Soon after meeting in film class at the University of Colorado in 1992, Parker and Stone created an animated short entitled "The Spirit of Christmas".^[40] The film, referred to as "Jesus vs. Frosty" by fans, was created by animating construction paper cutouts with stop motion, and features prototypes of the main characters of South Park, including a character resembling Cartman but named "Kenny", an unnamed character resembling what is today Kenny, and two near-identical unnamed characters who resemble Stan and Kyle. Friend and Fox network executive Brian Graden commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film as a video Christmas card. Created in 1995, the second  Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire  "The Spirit of Christmas" short (referred to by fans as "Jesus vs. Santa") resembled the style of the later series more closely.^[41] Graden sent copies of the video to several of his friends, and from there it was copied and distributed, including among the Internet, where it became one of the first viral videos.^[22][42]

As the short became more popular, Parker and http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com   Stone began talks of developing the short into a television series. Fox refused to pick up the series, not wanting to air a show that included the character Mr. Hankey, a talking piece of feces.^[43] The two then entered talks with both MTV and Comedy Central. Parker preferred the show be produced by Comedy Central, fearing that MTV would turn it into a kids show.^[44] When Comedy Centralhttp://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com   executive Doug Herzog watched the short, he commissioned for it to be developed into a series.^[22][45]