54
21. Token - 51
22. Wendy - 48
23. Officer Barbrady - 45
24. Mayor McDaniels - 45
25. Linda - 42
26. Ike - 39
27. Bebe - 34
28. Timmy - 31
29. Stuart - 29
30. Shelly - 28
31. Officer Yates - 23
32. Philip - 23
33. Terrance - 22
34. Jesus - 22
35. Tweek - 21
    
    MINOR CHARACTERS
36. Red - 20
37. Father Maxi - 19
38. Mrs. McCormick - 19
39. Ned - 17
40. Pip - 14
41. Mr. Slave - 14
42. Skeeter - 13
43. Ms. Choksondik - 13
44. Ms. Crabtree - 12
45. Pete - 11
46. Michael - 11

I have 11 for Ms. Crabtree. Which one am I missing?
S1: 3
S2: 4
S3: 1
S4: 2
S5: 0
S6: 1
S7: 0
S8: 0

I'm missing 1 for Pip as well.

And 1 for Chef.

(I'm up to Season 12 now)

[JVM]

I think Mr. Lu Kim and Dr. Gouache also now qualify for the list as of S19, plus both Toms. Checked Marvin out, too.

Surprised Satan can't make it, but you're right -- he's only at eight or nine.

[Sgt.YatesMonkeyBalls]

Updated up to 1910! Kenny's previously listed # was in error; I track Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny by episodes they DON'T appear and then subtract that number from the total amount of episodes, so that caused some mix up. (Crazy to think he and Butters are now tied.) I also forgot to include Mr. Adler who reached 10 appearances last season.

This list is for S01 E01 to S19 E08, correct?

I think it's to s18e10, based on the title and this quote:

Correct.

I have 11 for Ms. Crabtree. Which one am I missing?
S1: 3
S2: 4
S3: 1
S4: 2
S5: 0
S6: 1
S7: 0
S8: 0

I'm missing 1 for Pip as well.

And 1 for Chef.

(I'm up to Season 12 now)

I have 4 for Crabtree in season 1 (101, 105, 107, 113). Pip gets 1 more in season 14. As for Chef I have

S1: 13 - every episode
S2: 10 - 202, 204, 205, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 214, 215
S3: 6 - 302, 303, 305, 306, 312, 316
S4: 6 - 402, 404, 408, 409, 412, 415
S5: 5 - 501, 502, 507, 512, 513
S6: 6 - 602, 604, 607, 608, 614, 615
S7: 4 - 704, 707, 708, 715
S8: 3 - 801, 805, 809
S9: 1 - 902
S10: 1 - 1001

I think Mr. Lu Kim and Dr. Gouache also now qualify for the list as of S19, plus both Toms. Checked Marvin out, too.

Surprised Satan can't make it, but you're right -- he's only at eight or nine.

Thank you for pointing out Dr. Gouache's absence!

I'm thinking of lowering the minimum to 5 appearances. It feels wrong missing certain iconic characters like Satan, Saddam, and Mr. Hankey. It'd be quite an undertaking though as it would also include incidental non-characters like the Mayor's aides.

[nwt000]

Glad to see you updated the totals following this season, but you should probably move Token, Wendy and Barbrady into the supporting category and similarly move Maxi and Red to the recurring bracket. 50 and 20 seem like good cutoffs for each of those categories, respectively.

[JVM]

I'm thinking of lowering the minimum to 5 appearances. It feels wrong missing certain iconic characters like Satan, Saddam, and Mr. Hankey. It'd be quite an undertaking though as it would also include incidental non-characters like the Mayor's aides.

I don't think it'd be out of order to just make a 'Honorable/Special Mention' section for Towelie, Satan, Saddam, Mr. Hankey, etc.

It would obviously be nice to see lesser characters added over time, but no pressure.

[Big-Will]

Their roles have been small but significant.

