Seth MacFarlane and the 'Family Guy' cast reflect on 25 years

is it okay if you sit just a little further from me I don't want to get an erection during this interview too late I really want to thank all of you for uh getting together like this oh are we [Music] Rollings all see is violence and movies and sex on TV we're celebrating a a fantastic milestone in animation History television history 20 years of Robot Chicken and 25 years of Family Guy which is you hear that 20 years of Robot Chicken and 25 years of Family Guy God I'll never win this race no truly it's it's really an honor to get to sit down with all of you like this uh Seth McFarland if I could begin with you it seems appropriate you were not even 25 years old when the sort of the idea the germination of Family Guy began and I would think it's fair to say that part of the success of the show is that you seem to have retained that sensibility of the 25-year-old who created it for somebody who hasn't worked directly on the show in 15 years absolutely um yeah no I mean I that a lot of that credit has to go to to Alec and Rich um sorry sorry sorry rich and Alec um and uh you know that's that's one of the things when you when you uh build a show and you build the tone and you you kind of establish what it is you and you leave often times it can go so far south and we've seen that on a lot of shows was like oh after such and such left after the Creator left it just went South and that has not happened with this show that that these these folks have um have uh maintained its integrity and oh look at that you got a compliment do you all feel still connected to you know that part of yourself that you know because you guys were there you know almost from from the origins as well well to be clear I only hitch my wagon of this when it was a runaway success I can't I can't speak of the early years when they were figuring out we have a really talented group of writers and they're they all just really know what they're doing now everybody's been there for a long time so everybody's really good at their job so we make each other laugh and yeah we're still silly little kids in there a huge Advantage is the fact we've been around so long because in the comedy writers room as Seth obviously knows and Seth Green knows and Alex knows I guess m is the only one who doesn't know I don't know but I don't go in that room the line always between something that you think is stupid or unfunny or something that might even be offensive versus something that is edgy and original is so thin that if you trust the people you're around you go there and there are writers in that room who've been there for 15 years even more so there's no embarrassment and it's a very free for all environment for Alex and for mil and for Seth I'd be curious to hear about you know what your experiences were just getting recruited onto the show where you were in your lives and careers and when you were asked to do this did you think it would be you know the next 25 years of your lives I knew I knew reading it I knew when I read the script it was different and it was special it was sketch comedy mixed in with a sitcom and it was so dense each episode had so much in it and I just knew it was special and weird and made me laugh out loud throughout um but I had no idea that it would be 25 years none whatsoever sorry I thought I didn't trust you but who could imagine that no I didn't either I didn't either I I I was in the Fox Family prayed to God every night that it would be 10 years and out but it just didn't I was already working on Mad TV and then and um Leslie Colin small was like hey can you help us out with this pilot presentation and had no idea and then I almost lost the gig like you guys you had to audition everyone of the planet yeah including Linda Blair I hear that's true Linda Blair that's true by the way that was that was Leslie too cuz I was so I was so green and and the the tide was like was like moving away and that was actually Leslie Collins who deserves a shout out for that who said Hey listen you know make sure Alex is still in the mix she she was like a big cheer leader and thank God for it yeah thank God for it I'm going to send her something nice yeah for for Seth Green and for me do you did you feel like at the time I mean mil I know you kind of came in of Tad later but did you feel like like this was you were you were doing a movie a week it seemed like was this beneath you oh movies take a little bit longer than that but I um but uh I I have happily made a career in all kinds of television and especially in animation I when I read this script I had the same experience I laughed out loud it felt like someone had taken things that I thought were very special and funny and translated them into a show and couldn't believe that someone had written this I couldn't believe I got to audition for it I was like man I'm trying to get this job and and you know I've been on a million auditions I've made I've made dozens of pilots and even a handful of shows to 13 nothing last so like getting this job was crazy us getting to make it was so much fun I was like oh man I can't believe you made a show high five these are characters you drew there was a point I was I was telling uh Michael Thor there was a point in 99 where the show was coming out and he and I were on the deck of the Intrepid in New York for an event called Fox rocks the boat it was the television upfronts was television upfronts and we both felt so stupid we're like felt so insanely stupid there's fullsize furries of the Simpsons characters and if there's one boat that's rockable it's the Intrepid right I think that's like the key you know touting of that thing is that it won't ever tip