Top 20 Times Cartman Was Actually Nice to Someone

Who wouldn’t love to go to Casa Bonita? It’s clear that Cartman loves the Mexican themed restaurant, but when Kyle tells him he won’t take him there for his birthday party, Cartman loses it. After a couple of attempts to be nice to Kyle fail, Cartman offers a sincere apology. Kyle is so moved he says that Cartman can take Butters' place if he can’t go. Immediately he tricks Butters into hiding out in a bomb shelter. Was he just opportunistic or was it his plan all along to trick Kyle? We can’t know for sure.

Cartman and Kyle make a bet over whether or not Cartman saw a leprechaun. Kyle believes it’s not true so he’s shocked when everyone spots one running through the forest. Cartman is adamant that Kyle fulfill his part of the agreement, going so far as to take the matter to court when Kyle refuses. The boys get swept up in the Imaginationland conflict and Kyle is attacked by ManBearPig. He seemingly is left for dead until Cartman steps in to revive him. His desperate pleas almost seem in vain until Kyle starts breathing again. It seems like a genuine act until Cartman reveals he only did it so Kyle would have to complete the bet.

In the show’s early seasons, it was a running gag that Kenny would die in nearly every episode. This time however he’s diagnosed with a terminal disease. The boys are distraught to learn that they’re gonna lose their friend. In a touching moment Kyle and Cartman cry and embrace. Cartman vows to find a cure for Kenny. He learns that stem cells could be used to cure Kenny of his disease but currently there’s a ban on stem cell research. He manages to convince the government to overturn the ban by singing “Heat of the Moment” in the House of Representatives. Sadly, Kenny passes away before he can be cured. In an unsurprising move Cartman uses the stem cells to create his own Shakey’s Pizza.

Planetariums aren’t always the most exciting places to visit but that changes on a school field trip when students are brainwashed into loving them. Eric Cartman skips out on viewing the star show to try and win a contest to be in a Cheesy Poofs commercial. Slowly but surely more and more people are becoming brainwashed because the director of the planetarium, Dr. Adams is trying to stop his business from going bankrupt. Stan and Kyle try to put a stop to things but end up under Adams’ mind control. Upset that no one saw his Cheesy Poofs commercial, Cartman kicks over the star machine, freeing everyone from being hypnotized. Yes, he unknowingly saved the day but it’s Cartman so we’ll give it to him.

Hippies are generally seen as peace loving individuals and in this episode they overrun the town of South Park. Cartman notices this happening, so he begins a mission to drive them out. When he tries to warn city officials about the impending danger, they don’t take him seriously and he’s actually imprisoned for rounding up hippies. The townsfolk come back to Cartman with their collective tail between their legs once they realize the danger South Park is in from the music festival. He saves the day by having Slayer blare through the sound system. While Cartman struck a deal to get a Tonka radio controlled bulldozer in exchange for his efforts, he was already trying to save the town before the hippies reached a critical mass.

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#15: Reporting Foster Parents to CPS

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After Kenny is put into a foster home, Cartman is now the poorest kid in school. Fearing that Kyle will now make fun of him because of this fact, he conjures up a plan to also be put into a foster home of the Weatherheads. He soon finds out that his foster parents are extremely strict. After Cartman contacts Child Protective Services on the Weatherheads for only providing the children with Dr. Pepper to drink, their disciplinary methods are found out. The parents are eventually arrested and everyone is returned to their original homes. If Cartman hadn’t entered the system, who knows if the foster kids would have been rescued.

The gluten free craze has swept South Park and for good reason. When a nutrition advisor from the USDA hosts a demonstration to show there’s nothing wrong with gluten, things go off the rails pretty quickly. The town’s residents are sent into a frenzy and decide to get rid of anything containing gluten. Cartman is bummed that the party he was going to throw with Stan, Kyle and Kenny is going to suck because they won’t be able to serve pizza and cake because both contain gluten. In a dream with Aunt Jemima, he’s given the answer to solve the problem. When he informs the USDA to flip the food pyramid, peace is brought back and people know how to fulfill their dietary needs.

