Seth MacFarlane has admitted ‘Family Guy’ “owes its existence” to ‘The Simpsons’.
The 44-year-old actor created the animated comedy back in 1999, and as it nears its 300th episode, he has noted that without fellow animated show ‘The Simpsons’ – which first aired a decade earlier in 1989 – his show would never have taken off in the way that is has.
When asked about the number of political jokes in the show – in which he also voices numerous characters including Peter and Brian Griffin – he said: “Every modern-day primetime show that exists in this era owes its existence to ‘The Simpsons’. And that’s a show that never shied away from politics. I think ‘Family Guy’ has cut a little deeper, willing to go after politicians in a little more cutthroat way. That’s what an animated show like this should do. If you stop doing that, then you become irrelevant. The problem with Trump is there is nothing comedic you can do that he hasn’t already done himself.”
Seth doesn’t believe his show – which is known for pushing the boundaries of taboo subjects – is “too edgy”, as he thinks that in the current climate the lines are blurred, and “none of it makes any f***ing sense”.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter magazine, he said: “None of it makes any f***ing sense. The ethical boundaries are strange. You have a company whose news network is actually propping up Donald Trump – to which many of us who work there is an unethical thing that a lot of us have moral quandaries about. Yet at the same time, you have these attempts to do the right thing by discouraging smoking. You can’t show a character smoking on television. The line of what we’re promoting and not promoting and what’s too edgy is always a little fuzzy to me on a corporate level.”