what was it like for you to kind of come in you know is so uneventful that I feel like you can skip this one no come on oh um so somebody else was doing the voice of Meg said person left the show yes I was on 70s and uh they were like there's an audition for this show that hasn't aired yet unlike these professionals I didn't read the script I um she she was still in school I I was in ninth grade was 15 and a half when we started so I walked in and I read I'm not nearly as talented I didn't do a voice or a voice or a voice I just did my S at 15 and then and in Russian right yeah yeah and somebody was there had they had to translate it shut up Seth then Seth kept saying I know it's not Chic now but at the time I like I know how I'll get this one the rusi will come out no you're Ukraine though I I am now now we have to explain yes I am I guess I the good guy back then it was USSR which was America like you know Red Dot but yes I was Ukraine back then it was the USSR well this origin stories really I kept getting told I speak too fast and I don't enunciate and I can't I can't say half the words in the English language to this day I don't know why I got hired I really don't it could be you're stunning at 15 I was barely really important in voice electricity I remember this there's another one there's another one I know it I'm not going to say it out loud do you remember it at one of you was on the call when I couldn't say another word that one that you said that starts with the E yes I can say it now say it electricity see here's what here's what here's what this this went on for years it's like cuz what I'm hearing is electricity oh God oh my God electricity like with with the accent on the first syllable but electricity electricity electricity yeah okay well that's different than what you said before it's like the worst abbit in cast come here I'll I'm tell set the other never a punch line do you remember the line wrist deep in poopy yeah wrist wrist deep in po I can't say a very hard one wrist deep in poop wrist deep B poy it came out as rde b poopy you know the show was famously can like more than once in its early days and just for the you know for for for all of you did you feel at those in those junctures like you know something really special was was going away or was just like I lost another gig and I was devastated I made sure I had every episode on VHS I kept those VHS in my house and I forced other people to watch them and we sat and watched all these episodes and I was like man I got to make this this actually existed I was so excited so sad that it was canceled I remember being at The Simpsons and I thought good riddance there's only so much nipping at your heels you really you really indulge I found out from the TV see that's not something an American says what do you mean the TV I found out for that's like saying that's like I learn I learned it at University McFarland how she was in the hospital I found out from the TV I found out from State tv how would you say it i w i i saw it on TV Moving On Moving On by electricity we all support Ukraine um SE this was your baby I mean you you didn't feel like a Pang of I had nothing to compare it to I had no feeling he's dead inside I don't know dead inside I know I had nothing to compare it to because when I I it was the first show I'd ever pitched and it got picked up and so thought oh I guess this is normal which it was most certainly was not and when it got cancelled um I was like okay I guess this is normal too and uh it was I the weird thing was I was still under a deal with the studio so I was uh you know they said listen we like this show it's not working right now but we'd like to do more with you so they they were they were very their their Embrace was not um it it didn't suddenly become cold like they they said listen we we want to develop more shows do you have anything else and I did some more I wrote a pilot that I developed with um Jack Kenny and Brian Hargrove uh called Simon that didn't go anywhere I worked on the pits Mike Scully show which is where I'm met Alec that's right yeah so I had had like this kind of normal experience that I probably should have had before I sold the show initially that I kind of had after the fact and then by the time it got picked up again I was like okay all right now I've had the writer room experience as an employee that I should have had prior to getting the show picked up at 24 with you know only two years of experience at Hannah Barbara behind me and um but it was yeah it wasn't like they're kicking you to the curb it was like we we still want to be in business with you my deal never expired over those two years and so it was about to expire and then they picked up the show again so I was like Mr meoo driving that jalape everybody get that reference um you know and the Keeps Us fresh comes comes into place just in time for the blind guy to drive over so it's it's it's a lot of luck like my my career is yeah there's a lot of hard work but I I have never discounted the uh the luck Factor because it had a lot to do with a lot of things at a lot of points yeah look it's it's pretty obvious I me we live in an era now where you know there are more viewers than ever who want to find things to be offended by they have more Avenues than ever to express that offense how do you think that the show has been able to kind of maintain its sensibility it's kind of damn the torpedo uh sense of humor a a and and as far as I can tell stay in the good graces of the people who want to be mad at things I really do think that that's not what most people um are thinking when they watch Family Guy I think I think look in politics and social media like not to get too deep but like the