< Family Guy

Family Guy/Tropes A To C


  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: It is revealed in "Airport '07" that Quagmire's trunk and garage has enough space to hold 20 Asian women, ten for each aforementioned place.
  • Abusive Parents: Played for laughs, especially if it concerns Meg.
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: This trope is done heavily. Peter getting plastic surgery, Meg getting a makeover, Joe getting new legs, Chris becoming popular, and Brian becoming a bestselling author.
  • Actor Allusion:
    • Robot Chicken features in the episode "Road to the Multiverse", again with Chris championing it.

Chris: Look! G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, He-Man! Yay! Those shows existed!
Stewie: How's it feel to be on a major network for 30 seconds?
Chris: FUCK YOU!

    • In the "Super-Griffins" segment of "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1", during a town hall meeting to discuss how to handle the newly-enhanced Griffin Family, Mayor Adam West has mentioned that he has tangled with super-beings before, a nod to his role in the 1960's television series of Batman.
  • Adam Westing:
  • Actually Pretty Funny: After the episode with "The FCC Song" aired, Seth got a letter from the actual FCC, claiming they had loved it.
  • Adaptation Decay: Peter's version of The King and I, featuring Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja.
  • Adjective Animal Alehouse: The Drunken Clam.
  • Adventures in the Bible: The movie had Stewie's future self going back in time to see Jesus; his sleight of hand tricks prove a little disappointing.
  • Aesop Ju Jitsu: Understandable, since this isn't a show that lends itself to coherent morals.
  • Affably Evil: Stewie often talks about wanting to Take Over the World, but he's easily a nicer person than at least Peter and Lois.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: "MILEY SMASH!"
  • Airplane Arms: For a split second, in the episode "No Meals On Wheels", after Peter shocks Lois in a little trap of his (It Makes Sense in Context), he runs away, makeshift cape flapping....in a very familiar manner.
  • All Gays Are Promiscuous: Used in the episode "Family Gay" where Peter sleeps with several men at once while he is under the influence of the 'gay gene' that was injected into him earlier in the episode. Although it's not like he'd be terribly opposed to an orgy with ten other women as a straight man, as long as Lois was cool with it.
  • All Gays Love Theater
  • All Jews Are Cheapskates
  • All Germans Are Nazis: To the point where there hasn't been a single German character to appear who isn't a nazi.
  • All Just a Dream:
    • Lampshaded, parodied hard, and combined with a massive/hilarious Take That at The Sopranos.
    • The Dallas "Dream Season" potshot, complete with live action collaboration by Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal.
    • Everyone was assuming that the big murder mystery episode would be this. Only for the next episode to officially prove that yes, Muriel Goldman, Diane Simmons, and Derek (Jillian's husband) are Killed Off for Real.
  • All There in the Manual: Meg's friends are Beth (short-haired blonde), Patty (redhead), Esther (black girl with glasses), Ruth (puffy-haired brunette), and Collette (the long-haired brunette in "Fifteen Minutes of Shame").
  • Alternate History: Brian and Stewie go back to the year 1999 and wind up seeing their past selves and their old hijinks. Despite Stewie's warning to not tamper with anything in the past, Brian decides to tell his past self about the September 11th terrorist attacks. Flash forward to the current time, Brian is seen in the news as a hero for preventing a terrorist attack. Brian sees this as a good thing, but his actions caused a a much bigger problem.
  • Always a Bigger Fish: There's a very literal example of this in Peter's show idea called Big Jaws, wherein boaters are fighting off a small shark, and a bigger one comes along, forcing the boaters and smaller shark to work together. He's planning a sequel called Even Bigger Jaws.
  • Alpha Bitch: Connie D'Amico.
  • Always Save the Girl: Often subverted with Meg. Peter and Lois even agreed that if they could only save two of the children in a crisis, they'd leave Meg behind. She calls them out on it.
  • Anal Probing: In one cutaway gag, Quagmire has been abducted by aliens and inquires about anal probing. They reply that they don't do it anymore. After a short pause, Quagmire asks if they still have the device.
  • And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Parodied in "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington":

Peter: Hi, I'm Peter Griffin. Y'know, we had a lot of laughs tonight, but I'll tell you what's not funny: Killing strippers. Strippers are people too, naked people who may be willing to pleasure you for a price you negotiate later behind the curtain of a VIP room. Besides, there's no reason to kill them, because most of them are already dead inside. Good night!

