Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s rise to the top didn’t happen overnight. When the duo first moved to Los Angeles back in the ‘90s, they spent five years chasing their dreams of being in the entertainment business. At one point, Stone was sleeping on his dirty laundry because he couldn’t afford a mattress. Their persistence paid off in the end, but things weren’t looking good for the future Emmy, Tony, and Grammy winners for a while.

That’s why when South Park became a big success, Parker and Stone decided to sign every deal that was offered to them. By their own admission, they said yes to too many things. Among the projects they agreed to do during that time were the movie BASEketball, with Airplane! writer and director David Zucker, and the 1998 compilation CD Chef Aid: The South Park Album. Suddenly, Parker and Stone were in high demand and found themselves rubbing elbows with people like George Lucas at Hollywood parties.

Another thing the two became involved with in those days was a prequel to 1994’s Dumb and Dumber. In the early stages, Jim Carrey and the Farrelly brothers were even set to return for the film. Parker and Stone jumped at the opportunity and spent a significant amount of time working on the script. The studio was very patient with them, but they later admitted that they were never fully committed to the idea.

Part of the problem was that when the South Park movie came out in 1999, Parker and Stone finally felt as though they’d found their style. By then, they thought that a Dumb and Dumber prequel would be a step in the wrong direction for them. People tried to convince the pair to pay another writer to do the job, but they ultimately chose to return the $2 million they’d gotten from New Line Cinema for the gig. “If we weren’t going to go into this a hundred percent, then we’re just gonna disrespect the last movie and make this piece of shit,” Stone told Playboy in 2000.

New Line eventually put out a prequel called Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd in 2003, without Parker, Stone, Carrey, or the Farrellys, and we all know how that turned out…