# Family guy cartoon written under influence of marijuana? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183 "2003-11-09T04:42:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/21 "2003-11-11T22:10:02Z")
Well, there have been quite a few thoroughly psychedelic sequences on _The Simpsons_ which suggests that show’s writers were on something a little stronger than pot. ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/22 "2003-11-11T22:27:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raizok \* > [BCase in point, where Peter bangs his foot in the Willy Wonka episode and we had to watch well over 2 minutes of him going “uhh… ohhhhh” while holding his foot. On pot that stuff is GOLD baby … GOLD ! \*\* Good lord are you ever right. Some of my pothead friends and I have an obsession with Family Guy, and we’ve watched nearly every episode together at this point (one of us has the DVD’s and a big TV). That particular scene made us laugh so long and hard that we had to rewind a good deal to catch all the stuff we’d missed. Family Guy found it’s niche once they stopped trying to make us care about the characters. The joke writers were amazing, and the real key is that the voice actors/animators/writers had the most incredible sense of comic timing. That’s why so many jokes on the show were of the “I can’t believe that they’re trying to drag a joke out of this… this isn’t funny… OH MY GOD! HAHAHA!” variety. They didn’t worry about consistency, didn’t worry about character development, it was just plain funny as all hell. Also, Brian is my hero. And when he wags his tail it’s so cute I almost die. LC ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/23 "2003-11-11T23:26:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\*Nah, but head writers are, by definition. \*\* Good one!! 😃 > [@](#): > > Looking at Family Guy, I wonder if the head writers are not smoking marijuana. The evidence to me are all the dream segments, the alternate realities (for example Peter eating potato chips in Anne Frank’s attic, or Stewie as a madman or playboy) also, they drag on dialogues and one sight gags. The Simpons or King of the Hill are not like this. Don’t watch King of the Hill, but…The Simpsons are **not** like this? Say what? Perhaps you’d like to read the entire section of [SNPP.com](http://SNPP.com) devoted to [drug references](http://www.snpp.com/guides/hepped.up.html) in Simpsons episodes? Dream segments and alternate realities? Doesn’t almost every episode of the Simpsons have one of these in it? Bart to the Future, Land of Chocolate, Foosball with Munch’s “The Scream” character, Homer’s Spirit Guide, etc etc etc? Drag on dialogues? May I direct you to the episode “Cape Feare” - the five minute scene where they try and get Homer to go by “Mr. Thompson?” One sight gags? My I direct you to “Cape Feare” again - the endless “stepping on rake” scene? Frankly, I don’t see any difference between the Simpsons and Family Guy, other than the fact that the Family Guy went off the air and therefore doesn’t contain as many crappy episodes. ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/24 "2003-11-11T23:38:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*Case in point: They Might be Giants. You don’t get much wackier than those fellows, but they’re not on anything stronger than coffee. And then there’s always the squeaky clean Weird Al Yankovich… > > \*\* Not to mention Frank Zappa, who didn’t drink or use drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/25 "2003-11-12T00:30:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > \*\*It’s not evidence of drugs, just under-talented writers. They come up with somewhat funny gags but can’t find a way to integrate it into the story so they just say, “make it a fantasy sequence”. It’s bad story-telling, a form of deux ex machina. \*\* See, now there’s your problem right there. If you’re watching it for the story-telling, you’re missing the point. You might as well complain that the characters aren’t drawn as realistically as they could be. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/26 "2003-11-12T01:37:24Z")