  • Animation Bump: Usually utilized in fight scenes and musical numbers. Somewhat subverted in that the earlier seasons (1-3) had more frames of animation than the later ones from season 4 on.
  • Arch Enemy:
    • Peter Griffin and Ernie the Giant Chicken.
    • Stewie has Bertram, his half-brother by Peter's donated sperm and a lesbian mother.
    • Chris has the Evil Monkey, who was never really evil. The monkey was just socially awkward and had a copper deficiency.
    • Peter and Brian have James Woods.
  • Aren't You Forgetting Someone?:
    • In "Ready, Willing, and Disabled", Joe keeps thanking people for his Special People's Games win, but he never thanks Peter (the man who coached him). Peter is pretty upset with Joe over it and reveals him as a fraud.
    • In another episode, Lois asks this very question to Peter, who answers in the affirmative and walks over to the previously unseen Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, etc., and gives them the same bullcrap the Wizard did, instead of addressing the person Lois was talking about.
    • Another episode when Peter found Jesus.
  • Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Demonstrated in "Untitled Griffin Family History" when Meg is surprised that the burglars have no interest in raping her. She goes so far as to chase them, to the point where the burglars sue Meg for sexual harassment.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: In "A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Bucks", Bob Funland tells a misbehaving Peter that he owns the theme park that he's visiting. Then he asks Peter, "So what have you done with your life, ya jerk?" Peter is embarrassed, even moreso when his cover story that he's Neptune, God of the Sea backfires when the real Neptune shows up.
  • Art Evolution: Compare the pilot to the first episode. Hell, compare that to the newer episodes. [dead link] Now they're also utilizing CGI and widescreen, the former mentioned by Seth MacFarlane as a much better substitute to specific things. (i.e. vehicles, the beer bottles in "Peter's Two Dads"). Hell, compare the first 21 episodes of season 3, which still use the rather crude animation style leftover from the first two seasons, to "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein" (which uses a blend of the animation of seasons 4+ and seasons 1-3).
  • Art Shift:
    • The 2009-10 season premiere had Brian and Stewie visiting various alternate universes, including one drawn in a Disney style, a Robot Chicken universe in Claymation, and another drawn in an extremely abstract style. Many Fans consider the Disneyesque sequence to be one of the best in the show.
    • Of course, there are other episodes that showcase different animation styles, such as Stewie dancing with Gene Kelly in place of Jerry the Mouse, and the whole family crudely animated to spoof The Simpsons' start on The Tracy Ullman Show.
    • Don't forget the few moments Brian and Stewie are transported into the real world. I must admit, real baby Stewie was quite cute.
    • An early example - The only time Peter was defeated.
    • Now that the show's finally gone HD (Even more Art Evolution was employed), the intro was finally re-animated and looks MUCH better, and supporting characters replace previous generic characters.
    • When Brian and Stewie meet themselves through time travel to the year 1999 (when the show first debuted), the entire scene is in the style of the pilot (with Brian and Stewie poking fun at the glitchy animations), including being in SD instead of HD. When the duo goes into the altered future, the art style shifts to a.[1]
  • Ascended Extra:
    • Quagmire's sister and her abusive boyfriend were introduced as a one-off gag in the Season 8 episode "Jerome Is the New Black." Flash forward to Season 10, they become the main focus of the show's seriously taken Very Special Episode.
    • Likewise Mort Goldman, who was introduced in season 3 for two episodes as Neil's father and the embodiment of all Jewish stereotypes taken Up to Eleven, got his breakout role in the "Lil' Griffins" segment of "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1", and has since been a regular member of the Family Guy cast. We hope the same can be said for his son.
  • Ascended to Carnivorism: Whatever you do, don't let an elf get near one of Santa's flying reindeer.
  • Asian Rudeness:
    • A cutaway gag shows an Asian Mall Santa like this.
    • Also, Mr. Washee-Washee.
    • An Asian woman cuts across a crowded highway and causes a devastating traffic accident. Also doubles as an example of Asian Drivers.

Asian Woman: (in coy Asian accent) How much signal I need to cut across eight lane? None? I turn now. Good luck everybody else!

