The Top ‘Family Guy’ Moments That Became the Top ‘Family Guy’ Memes
There’s a reason the twice-canceled Family Guy is still going strong, and that’s because, against all odds, it still has its finger on the pulse. Case in point: It’s spawned numerous memes that have been religiously reposted on Facebook and shared all over Twitter to express a variety of different emotions and reactions. The iconic scenes/memes have even been shared by people who haven’t watched a single episode of the show.
Here are 11 of the best such memes inspired by the not-so-fine folks of Quahog, Rhode Island…
You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?
Episode: “Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story”
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The Moment: Peter Griffin hosts a local access news program where he complains about things and people that irk him.
Why It Became a Meme: Everyone has a gripe. It’s a universal truth. And while the idiom itself isn’t unique to Family Guy, Peter spoke truth to power and breathed life into it, giving everyone else a newfound opportunity to air their grievances, too.
Peter Takes a Tumble
Episode: “The Blind Side,” Season 10, Episode 11
The Moment: After Lois Griffin has the staircase replaced, Peter takes a nasty tumble down the freshly waxed stairs, hitting every step and uttering every expletive along the way.
Why It Became a Meme: While most people using the image haven’t fallen down the stairs to such a debilitating degree, the final image is something evocative for anyone who has felt financial, emotional or spiritual ruin.
Lois vs. The Pill Bottle
Episode: “Prescription Heroine,” Season 20, Episode 16
The Moment: A frazzled Lois stares down a bottle of pills after getting hooked on pain medication.
Why It Became a Meme: The very serious issue explored in the episode became easily exploitable for anyone who has ever resisted an urge before. It could be about an album you can’t stop listening to or writers who love to pepper in ellipses… Either way, the image has seen just about every caption plastered on the pill body to make it unique to the poster.
Stewie Is Afraid of ‘News of the World’
Episode: “Killer Queen,” Season 10, Episode 16
The Moment: As they clean the attic, Brian Griffin discovers that Stewie Griffin is afraid of the artwork for Queen’s 1977 album News of the World and repeatedly torments him with the cover.
Why It Became a Meme: Another meme where you can easily pop in different pieces of media you find “fearful.” The Whale, Mr. Beast and Saul Goodman have all fallen prey to its clutches.
Tiny Peter
Episode: “Boys & Squirrels,” Season 19, Episode 3
The Moment: Lois berates Peter to the point where he is quite literally belittled and shrinks to mere inches.
Why It Became a Meme: Aside from the pint-size Peter sparking joy, the meme is imminently reusable — whether to point out height-difference relationships or ask the proverbial “me and who.”
Lois the Shoplifter
Episode: “Breaking Out Is Hard to Do,” Season 4, Episode 9
The Moment: After being simultaneously appalled by the price of a blouse and seeing how easy it is to shoplift, Lois goes on a shoplifting binge, cramming any and everything into her purse.
Why It Became a Meme: This early series moment made a resilient comeback thanks to millennials and Gen Z. It’s been used to express everything from stealing memes to filmmakers stealing concepts from other movies.
‘Holy Crap Lois, It’s X’
Episode: “A House Full of Peters,” Season 15, Episode 20
The Moment: Peter opens the front door and is shocked by who enters.
Why It Became a Meme: One thing that comes with being a very popular animated series is that talented artists, amateur shitposters and high school students will find a way to emulate your style to create their own characters. It’s happened to The Simpsons, South Park and even Big Mouth. Family Guy is no exception. This meme is the perfect encapsulation of that idea, and a seemingly unlimited number of people have entered the Griffin residence thanks to it.
‘Giggity’
Episode: Various
The Moment: Glenn Quagmire’s catchphrase “Giggity giggity goo.”
Why It Became a Meme: A list of Family Guy memes without “giggity” would be no list at all. The famous quote from Quahog’s resident hornball Glenn Quagmire is something that will outlive us all. The beauty of “giggity” is that there’s no layered application or metaphorical use of the meme; it’s just something to say whenever you’re excited.
‘You Guys All Think You’re So Much Better Than Me’
Episode: “Seahorse Seashell Party,” Season 10, Episode 2
The Moment: Meg confronts the rest of the Griffins about them constantly acting superior to her, only for them to up the ante in the superiority department.
Why It Became a Meme: Whether you’re flexing regional superiority or ganging up on the bottom-of-the-barrel squad in a four-team division, the meme’s plug-and-play nature lends itself to evergreen reuse. For instance: The official Family Guy account recently utilized it to express their disdain of Elon Musk’s Twitter rebrand.
Joe Swanson Looking at Phone in Disgust
Episode: “A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas,” Season 3, Episode 16
The Moment: Canonically, Joe Swanson just went on a tirade about ableism in the gingerbread community. But the out-of-frame snapshot features a well-timed photo of Joe looking at a phone in sheer disgust.
Why It Became A Meme: With all the time we spend on our phones, the likelihood we see something that preturbs us is startlingly high. Joe looking at the phone in disgust is the embodiment of that feeling, making it very relatable meme fodder.
Movie Long Ah Hell
Why It Became a Meme: A relatively recent addition to the storied lexicon of Family Guy memes, the “long ah hell” meme bears the unique circumstance that it isn’t tethered to any individual Family Guy episode but rather the show as a whole. It features someone holding up a phone with Family Guy playing, while something else is on in the background. At its most philosophical, it toys with the phenomenon of media overstimulation. But at its core, it’s a meme about how time is best spent by watching Family Guy.
