“Breaking the fourth wall” refers to the act of acknowledging that one is being watched by an audience. Family Guy’s entire premise revolves around how much of an impact TV has on the lives of American families and how it can either be a wonderful source of entertainment or the scourge of western civilization.
A lot of the best humor in Family Guy comes from breaking the fourth wall, jokes that reference the show, network, and even the audience. It’s the kind of show that really taps into its history and why it has the audience it has. These are ten great meta-jokes from Family Guy.
Budget Cuts
At the end of the season three episode “Lethal weapons,” the Griffins get into a fistfight to end all fights. It ends once they get it all out of their system but question where that anger comes from, leading to the logical conclusion that TV is causing it.
Peter takes that theory even further by criticizing FOX, saying how despicable it is that the network allows so much violence on TV. Lois warns him to not speak ill of the network but Peter dismisses it, asking “what are they gonna do? Cut our budget?” He then walks to the kitchen to get a beer in a sloppily-animated way.
A Quick Moral Lesson
At the end of “Boys, Do Cry,” Lois realizes that morality doesn’t come from where you live, it’s about who you surround yourself with. Peter then goes on a separate, passive-aggressive rant about how parents should take control of what shows their kids watch, instead of blaming the shows. He then turns to the camera, ending with an impassioned “Yeah...”
This was obviously a jab at the Parents Television Council (PTC), who would file complaints at Family Guy every week. Sometimes, parents really need to step up and see what their kids are watching.
The Adult Swim Bumper
Family Guy owes its success to Adult Swim and vice versa. Adult Swim essentially saved the show after its second cancellation and Family Guy is what drove people to Adult Swim. This joke makes fun of that relationship by cutting to an Adult Swim-esque bumper.
The bumper states that the show is better on Adult Swim because it isn’t as censored on there and that viewers are currently watching it on Fox, further confusing the audience. Regardless, this joke probably doesn’t work since most people are probably watching this show on Hulu these days.
Fox Ads
One of the best running gags in Family Guy involves how intrusive ads for shows can be. On the bottom right corner, there is always a show being advertised in the most blatant and flash way. There have been ads for 24, 9-1-1, Empire, Sons of Tucson and even fictional shows like Shovin’ Buddies.
The best one came from the season seventeen episode “Married...With Cancer” where Brian brings up the canceled Fox series Son of Zorn. The pop up for the ad reads “file not found.” Ouch, that is really cold.
Stewie’s Viral Tweet
After Brian trips out on drugs, Stewie comes to his aid. Once the drugs clear, Stewie remarks, “Y'know, Brian, you may be a dog, but you're a pretty cool cat.” A short jungle plays, exclaiming “Stewie Just Said That.”
Later on, he remarks that “Stewie Just Said That” is trending on Twitter. This joke captures how ridiculously famous the smallest quips can get, not too dissimilar from how big the early quotes from Family Guy were at the height of its popularity between seasons 1-3. “Take it home with ya!”
The Devolution Of The Cutaway Gag
In “Back to the Pilot,” Brian and Stewie go back to the pilot of the show and see things from an outside perspective. The highlight comes from what happens during cutaways. Every character just freezes and stares blankly at the screen. It then cuts to another flashback that shows what they do during cutaways, including smoking and checking their phone.
Later on, they go into a different dimension where cutaways have become simplistic and lazy, merely stating things like “Matthew McConaughey is terrible.” Maybe this is a prophecy about the future of Family Guy?
Look This One Up
"Oooo, that dog of mine!" Stewie made a reference to a season five episode here. “Airport ‘07” featured a segment entitled, “The Redneck Comedy Tour,” in which one of the comedians was named Mike Drunkbeater. His line was the aforementioned one.
Stewie then tells the audience “That’s Mike Drunkbeater, that’s a joke we used to do. Look it up.” A jingle plays saying, “Family Guy, we’ve been on for years.” It’s funny to see Family Guy make a small and bizarre callback after almost ten years. Get Google ready.
Father And Son
When Stewie says “Victory shall be mine,” a man watching TV with his son says, “When I was your age, the baby would say that.” His son yells at him to say that he’s watching Rick and Morty.
The icing on the cake is the fact that the father learns his wife is cheating on him. The one got really depressing quickly but is an interesting way to show the generational gap between long-time Family Guy fans and new viewers who are watching at a young age. Rick and Morty isn't bad, though.
Meg’s Training
In one of the funniest bits in the entire show’s history, Meg is shown training for the Winter Olympics. The family, of course, is completely oblivious to this fact and asks why it’s the first they are hearing about it’ It’s not. Various clips from past episodes are shown with MEg edited in saying she’s off to train for the Olympics, including a scene from the first season, with Meg being voiced by Lacey Chabert.
“I’ve been training since I was Lacey Chabert,” Meg says. That’s some serious dedication to your show’s history.
Seth’s Other, Other, Other Show
Seth MacFarlane has had unprecedented success on TV. Family Guy and American Dad are still going strong, with The Cleveland Show lasting for four seasons, way more than anyone thought it would.
Now, with The Orville taking up most of his creative time, it might seem weird for him to keep voicing characters on Family Guy. In this gag, Peter shoots the TV in frustration when The Orville is on, prompting Chris to ask why he hates that show so much? Peter opens his mouth and, in a different voice, says “because it interferes with my work on Family Guy.”