  • Asshole Victim: Albert turns out to be one, he in fact stole the war hero medals and was a leader of the KKK.
  • Ass Shove: Peter's prostate exam, among other instances.
  • As the Good Book Says...: Parodied in "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington"; before a baseball game, there's discussion on what people holding signs that read "John 3:16" means. Brian looks up the verse in the Bible: "And the Lord said: "Go Sox.""
  • At the Opera Tonight: Seen in "No Chris Left Behind".
  • Auction
  • Author Appeal:
    • This show has a lot of Star Wars and '80s references.
    • Seth MacFarlane loves '50s music and he's not afraid to remind you of that whenever he gets the chance (Conway Twitty, Frank Sinatra Jr. and the New Rat Pack). In the "Road to the Multiverse" episode, there's a universe where earth became a hellhole (indirectly) because Frank Sinatra never existed.
    • Can you tell he enjoys old movies and musicals? MacFarlane's a good Real Life example of "born in the wrong decade" and it shows in his work.
    • He also seems to have a thing for showing or alluding to women on the toilet. This was even lampshaded in the DVD commentary.
    • Also, MacFarlane or somebody else on the staff really seems to like chubby girls. Rumor has it that a lot of it actually comes from Seth Green, who was allegedly a big participant in the fat fetish scene for a time before abandoning it for the sake of his career.
      • There's also a weird... thing... happening with breast expansion/growing that pops up in both Family Guy AND American Dad!. Yikes.
  • Author Avatar:
    • Brian. His voice is simply Seth MacFarlane talking in his own voice. (MacFarlane has even admitted in interviews that sometimes when his tastes change, Brian's change is reflecting that, such as in his liquor/cocktail of choice changes, and that Brian is MacFarlane taking a bit of himself and putting it into the show more directly).
    • Peter was this in the beginning, as he mirrored some of the creator's interests in sci-fi films and series, like Star Wars and Star Trek.
  • Back from the Dead:
    • James Woods. Being a celebrity entitled him to top-notch medical attention that allowed him to come back to life by transferring the Life Energy of a 17 year old girl into his own body.
    • Kevin Swanson, Joe and Bonnie's son, was alluded to have been killed in action while deployed in Iraq. Years later in a Thanksgiving Episode it is revealed he was the sole survivor of a bomb that wiped out his unit and he went AWOL from the military.
  • Backhanded Apology: Jerkass versions, of course.
  • Bad Mood As an Excuse: This show often makes use of this. On example is Brian ranting at a crying baby in a restaurant. When confronted about this he claims he was irritated because his meal was undercooked.
  • Bad Present: In Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, there's a cutaway where Walt Disney, who is shown to be cryogenically frozen, awakens and wants to be re-frozen because a bad present for him is that the Jews are still alive.
  • Bait and Switch:
    • "So you remember that movie about the father who got drunk in this large hotel with this young boy, and the boy starts seein' paranormal stuff, and the guy ran all over the place with an ax, and the guy started talking to his fingers? Can't you just see Stewie doin' that?! Well, here's The Shawshank Redemption."
    • This line from "Running Mates":

Peter:" I'm going to stop you the only way I can... (lifts up axe in very sinister manner) BY KILLING YOU...! (camera fades to Peter using axe as hammer to drive his campaign sign into the front lawn) (calmly) ...in the race for school board president!

Stewie: Oh God, please tell me we didn't do it.

Peter: We all know that no woman anywhere wants to have sex with anyone, and to titillate us with any thoughts otherwise is -- is just bogus.
Lois: Ah, he is so right on. Women are such teases. That's why I went back to men.

  • Big Ball of Violence: In "And the Wiener Is...", Quagmire gets in the way of a violence ball, courtesy of Andy Capp and Flo. After getting out of the ball, he asks, "What the hell? Did I just get laid??"
  • Big No:
    • Peter's reaction to being told his parrot has died.
    • There's a running gag with this trope and Cleveland in the bathtub, which even continued for a brief period after he got his own show.
    • Quagmire belts out a Big No upon finding out that his transsexual father slept with Brian.
    • Also when Brian informs Quagmire that he slept with two Filipino women... and a man:

Quagmire: You mean three Filipino women!
Brian: ...
Quagmire: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

  • Big "What?": Frequently. Peter drops one in this exchange from "Hannah Banana":

Evil Monkey: Gah, I left my cell phone at that Monkeykid barbecue.
Peter: I thought you said it was a father-son barbecue.
Evil Monkey: Yeah, but it was up in Monkeykid.
Peter: (stammers) WHAT?!?!?

"EEEHHHWWHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAT!?

Brian: I used to think that John Lennon was kind of a jerk for saying The Beatles were Bigger Than Jesus, but now, I mean, I'm not saying that I am, but I get it.

    • When Jesus becomes famous in the episode "I Dream of Jesus," one newspaper runs the headline "Jesus Is Bigger Than Jesus."
  • Bilingual Bonus:
    • In one episode, the family hides out from the law in "Asian Town." Their apartment is above a Chinese restaurant that, judging from the sign, is actually Japanese-run.
    • An earlier episode has two Cubans falling out of a crashing plane and speaking in Spanish, with gratuitous subtitles in Korean (Trilingual Bonus?).

Cuban 1: (Oh my god, We're gonna die!)
Cuban 2: (Do you remember if I closed the garage door this morning?)

    • The recurring fisherman characters speak Spanish and Portuguese...to each other.
    • Less a Bilingual Bonus and more of a dialectical one, in one episode with the cutaway scene to that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation wherein Captain Picard comments that Commander Worf's forehead "Looks like a fanny". To Americans, it sounds like Picard is comparing Worf's forehead to someone's bottom. However, to English audiences, "fanny" is a slang term for the vagina. This is especially amusing given that the line is delivered by Patrick Stewart, who is English and would know of the meaning. Plus Klingon foreheads do look more like vaginas than bottoms.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lois, originally the most compassionate and down to Earth member of the family, has gradually leaned into this trope. Was arguably more a case of Comedic Sociopathy humor in having a usually sweet character act callous in earlier cases (especially when Meg was involved) though as the show has progressed, Lois seems to have evolved more into a genuine Jerkass, eg. attempting to have sex with Meg's boyfriend or becoming drunk with power from her martial arts skills, to the point of raping her husband (it is worth noting she blamed Peter for provoking her for both instances). Also since Rule of Funny makes up half the cast's personalities anyway, it's hard to separate one instance from the other. Her behavior has even been lampshaded at least once:

Lois: Ya see? I'm part of it. *laughs excited* I'm part of the joke just like everyone else!