What I mean is its **bad comedy writing.** > [@](#): > > Frankly, I don’t see any difference between the Simpsons and Family Guy, other than the fact that the Family Guy went off the air and therefore doesn’t contain as many crappy episodes. At least The Simpsons contained **some** good episodes… 😉 The Simpsons follows in the footsteps of such comedic institutions as National (and Harvard) Lampoon. A lot of their writers started out there. Its subtle, whitty, intelligent, satirical and self-mocking (sometimes self-self-mocking). Family Guy is just setup/punchline, setup/punchline, setup/punchline over and over again, just like every other regular sitcom. And IMO the punchlines are always lame. They’re the kind of thing that if said on The Simpsons the joke would be when another character looked at them and reacted with sympathetic disgust at how funny & clever they thought what they just said was. Here’s an example: On the Family Guy there was a parody of Little House in which Pa Ingalls kept walking blind Mary into a wall. That’s it. That was the entire premise. Now I have no problem with bad taste, but it just wasn’t original or creative or clever or very funny (outside of grammer school). On The Simpsons Homer once dreamt that he and Bart and Flanders were Yogi, Bobo and the Ranger. When Homer/Yogi tried to swipe a pick-a-nick basket and Ranger Flanders told him not to Homer suddenly roared and viciously attacked him. And most importantly, rather than stop there, the coupe de grace was when, after Bart/Bobo said, “Um, its not nice to maul Ranger Ned”, Homer, with unbrideled, murderous rage on his face, screamed, “ **YOU WANT SOME OF THIS!?!!** ” It worked on every level:[ul][li]the characters all fit their alter egos[/li][li]Yogi, being a bear, _could_ have done this[/li][li]Homer, loving food & hating Flanders, _would_ have done this[/li][li]the shock of seeing a lovable cartoon character act like a real bear[/li][\*]the raw, edgy (and hilariousness) of the _YOU WANT SOME OF THIS_ line[/ul]This is the kind of really well thought out, creative, multi-leveled, intelligent comedic writing that Family Guy never even attempts, let alone pulls off. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/27 "2003-11-12T02:27:41Z")
**Hail Ants** , I am a huge fan of the Simpsons, and I agree with your assessment of them, but _The Family Guy_ can be just as brilliant. I disagree that it’s all setup/punchline. I can point to just as many one-joke, unoriginal, unclever, uncreative, unfunny Simpsons scenes. I can also point to just as many Family Guy scenes as clever as the Yogi/Bobo Simpsons scene you mentioned. Speaking of, that example falls short were you to go on to mention that in that scene Homer goes back to sleep, dreams he’s Goliath from [Davey and Goliath](http://www.billbam.com/dagotaplsior.html), and attacks Davey: [ul] [li] Homer does not fit Goliath the lovable puppy[/li][li] Goliath, being a lovable puppy, could not and would not have attacked his beloved master[/li][li] Flanders is not referred to as being Davey nor is there evidence of food being involved[/li][li] You don’t see the cartoon character at all, it’s just Homer talking[/li][li] No “you want some of this” line - just Homer making attacking noises[/li][/ul] This is all IMO, but I disagree that The Family Guy is “bad comedy writing” and the Simpsons is “good comedy writing.” “Bad comedy writing” is _Coupling_, or _My Two Dads_, or _Small Wonder_. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/28 "2003-11-12T22:29:24Z")
Not that it negates what you’re saying, but the Davey & Goliath fantasy was a different episode (I forget which one). When Homer went back to sleep he started dreaming he was Magilla Gorilla saying something like, “You shouldn’t take away my banana Mr. Peebles” and then made monkey noises! I think the D&G thing had Davey making a pipe bomb to blow up Planned Parenthood, didn’t it? I’m always watching Cartoon Network (love Adult Swim, Samurai Jack etc.) so maybe I’ll keep watching FG and see if I change my mind… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/29 "2003-11-12T23:14:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > \*\*so maybe I’ll keep watching FG and see if I change my mind… 😃 \*\* Just don’t expect it to be Simpsons as they’re apples and oranges. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183/30 "2003-11-12T23:45:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > Not that it negates what you’re saying, but the Davey & Goliath fantasy was a different episode (I forget which one). When Homer went back to sleep he started dreaming he was Magilla Gorilla saying something like, “You shouldn’t take away my banana Mr. Peebles” and then made monkey noises! > > I think the D&G thing had Davey making a pipe bomb to blow up Planned Parenthood, didn’t it? No shit? I could swear he went back to sleep and said “I dunno, Daveeey” but I could certainly be remembering wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-guy-cartoon-written-under-influence-of-marijuana/212183.md?page=1)