The animation auteur who has elevated Little Rhody, once the butt of all New England state jokes to a respectable plane, likes his Jack and would love to get Bill Maher on his FOX hit series as a guest.
The creator and executive producer of "Family Guy," the first animated series since The Flintstones to be nominated for an Emmy as best comedy series, will bring back "American Dad" and will introduce a new spin off this fall – "The Cleveland Show © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos
Seth MacFarlane does not puss out when it comes to telling it like it is, and shares a great deal with Playboy this September.
With three prime-time animation series airing this fall, Seth MacFarlane—Playboy’s September Interview—is proving people love innuendo, profanity, nudity, violence and musical numbers (issue on newsstands and online here Friday, August 14).
The creator and executive producer of "Family Guy," the first animated series since The Flintstones to be nominated for an Emmy as best comedy series, will bring back "American Dad" and will introduce a new spin off this fall – "The Cleveland Show."
Seth in his words, from Playboy:
On Family Guy’s crude nature: “We’ve been criticized for being too crude and lowbrow on Family Guy. What in the world is wrong with that? That kind of laughter releases the healthiest endorphins. There’s something puritanical about people who object to fart jokes.”
On competing with The Simpsons: “[The Simpsons] had taken edginess in prime-time animation to a certain level…I began Family Guy with the attitude, Let’s start from what The Simpsons has done and hopefully take it to the next level…Our style of comedy is a little more bizarre, a little more removed from the laws of physics than The Simpsons’.”
On the Family Guy episode Fox won’t air: “We did an abortion story: Lois is asked to be a surrogate for a couple she knew in college, and after she’s implanted with the embryo, the couple is killed in a car accident. The Griffins can’t afford another child, which provides a basis for conflict…Fox read the script and doesn’t want to air it. But to their credit, the network folks are letting us produce it….and it will be released on DVD.”
On Stewie’s sexual orientation: “Ultimately Stewie will either be gay or be a very unhappy repressed heterosexual. It also explains why he’s so hellbent on killing Lois and taking over the world. He has a lot of aggression, which comes from confusion and uncertainty from his orientation.”
On his high alcohol tolerance: “I can have a large amount of Jack Daniel’s and still function and speak clearly…If you pace yourself you can maintain a pretty substantial buzz with Jack. I mean, I did Inside the Actors Studio, a five-hour taping, [and I drank Jack Daniel’s] pretty much the whole way.”
On drinking and driving: “When I’m sober I rip around in my car like a bat out of hell. Only when I’ve had a few drinks do I follow all the traffic rules…I think there’s some truth to [the fact that people drive better when they’ve had a few drinks.] If you get pulled over for a violation sober, you get a ticket. If you’ve had a few, you’ll go to jail for the same violation. So why wouldn’t you drive more carefully when you’re drinking.”
On Rupert Murdoch: “There are things I don’t like about Fox, most notably Fox News, but [Rupert] Murdoch is clearly a shrewd businessman first and a conservative second…He seems to be much more of a critical thinker than the guys he employs on Fox News. If Sean Hannity could think as critically as Rupert, I might like him.”
On his success contributing to the salaries of Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly: “I guess if some of it could go toward hiring a dermatologist for O’Reilly and a dietitian for Hannity, I’d feel a little better about it.”
On appearing on Fox News: “I would do it in a second. I love arguing with people I disagree with. Those guys are fundamentally wrong about so much, but they’re also superb debaters.”
On his fantasy list for guest stars: “We’d been trying to get Bill Maher for a while, and he graciously accepted. We were trying to figure out what we could write for Senator Chuck Schumer. He’s a fan of the show…Obviously we’d love to have Obama on the show.”
On the five people who make him laugh: “Johnny Knoxville because he doesn’t care if he hurts himself. Woody Allen because I relate to more of those neuroses than I should. Bill Maher because he’s just about the funniest, smartest guy working today. Gary Larson because he’s got cows named Warren. And Hitler because that mustache is just adorable.”
On the people who don’t make him laugh: “Rob Schneider. Rob Schneider again. Oh, Rainn Wilson – I’m sure he’s a super nice guy, but he doesn’t make me laugh. I’m sure Adam Sandler is still funny, but he doesn’t do funny things anymore.”
On The Cosby Show: “I remember my parents saying they thought the Huxtables were terrible parents and treated their kids like shit, always punishing them severely for minor infractions…My parents had strong feelings about the Huxtable family.”
On getting high with his parents: “It was very entertaining. My father’s a brilliant guy…He said, ‘Seth, this is the first time you and I have been high together. My God, I’ve got to write about this in my journal!’ My mom was passed out with her face on a potted plant.”
On contemporary entertainers: “If you watch Sinatra, Vic Damone or Mel Tormé sing, or if you watch Gene Kelly dance, it’s all about looking effortless, like it’s happening for the first time, and they’re there purely for the enjoyment of the audience…If I watch Christina Aguilera, she’s working very hard, and it doesn’t look like she’s having fun. She’s sweating, and she looks as if she might possibly take a shit onstage.”
On Lauren Conrad: “After the [Family Guy] episode in May with Lauren Conrad, my mother said, ‘I always thought Lauren Conrad was a bitch, but she impressed the shit out of me last night.’”
On not being impressed with Shrek: “Shrek, not funny. The thing that drives me nuts about those Pixar movies, those Dreamworks CGI movies, is they’re gorgeous to look at, impressive beyond belief, but not incredibly nutritious. A lot of the jokes are obvious and kind of tired…With all this money you have and all this access to writing talent, surprise me.”
On death: “It sucks. And it does seem like a cruel joke. Although there are people like Hitler, Stalin and Reagan who make you think, Well, maybe it’s for the best.”
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