  • Biting the Hand Humor:
    • They do love their jabs at FOX. Deservedly so, considering what happened during the show's original run. A much more subtle example in the way some of the writers treat Author Avatar Brian, though even MacFarlane himself seems to be getting in on the act now.
    • It has culminated with a cutaway gag where MacFarlane basically says he prefers Adult Swim over Fox since Adult Swim doesn't censor truly tasteless and offensive jokes like Fox does.
    • And there's also the way Adult Swim itself gets made fun of a lot, even though Adult Swim is a big part of how Family Guy got Uncancelled. Stewie and Peter often say that it "isn't a real network" and treat it as though barely anyone has heard of it.
    • In the premiere after it was brought back, before the opening credits Peter says they've been cancelled. He then lampshades it by saying FOX has to "make room for quality programs such as..." and then lists EVERY other show that FOX had cancelled between Family Guy's own cancellation and its return. Then this:

Lois: Is there no hope?
Peter: Well I suppose if ALL those shows go down the tube then we might have a shot.

  • Black Comedy: Always happened throughout the show, though more common in newer episodes.
    • "Episode 420" showed a depressing, more realistic ending to the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler film "Baby Mama".
    • A children's song in the same vein as "Ring Around the Rosies", but in relation to the Lockerbie disaster:

"It's raining luggage and babies and limbs and daddy doesn't come home."

    • And of course...

"I'm just a prom night dumpster babyDai-Guard (talk)"

    • Dont forget...

Brian: Stewie I killed one of my own kind! I mean how would you feel if you killed a baby!
Stewie: Well actually I've killed seven...

    • When Death himself gets killed in a car accident, another Death comes to tell him that he's going to be reincarnated as a Chinese baby. Death disappears, then immediately reappears.

Death: "Girl?"
Death: "Girl."

  • Black Comedy Rape: "Prick Up Your Ears," where Lois pounces on Peter after Peter declares that he's abstinent.
    • Lois also rapes Peter in the episode where she's taking martial arts classes, with him reacting as such and whimpering "Last night...Lois, was, THE MAN!"
    • Also the theme of numerous cutaway gags.
    • "One of the people you hit was a virgin whose hymen was busted, so rape."
    • When burglars break into the house, Meg asks (hopefully) "Is this the part where you have your way with me?" The burglars are horrified by the idea, however.
    • Pulls a hat trick in "Dial Meg for Murder". The first time when Peter is attacked by the "Breeding Bull", second is when Meg sexually assaults Connie after beating her and the popular kids up with a bag full of soda cans, third is implied when Meg joins Peter in the shower with a Luffa.
  • The Blank: Peter's "poker face" on "Screwed the Pooch".
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: Quagmire's sister's abusive boyfriend Jeff.
  • Blood Bath: When God gets pissed at Peter for creating a religion based around himself and starts attacking the Griffins with the seven plagues of Egypt, one sees Stewie's bath water turn into blood. While the rest of the family is freaked out, Stewie is enjoying himself.

Stewie: "How positively delightful! It's as if someone stabbed Mr. Bubble!"

  • Bloodier and Gorier: While more on par with cartoonish slapstick violence in early episodes, the show has became increasingly graphic and shock oriented in it's portrayal of violence and bodily harm as it has evolved. Even when gore isn't involved, violence often has a disturbingly uncanny portrayal at times.
  • Bloodless Carnage: While Family Guy doesn't spare the audience the sight of blood in the later seasons, in the second season episode "There's Something About Paulie", Paulie gets shot to death without a single drop of blood being spilled.
  • Blowing a Raspberry: One episode has Peter blowing a raspberry every time Meg's name is mentioned, prompting Chris to then repeat Meg's name over and over again until Lois tells him to stop.
  • Blunt Yes

Peter: Hang on a second, did you just say I was fat?
Doctor: Well, yeah, you are pretty fat.

Joe: You're under arrest for harbouring an escaped convict.
Meg: Oh, well, I guess that's only fair since I did hide him from-- WWWWHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUT?!?!

  • Bottle Episode: A rare animated example in "Brian and Stewie"—just one "set" and two characters, both of whom are voiced by the same guy. Is there a Bottle Casting trope?
  • Bow Chicka Wow Wow: Stewie during the episode "Screwed the Pooch."
  • Brain Bleach: In-Universe, just one look at Meg and a store clerk and camera guy screamed in fear, poured gasoline over themselves, lit themselves on fire and jumped out the conveniently placed window. Later on, Stewie's look at a porno magazine and the time Brian showed him 2 Girls 1 Cup.
  • Brainless Beauty: Brian's ex-girlfriend Jillian and her friends.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs

Peter: What are you gonna make me do, whack a guy? Off a guy? Whack off a guy? 'Cause I'm married.

Brian: This [pie] is really good! What's in there??
Meg: Oh, just some apples, and some cinnamon... and my hair...
Brian: (Beat) What.

