12 ‘Family Guy’ Jokes That Were Bad From the Get-Go
Family Guy has been on our television sets for 21 seasons, and for good reason: It’s funny enough to still get airtime on network TV. However, if you’ve ever been writing jokes, whether it’s for an animated sitcom, on the stage or as a writer on Cracked, not every one of them will land. Some of them will just plain suck and be unfunny, not solely due to times changing but because, well, they just plain sucked in the first place.
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Here are some of the jokes that Family Guy did that really missed the mark from jump street...
The Terri Schiavo Musical
In 2005, the case of Terri Schiavo was reported/exploited in all fashions in the media regarding health care, coma patients and the “right to die.” In 2010, Family Guy decided to make a “very timely” reference by making her case into a children’s musical that tried too hard to be edgy over something so dated.
Peter Tries to Marry Chris
In the episode “Fresh Heir,” Peter tries to marry his own son so he can get his hands on the Pewterschmidt fortune that Chris inherited. The entire premise is more confusing than funny, and “haha, gay incest” isn’t much of a joke to begin with.
Bill Cosby in ‘The Princess Bride’
Joking about Cosby drugging up women’s drinks in 2016 feels lame, especially since they already made that joke before.
Michael J. Fox at a Wine Tasting
Instead of doing the hack joke, they explained the hack joke, then joked about not doing the hack joke, and then did the hack joke anyway.
Peter Forklifts a Beached Whale
The joke is supposed to be about how insensitive and gruesome this scene is, but it’s mostly just gruesome.
Meg’s Apology
Fans of Family Guy know how Meg is often the butt of the joke and takes an immense amount of abuse to the point of it sometimes being uncomfortable. However, nothing seems sadder than Meg in “Seahorse Seashell Party,” in which she’s trying to justify the abuse by apologizing to her family and readily allowing herself to continue to be abused, humiliated and yelled at as she now sees that as being her role in the family and her lot in life. Ha, ha, ha?
Horton Hears Domestic Violence
This is shock humor that isn’t really humorous or shocking. Just a realistic-sounding scene of domestic abuse with a Dr. Seuss reference.
More from ‘Seahorse Seashell Party’
As if Meg willingly becoming the Griffin punching bag wasn’t awful enough, this episode saw Brian have a bad trip on shrooms. The accompanying imagery is relentlessly horrifying, with the jokes being nightmares and not really jokes at all.
Um, This
Brian Eats Stewie’s Poop
When trapped in a bank vault, Stewie poops his diaper and, yeah, okay, this is just long and uncomfortable grossness, right? Can we get a punchline? And no, a Fletch reference doesn’t count.
Tricia Takanawa with David Bowie
While this joke attempted to save face by saying, “setting your people back 1,000 years,” an “ironic” hacky Asian stereotype joke is still a hacky Asian stereotype joke. Especially since the entire scene is voiced by white performers.
Aquaman’s Uselessness
First of all, jokes about Aquaman being a stupid superhero with dumb powers are tired even among comic nerds. But if you’re going to do one of them anyway, why have him be useless against sexual assault? There are so many other crimes for him to suck at stopping that aren’t lame attempts at “shock value.” It’s a lazy joke on top of a lazier joke.
