South Park: Kristen Schaal Reveals How She Was Fired From the Show After Just One Month

Kristen Schaal has had a lot of success over the years thanks to Flight of the Conchords, Bob’s Burgers, and other comedy hits. But few realize that she also had a short stint as a writer on South Park in 2007, mostly because she was fired after just one month.

In a new interview with The Daily Beast, Schaal opened up about her time in South Park’s writer’s room, admitting that she was a shade too eager to earn her keep. “I was pitching too much. I’d never been in a writers’ room before. So I was just like, let me earn my keep. I was like, ‘How about this? How about this? How about this?’ And that’s not how it works.”

Schaal says she came into the job as an established fan of South Park, which added to her anxiety. “I mean, I am such a South Park fan. I think South Park is honestly one of the most underrated cultural shows. I think people have taken it for granted at this point. But it is such a force. And I grew up in Colorado, I went to school at the University of Colorado for a year. So I was in awe.”

It didn’t last long, though. “I was there for like a month and I was told—I got a warning that I was talking too much.”

It didn’t help that South Park was big on movie parodies in 2007, and that she wasn’t much of a movie buff herself. “I couldn’t go there, so I just kept pitching another thing. So looking back, yeah, they let me go. I could do a writers’ room now, just for everybody listening, but I was too nervous and too excited to be in there.”

It all worked out fine in the end. Schaal says she has no grudge against creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, though does say that the news that she had been let go was “devastating.” She would go on to plenty of success elsewhere, from appearances on The Daily Show to playing Louise Belcher in Bob’s Burgers.

As for South Park, it’s still going, with Stone and Parker inking a deal that it will take it through its 30th season. The pair will also produce 14 new movies and a game. Make sure to check out the rest of our South Park coverage, including the news that Stone and Parker will be buying a landmark restaurant featured in the show.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN