The carefree fun of the 80s was still fresh on people’s minds and the movies and music of the 90s were still enjoying that flavor of experimentation and artistic weirdness. Helicopter parents were not yet the norm and my friends and I were still able to venture out vast distances without a neighbor calling the cops on my mom. Moreover, the internet hadn’t obtained mainstream status quite yet. Cancel culture wasn’t a thing, social media wasn’t forcing people onto a public stage, and things just seemed a lot less shallow.

But there was an abundance of the counterculture. Anti-authoritarian music was beyond hot. It was all about sticking it to the corporations and moral busybodies. That same attitude could be seen on television where shows like “Beavis and Butthead” aired on MTV in between Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine music videos. The spinoff “Daria” would soon arrive. Even the hit show “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” had that flare of being the real guy among posers.

But amid the 90s emerged a television show that encapsulated the attitude of the age. It was irreverent, filthy, and took no prisoners. No one was safe from it, be it Democrats, Republicans, Christians, atheists, black, white, disabled, famous, young, or old. Instead of avoiding sacred cows, it seemed to go right for them, slaughtered them, and ate them for dinner.

In 1997, Matt Stone and Trey Parker began what would be a multi-decade run of a show called “South Park.” It was a cartoon that centered around four boys, their families, and the various people who lived in their town. Every character seemed an exaggeration of some kind with only two of the boys, Stan and Kyle, representing normalcy.

Needless to say, it was a smash hit, especially with young boys who weren’t supposed to watch it. A 13-year-old Brandon would sit down and watch South Park for the first time at a friend’s house. The friend had secretly videotaped some episodes and watched them while his parents were away, and I can remember thinking the show was the greatest thing I’d ever seen. It had fart jokes, grotesque violence, cuss words — pretty much everything a young boy could want.

What I didn’t know, but would learn over the course of years, is that beneath all the grossness and fart jokes was probably the most intelligent and honest show on the airwaves. Over the course of years, Stone and Parker would create scenarios and characters that, while ultimately ridiculous and exaggerated, represented an underlying and undeniable reality.

(READ: South Park Demolishes Harry and Meghan, Thus Retaining Its Status as the GOAT)

It’s tackled climate alarmists from environmental wackos and hybrid drivers, and even Al Gore. It’s tackled the arrogance and unflinching faith of hardcore atheists. It’s tackled transgenderism and internet influencers. Occupy Wall Street, self-important celebrities, and every President in between have been raked over the coals. Chaucer wouldn’t be prouder if he could see the show today.

(READ: South Park Doubles Down on Its Anti-China Stance for Its 300th Episode)

Stone and Parker are so good at satirizing pop culture and mainstream entities that the show has been placed in the crosshairs of some very powerful people on more than one occasion. Everyone from the Church of Scientology to China has attempted to stop South Park and nothing has been able to bring it down. In a world where anything and everything can be canceled at a moment’s notice for even the slightest sin, South Park continues to thrive.

While it targets everyone, Stone and Parker seem to favor going after the left more than the right. The duo admitted they were Republican in 2018 while accepting an award in front of a crowd that laughed nervously at the news.

(READ: South Park’s Matt Stone and Trey Parker to Crowd at Awards Show: “We’re Republicans”)

It’s possible they were trolling, which would be par for the course, but South Park itself might be a slight confirmation that they were being super cereal. The show speaks the truth through absurdity and through a point of view that has more or less died out in the mainstream. Amid a sea of leftist-heavy messaging, South Park stands as the last bastion of untainted entertainment.

I don’t know how long the show will remain. It’s been on for 26 years, not counting the movies and specials it’s produced on the side. One thing is for sure, when it goes, its absence will be felt. Until then, we shouldn’t take the show for granted. It might be the last real remnant of a better time.