Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the comic geniuses behind Team America and South Park, are crashing the Great White Way with their Broadway debut: The Book of Mormon.  As a huge fan of South Park’s epic 15 seasons and the lesser-known but amazingly hilarious Cannibal! The Musical, I could not be more pumped for Stone and Parker’s irreverent brand of comedy to hit the Big Apple.

Now, there’s a common misperception among elitists that the Parker-Stone duo are not artists, but two slackers who made a name for themselves by turning out lowbrow comedy for the stoners of America. I’m sure that I am preaching to the converted when I say a resounding “not so.” These two satirists are actually brilliant cultural thinkers that cleverly shroud progressive social commentary in cuss words and fart jokes. No easy task.

In fact, Stone and Parker have been working on Mormon since 2004 (that’s seven years for you math geniuses out there) and have workshopped the piece for half a decade. Suffice to say, these guys have been around forever. They aren’t a one-hit wonder making fast cash off a YouTube video.  I believe this is mostly because they get it. They’ve been honing their craft for years and truly understand how to poke fun at their audience without pissing them off. …Okay, sometimes they piss people off.  The point is, whether they are making us laugh or pissing us off their work always starts a larger conversation about the nuances of society that govern our everyday lives. And, come on, isn’t that what great art is really all about? So, like it or not culture snobs, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are here to stay. And I, for one, can’t wait for their Broadway debut.

Need more? Matt Stone and Trey Parker detail their creative process on Late Night with (the less-funny) Jimmy Fallon.  Video link here:  http://broadwayworld.com/videoplay.php?colid=220818