  • Breaking the Fourth Wall:
    • In one episode, Peter is sexually attracted to Connie D'Amico, an underage high school girl. He keeps saying and doing increasingly disturbing things until he gets on top of Connie as she lies unconscious on the floor, turns to the camera and angrily shouts: "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? It's a cartoon!"
    • "The fourth wall! You're breakin' the fourth wall!"
    • In the episode "Dial Meg for Murder", Peter uses the TV Guide to find out what will happen. They even manage to use those clips for the commercials for the episode. It works in both contexts.
    • In "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", after Meg reveals that she's become a born-again Christian:

Peter: "That's right, folks, it's gonna be a Meg episode, stick around for the fun... (puts remote on kitchen table) Here's the clicker. No one would blame ya..."

    • "Who expected that? Except everyone, 'cuz Fox ruined it in the promos."
    • Brian and Stewie have an extended conversation on whether or not Loretta is close enough to being a main cast member to understand Stewie. An offscreen voice also states "We're filming!".
    • "Okay, they're dead, alright? We're not gonna be seeing them again." - Stewie in "Saving Private Brian" after he murders Vern and Johnny with a gun.
    • On the Thanksgiving Episode the studio executives suddenly didn't have an appropriate cutaway gag when Peter set-up a joke and panicked. After playing a cutaway that didn't have any significance to the one Peter set up he wonders aloud what exactly happened to the studio people.
  • Breakout Character: Stewie.
  • Breast Attack: Actually invoked by Lois. When Peter decided to solve all his problems by kicking, Lois insisted he should kick her in the breasts.
  • Breast Expansion:
    • On the episode "I Dream of Jesus," Peter asks Jesus to give Lois huge breasts and Lois' boobs grow to absolutely enormous size.
    • In "I Take Thee Quagmire", Lois is trying to wean Stewie and as a result, her breasts swell. Said swelling is what pulls Quagmire from his new-found monogamy and wanting to get out of his marriage to Joan.
  • Breathless Non-Sequitur: From the episode "And Then There Were Fewer": "And I am not saying another word until I speak to my lawyer, because why is he wearing shorts?"
  • Brick Joke: Frequently used.
    • In "Dog Gone", Brian tells the father in The Family Circus to "fuck your wife in the face". Later, Peter reads a very surprising issue of Family Circus.
    • At the beginning of the episode "Family Gay", Peter buys a brain-damaged horse who eventually dies, so he flings its body into Mort's pharmacy. At the end, Mort throws the corpse through the window of the Griffins' house, shouting, "Take back your fucking horse!"
    • In "To Live and Die in Dixie", Peter dares Brian to enter his General Lee through the window Dukes of Hazzard-style, but forgot to roll the window down and as a result Brian is knocked out cold upon colliding with the window. Four years and a cancellation later on in "The Fat Guy Strangler", Brian throws a rock at Peter's head. Peter, assuming Brian meant to throw it at Patrick (the titular murderer), tells him he missed and Brian replies "No I didn't. That's for rolling up the damn window when I tried to jump into the General Lee."
    • In "Love Thy Trophy", Peter, Cleveland, and Quagmire beat up the cable guy to get free cable. Later on in the episode, Joe (who was not involved in the beating) says that he is the only one on the block who pays for his cable.
    • In the Season 4 episode "Perfect Castaway", Herbert asked Brian if he had any ice cream trucks for sale to attract the kids with. In the Season 9 episode "And Then There Were Fewer", he's driving one.
    • Near the beginning of "Halloween on Spooner Street", Peter and Joe play a prank on Quagmire. The entire rest of their B plot is a set-up for Quagmire to get them back.
    • In "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air," Adolf Hitler is seen in a cutaway juggling fish while riding a unicycle. After a cutaway where Cleveland remarks about the scene, Peter is shown kicking Hitler in the groin, causing him to fall off the unicycle. Peter: "See, we had a plan for that all along."
    • "Brian! I'm Ready! Are you in or out?" from "Barley Legal"
    • In "420", Peter, Brian, Cleveland, and Joe accidently kill Quagmire's cat while trying to shave it as a prank. After hiding the body, it is never brought up again in the episode until the last scene. Quagmire knocks on Peter's door offering a cash reward for finding his cat. Peter calmly takes the money and tells Quagmire that he killed it and the episode ends.
  • British Royal Guards: Subverted Trope where Peter believes the guard won't move. However, he does and responds to Peter, "Nope, that's just our women."
  • Broken Bird: Meg.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Family Guy finally went down this road when Meg and Chris ended up doing 7 minutes in Heaven at a Halloween party. Neither one knew it was the other since they had masks on. As expected, they both completely freak out when they find out. Later on though, they seem pretty proud of the fact that they scored with someone of the other gender.
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • Inverted, sort of, as "The Splendid Source" has Peter and co. getting back together with Cleveland during a road trip.
    • Loretta in "Love Blactually".
    • The bus even survived a crash, as evidenced by Kevin Swanson's return in season 10.
  • But Liquor Is Quicker: Quagmire, among his many methods to get women into bed.
  • Butt Monkey:
    • Meg (though she wasn't that much of a butt monkey in the early episodes; just a teenage girl who wanted to be like the popular kids).
      • A very near literal instance comes from the episode "Petergeist," where the exit from the spirit world is actually her butt. An excellent illustration of her family's attitude to her comes from the same episode:

Peter: Lois, dammit, we both agreed, remember? If we could only save two we leave Meg!