[Sgt.YatesMonkeyBalls]

Updated for season 20. Some interesting stuff:

-Kyle surpasses Stan for the first time since I think season 5 (as well as briefly having a 1 episode lead in Le Petit Tourette and then tying immediately in the next episode)

-Butters now has a lead over Kenny that will likely never be reached (this is really weird on my end because the way I track Kenny and the main 3 is by counting episodes they don't speak, whereas Butters is tallied the same as everyone else)

-Gerald speaks in every S20 episode, joining the main 3, Kenny (S1), Butters (S19), Randy (S19), Mr. Garrison (S1), and Chef (S1) as the only characters to speak in every episode in at least 1 season

-I did not count Heidi's 3 speaking appearances in season 4 due to the different voice, name, and parents; I view this as a "proto-character" like Butters in season 2, his dad as a protester in Quintuplets, or the police captain in Casa Bonita that looks identical to Sgt. Yates (speaking of which I did count the FBI detective from Christian Rock Hard since the voice, workplace, and personality were pretty much copypasted for Yates)

There's probably more I could say, but season 20 pretty much deflated the renewed love I got for South Park from season 19 and The Stick of Truth.

[Sgt.YatesMonkeyBalls]

Updated the OP for season 22 (and also updated for season 21 a while back but didn't bump the thread). Some notable stuff:

-Butters reached his 200th speaking appearance in Tegridy Farms. However, season 22 overall had the least amount of appearances (6) for Butters out of every season besides his debut all the way back in season 3 where he only spoke in 3 episodes (and of course seasons 1 & 2 where he existed as Swanson who I do not count as Butters).
-This marked first season in which Mr. Garrison does not have a speaking role.
-Shelly had a fairly notable role in Tegridy Farms but no lines. This is definitely a grey area because I made this thread with the intent of roughly gauging overall prominence throughout the series, but ultimately I decided I can't quite equate "triggering the plot" to actual dialogue unlike how I counted Garrison's tweets in the previous season. In my personal list I try making note of appearances like this for every character in case I change my mind.
-Ned's first speaking role since season 5. However this is perhaps less noteworthy when you remember that Trey voiced him in some of the video games between now and then.
-I decided to group the Mayor's aides (Johnson, Janson, and the late Ted) as a single character and combined they have 16 speaking appearances by my count.
-This was Ryan Valmer's most prominent season and was enough to bump him onto the list. There may be some minor moms who have 10 or more appearances by now, too.
-Satan managed to reach 10 speaking roles in his final appearance, allowing him to meet my arbitrary qualifications and make it into the OP.

[JVM]

test 123

I wrote out a long, long response and the form expired. I'm glad this project and still going and still find it extremely useful and gain new insight with every new view.

I did some math in my own head based on your note about the parents and sadly, none of the moms have quite hit the magic number yet, although a remarkable number of them are just short.

Dr. Mephesto - 10 episodes
Thomas Tucker - 10 episodes at least
Steve Black - 9 or 10 episodes, depending if you count the "Sh" in "The City Part of Town"
Roger Donovan - 9 or 10 episodes, depending if you count an illegible whisper in "Child Abduction is Not Funny"
Laura Tucker - 8 episodes
Mrs. Tweak - 8 episodes
Sarah Valmer - 8 episodes
Mrs. Testaburger - 7 or 8 episodes
Betsy Donovan - 6 or so episodes, I swear I'm forgetting one
Mrs. Stevens - 3 episodes

You mentioned Ryan being new to the list, and I've noted in the last five or so seasons there's been a much stronger emphasis on Craig and Those Guys' dads -- Thomas, Roger, Steve, and Ryan -- as well as Craig's mother Laura, with the Valmers' rise among the adults in particular seeming intended to mirror the increased use of their son as a sixth main character, though Jimmy's been a bit out of focus since s19; notice though, Ryan hasn't really been seen drinking with Randy up to that point.

Bonus note that Mr. Donovan receives a few extra references ("Behind the Blow", The List") and that while Peter Nelson only speaks in six episodes, he's mentioned in almost double that.

-Shelly had a fairly notable role in Tegridy Farms but no lines. This is definitely a grey area because I made this thread with the intent of roughly gauging overall prominence throughout the series, but ultimately I decided I can't quite equate "triggering the plot" to actual dialogue unlike how I counted Garrison's tweets in the previous season. In my personal list I try making note of appearances like this for every character in case I change my mind.

