The Great Wall of China joke

For the first time ever: "South Park did it!"

HangNail wrote:

Funny, I thought the same thing last week with the extended Wal-Mart plot. I have to imagine these weren't the first, though.

Well, there was the "Swill Mart" insert in the National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody. That was the 70's. I have a 1932 Fred Allen show where he parodied "Mammoth Department Store", if you want to go looking for old sources of inspirationally similar material. There haven't been any 100% totally new jokes in decades. I know South Park's (non) animation is supposed to be part of the humor or the charm or something, but watching it gives me a headache.

Park's

As you will recall, Roger Meyers, Jr., pointed out in one episode that it was all plagiarized.

Aaron Space Museum

The South Park episode, "Child Abduction is Not Funny," aired on July 24, 2002. (South Park's Wal-Mart episode, "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes," aired November 3, 2004) However, this Great Wall gag was done _before_ this in Futurama, "The Cryonic Woman," which aired on December 3, 2000. Bender and Fry fly around the world while unknowingly pulling behind them the tethered Planet Express Building. The building, flying behind them, breaks through the Great Wall of China and the Mongolians immediately invade on their horses. But then again, who knows if this is the _first_ time the joke has been done?

Yes, but this was the actual Great Wall.

Along with Yao Ming on a previous ep, I believe that David Stern has taken control of the show.