Stanley "Stan" Marsh is a main character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with Eric Cartman and friends Kyle Broflovski and Kenny McCormick. He debuted on television when South Park first aired on August 13, 1997, after having first appeared in The Spirit of Christmas shorts created by Parker and long-time collaborator Matt Stone in 1992 and 1995. Stan is a third- then fourth-grade student who commonly has extraordinary experiences not typical of conventional small-town life in his fictional hometown of South Park, Colorado. Stan is generally depicted as friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and relaxed. He often shares with his best friend Kyle a leadership role as the protagonist of the show. Stan is unreserved in expressing his distinct lack of esteem for adults and their influences, as adult South Park residents rarely make use of their critical faculties. Like the other South Park characters, Stan is animated by computer in a way to emulate the show's original method of cutout animation.