Randall "Randy" Marsh is a character on South Park. He is Stanley Marsh's father. His birthday is March 1st, 1970, putting him under the water sign, Pisces. Since he was attacked by giant guinea pigs in the cliffhanger at the end of the Pandemic episode, his status was unknown, and his status was left even more ambiguous by the video camera entering white noise. However he was revealed to have survived, and was one of the survivors of the Furry Death.
Appearance
Randy's (left) original hairdo.
Randy wears a blue jacket with chest pockets on each side, and dark gray trousers. Under his jacket, it is implied is a white shirt. His left-side pocket usually has a yellow, a red, and a blue pen, plus some white paper pinned in. He has thick, black hair with parted bangs, and a thick black mustache. In early episodes, though, his hairstyle was somewhat different (see picture at left). Up until "Conjoined Fetus Lady", he didn't have a dimpled chin, but in and after that episode, he mysteriously developed one.
At bedtime, Randy wears deep blue pajamas with a long-sleeved shirt, and gray slippers. Though he appears slim and in shape when clothed, he is rather flabby, and has a protruding stomach, as seen when naked.
In his special occasion outfit, which consists of a white dress shirt, a light blue jacket, blue pants, and a gold tie, he has a gold hesrt in his coat pocket.
Character
Personality
Randy is often portrayed as a dim-witted, naive man, while all the same a caring, doting father. He has a habit of being led astray by new fads or events, like many of the characters. All the same, he has also been known to go completely against such things, though his reasons are usually selfish and immature. This and his casual beer drinking habits draw parallels to Homer Simpson, who has similar characteristic elements. Randy also seems to drink a lot of coffee, shown carrying a cup in most episodes he is in at one point or another.
Randy has a tendency to act very melodramatic. Whenever things get surreal in the show, and Randy is calling for his son, he usually puts on an act of being very ill and weak, and moaning Stan's name out: "Staaaaaan!" Randy is also shown to be a hypochondriac.
In the episode "My Future Self n' Me", "Future Stan" reveals that Randy doesn't like chicken. He also doesn't like cherry pop-tarts, as he expressed disgust when Linda Stotch pointed out that those were the only ones left in "Night of the Living Homeless".
In the episode "Over Logging" Randy can be seen using a computer mouse, as well as masturbating with his left hand; he may therefore be left-handed.
He is obsessive with a few things, as evidenced with his video camera in Pandemic when he videotaped his father in the bathtub, Sharon, Stan and Shelley eating dinner (which is implied to have happened multiple times), a Peruvian flute band outside the house (asking Stan to go outside next to them), Sharon and Shelley watching CNN, Sharon talking to the Broflovskis and Tuckers about their missing boys, Sharon calling someone to help with the missing boys and the gargantuan guinea pigs rampaging through town. Sharon frequently reprimanded him for doing this, calling him an idiot at one point.
Alcoholism
In "The Red Badge of Gayness", "Clubhouses" and "The Losing Edge", it was hinted that Randy has a drinking problem. This drinking problem(although in 'the red badge of gayness' it was shown that most of the men in the town are involved in the manipulation by Cartman. his problem was more closely examined in "Bloody Mary" after he was caught drunk-driving. Cartman also mentioned it in the episode "Grey Dawn", at one point stating, "Looks like Stan's dad's been hitting the bottle again."
He has been depicted as everything from a casual drinker to a heavy alcoholic. He still isn't as bad as Kenny's father, Stuart McCormick, as, unlike the latter, he is sober most of the time. He also had a job until he got himself fired in About Last Night.
History
As revealed in Something You Can Do With Your Finger, Randy was a member in a boy band in his late teens. It is also implied in Die Hippie, Die, that Randy and his wife, Sharon used to be hippies, and they met at Woodstock in 1969. If this were the case, though, they would be in their mid-forties to mid-fifties. But Randy stated in one episode in Season 9 that he was thirty-five years old, so this may have been simply a cutaway joke. Also, Randy and Sharon were revealed to have met in a tree-fort playing Truth or Dare, in the episode Clubhouses.
