Watch the Family Guy Cast Celebrate Their 25-Year Anniversary
Don’t look now, but Family Guy is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. (Yes, it has really been that long.) The long-running animated series, which just concluded its 22nd season, debuted in 1999. With the help of subversive humor from creator Seth MacFarlane, the series about a Rhode Island family and their talking dog continues to feature big musical numbers, whip-smart satire, and downright hilarious jokes.
Family Guy’s main voice cast, which consists of MacFarlane, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, and Alex Borstein, recently sat down with Esquire to reminisce about a quarter of a century of TV greatness. “When I started in the business, I thought that if I could create something that people either fall asleep to or get high to, then I would really feel like a writer,” MacFarlane says. “Like Hemingway.”
Over wine and cheese, the four stars discussed their finest memories of working on the series, including when William H. Macy auditioned to voice Brian. “I remember thinking, I think I can do this better,” MacFarlane jokes. “What kind of an arrogant fuck I must’ve been.”
Bruce Glikas//Getty ImagesFamily Guy premiered its first episode on January 31, 1999.
In the rest of the video, which is streaming above, the group names their favorite episodes and celebrity cameos. Seth Green’s favorite surprise voice credit? When Alex Bornstein voiced “Woman with Luna Bar for Woman” in the “Island Adventure” episode. “That is the Family Guy cast list,” MacFarlane says. “Each episode was like three pages long, with names like Man Who Approaches Peter With French Baguette.” Green adds, “They canât just all be guy No. 5.” MacFarlane names season 9’s “And Then There Were Fewer” as his favorite episode, because he was “so invested in it being good” before he left the series to work on Ted.
Kunis also fondly (or not so fondly!) recalls every time MacFarlane made her sing… despite the fact that she’s tone-deaf. “In private, I very much enjoy it,” Kunis jokes. “I kept telling this one person during a recording session that I was happy to sing a line but donât expect it to sound well. For two hours, they made me sing in agony.” As MacFarlane explains, “Sometimes singing is the only way out of a scene.”
Check out the rest of the video to see the Family Guy cast celebrate their 25th anniversary, as they recall their comeback after a brief cancelation, recording each other’s voicemail messages, and why they think they’ve changed their voices for the characters over time.
