Herbert Garrison | |
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South Park character | |
Garrison as he appears as the President of the United States, as of season 20.
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First appearance | "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" |
Created by |
Matt Stone Trey Parker |
Voiced by | Trey Parker |
Information | |
Full name | Herbert Garrison |
Aliases | Janet Garrison Ethan P. Garrison (pen name) |
Gender | Male (seasons 1–8 & seasons 12–present) Female (seasons 9–12) |
Occupation | Teacher (formerly) 45th President of the United States (currently) |
Herbert Garrison, formerly known as Janet Garrison is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park, and the 45th President of the United States within the show. He is voiced by Trey Parker and first appeared on television on August 13, 1997 in South Park's pilot episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".
For the first eight seasons of the series, the character was known as Mr. Garrison. He underwent a sex change in the season 9 premiere "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina". The character was thereafter known to the other characters as Janet Garrison or Mrs. Garrison, despite being unmarried. In the season 12 episode "Eek, a Penis!", he undergoes yet another sex change operation, returning to being a man. Garrison is particularly cynical, especially in comparison with the rest of South Park's adults, and he is one of the few characters to ever break the fourth wall on the show.
Mr. Garrison was in part inspired by a kindergarten teacher whom Trey Parker had in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. This teacher used a puppet named Mr. Hat as a teaching resource. Mr. Garrison was also inspired by a British literature professor Parker had at the University of Colorado; Parker said the voice he uses for the character is a dead-accurate impression of him. Parker said he believes Mr. Garrison has become one of the most complex characters on South Park, particularly due to his ever-growing relationship with Mr. Hat and his sexuality and gender issues; Parker said of Mr. Garrison, "He's the soap opera element to the whole series. [He] has a real story going on."