Much of the humour is derived from
pop-cultural references. Some films such as the Star Wars series and the
Ghostbusters films are often referenced. Also there are a lot of cutaway gags,
often caused by a character reminding a scene from their past and the episode
then cutting to that memory. These cutaways are often absurd and portray
unlikely situations. These sometimes include celebrities or mythological and
religious characters. The parodying and referencing of other material has led
to lawsuits, although in most cases the court ruled the use of copyrighted
material justified as fair use, and/or protected by the First Amendment. One
case was however settled out of court with undisclosed terms.
In early seasons a recurring joke came in
the form of the family's baby (Stewie) having super-villain aspirations, often
devising plans and weapons of mass destruction with the goal to get rid of
things he doesn't like and in particular to kill Lois (his mother). His plans
fail without exception but he does manage to build an entire room and fill it
with weapons and evil machinery without his parents noticing. Over the course
of the series Stewie's character developed and lost much of it's evil side.
Although it is sometimes still referenced, he is now a more stable character,
with strong sexual (sometimes gay) tendencies and he has formed a strong bond
with Brian, sometimes showing a romantic or sexual interest in him.
Brian is the family dog. He is able to
talk, walks on his rear paws, drives a hybrid and is an often pretentious
left-wing wannabe intellectual. He has been 'working on his book' for years
without result, drinks humongous amounts of booze and is a real ladies man.
Besides alcohol he has used cocaine and marijuana and he smokes. He is also an
Iraq veteran. Despite these definite human characteristics Brian still has
clear dog perks as well: He sometimes barks at people or dogs, wags his tail
when he's happy or aroused, he likes to ride up against people's legs and his
parents were normal dogs. Brian has a human son called Dylan although it is
questionable if this is really his son, given the fact that Dylan is older than
Brian. Brian has accepted Dylan as a son though and managed to change him from
a marijuana smoking, violent teenager into a well-mannered young adult.
Another recurring form of humour used is
self-reference. Often these jokes are about FOX, the company the series is made
for, or break the fourth wall. An example of a joke about FOX is Peter telling
the family FOX has cancelled them to make room for a list of other shows. Lois
asks if there is any hope, to which Peter replies they might stand a chance if
all these shows were cancelled. The joke works even better because all the
shows named, were actually cancelled by FOX during Family Guy's hiatus. Other
recurring jokes include the ridicule of FOX News and the use of catchphrases
such as Quagmire's “Giggity giggity goo” and Peter's “Freakin' sweet!”
Family Guy manages to keep a consistently
high level of funny and it survives because it isn't afraid to adapt and evolve
to keep it fresh and interesting. If you haven't seen it, go check it out!
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