I think Garrison's example is valid because although dialogue is not being recorded and heard, the written tweets are still seen, read and reacted to akin to dialogue.

Dialogue as a measure of prominence is curious, because I feel the way the show's written has changed that in a sense. In the first couple seasons, it was more likely you'd see a lot of supporting characters get a line or two every episode even if they didn't have a large role, like Officer Barbrady, which is how he maintains a lead over Detective Yates. The latter character appears significantly less often proportionally, but he has an advantage in that he headlines many of his appearances. Fewer, more dialogue-rich appearances vs. numerical superiority by a variety of cameos. You can see this with the fact that Dr. Gouache, forgotten even among most fans, is on your list partway up, but isn't as well remembered as someone like, say, Big Gay Al or Pip.

There's also examples that I would agree you shouldn't list, but that straddle a certain line, such as how Skeeter is present throughout "Insecurity" with the dads but has no lines, many episodes with Ned (see below), various kid characters in "It's a Jersey Thing", and the kid cast in "Bass to Mouth", all instances where a character or two who had no lines was part of a group that influenced the episode's events.

on Ned:

I'm of the mind that that would be exactly what made it noteworthy anyway. Trey had exhibited he can still perform a version of the voice, true, but this made for a curious contrast with Ned making many prominent non-speaking appearances, such as in "World War Zimmerman" or "Where My Country Gone?". I think the biggest example is "Medicinal Fried Chicken", where Jimbo nods to him in dialogue, and he doesn't respond, but is physically present with the group for much of the episode. While characters like Satan just haven't been around much, Ned's still always been around, but just hasn't been speaking because of Trey's chosen not to record dialogue even while still writing the character into episodes. It's even more curious because Jimbo's spoken more than three times as much, despite them being considered a duo in the early years and still living together, as affirmed in "The Scoots".

All that said, I'd say Jimbo's main purpose since the eleventh season has been whenever Matt needs an extra line of dialogue here and there to play off Trey, and two gun sales of note, while never really playing a serious episode role in that time; he's probably the show's most prominent artifact.

[Big-Will]

Here's my tally. Let me know where the discrepancies lie and I'll check them out.

I left out Garrison's tweets because you didn't hear him speak them, you heard other characters read them.

Now I have other people to look into: the Tuckers, the Testaburgers, and the Valmers

[mario88]

when we consider the ratio "minutes on screen/minutes talking", butters can be considered a chatterbox

[Big-Will]

Here's my tally now. Let me know where the discrepancies lie and I'll check them out.

I've added the Tuckers, the Testaburgers, the Valmers, and the Stevens, even if Mr. Stevens has only spoken once, afaik. I've added a column for South Park Phone Destroyer, but don't have info on who speaks in there except the likely characters.

[JVM]

Here's my tally now. Let me know where the discrepancies lie and I'll check them out.

I've added the Tuckers, the Testaburgers, the Valmers, and the Stevens, even if Mr. Stevens has only spoken once, afaik. I've added a column for South Park Phone Destroyer, but don't have info on who speaks in there except the likely characters.

I'm behind over here, but I saw your page and the link here - everyone in Phone Destroyer with a card listed usually has 3-4 lines - a couple intros and an exit.

Fractured But Whole includes all of the listed kids except Pip and Heidi, and all of the family members listed except the departed Mrs. Donovan (Kevin McCormick is not friendable but has dialogue) including Valmers, Tuckers, Donovans, Testaburgers, Stevens, Blacks, etc. -- but there's some strong vocal inconsistencies in this area. All the townspeople listed except Terrance, Phillip, Satan and Saddam. Faculty is the tricky one - it's only PCP, Mackey, Slave and Adler. Santai s also in TSOT and Thomas has a line in a cutscene.

I think you missed a line from Thomas Tucker in "The Entity" or another fifth season episode. Laura speaks twice in s20 - one line in "Not Funny" and then several in Serialization. Roger Donovan had a line in "Red Hot Catholic Love" and I think he has one in "Child Abduction is Not Funny".