Release and Reception
The episode was first aired in the United States on the cable television channel Comedy Central on February 25, 1998. It received a Nielsen rating in the 8.0 range. In Canada, the episode premiered on The Comedy Channel on August 20, 1998, it was the last of a three-week South Park marathon aired by the network. A little over 300,000 viewers watched the episode, which was a record for the channel, which had only been part of Canada's cable networks for ten months. The complete three-week marathon was watched by an average 186,307 viewers per minute per day.
When first broadcast in the United States, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" gained positive responses from critics. Writing for The Vancouver Sun, Brian Lowry and Alex Strachan defined "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut", as well as "Damien", "Mecha Streisand" and "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", as season one's "classic episodes", commenting that "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" was "a heart-warming, tender episode". Carson also praised the episode for its "hilarious sex-jokes". In a top ten list of South Park's best episodes, compiled by Chicago Tribune reporter Allan Johnson, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" was ranked third, behind "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants" and "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo".
On April 27, 1999, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" was released on the "South Park: Volume 7" VHS tape which also contained "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut", in a third series of South Park home video releases. Volume 7 was sold along with Volume 8, which contained "Chickenlover" and "Ike's Wee Wee", and Volume 9, which contained "Conjoined Fetus Lady" and "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka". All thirteen episodes of the first season, including "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut", were released on a DVD box set on November 12, 2002. Parker and Stone recorded commentary tracks for each episode, but the tracks were not included on the DVDs due to "standards" issues with some of the statements; refusing to allow the tracks to be censored or edited, Parker and Stone's commentary tracks were released on a separate CD.
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