| Clyde Donovan | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Gender: |
Male |
|
Hair: |
Brown |
|
Birthday: |
April 10 |
|
Age: |
10 |
|
Job: |
Student |
|
Religion: |
Roman Catholic |
|
Voiced by: |
Trey Parker |
|
Allies |
Craig Tucker [Best Friend], Butters Stotch, Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Wendy Testaburger, Token Black [Best Friend], Jimmy Valmer [Best Friend] |
|
Enemies |
Wendy Testaburger [sometimes], Eric Cartman [sometimes], Carol McCormick |
Clyde Donovan (formerly Clyde Goodman and Clyde Harris) is one of the main characters' classmates and is voiced by Trey Parker. His birthday is April 10th.
Appearance
He has medium-brown hair, wears a burgundy coat, grayish-brown trousers, and sometimes wears ocean-blue mittens. Underneath, he has been shown to wear a green T-shirt with a cow's face on the front. He has been labeled "the second fattest kid next to Cartman" despite appearing about the same weight as the others. He has a somewhat nasal voice, similar to that of Craig's. In "Quest for Ratings", it is rumored that Clyde only has one testicle, though this is never actually confirmed. In "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce", Clyde is announced as having a colostomy by Mr. Mackey, and as such was incapable of and therefore innocent of deficating into a urinal; in reality, people with colostomies are among the most capable of deficating into urinals.
Personality
He has a habit of sobbing uncontrollably whenever he witnesses something upsetting. Examples of this are when he hears Cartman singing in 4th Grade, when the adults decide to give all of the money they would have spent on Christmas presents for their kids to the Broflovski's in "It's Christmas in Canada", and when he realized that there were no crystal clear lagoons, treasure, and plunder after he joined Cartman's "Somalian pirate club" in "Fatbeard". This usually gets an angry response from Cartman.
On several occasions when things get surreal in the show, Clyde shows little or no interest. For instance, when the boys audition for a new fourth friend, and he is eliminated as a candidate, he eventually decides that it is stupid and shows no actual interest in being their fourth friend. Also, while everyone else is obsessing over the World of Warcraft game, he questions its importance and reads Playboy instead, which causes the "rogue" to defeat the other players once again.
Character
Clyde Donovan made his first speaking appearance in Weight Gain 4000 as an Indian in the play being performed for Kathy Lee Gifford. During Clubhouses, he began dating Bebe Stevens though it is unknown as to whether or not this relationship continued. In the movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, it is implied that he is not very clever, or at least not good at mathematics and is often portrayed as one of the less intelligent members of the class. When Mr. Garrison asks him what two times five equals, he guesses twelve. Then again, Mr. Garrison wasn't necessarily a great teacher in the first few seasons so that could be why.
In the episode Cherokee Hair Tampons, Butters comments that Clyde would have helped in getting Cartman's kidney for Kyle, but his appetite for tacos got in the way. He is Roman Catholic; seen at the church in Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?.
Clyde seems to have a liking for adult-related materials. In the episode Make Love, Not Warcraft, he is seen reading an playboy magazine instead of playing the game, and in Ginger Kids, the topic of his presentation is mentioned as "lesbian cheerleaders." In the episode Marjorine, Butters (in the character of Marjorine) says, "...And getting my snootch pounded on Friday nights," to which Clyde responds, "Nice." Although, this could be interpreted as Clyde being satisfied with how well their plan was going.
Clyde appears to be one of the nicer boys, or at least he has a better sense of morality. In "Lice Capades", he refused to sock bathe Kenny McCormick when Kenny is accused of having head lice, since Clyde believed himself to be the only one who had lice. He also notified Mrs. Garrison to stop the sock bathing and tried to delay the other boys until it arrived. Clyde is even seen defending Cartman in "Marjorine".
In "The List", when Clyde is listed on the corrupted list as best looking, he becomes arrogant and self loving of his looks. He attempts to make Kyle feel better for being listed last, though does it in a careless way. He, however; is very low on the real list.