Randy tells the other adults in town, at the end of Child Abduction is Not Funny, that he studied Mongolian in college. He then speaks it to the children, who have joined a tribe of Mongolians. However, it appears that he doesn't apply his knowledge of the language to his life, as this is the only time he is heard speaking it.
In "Make Love, Not Warcraft", Randy makes a World of Warcraft account (which is named Falcorn and is a level 2 human hunter, which is not possible in the actual game) after seeing his son Stan play it.
Randy is named after, and based upon, Trey Parker's father, Randy Parker. Randy Parker is also a geologist.
Careers and Occupations
It should be noted that Randy Marsh bears the same name as an umpire in Major League Baseball.
Boy-Band Singer
Randy in his band.
In "Something You Can Do With Your Finger", Randy reveals to Stan that he was in a boy band in his teens, after having been in a choir during high school. He was so eager about this new career, that he dropped out of school, left his girlfriend and his family, and immediately joined up. The name of his band was The Ghetto Avenue Boys, which is meant to be a parody of The Back Street Boys. They had a hit single, "You Got It", and they made millions. But a couple of years later, all of the group members were fired for being too old for a boy band, despite the fact that Randy was only nineteen at the time. Randy was in debt to the studio, and in order to make up for it, he had to give up all of his possessions. He then returned home at last, and used up what money he had left resuming his education.
An interesting thing to note is that Randy is shown to be very proficient at the guitar in "Guitar Queer-o". He also mentions in that episode that he knows how to play several famous rock songs on the guitar, such as "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kerry Livgren.
Geologist
Ever since his first appearance, he has been shown to be a geologist. In later seasons, notably in the season 8 episode "Goobacks", he is known to be a worker for the United States Geological Survey. He became famous for his theory on moderation in the episode "Spontaneous Combustion", and won the Nobel Prize Award for it. He is often called upon to perform many scientific tasks, due to his education and positions. He usually is unable to perform the tasks, though, as the people forget that he is merely geologist, and lacks knowledge of most other sciences.
He lost this job in About Last Night for verbally and physically abusing his boss, calling him a "fucking asshole", a "fucking assfuck" and a "fucking piece of shit", amongst other things, and then punching him, obviously mistaking him for a McCain supporter while he voted for Obama.
Wal-Mart Employee
In the episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes", Randy worked at the Wal-Mart in South Park, until Stan saved him from being killed as the store was destroyed in the end.
Unemployed
Randy has been unemployed since About Last Night.
Family
Randy's name suggests German and English ancestry.
Sharon Marsh
- Main Article: Sharon Marsh.
She is Randy's remarried (maybe soon-to-be-ex) wife. She seems to be more sensible than him at the best of times, although they both are known to be very hotheaded on occasion. In "Clubhouses", they were constantly bickering, and finally they divorced. Randy then became a incompetent father who spent the whole time partying the nights away, and never seemed to have time for his children. At the end of the episode, Sharon decided she still loved Randy, and they had sex in Stan's tree fort. They then presumably remarried. Up until this episode, they had been inseparable from each other; afterwards, they're still loving, but their relationship is a bit more normal, if not slightly strained. They have had serious strains, particularly when Randy said the "N" word on Wheel of Fortune and worse with his obsession with the camera he just bought. It is unknown how long this marriage will last, due to Randy getting himself fired.
Stanley "Stan" Marsh
- Main Article: Stan Marsh.
Stan is is Randy's son, and youngest child. Randy loves his son very much, and goes out of his way to protect him (one example being the episode "Grey Dawn".) Stan, however, gets very annoyed and frustrated by Randy's dim-witted behavior, and usually only takes his advice because he feels obliged to do so.
In About Last Night, Stan got irritated by the street party outside, making a noise complaint. All he could say when they tipped Officer Barbrady's car over was "Jesus Christ". It was even worse when Randy refused to help with Kyle's younger brother Ike, who had fallen out of the window.