Sometimes you just want to unwind and play “World of Warcraft”. That’s exactly what Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman are trying to do but keep getting killed by a griefer. To try and take this player down, Cartman organizes their wider friend group to team up. The attempt fails and everyone gives up on playing the game. Eric refuses to accept defeat and rallies Stan, Kyle and Kenny to grind their characters to match the experience of the griefer. The boys do gain some extra weight from their commitment, but with a little help from Blizzard execs they are ultimately able to defeat their enemy. Cartman wasn’t going to let someone else ruin his friends’ enjoyment of “World of Warcraft”.

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#12: Finding Sarah Peterson’s Doll

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Playing detective has its rewards. When little Sarah asks Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny to locate her missing doll, they happily take the case. When another group of boys hijack their investigation, they vow to figure out who’s responsible first. The first suspect they bring in is Butters, but soon they get a tip that a doll was spotted at Fosse’s house. They spot Fosse and Bill playing with the doll and after a fake slow motion shoot out, they rescue the doll. Sarah’s mom is so elated by their work she informs the actual police to let them know how brave they are. Cartman wasn’t alone on this one but he still helped out. Their reward? Solving actual crimes in South Park.

When Cartman sees a herd of confined, wide-eyed calves, he’s eager to eat them up, but the boys eventually convince him to help rescue the little bovines. Granted, Cartman only agrees after giving Kyle a face-full of farts. Without his Mission Impossible Breaking and Entering play-set, though, the calves would’ve been destined for the slaughterhouse. Even if Cartman is ready to quit at one point, he soon becomes legitimately invested. After the boys are deemed terrorists, Cartman is the one who negotiates with the authorities. Although they don’t get the calves to Mexico, Cartman’s negotiating tactics result in the word “veal” being changed to “tortured baby cow,” which doesn’t sound nearly as appetizing. Thus, Cartman not only helps save these calves, but also calves everywhere.

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#10: Taking Down Osama bin Laden

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America owes a great debt to Cartman. When the American-Canadian War was breaking out and hell literally started rising, Cartman saved the day with some choice words for Saddam Hussein. Following 9/11, Cartman took on Osama bin Laden by borrowing a few pages from Bugs Bunny and other wartime cartoons. A stick of dynamite blows up almost the entire Taliban with only bin Laden left standing. This provides an opening for a U.S. soldier to put a bullet in bin Laden’s head, ending one of the bleakest chapters in American history. In reality, it’d be several years until bin Laden was assassinated and the Taliban remains active. In the wake of a tragedy, though, at least Cartman gave us something to laugh about.

Shelly is one person who won’t take Cartman’s crap, asserting upfront who’s in charge while babysitting. Upon meeting Shelly’s much older boyfriend Skyler, Cartman spends the night trying to catch the couple on tape. Cartman succeeds, but he decides not to use the evidence against Shelly after Skyler dumps her. Seeing how upset Shelly is, Cartman points out that Skyler was a creep who wanted a twelve-year-old girl to “put out.” After a pep talk, Shelly and Cartman team up to get back at Skyler. Luring him out of his house, they destroy what Skyler loves most: his guitar. When Skyler seeks retribution, Cartman unleashes an army of cats that takes away the other thing Skyler loves most. Cartman’s not such a turd after all.

It was only a matter of time until Cartman wound up behind bars. Convicted for throwing a rock at Token, Cartman struggles to adapt to juvenile hall life. In time, he develops a true friendship with his cellmate, Romper Stomper. Although Cartman puts up a tough front, Romper can see that he’s a scared little boy who can’t handle incarceration. Taking pity on Cartman, Romper helps him escape the big house. The breakout is a failure, but it doesn’t matter since Cartman is pardoned by the governor anyway. Cartman doesn’t forget about Romper, visiting him later on. Remembering that Romper always wanted to see Disneyland, Cartman smuggles in the Happiest Place on Earth… up his buttock. Thankfully, this disgusting act of generosity is performed offscreen.

It’s not often that we see Cartman serving as the voice of reason. In the 100th episode, however, he delivers a classic “I learned something today” speech. Like the rest of the country, South Park is divided over the Iraq War. Following a self-induced flashback to 1776, Cartman finds that the Founding Fathers faced a similar quandary. Through Benjamin Franklin, Cartman learns that a country must be willing to fight for its freedom, but people should also have the freedom to protest. Cartman passes along this lesson to his town, showing them that it takes a little bit of country and a little bit of rock ‘n’ roll to achieve balance. While South Park still has differing opinions, Cartman brings everyone together in perfect harmony.