loudest voices are Amplified the most and and you know the squeakiest wheels get Amplified and I I really think that not to promote another show but you know we just released Ted on uh peacock which is a streaming service um and wondered is this is this still going to be something that resonates is anyone going to tolerate this and they did in a big way and so I I really do think that a lot of that is is is noise I think you know an Anthony jelick who's one of my favorite comedians quoted this War hul uh line where he said you know comedy is the is the art of getting away with it and if everyone is pissed at you and they're pointing you like godamn you and you can tell audiences can smell the difference between social media virtue signaling and real offense and if and if it's real offense you didn't get away with it you didn't get away with the comedy and I think one of the things that Family Guy has really tried to do every step of the way is to look at every joke and say okay if we were called on the carpet could we defend this in an intellectual way and say this is the point we were making um and and that there there's an earnestness to that approach that I think uh has has created sort of a shield around the show that that continues to this day and I think audiences are smart enough to uh to recognize that don't you think also there's the idea of equal opportunity that we we punch in every single Direction there's no we've made fun of ourselves there any show that we've you know done outside of things our own other projects get slammed we get slammed when fans tell me they love the personal stuff they love the way that we are all that it feels like we're all in on it that we work on this that we are collective and strong in support of this that we all go do other stuff separate from each other and that we're Collective and supportive on that as well everybody at least the people that have talked to me say that's a thing that they love about it the compassion in your voice you know I'm an emotional person man you catch me on a good week echoing Seth because he's the most important person here I do think I I actually think that the 25 years of Family Guy is the counterargument to the perceived you know tenderness of sensibilities people don't complain about our show and they watch it more on Hulu you know in secondary platforms it continues to find new audiences I think that's a big argument that maybe people aren't that sensitive and maybe people can understand satire you know uh and to do that you have to throw a few elbows and the Very fact that Family Eye hasn't changed through some pretty big you know recent social movements I think undermines the fear that people are so nervous about stuff for Al froma I would just ask because you know this is a show rightly or wrongly people sometimes perceive it as being a kind of male skewing show or you know guys like it more than women I don't necessarily ascribe to that but you know if you ever were confronted with something maybe you even have been something in a script or something you were asked to do that you weren't comfortable with or you didn't find funny would you feel empowered to say that well I have he's the daintiest of us all really sure I mean I I worked in the writer room for most of the show um you know I started as a voice and then was invited to write for the show and maybe I was the filthiest person in the room um my thing was always like if as long as it's funny it's worthwhile doing it if it's funny it's it's a joke if it's not it's just vicious but I would never refuse to do something I would maybe pitch oh what about this like if I how could I do it better what do I think would be different but I've I've occasionally texted you and said like not about me or mine I'll be like are we really doing that with that character and he'd be like yep shut up and then he texts me you know who's being a real pain in the ass today are you are you recording her or am I cuz FYI but sometimes they they'll say you know I think sometimes we also question the thing sometimes there are things that make us laugh and we even then say wa well hold on is it really reductive is it trafficking in stereotypes that have used in unpleasant ways and can we do better right I mean that doesn't mean you can't talk about race religion sexuality all that stuff but you don't want to use a schoolyard taunt from my youth long long ago but I'm just saying you know so you want to it's got to be something that does something else you can't say knucklehead you can't say knucklehead anymore and you might as well take your nuggies down down to the fair you can't say n do well I Johnny come lately serve you a knuckle sandwich down by the boardwalk I will you know something you're really getting my dander up son you're asking for a bunch of fives no Mr Meo you cannot I find lots of things funny like I think I find most things funny I would say I'm very hard to offend so I'm the wrong person to ask I find all of this funny I read the script for the first time during my recordings and so I laugh by the way that that does make two of us yes Nila gets into the booth and she's on her phone she go hold on hold on hold on hold on now that's about the kids I pick the kids okay here it is script how I make money okay let me read this but I laugh out loud you do I find it really funny like I genu like and the more offensive the funnier I think it is I I do and I I have warned people though if it's about someone I know I'll tell but you're not alone that's happened that everyone as the show has gotten more successful and their careers have taken off they traffic in fancier circles and there have been a couple of moments when it's not the subject it's who