Shelley Marsh
- Main Article: Shelley Marsh.
She is Randy's daughter, and eldest child. She is very violent to her younger brother, Stan, although she is very nice whenever her parents are around. Because of this, Randy and Sharon have remained completely oblivious to her abusive nature. and when Stan told them what she did, they didn't believe him,
Marvin "Grampa" Marsh
- Main Article: Marvin Marsh.
He is Randy's ancient father, who is 102 years old. He is very suicidal, though everyone merely laughs at his requests to be killed, saying "That's our silly Grampa!" In "Grey Dawn", he was frustrated by the way Randy spoke to him as if he were speaking to his son, rather than his father. Stan then explained that that was partly why Grampa waged the war between the young and the elderly, because he didn't want to be "treated like he was 12".
Jimbo Kern
- Main Article: Jimbo Kern.
Jimbo is Randy's half-brother, as Matt Stone revealed in an interview. He said that they were birthed by the same mother, but each have different fathers.
Episodes in Which Randy is Prominent
Randy has been a relatively prominent character since the beginning of the show, and has had an average of two or three notably prominent appearances per season. The only season in which he had no notable appearance to date was Season 5.
Season 1
(Randy's first appearance. He is not yet identified as Stan's father, but he discovers that the old mountain above South Park is a volcano, on the verge of erupting.)
(Randy and Sharon join Sheila's protest group against Terrance and Phillip.)
Season 2
(Randy and Sharon divorce due to constant bickering.)
(Randy isn't pleased about Sharon's aunt coming to stay.)
Season 3
(Randy figures out why the people of South Park are spontaneously combusting.)
(Randy freaks out about his sexual reputation after he and Gerald masturbate in front of each other at Mr. Mackey's meteor shower party.)
(Randy is involved with the war reenactment.)
Season 4
(Randy doesn't want Stan to be in a boyband, on account of an old experience of his own.)
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
(Randy is an anti-war fighter.)
- South Park Is Gay!
Season 8
(Randy supports Giant Douche because Turd Sandwich isn't clean.)
Season 9
- "The Losing Edge" - Manages to get into a fight with other parents of other kids' baseball teams.
- "Bloody Mary" - Suffers from alcoholism.
Season 10
- "Manbearpig" - Randy tells the boys not to hang around with Al Gore.
- "Make Love, Not Warcraft" - Randy helps Stan and friends defeat "The Rogue" character on the World of Warcraft game.
- "Stanley's Cup" - Randy frets over whether or not Stan will goof up with the hockey game again.
Season 11
Randy, half naked in "Guitar Queer-o".
- "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson" - Randy says the "N" word on live TV, and has to apologize to Jesse Jackson for it.)
- "Fantastic Easter Special" - Randy is shown to be a member of The Hare Club for Men, and let's Stan in on the game.
- "Night of the Living Homeless" - Randy leads the South Park residents through the night while the homeless attack.
- "More Crap" - Randy becomes the town hero after the men at the bar see the size of his latest crap.
- "Guitar Queer-o" - Randy offers to teach the boys how to play a real guitar.
Season 12
- "Over Logging" - Randy makes the family move to California in order to find Internet access, which the town does not have.
- "Pandemic" - Randy cannot put down his new video camera and records minute happenings inside the Marsh household, causing Sharon to constantly argue with him, probably putting him in danger of being kicked out of the house. Attacked by giant guinea pigs, and is apparently hit, leaving his status uncertain. (It has been revealed that he survived)
- "Pandemic 2: The Startling" - Randy bravely documents the attacks of the Furry Death, much to the annoyance of his wife and daughter. When the crisis is over and Randy tries to show his footage to a soldier, he discovers that he never put tape in the camera.
- "About Last Night" - Is one of the Obama supporters going nuts with the party. Gets so drunk that he physically and verbally abuses his boss, losing his job as a result.
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