Seth MacFarlane: 15 Now-You-Know Facts And Revelations
From Family Guy to American Dad to Cleveland, how many cartoons can one man bang out?
He’s had a ton of live action, real human being type projects as well, with no signs of stopping. We know about the work, but here’s 15 Seth MacFarlane facts about Seth MacFarlane himself.
Okay, work might come up a little - he just does so much.
His family’s roots can be traced back to the Mayflower.
American Dad is right!
Seth MacFarlane is a direct descendant of William Brewster, one of the passengers on the ship that landed on Plymouth rock four centuries ago.
He has humble beginnings.
He told Howard Stern that his parents were hippies, and he was raised in a log cabin.
“It (Kent, CT) was a very small town. I think there was only about 600 people in town at that point.
“A log cabin,” MacFarlane said. “My father built two houses when I was—and both were—one of them was the log cabin, and the other one was a timber frame that he couldn’t—he refused to build a house that was not built with the techniques that were used 300 years ago.”
His sister Rachael MacFarlane is a voice actress.
Most 2000s kid know Rachael’s voice from her character #362, as well as various other characters in Codename: Kids Next Door. You’ve probably heard her guest appearances on Family Guy, and she also plays goth-hipster Haley Smith on American Dad.
He’s named after the town drunk.
His great-grandma appreciated the funny too.
An Esquire interview asked MacFarlane if his middle name had anything to do with the New England town, Woodbury.
He said, “That's what we thought. A lot of the men on my mother's side had the middle name Woodbury, and we asked my grandfather where it came from.
“He said that when he was born in Gardiner, Maine in 1904, his mother thought that the town drunk was the funniest guy she'd ever met, and his name was Woodbury, so we're all named after not just a drunk, but a jolly turn-of-the-century drunk."
Seth is to Ted as Andy Serkis is to Golem.
Media Rights Capital & Fuzzy Door
Not only was he the writer, director, and the voice of Ted, he was also the physical body of Ted!
He wore sensors that a CGI team used to match Ted's body movements in the film.
He liked the raunchy stuff at at early age.
“My parents let me watch ‘Animal House,’ ‘Caddyshack,’ ‘Stripes’ ... these R-rated comedies when I was 7,” MacFarlane said. “I had a very strong family unit and so there wasn’t much damage that was done from those films.”
He just developed a taste for the spicy stuff.
He’s an accomplished singer.
Seth began recording musical albums in the early 2000s, and has been nominated for 3 Grammys in the “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Albums” category.
“I was trained by a couple in Los Angeles that were both in their 90s at the time who worked with Sinatra at one point, trained him at one point, trained with Streisand at one point. They show you how to do it with no help. There are certain tools you can use in terms of your voice to sculpt your interpretation of the piece.”
Squashing that initial Simpsons rivalry.
A reporter asked him whether there was any bad blood between him and Groening, due to their rival shows.
He said, "Nope. Matt G. and I are friends, and we have a number of writers who have worked on The Simpsons writing for Family Guy and American Dad. It's all very incestuous over there at Fox."
He was a paid cartoonist at 9 years old.
MacFarlane submitted a cartoon to the local newspaper in Kent, Connecticut, and was given a paid gig as the cartoonist until he went off to college.
It was called Walter Crouton & Friends, and he didn’t just draw the comic, he wrote the jokes! At 9, I was delivering the local newspaper!
He’s a lifelong and vocal Democrat.
MacFarlane was a financial and public backer for both of Obama's Presidential campaigns. He's also an outspoken atheist, who sees the Democratic party as “forward-thinking and self-aware”. He presented and hosted a fundraiser for Bernie Sanders in December 2015.
Family Guy was set up to succeed.
Fuzzy Door Productions & 20th Television
The series premiered after Super Bowl XXXIII in January 1999, attracting 22 million viewers.
Family Guy continued to benefit from ideal placement in its first season, airing in between Sunday night favorites The Simpsons and The X-Files.
Family Guy not so Family-friendly.
Fuzzy Door Productions & 20th Television
The Parents Television Council repeatedly included Family Guy on their list of "Worst Primetime Shows for Family Viewing."
The controversial episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" was pulled by Fox over fears about its perceived anti-semitic humor.
The episode aired the following year when Family Guy began syndication on Adult Swim.
He executive-produced Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.
Cosmos Studios & Fuzzy Door Productions
Carl Sagan's 1980s documentary series introduced a generation to astronomy. Seth MacFarlane was a massive fan, and helped Neil deGrasse Tyson remake a modern version in 2014.
He dated the mother of dragons.
HBO
Don’t worry. Maury confirmed that he is NOT the father of dragons.
McFarlane dated Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke for several months in 2012-2013.
His production company’s name references his time at RISD.
He must’ve had a decent time there.
His apartment at the Rhode Island School of Design had an entrance with a door that was covered in fur, so he named his production company Fuzzy Door.
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Top Image: Gage Skimore/Wikimedia Commons