      • It's getting less blatant in season 8. Most recently, most of an episode has Meg telling her family that they are all Jerkasses to her and that she's tired of being treated like crap. This is pretty much negated as she goes back on her words at the end to ease they're feelings after they're told the Awful Truth.
      • In the South Park parody episode "Cartoon Wars," Meg is the only family member who does not speak.
    • Brian is probably the biggest one on the show. Any time Brian says or does something like dating a new woman or stating his political beliefs, everybody mocks and attacks him for the rest of the episode while he tries to either rationally explain his position or just ignore them. They continue to attack him for the rest of the episode until the end when The Dog Bites Back, and most of the time they just Yank the Dog's Chain and he ends up in the same place or worse off than he was before.
    • Peter and Stewie arguably go through as much torture and humiliation as the key Butt Monkeys in the series, it is merely balanced by them dishing out as much as they take.
  • Butterfly of Doom: In one episode about time travel, Brain and Stewie go back to the pilot episode, and Brian warns his past self about 9/11 (the pilot having aired/taken place in 1999). When they get back to the present, they find that Brian singlehandedly prevented the attacks, which at first seems like a good thing—then we find out that without the "fear-mongering" caused by The War on Terror, Bush lost his re-election in 2004, and eventually led the South in starting a second Civil War, which eventually leads to most of the East Coast getting nuked. Naturally, Stewie and Brian go back to try and stop Brian from warning his past self, at which point Hilarity Ensues.
  • Buxom Is Better: Mrs. Lockhart. Just take a look at her.
  • C-List Fodder: "And Then There Were Fewer" trimmed the extended cast
  • Call Back: One episode has Peter find a golden scroll that lets him get a tour of a brewery. He runs home in excitement and trips on the sidewalk, holding his knee in pain for several seconds. Another episode several seasons later plays this scene in nearly the exact same way, except it is Lois running home after hearing she got the job as a news reporter, but when she trips, she winds up hurting her breasts and holds one while in pain.
  • Calling the Old Man Out
    • Chris got to pull this on Peter in "Hannah Banana."

Chris: [Monkey] even helped me with my geometry homework.
Peter: How did he know you were having trouble with geometry?
Chris: BECAUSE HE ASKED!

    • That's nothing compared to Meg pointing out all her family flaws and reducing Lois to a puddle of her own self-esteem.
  • Camp Gay: Brian's cousin Jasper, and sometimes Stewie; Peter when he became gay.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Parodied.
  • Captain Morgan Pose: Peter strikes the pose three times in a campaign ad. First he's in a classroom, and he puts his foot on a desk. Then he's in a school hallway, and he puts his foot up on another desk. Then he's in the middle of a football field, and there just happens to be another desk for him to stick his foot on.
  • Captain Obvious Aesop: Parodied when a Congressman finally realize that smoking is bad.

Congressman: Smoking is a horrible vice! It shortens life expectancy and pollutes our air. And according to recent polls, air is good!

