What's So Funny?

Some claim the show is unoriginal. Some claim the show is offensive. Yet after nine seasons, most claim Family Guy to be one of the funniest and greatest shows on television. Yet why? The question here isn’t simply why people like it; the question is why it has caused the splash it has. Recently it has had ratings and viewers comparable to Dexter and Sunday Night Football. Sunday Night Football has on average, 18.1 million viewers. To be compared to that in a positive manner is ridiculous! Considering the fact that football is almost a religion in most parts of the country, having anywhere near that is amazing. So Family Guy with its 10.6 million viewers can be pretty much stated as a successful show. I personally love the show but I still can’t understand what brings me back every Sunday night. It’s not a drama, so there’s no background story to play out in the next episode. It’s not teaching me anything like any show on discovery, it’s just funny. However that can be said about comedy in general. Family Guy has many distinctions from the rest of the comedic genre. It isn’t placed in an interesting city, and it’s not live action. That narrows it down to pretty much just the animated comedy routine, but still Family Guy stands out. I know that the Simpsons is the longest running show in the U.S. and probably more nightly viewers but the question isn’t whether or not Family Guy is better, but why specifically does it work? The writers for Family Guy have produced their own breed of humor, topics and jokes that if a passerby heard not knowing about the show they would find horrific to say the least. But why does this entice us? Sure it has the usual array of bodily function jokes and hilarious physical violence but Family Guy takes it a step further. For instances here, where a simple bodily function joke goes in a direction no one has thought of, on any other circumstance this would be considered across the line having an entire family down Epicac to induce vomiting over a simple thing like the last slice of pie. Now to some this may be across the line but that’s what Family Guy does, it dances on the line and sometimes it pays off, such as in the hilarious scene, yet sometimes it doesn’t. Family Guy has been has already had three lawsuits and is still going strong. Not only have they danced with the legal lines but controversy has plagued Family Guy. Family Guy has been cancelled numerous times, not only because of competing time slots but because of just general offense that has been felt by its comedy. Venezuela banned the show from all stations because of an episode promoting marijuana. Perhaps that is where part of its charm comes from its ability to survive the worst of scandals. Another aspect that appeals to the public is its quirky uniqueness; I can honestly say that there is nothing like it on TV. Family Guy has the ability to pull off jokes that would bomb in any other context. They tend to stretch jokes to the point where they are hardly bearable and then cut to some other crack on some sensitive subject that make it either funny or offensive. For some reason this routine is found hilarious time after time by people such as myself. When they are using the same joke in a new context, they are probably prodding some sleeping bear of a sensitive subject, like religion. Some people are the first to get into a heated debate about religion while others are avoiding the discussion like the plague. But Family Guy crates a third category by diving right in, headfirst all while staying jocular. They make light of a heavy subject by putting religion into weird situations. Such as taking Jesus to dinner, on any other show this would be grounds for immediate cancellation. Yet Family Guy pulls it off and makes people laugh in the process. One of Family Guy’s trademark gags are cutaways, these constant random mini-scenes are iconic to the show. And though they can happen several times per episode and they seem to have no relevance, the audience takes it. When considering the audience of Family Guy however it makes sense. Teenagers are infamous for having low attention spans and a random scene with a small joke in it is just what one is looking for when sitting through a half an hour program. These scenes range from thirty seconds to two minute but no matter what they always seem to be a hit. Even with jokes that wouldn’t usually appeal to teenagers, such as musicals they seem to be able to form it in such a way that they bring the viewer to love it. I think that is why people find everything in Family Guy so funny, its universality. Family Guy makes fun of every group of people and walks away. I think that is why people love this show, it is such a break from the mold and it has the audacity to kick the rules aside and think nothing of it.
-Joe