it's like that person is a friend of mine I'm not sure they're going to laugh at this and it's not that we think it's offensive or they but we don't want to put one of our cast members I don't think I've ever said I don't want you to do it because it's someone I'll just tip the person we talking about which one is Mila other one hi and FYI to any Hollywood celebrity who doesn't want to have a joke made about him go up to Seth at a party and say I love this show yes protected protected you know there have been a number of texts you know he came up to me at a party you know that's how I feel everybody's like when can I get on and I'm always like it's the greatest show ever to be made like I a lot of them want to do I know because like what it's like a compliment I me and then people come on and own it and then they become a character for us and they're hilarious which has happened with Carrie always the best story Marley Matlin who like yeah there's a lot of people who said like hey why didn't you bring me in we're like well we'll bring you in now yeah there there is a there is a you know it's it's hopefully goes without saying like we're not soulless people like if it's a joke about somebody that I mean that was the that was the thing with SNL for years that I used to read is that Lauren would say listen I have a relationship with this person I don't want to make fun of them because they're my friend and so there is there is that like you don't want to that's just not a nice thing to do that somebody that you know oh but the joke is funny let's take a shot it just you can't sleep at night so yeah there is a there are they're right there are a lot of those calls where hey this person was really nice at a at a party or like this is you know let's not do this if there's any way that I've seen the show change in in in recent years I mean certainly there seems like there's more of an effort to actually cast voice actors to match like the ethnic ities the races uh you know that was not certainly how things I don't think a lot of people know this but when you're making a show for a budget every single character costs money and sometimes you have a specific allowance for your whole cast and often times well this is going to go over well on social media no no I'll simply I'll simply explain it in a lot of in a lot of cases each actor that gets brought on the show is offered the opportunity to play three different roles and so several times especially if you just have a single line you just were we were all in the habit of being able to fill in those spots it it is a very good point but it became we all I think became increasingly aware of the importance of actual authentic representation and never some kind of implied appropriation of anything in someone else's performance so I I I know that that's something that has evolved as everything does when you learn something new a smart actor it is I mean it's you know it is it is though something that worked both ways on Family Guy remember we used we had Kevin Michael Richardson come in and do the voice of Jud Hirsch so we we had you know a black actor come in and do the voice of a Jewish actor and it's like there was a lot of it working like what's what's the best voice so it is that that that's that's a really interesting conversation that's so nuanced that would you could spend an entire day breaking down the history of instances of that and not even scratch the surface and and it's it's a yeah it's like as as Society evolves it's like I don't boy I wish there were a quick answer to that because I I would love to hear it yeah God you just you you only know what you know when you know it and you can look back and say how did we not know this before but it's it's too easy to do that right now we are all becoming aware of things as we are and trying to evolve and that's I mean it's because it's the show's been on for 25 years and if you look coining to God all PR because of the big guy I I know I know who pays me I'm not but the show if you look I mean 25 years of how social you know assumptions and and and cultural movements we live in those times and so it's like you can't necessarily look at anything 18 years ago or 15 years ago and think that's what's would fly today in some way it's like the show also evolves as the decades move on the show has just been you know embraced by the internet it it has its own kind of meme culture that I'm sure if you you know if you go online at all is inescapable does that in any way influence how the show gets made that you know you look for kind of memeable moments talk about memes Seth talk about memes I don't I don't know that it influences the the structure like the show is the show and and and the you know that that's that has not changed over 25 years but to to kind of turn that comment on its head it it's interesting that it's it's like 25 years ago it almost seems as if this show was made for Tik Tok and you know the cutaways that that were um you know in some cases maligned but are the hardest things to write to go in and essentially write a Gary lson fars side panel how many times a day Gary Larson was an American artist who nearly 30 years ago popularized a single cartoon that could be Vis visually absorbed in a tableau Tableau is brick structures such books were for sale or purchase that had to have a beginning middle and end in the space of anywhere from 3 seconds to 15 or 20 seconds and that was something you know in the n in the late 1999 that we were doing and in the early 2000s and and it's like now it's like oh they just fit right in like a glove so but I don't think I don't think it's changed the show I think in in many ways it's it's validated the structure just speaking as as