Live Film Special: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut w/Beeban Kidron

Live Film Special: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut w/Beeban Kidron

From Past Present Future by David Runciman

April 29, 2026 · 1h 9m · Season 16 · Episode 287

About this episode

David Runciman discusses the 1999 film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut with Beeban Kidron, exploring its satire on censorship and political issues.

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to film director and campaigner Beeban Kidron about the 1999 film-length version of South Park. In among all the swearing and stupidity is a serious satire of censorship, moral panics and political manipulation. How did a film from the 20th century see so sharply what was coming in the 21st? And how does the satire look now in the age of big tech and social media madness? Plus philosopher Paul Sagar gives us his grand theory of South Park. You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Now & Then with Robert Saunders – The General Strike @100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: David Runciman

Guest: Beeban Kidron

Topics covered

  • film analysis
  • censorship
  • satire
  • political manipulation
  • social media
  • live audience

Keywords

  • South Park
  • censorship
  • satire
  • Beeban Kidron
  • David Runciman
  • political manipulation
  • social media
  • live podcast

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Places: London

More episodes of Past Present Future

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Past Present Future podcast page.