What Would Brian Boitano Do?

Olympic and professional figure skater Brian Boitano is a recurring figure in the animated television series South Park, which debuted in 1997. In actuality the use of a fictionalized Boitano's character predates the show, with an angel-like Boitano materializing to lend advice in the second "The Spirit of Christmas" short (Jesus vs. Santa) animated film, made by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone in 1995 while still students at the University of Colorado. In the short, Stan Marsh asks Eric Cartman, "What would Brian Boitano do?" as Jesus battles Santa Claus. Boitano's character also appears in the fourth episode of the first season of the South Park television series in the episode "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". In this September 1997 episode of the show the Boitano character appears ice dancing during the gay liberation-themed song "We're All Gay and It's OK!" ==Song==

The Boitano character was revisited in the 1999 South Park musical film, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, with the song "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" by Trey Parker and composer Marc Shaiman. In the absurdist song, Boitano is cast as an action hero, with his 1988 Olympic Winter Games victory escalated into a series of increasingly ludicrous purported achievements to include fighting grizzly bears in the Alps with his "magical fire breath", time travel to the year 3010 to do battle with an evil robot king to save humanity (again), and construction of the Great Pyramids of Egypt while at the same time beating up 13th-century Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, because he "doesn't take shit from anybody", and Brian Dennehy confuses the boys saying "Brian Boitano" with his name. "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" is reprised with an aggressive folk punk version featured prominently in the movie's closing credits. Recorded by Stone and Parker's band DVDA, the up-tempo and energetic alternate version further reveals that Boitano also has an apparently limitless appetite for chicken wings in a brief heavy metal bridge section. ==Boitano's response==

In a series of interviews, Boitano has reacted light-heartedly to the use of his name in the song. Having no prior acquaintance with Parker or Stone, he went to see Bigger, Longer, and Uncut alone, with misgivings about possibly being treated harshly in the film. Instead, he experienced hearing the line "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" in the film being received with appreciative laughter, which he found to be "surreal." This tangent led to Boitano's authorship of a cookbook by the same title, published in 2013. ==See also==