  • Captive Date: Meg does this to Brian when she falls for him.
  • Car Meets House: A drunken Stewie drives Brian's car into The Drunken Clam. The Kool-aid Man gets his comeuppance when someone crashes into his living room for once. Peter speaks of his fondness for parties at another person's house, because you don't have to clean up afterwards; he shows this in the Cutaway Gag.
  • Cash Lure:
    • Happened in a Cutaway Gag from "Road To Rupert" when Peter recalled having good times with an anvil, the gag being Peter setting up a trap with said anvil, using a dollar bill as bait. Of course, since this is Peter, he falls for it.
    • When it's revealed that Lois' mother is Jewish, Carter attempts to bait her this way (due to the Greedy Jew stereotype) so she would get wet (by Carter's Super Soaker toy, folks). She doesn't fall for it, but Carter soaks her anyway.
  • The Cast Showoff: Happens often. Mostly when a character voiced by MacFarlane sings—he has extensive vocal training and ability.
  • Casual Kink: The sex between Peter and Lois is almost always presented as a mutually loving and kinky relationship; they're even seen discussing their day-to-day lives moments before they suit up and Lois cheerfully informs Peter that "the safe word is banana".
  • Catch Phrase:
    • In "Welcome Back, Carter", Peter forces Carter to come up with a series of catchphrases for him. The one he likes best is "tell it to my butt, cause he's the only one that gives a crap!" Lois seems to think highly of it too.
    • Tom Tucker has: "And now this..."
  • Cerebus Syndrome:
    • Although it more than likely won't continue into later episodes due to it being a one-shot thing MacFarlane wanted to do, Brian and Stewie" actually got shockingly in-depth and serious.
    • Season 9. Season 8 occasionally treaded into this as well.
    • Notably the ep. "Screams of Silence: The Brenda Q Story". It's basically an animated Lifetime Movie of the Week
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • It is odd to watch the really early episodes where Meg was treated with respect and love by her family, like Peter trying his hardest to help her out at the school newspaper or Lois helping her to get revenge at Connie.
    • This seemed to have an effect on Meg's personality. The earlier better treated Meg was also a somewhat spoiled and manipulative Bratty Teenage Daughter. As her abuse began to increase, she humbled and (the odd Yandere moment aside) is something of a Token Good Teammate for the family, if not the entire show).
    • Also Stewie and Brian's relationship has developed significantly since the first season, where they very obviously despised each other. Now they often seem the only people who significantly care much for each other.
    • Lois, through seasons 1-2 and some of 3, started off as a stereotypical 1950's housewife who tries to uphold a morally (even if they are outdated) upright household, and was completely oblivious to her infant Villain Protagonist child's plans to kill her and take over the world. Starting with Season 3's "And The Wiener Is..." and "Lethal Weapons", she started to take an aggressive, even Sociopathic Hero stance with her Nice Guy image gradually becoming a hypocritical facade.
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Parody:
    • The first half of "Wasted Talent" and instead of candy it's beer, complete with Oompa Loompa style midgets (the "Chumba Wumbas") who sing a hilariously cruel song about the lack of wheelchair access.
    • A somewhat more accurate version appears as a one-off joke flashback where Peter chewed the gum (you know the one), and denied doing it (despite it being obvious he did).
  • Cheated Angle: The artists have to cheat Stewie's head to keep it football-shaped.
  • Chekhov's Gag: Spider-Man saving people, the fire truck documentary from "Petarded,"—Take your pick.
  • The Chew Toy: Meg. Brian when it comes to his inability to hold a relationship.
    • Meg oscillates between this and The Woobie. At least some of the things her family (especially Peter) does to her are deep within Dude, Not Funny territory.
  • Christmas Episode: Played straight in "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas." Then nine years later came "Road to the North Pole", which deconstructed Santa's job and work environment to Hell and back.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
    • Cleveland Jr. only appeared once post-3rd season.
    • Joe's son Kevin didn't fare much better, making three season 4 appearances, and one more in season 5 before disappearing entirely. Darkly lampshaded two seasons later; when Peter asked about him, Joe deadpanned "He died in Iraq." However, he made a surprise returning appearance in a Thanksgiving Episode.
    • Death disappeared for a long while, though he reappeared in "Friends of Peter G." to show Peter what life would be like if he continued to binge drink.
    • Jasper, Brian's gay cousin, vanished after the Season 4 episode, "You May Kiss Uh... the Guy Who Receives".
    • Carol's infant son born in "Emission Impossible" is not seen in the other episodes where his mother appears on screen. He has never been mentioned at all but could be living with his biological father.
    • This trope was Discussed Trope in "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz," where one of Peter's sermons for his new Fonz-centric religion focused on Chuck's disappearance.
    • Brian's son has never been seen again and was only briefly referenced in another episode.
  • Cigarette of Anxiety: Brian lights up in his therapist's office.
  • Civilized Animal: Brian. His sophisticated demeanor is at odds with his animal instincts (for example, his strong belief in equality versus his innate fear of black people).
  • Class Reunion: Peter's in "Patriot Games".
  • Cliff Hanger: Naturally used on the two parters "The Thin White Line"/"Brian Does Hollywood" (at the end of part one, Brian leaves the Griffins), "Stewie Kills Lois"/"Lois Kills Stewie" (Lois returns from the "dead" to proclaim that Stewie tried to kill her), and, in syndication, "Bango Was His Name-O"/"Stu & Stewie's Excellent Adventure" (Stewie meets his future self).
  • Colossus Climb: Stewie manages to pull this off against...
  • Combining Mecha /TheWormThatWalks: Wheelchairs and those who use them.

Joe: "Form up Cripple-Tron!" (every differently-abled resident of Quahog piles up into a giant robot)

  • Comedic Sociopathy: 90% of the show's character humor seems to revolve around this trope really.
  • Comically Missing the Point: In "German Guy," Chris mentions a bunch of things Herbert has Chris do that Herbert gets off on and Chris is thinking Herbert has him do those things because Herbert believes in free labor.
  • Commuting on a Bus: Cleveland and Donna have made regular guest appearances on Family Guy after "The Splendid Source."
  • Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For:
    • The famous Fight Scene between Peter and the chicken began over an expired coupon.
    • Amusingly continued after they make up later on and go out to restaurant, only to start fighting again when they both insist on paying the bill.
  • Cone of Shame: In "Brian Sings and Swings", Brian wears one after being hit by Peter's car.
  • Confusing Multiple Negatives: From "I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar":

Salesman: Now I know you've been here all day, so if you'll just sign this contract without reading it, I'll take your blank check and you won't not be not loving your new timeshare in no time.

