Seth McFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, has admitted that he regrets one joke that was aired in the first season of the show.
Family Guy has been running for years, and it’s safe to say that the show is jam-packed with jokes.
But McFarlane has opened up about one joke, in particular, that he thinks went too far.
Keep reading to find out more…
Born in Kent, Connecticut, McFarlane is an American writer, animator, actor, and producer.
One of his best-known works to this day is the TV series, Family Guy.
McFarlane fell in love with cartooning at a very young age.
As he grew older, he went on to take animation as his main field of study at the Rhode Island School of Design.
During his studies, he went on to create a short animated movie in 1995 titled The Life of Larry.
It was seen by executives at Hanna-Barbera Productions, which opened up the gateway to him getting a job with the studio.
Whilst at the studio, he worked on iconic TV series such as Dexters Laboratory and Johnny Bravo.
In 1996 MacFarlane created a short sequel to The Life of Larry that he titled Larry and Steve.
Later on, the Fox Broadcasting Company asked him to create a television series based on Larry and his talking dog, Steve.
The show then resulted in the name we know now as Family Guy.
The series was released in 1999, and McFarlane wrote, animated, produced, and provided voice acting for it.
The series told the story of the Griffin family, which included bumbling patriarch Peter, his upper-class wife Lois, his daughter Meg, and his 2 sons Chris and baby Stewie, as well as their talking dog, Brian.
The show was full of pop-culture references, celebrity voices, and funny jokes.
It became such a hit that McFarlane won an Emmy Award in 2000 for his voice-over performance as baby Stewie.
However, Family Guy was later marked as offensive to viewers because of its adult content.
The show came to an end in 2003, only to be brought back 2 years later after record DVD sales and a successful run on Cartoon Network, which prompted Fox to order new episodes.
The success of the show led McFarlane to get involved in other animated series.
He wrote, produced, and co-created American Dad, which premiered on Fox in 2005.
Moving forward to 2008, McFarlane released a series of animated shorts titled Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.
The following year, a spin-off to the Family Guy series called The Cleveland Show debuted, which once again saw McFarlane co-create and produce the series. It was later canceled in 2013.
But it wasn’t the end for McFarlane.
He created another show titled The Orville, which debuted in 2017.
Outside his cartoon series, McFarlane also made his feature film debut back in 2012.
He wrote and directed the Ted movie as well as voicing the teddy bear.
The movie was a huge success that it went on to gross more than $500M worldwide.
It also earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
Throughout his career, McFarlane has had one hell of a success outside of the Family Guy series.
The jokes are what made the show worth watching, but did you know that there was this one joke that McFarlane wished he had never used?
During an interview on the talk show Out of Character with Krista Smith…
McFarlane recalled the joke that was added earlier on in the series.
“There have been jokes that I would have rather we not have done,” he said.
“The JFK Pez Dispenser was something I would probably not do now.”
For those who need a reminder or don’t know…
The JFK joke took place in the first series of the show all the way back in 1999.
It showed a child walking out of a shop with a JFK Pez Dispenser, but the head of the toy was shot off by a police officer wielding a sniper.
At that point, the kid whips out another toy, and says: “Good thing I still have my Bobby Kennedy Pez Dispenser.”
This was a reference to former president John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated as he drove through downtown Dallas on 22 November 1963.
His brother, known by his nickname Bobby, was also assassinated 5 years after on June 1968.
Not all jokes in the series went down well with some viewers, but there’s no doubt that most of the jokes in the series are what made Family Guy what it is today.
What do you think?