Jon Stewart was once so furious about a Family Guy joke he called creator Seth MacFarlane to complain, but what was the gag? Family Guy has run for nineteen seasons and over 300 episodes so far – which is impressive for a show that was once cancelled after three seasons. This animated sitcom drew a cult fandom in its early years but struggled in the ratings, but after its 2002 cancelation it gained a very healthy afterlife through DVD sales and repeat airings, which led to it being resurrected in 2005.
While the critical reception of Family Guy has been decidedly mixed in recent years, it was recently renewed through to season 21. The revival of the series also kickstarted Seth MacFarlane’s career in a major way, where he split time between TV gigs like his other long-running animated sitcom American Dad! and movies such as the Ted duology. His sci-fi comedy The Orville has also gained an adoring audience in recent years, and very much appeals to old-school Trekkies.
Family Guy has never been afraid to push the boundaries of taste and has attracted numerous controversies over the years, including its depiction of religion or LGBTQ characters. One controversy that was kept relatively low-key was Daily Show host Jon Stewart ringing up MacFarlane to furiously complain about a joke featured on the show. This came to light years later during a 2011 interview with MacFarlane on Piers Morgan Live. The Family Guy creator was somewhat shocked Morgan even knew about this but confirmed it was true and that he spoke with Stewart for about an hour, though he didn’t reveal what the exact joke was.
MacFarlane did state the gag that upset Jon Stewart was about the 2007-2008 Writer’s Strike, where the host returned to film new Daily Show episodes while the strike was still ongoing. It didn’t take fans long to dig through episodes of Family Guy from this period to find the offending joke – which proved tricky as there didn’t appear to be any overt nods to Stewart in any episodes. In 2012 the website Pop Focal claimed an anonymous source who worked on the series pinpointed the joke to them, which came from season 6 episode “McStroke.”
During one of Family Guy’s trademark cutaway jokes in this episode, Peter has – for some reason – grown a horse leg, and when Brian comes up behind him suddenly the leg violently kicks him in the face. This prompts Peter to complain “Ah, Brian I’m sorry, but what do I keep saying? Don’t stand behind me… cause I will get scared.” This was apparently a veiled reference to Stewart stating his Daily Show writers “stood behind him” when he started filming new episodes during the strike. If this is the joke in question, neither Seth MacFarlane nor Jon Stewart has confirmed it. It appears there was no lingering bad blood between the pair after their call either, as MacFarlane subsequently appeared as a guest on episodes of The Daily Show.