  • Conspicuous CG: Season 4 onward for vehicles, backgrounds, and even humans on occasion.
  • Continuity Nod: Rush Limbaugh guests in "Excellence in Broadcasting", where Chris recalls the time Fox News Channel revealed he was Fred Savage in a costume, which Lois defends as a lie even though it's true and she reported it (in the episode "FOX-y Lady"), because even the truth becomes a lie if told on Fox News.
  • Contrived Clumsiness: After seeing Jillian's boyfriend accidentally trip a waiter and immediately spring into action to prevent him and his drinks from spilling over, Brian tries to do the same in order to impress his former girlfriend, by deliberately tripping the next waiter to walk by. The waiter falls, his drinks crash, and he questions why Brian would do something like that. Adding insult to injury, the waiter had just recovered from recent hand surgery, and was told he should not have come into work that day, but Jillian's boyfriend massages his hand and makes it better.
  • Cool People Rebel Against Authority
  • The Couch
  • Couch Gag: Before the opening sequence was created, Seth originally suggested each episode open with a parody of different tv show's classic opening credits. While this concept was ultimately deemed too expensive, a few examples have made it to the final show, such as Family Ties, Will and Grace (used as a cutaway gag instead), That Girl (animation created for the opening was used instead as a joke in "Mr Griffin Goes to Washington"), Twenty Four, and Law and Order. Little House On the Prairie and All in The Family have had their end credits parodied, right down to the font style. And, of course, the actual regular opening is a parody of Archie and Edith at the piano.
  • Could This Happen to You?: Tom Tucker, a Tv anchor, practices different ways in front of a mirror of how to announce a president's hypothetical assassination. One of his methods is this trope.
  • Couldn't Find a Lighter: Peter and Lois end up temporarily trapped in Cuba. Peter takes to it quickly by getting a Cuban Havanna, but failing to find a lighter he lights it off a burning American flag that a helpful local was carrying past.
  • Media Research Failure:
    • In "Baby Not on Board," a radio station identifies Roxette's "The Look" as "You've Got the Look." This would be a Refrain From Assuming, but the phrase "you've got the look" never appears in the song; it's always "she's got the look".
    • The Dish Network summary for the episode "Lois Kills Stewie" assumes that a Cutaway Gag about Stewie auditioning for American Idol is the focus of the episode.
    • The Comcast summary for the episode "Jerome Is The New Black" claims the focus of Quagmire's hatred is Jerome.
  • Coy Girlish Flirt Pose: Lois when she played a catholic schoolgirl as part of sex roleplaying.
  • Crapsack World: If you're a sane person in this show, don't expect to get any leeway. And if you're Meg, it's literally a Crapsack Multiverse.
    • Crap Saccharine World: The earlier seasons, though still ripe with darker humour, were played with a much more whimsical sitcom-esque setup, with most of the cast (even antagonists such as bank robbers) being highly cheery and friendly. It is only later on the cynical tone kicks in and the show evolves into a high order Crapsack World.
  • Creepy Child: Pre-season 4 Stewie. He's getting his edge back in season 9. After all, he sniped Diane Simmons, pulled a bazooka on some teenagers who stole his Halloween candy, and traveled all the way to the freaking North Pole to try to assassinate Santa Claus, from whom he'd wanted yellow cake uranium.
  • Cringe Comedy: The later seasons in spades.
  • Crossover:
    • A brief bit with American Dad (Seth's other animated show) in both "Lois Kills Stewie" and "Meet the Quagmires". Though Seth has stated he toys with the idea to make a proper one.
    • Stan appears for a one-shot cutaway gag in "Excellence in Broadcasting."
    • Brian also appears in the American Dad episode "The People V. Martin Sugar."
    • Roger and Klaus have both appeared the Star Wars specials
    • Joe Swanson replaces Stan in the opening intro to American Dad in a cutaway gag.
  • Cue the Rain: In "Brian Writes a Bestseller", Stewie is stuck without a ride and without cab fare. He says, "Well, at least it's not raining." Promptly Subverted Trope when a man runs up, stabs him, and leaves him for dead.
  • Curb Stomp Battle:
  • Cure Your Gays: One part of "Family Gay" has Brian and Stewie sending Peter to a straight camp to "cure" him.
  • Cutaway Gag: Sometimes number from few to many, although there have been distinctive episodes without cutaways ("Brian and Stewie", "And Then There Were Fewer")
  • Cut Himself Shaving:
    • From "North By North Quahog", as Stewie spanks Chris:

Stewie: If your teacher questions you about these bruises, what will you say?
Chris: I got hit by a baseball! (cries)

    • Another instance happens in "Wasted Talent" where Stewie beats up one of Lois's piano students for causing a racket playing piano while he is watching television:

Lois: OK, Jimmy... oh my God, what happened?
Stewie: Yes Jimmie, what happened?
Jimmy: Uh, uh... [glances back at Stewie]... I fell.

    • And from "Screams of Silence"

Brenda: I'd show you the ring, but it's under this splint. My finger fell down the stairs.

  1. ↑ which was animated by one of the companies of Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica Reimagined
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