On our list of the Worst Things Eric Cartman Has Ever Done, giving Kyle HIV came in second. At least he didn’t make Kyle eat his own parents. But, as reprehensible as Cartman’s actions are in this episode, he does redeem himself. Cartman realizes that the answer to curing AIDS must reside in Magic Johnson, who’s been living with an HIV diagnosis since 1991. It turns out that Johnson has been unknowingly sleeping with the answer this whole time: large sums of cash. Thanks to Cartman, Kyle, and a little bit of magic, AIDS is finally cured… assuming you have $180,000 lying around. Cartman saved countless lives by destroying one of the deadliest diseases in human history. Still, if we were Kyle, we’d probably break Cartman’s Xbox too.

Getting ignored by his schoolmates, Cartman jumps to the conclusion that he’s died and becomes a ghost. With help from Butters, Cartman seeks atonement to enter heaven. Gift baskets hardly make up for the atrocities that he’s committed, but at least Cartman’s heart is in the right place. Cartman comes to the conclusion that he’s still on Earth to stop a hostage crisis at the Red Cross Center. Assuming that nobody can see him, Cartman waltzes right in and starts making a ruckus. Of course, the criminals can see Cartman, but they’re so confused by his actions that they fail to notice Butters sneaking out the hostages. This act of heroism convinces the boys to forgive Cartman, who subsequently realizes that he’s not a ghost.

Given “authoritah” of the school hallways, Cartman takes his new position and persona quite seriously. Upon learning that Ike has been making out with Miss Stevenson on his territory, “Dawg the Hallway Monitor” douses the kindergarten teacher with bear mace. Exposing her actions to Principal Victoria, Cartman gets Miss Stevenson fired. She uses the Mel Gibson defense to get out of going to jail. Given society’s double standard, it isn’t long until the teacher is out of rehab and reunited with Ike. Cartman isn’t about to let this hallway infractor slip through the fingers of justice, recruiting Kyle and a few other crew members. Sure, Cartman’s main goal throughout the episode is to keep his hallways clean. But in the end, he succeeds in stopping a predator and bringing Ike home safely.

To say that Cartman has done some anti-Semitic things over the years would be an understatement. Yet, Cartman can’t see the tragic irony when cats are banned in South Park, forcing him to hide Mr. Kitty in his attic. Even when he tells Mr. Kitty to write a diary, Cartman fails to recognize the parallels to Anne Frank. Nevertheless, Cartman truly loves his cat, despite constantly yelling at him over pot pies. It isn’t long until more cat owners start showing up on Cartman’s doorstep, begging him to take in their beloved pets. In an especially rare instance, Cartman doesn’t have any alternative motive. He rescues the cats purely out of the goodness of his heart.

Given all the times they’ve butted heads, Cartman is initially thrilled when Kyle and his family relocate to San Francisco. Cartman finds, however, that his life is empty without Kyle to rip on and Butters can’t fill the void. When San Francisco is about to be hit by a smug storm intensified by George Clooney’s Oscar acceptance speech, Cartman dons a hard-hat diving suit and sets off to rescue the Broflovskis. With Butters assisting him from afar, Cartman finds the Broflovskis just before the storm wipes the city out. The Broflovskis are too out of it to remember what happened, but Cartman doesn’t take any credit. He’s just satisfied knowing that Kyle is safe and their rivalry can continue. Cartman, a guardian angel...?

40 years into the pandemic, Kenny had been working on a method of time travel to go back in time to prevent Kyle, Stan, Cartman and himself from destroying their friendship but died due to an accident. He believed that saving their friendship would prevent the town from becoming dystopian. Cartman doesn’t want to change the past because in this timeline he’s happy with his loving family. After Cartman is convinced by his wife to let Kyle and Stan enact Kenny’s plan, he puts it in God’s hands that he’ll be reunited with his family when the past is changed. Unfortunately, in the altered timeline he’s got a, let’s say, unhealthy relationship with alcohol and no home, while everyone else’s life has improved. It’s a truly selfless act.