"Ike's Wee Wee" is the third episode of the second season of the American animated television series South Park. The 16th episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on May 20, 1998.
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"Ike's Wee Wee" was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker. The scene where Mr. Mackey loses the marijuana cigarette in class was inspired by a real event from Parker's life, where a counselor came into his class in seventh grade, and passed around a lit piece of marijuana, which then disappeared. Parker said that he was especially proud of Chef's line, "There's a time and a place for everything, and it's called college", which is something Parker believes in, noting that if he had a child, he would tell him: "Do whatever you want, just wait till college because you don't know what the fuck's up right now." Chef's sentence would later return in the season four episode "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000".
The episode introduced Ike's backstory as a Canadian child adopted by the Broflovskis. Ever since the recurring characters Terrance and Phillip were established to be Canadians in the season one finale "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut", and the subsequent season two premiere "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus", all Canadian characters on South Park have shared the same simplistic design: having simple beady eyes and a floppy head made up of two halves. While Ike had been on the show since its first episode, the writers originally did not know that he was going to be Canadian; he was retroactively made one based on his visual similarity to Terrance and Phillip. Ike's backstory would play an important role in the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,
Themes
"Ike's Wee Wee" raises the question of who really can be considered one's family. At first, Kyle's implicit idea is that family consists of "those for whom we care that are related by blood". Based on this viewing of family, he no longer feels the need to help Ike when he learns that they are not related by blood. Thus, Kyle's reformed view of family not only includes his adopted brother, but his friends as well.
Cultural references
Part of the episode revolves around the practice of religious male circumcision in Judaism, and the related ceremony called the brit milah or bris, and the boys' misunderstanding of the tradition. Jimbo and Cartman both use the term hippie pejoratively. During their argument, Jimbo tells Mackey that he should just go to a Grateful Dead concert, to which Mackey says he can't since Jerry Garcia is deceased. On two occasions, the episode shows people watching Teletubbies while high on marijuana or in rehab. In his drug prevention speech, Mackey claims that LSD was made famous by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, former members of The Beatles. Both Lennon and McCartney are known to have experimented with the drug.
While walking home, Mr. Mackey drunkenly sings the 1983 Pat Benatar song "Love Is a Battlefield". During Ike's supposed funeral, a bagpipe player starts playing the Hebrew folk song "Hava Nagila". When Mackey is in India, he is captured by members of The A-Team, and driven away in their van. Mackey is taken to rehabilitation to the Betty Ford Clinic, which is based on a real-life hospital.
Broadcast, reception, and impact
Two episodes preceded "Ike's Wee Wee" in the second season of the show. The episode scheduled for April 1, 1998, promised to resolve the cliffhanger ending of the first season finale, "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut", regarding the identity of Cartman's father, but was in fact an April Fools' Day joke on the creators' part: "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus", an entire episode revolving around the two title characters. The April 1 episode was supposed to be a one-off, with the rest of the season starting in May. However, following overwhelmingly negative fan reaction, the episode resolving the Cartman's father storyline, "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut", was moved from its planned May 20 air date to April 22. "Ike's Wee Wee" then started a six-episode run of the season when it was broadcast on Comedy Central in the United States on May 20, 1998.