This past Friday at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, the annual PaleyFest television festival celebrated the 25th anniversary of FOX’s Family Guy with the voice cast and creative team behind the long-running animated series. And Laughing Place was there!
Entering the lobby of the Dolby Theatre (where the Academy Awards are held at the beginning of each year) I found PaleyFest decor and Family Guy standees arranged for photo ops.
Inside the auditorium, the familiar Griffin family characters were arranged in their “opening musical number” outfits from the animated series’ iconic title sequence on the stage.
When the time came for the show to begin, the curtain pulled back to reveal the full Family Guy orchestra, led by composer and conductor Walter Murphy. The series’ creator and voice star Seth MacFarlane (who plays Peter, Brian, and Stewie Griffin) then joined his co-star Alex Borstein (Lois Griffin) to perform the show’s instantly recognizable theme song.
Note: at this point I was reminded that video recording would not be permitted during the event, but that still photos were fine. MacFarlane joked about “trying to remember the last time he was on this stage” (he famously hosted the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in 2013), and then brought out Family Guy’s current showrunners Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin. They were followed by the remainder of the series’ talented voice cast: Arif Zahir (Cleveland Brown), Patrick Warburton (Joe Swanson), Jennifer Tilly (Bonnie Swanson), Seth Green (Chris Griffin), and Mila Kunis (Meg Griffin).
The cast and producers then proceeded to perform a live reading of an upcoming, as-yet-unaired episode of Family Guy, the main story of which concerned Lois finally becoming able to understand what baby Stewie is saying to her after they both accidentally get high on gummies.
In-between acts of the episode, the Family Guy voice cast performed some favorite songs from the show with the orchestra, including “Shipoopi” (which originated in Meredith Wilson’s 1957 musical The Music Man), “Prom Night Dumpster Baby” (sung by guest star and series writer Danny Smith), Elton John’s “Rocket Man” performed by MacFarlane as Stewie riffing on William Shatner, “My Drunken Irish Dad,” and “Somewhere That’s Green” from Little Shop of Horrors sung by writer/actor Mike Henry as Mr. Herbert. And Borstein brought the house down at the conclusion of the live-read with a one-two punch of Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer” and another duet with MacFarlane as Peter Griffin: a very ribald version of “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.”
The final stretch of this celebration was a Q&A session with everyone on stage, including executive producer Kara Vallow, who discussed the origins of Family Guy and how Seth MacFarlane was “the funniest person she knew” when he worked for her at Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane also related some fun anecdotes from the history of the show, such as when actor Adrien Brody wasn’t thrilled about his portrayal. Patrick Warbuton talked about his extremely distinctive voice and his religious family– “They hate the show even more today than they did 25 years ago.” And Seth Green joked that his Chris Griffin voice was inspired by Steve Buscemi’s character Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, though that HBO crime drama didn’t premiere until more than a decade after Family Guy’s debut (MacFarlane clarified that Chris’s voice actually came from Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs). We also heard from Mila Kunis, Jennifer Tilly and Arif Zahir about their experiences on the show, and MacFarlane commented that he still has an idea for a Family Guy movie whenever his schedule permits it to be made. The event ended with the exciting announcement that the team will be producing two original holiday specials (one for Halloween and one for Christmas) directly for Hulu.
Attendees of the Family Guy 25th anniversary celebration received this nifty Limited-Edition pin created by Toddland. As someone who hasn’t regularly watched the show in many years, I can say I had a great time at the event and that those who paid for their tickets certainly got their money’s worth.
For additional information on PaleyFest 2024 and to purchase tickets to upcoming events, be sure to visit the Paley Center for Media’s official website.