Family Guy has been on the air for over 20 years, and, while most people will agree that it went the way of The Simpsons (that is, it significantly decreased in quality over the years), it is still an incredibly funny and often gleefully over-the-top program that has retained its relevance throughout the decades.
There are a few key moments people think about when they think Family Guy, like Brian's fake-out death, the chicken fights, the ipecac puking, the Prom Night Dumpster Baby, and the Conway Twitty cutaway gags, but there are jokes and scenes that have fallen by the wayside throughout the years despite their brilliance.
Peter's Cheeto Breast Lump
"I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar" is one of the most beloved episodes of the early seasons, and, while most fans will point to Peter breastfeeding Stewie as the funniest scene from the episode, there's a hilarious sequence involving a breast exam and a Cheeto.
Peter gives himself a breast exam and begins to panic when he finds a lump. However, he quickly discovers that it's just a Cheeto that had become stuck in his shirt, and he calmly walks away while snacking on his new find.
The Many Amazing Songs
Family Guy is well known for many things, including its characters and unique style of random cutaway humor. But, most people forget just how genuinely great the songs are. Family Guy has done numerous musical numbers throughout the years, and most of them are genuinely enjoyable and catchy.
They are not often talked about, which is a darned shame considering the quality of tunes like "Road to Rhode Island," "The FCC Song," "Christmastime Is Killing Us," "You've Got A Lot to See," and "You and I Are So Awfully Different."
Peter's Willy Wonka Song
Peter holding his knee and cringing in pain is easily one of Family Guy's most iconic jokes, and it's still readily referenced to this day. While the initial joke is obviously hilarious, it pays off in a fantastic way when Peter requests a Willy Wonka-esque departure song.
After the Chumbawumba's arrive to take Peter away, they begin a quick tune before cutting it short and kicking Peter square in the shin. It's gloriously unexpected and a masterful example of repeating a joke in a fresh and unique way.
The Greg Louganis Cutaway
Family Guy is always at its best when unpredictable and self-aware. In the episode "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do," Peter makes a reference to Olympic diver Greg Louganis. Anticipating the fan reaction, the show cuts away to a metajoke in which Peter breaks the fourth wall and addresses their predictions, which include a "hit his head on the diving board" joke.
Instead, they do a simple hairless body joke in which Brian appears completely shaven and dryly comments on his hairless body. As Peter confidently claims, it's "terrific, terrific."
Releasing The Birds
Absolutely no one would call Family Guy a drama. Unlike other popular cartoons—especially The Simpsons—Family Guy doesn't even have touching or sad moments. It's just pure comedy all the time, and often offensive comedy at that. However, season three's "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" proves to be an exception.
The episode sees Peter nurturing a group of baby birds that are living inside his beard, and it contains a genuinely moving moment that sees him releasing them into the wild. The scene works wonderfully as an emotional piece of television, and it doesn't often get the credit it deserves.
Peter Goes Back In Time
One of the most criminally underrated jokes of the entire series sees Peter "going back in time" to prevent Brian from sleeping with Seabreeze. He confidently declares that he is going back in time before spinning on the spot and making time machine noises. Instead of breaking the space-time continuum, Peter gets incredibly dizzy and crashes into valuable objects before collapsing into a glass table.
"Show Me Potato Salad!"
"Da Boom" is easily one of Family Guy's most memorable episodes, totally breaking the show's loose continuity and depicting a post-apocalyptic tale in which Y2K blows humanity back to the dark ages. In one of the episode's most underrated jokes, the Griffins are stopped by a band of rovers who ask them to "name something you take on a picnic."
It's an unexpected reference to Family Feud, and, when Peter answers "potato salad," the lead rover points to the barren wasteland and exclaims, "show me potato salad!" Of course, nothing happens, and the Griffins walk away awkwardly.
Stewie Gets Stuck In The Wall
The early seasons depicted very different Griffins, and, in early seasons, Stewie was often portrayed as a psychotic baby intent on killing his own mother. One of his schemes involved a giant riding drill.
Stewie attempts to kill Lois while she's doing the laundry, but she moves at the last second and Stewie runs the drill into the wall. He then becomes stuck in the wall and nearly blacks out as his head repeatedly slams into the cement floor.
Thomas Edison Blasts Jimi Hendrix
There's nothing like a well-done anachronistic joke. It begins with an old-timey family sitting by fire and candlelight when the man approaches the window to gaze at Thomas Edison's house.
Edison is living in a mansion powered by electricity, the sole power line on the street going directly into his house. Following a brief argument (in which Edison references The Office), Edison slams the door and blasts "Foxy Lady" from his bombastic sound system.
Every Pizza Place
Family Guy is well known for its hilarious observations about everyday life, and one of the best examples is Every Pizza Place. Stewie states that "every pizza place ruins salad," prompting a gut-busting cutaway in which a pizza parlor owner constructs a disgusting salad.
It includes whole black olives, massive chunks of tomato, hot peppers, an uncut head of lettuce; all of which is carried on the pizza box (in a lasagna tray) to ensure it says "nice and warm."