a viewer of the show and what it has meant to me and you know just that like now I have these strange like I can't even walk into a Target and look at the pizza you know the pizza area and not just fall out thinking about those kinds of moments What's the pizza area well or the the the the place where they I haven't been going to enough targets yeah that's no that's that that whole like we did a joke about it yeah the tag on that episode was like Stewie finding himself he's like he's like serving the pizza to the Target customers and the musac is thunder th is yeah well Thunder Island you know a little interesting piece of trivia about that song um it's I believe it's written by a guy named J Ferguson I have no idea what you guys are talking about no this was we used it we used it in an episode where Stewie and Brian go to that garbage island in the middle of the Pacific so the only other song of note has that aired years a while ago his his only other song he wrote the theme to The American office oh so that guy is two for two how wait quick question how come no one corrected him on musac like why was that allowed to happen musac is different than music what wait a minute come on that you were doing a bit my trap like in an elevator it's like when you hear music in an elevator that's musac that's called when you hear music in shut up M no but it's like an elevator it's like instrumental it's okay to say I don't know ask how many years have you been in this country doesn't matter who your new one second everybody who everybody know that was the end of Family Guy musac they all know what musac is by the way be honest be honest be honest how many how many people know the word musac it's like elevator music everybody you don't know you know okay so okay so we're we are divided by she knows it's gone off ra yeah let's bring the temperature down a little bit one thing that's become you know way more of a factor now with the show is that I mean you all have you know your extracurriculars and you know some of you all of you really are you know thriving in in so many other Arenas what makes you still want to be part of the family guy what are you talking about it's the best job I've ever had I it's very rare to get a job that you love that you I like I get even better than the show where you met your husband nothing's better than meeting my husband but as far as a job goes yeah don't you remember when it was your job to meet your husband exactly I like the whole culture of the show I like if someone spots me on the street from it they'll just shout out diarrhea or who wants cow that does that happen yes diarrhea diarhea just need help I never thought of it that way this stuff the stuff that people want say maybe they just arrived in this country and they need help or or the horse thing the the the hor is here you know when when a show like this has has has existed for 25 years I mean there's I guess one school of thought that it could just go on in perpetuity why not another 25 years or why not indeed Seth yes as long as on him it's this guy's vocal cords that's really that there's no there's no like AI Peter Griffin on a on a I'm in forever I texted early I was like we're still doing this right like I'm so like wait loed question yeah I mean it's it's look I yeah recording um long hours in a booth is different now than it was when I was 24 or even the 40 minutes it takes you I was going to say 30 but you're generous screaming into a mic for for long for for long stretches is you know with certain like the as multiple characters too yes the Carter punishment voice The Quagmire voice the Shamus voice it's like they're all and he's a Grammy award-winning singer so he's nominated nominated nominated Nom number one we're hoping ooh Why did I bring that up yeah I know um didn't we just record that gag we just recorded it oh yeah we just recorded this whole G wait do you know this gag it's funny oh but it's making fun of you but it's really funny what is it I love this gang let me be surprised is that the Christmas album yes it's really good I laughed at L it was really funny I think it's an act break no last there was a time when I said hey let's wrap it up up while we're going strong um and and we're still not strong so he can't quit yeah I at this point it's uh it's I I you know I I don't know I I I don't see a good reason to stop people still love it it makes people happy and I I don't know that there's any reason to stop at this point unless people get sick of it unless people uh are you know unless the numbers show that people just are eh we don't care about Family Guy anymore but that hasn't happened yet I feel like every time we have a table read or recording I'm laughing and for me that's kind of my litmus test if I'm still laughing at the scripts if there's three out loud laughs cuz we've all been reading and doing comedy for so long there's not many gas left but if I'm still really busting a gut at something then it's it's worth for me could the rest of you imagine just you know this show not being in your lives in some way no like I said I've been on so many things that got cancelled it's uh really just thing I've come to absorb but I would be so sad if ever there was a reason for this to stop cuz it is endless amounts of fun I met her she was 15 and a half getting she she was getting a driver's permit talking about driving for the first time and and now we have a child the same age so Hollywood ising weird are [Music]

Channel: Los Angeles Times

Views: 1,327,040

Keywords: Los Angeles Times, LA Times, L. A. Times, Seth MacFarlane, mila kunis, seth green, family guy

Id: YAP4YgPCRRU

Length: 30min 31sec (1831 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2024