In Marjorine, Clyde stood up for Cartman when Kyle and Stan were ridiculing him for his discovery of the girls' future telling device. This surprised many of the boys who were in Cartman's basement at the time, including Cartman himself. Although this initially indicates that he's somewhat on Cartman's side, he ignores him along with the rest of the class in The Death of Eric Cartman. He may have only been curious about the future telling device Cartman was reporting and wanted Stan and Kyle to be quiet while Cartman explained. He might also still feel loyalty towards Cartman for returning to South Park in Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000, evidenced by his willingness to accept Cartman as a leader, such as when he joined his crew in Fatbeard. He also seems to be much more willing than the other kids to accept Cartman's bigoted views, possibly because he agrees with Cartman on occasion (he said ginger kids creeped him out in "Ginger Kids")
Vigilante
In The Coon, many people saw Clyde as a possible candidate for the identity of Mysterion in the episode . He was shown sleeping in class the day Cartman gave his speech in class, possibly from playing Mysterion, but the next day it is implied this is Mysterion's first appearance. However, all of the children are tired, so it may have just served a more exaggerated illustration, or it may have just been a red herring. Cartman did accuse Mysterion of being Clyde, making him one of the possible candidates. In the episode Coon 2: Hindsight he is present with the rest of the boys in coon and friends watching the BP oil spill on the tv. The next scene the boys run out of the house in their hero costumes, which led to further beliefs that he might be Mysterion. In Mysterion Rises, however, it is revealed that Clyde is Mosquito. He was easily beaten up by Cartman in Coon 2: Hindsight showing he is either weak or was just caught be surprise.
Lice Situation
In Lice Capades, he thought at first that he was the only one in the school who had head lice. He did not want to reveal it or have it found out, because he feared he would be made fun of and embarrassed by Cartman and the rest of the class. However, Clyde's lice problem was not revealed to the others, as Kenny McCormick was accused by Cartman (because he thinks that poor people are most susceptible to head lice). This episode was the first time his last name was 'Harris,' as stated at the lice inspection. However, in the later reruns, this was corrected.
Family
He told the environmentalists in Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow that his father, like Randy Marsh, is a geologist (who said there was no evidence of global warming), though Mr. Donovan is only shown with Clyde alongside his mother. The couple appear again in the Atheists Club in "Red Hot Catholic Love", leading us to believe that Clyde's family, like most of South Park's residents, is Roman Catholic. He has a dog named Rex Donovan, who had a sexual encounter with Stan's dog, Sparky Marsh. His mother is referred to as Martha in "Red Hot Catholic Love." His name suggests Irish or Scottish ancestry.
In the season eleven finale, "The List," it is revealed that his father owns a shoe shop. This is why the girls declared him the cutest boy in South Park Elementary; it was so that they could have easier shoe-shopping sprees. However, as mentioned above, Mr. Donovan was supposedly a geologist. Of course, he may have more than one job, or he may have quit geology since "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow," and taken up a career as a shoe store owner. Another version of this goof is that he is not Clyde's real father at all.
The Donovan family apparently sold their house and moved to another as of the season eight episode The Jeffersons, as it is mentioned that Michael Jefferson bought "the Donovan's old house."
In the episode Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?, Priest Maxi was caught by the children having sex with a woman named Mrs. Donovan (whom he later described as an evil temptress), however she looks nothing like Martha. Her exact relation to Clyde, if any, has been left ambiguous.
In the season eleven episode Fantastic Easter Special, a fellow in a bunny costume named "Nick Donovan" prays for Jesus to save him.
Surname
Clyde's last name appeared on merchandise during the first few seasons as 'Clyde Goodman', but this name was never used on the show. During "Quest for Ratings", he was referred to as Clyde Donovan during a news segment, yet a few seasons later during "Lice Capades" the nurse asks him "Clyde... Harris, is it?" and while it may have been a mistake on her part, later airings corrected the line to Donovan. In "You have 0 Friends" on Facebook his name is changed back to 'Clyde Donovan'.
Sports
Clyde Donovan has been seen as a good athlete and really likes sports. He plays football for the South Park cows in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" and "The Coon" and continues to show support for the team throughout Douche and Turd, very upset with the name change and during the change back is shown to wear the jersey under his clothes. He's also on the basketball team in "Elementary School Musical" and was on the soccer team in "Medicinal Fried Chicken".
He was seen playing Baseball in "The Losing Edge" but like all of the boys at South Park Elementary, hated the game and tried hard to lose it so they did not have to continue playing. Clyde is also a big fan of the Denver Broncos, as seen in "Marjorine."
Prominence
Clyde was used as a background character with no other role aside occasional lines at the beginning of the series and brief jokes. In season four he was given a lasting personality and gradually became one of the primary members of the boys' class in season six and onward. He is sometimes overshadowed by Craig or Jimmy who he is shown to be close friends with.