8 Unusual Demands Made By Guest Stars On Family Guy
Sometimes special guests come with a price.
Family Guy has been around for a long time now, and has become one of the most popular animated shows in the history of TV. Seth MacFarlane’s trademark brand of satirical, shock value humour has struck a chord with a lot of people, including many famous faces.
Much like The Simpsons, the show has been able to bring in some huge names as guest stars, either for meaty, sometimes recurring parts, or as little as a line or two of dialogue. From musicians to movie stars, and even characters and concepts from other franchises, Family Guy’s guest list stretches almost immeasurably long.
However, it hasn’t always been an easy road to walk, as some of these guests have come with their own demands before, or even after agreeing to work on the show.
These requests could be as simple as a slight tweak in the script, sometimes regarding jokes that had absolutely nothing to do with their particular part, behind the scenes roles, or even finding work for someone else. Sometimes, such demands are even made on behalf of the guest in question by a producer of another property…
8. Matt Groening - Keep Hans Moleman From Being A Murderer
In season 13, the long-awaited crossover with The Simpsons brought the Griffins to Springfield in a momentous moment for animated TV. Though this was a coming together of two of the biggest shows in the genre’s history, this was strictly an episode of Family Guy, and not The Simpsons.
Naturally, there were certain reassurances that had to be made surrounding the characters, particularly when you remember that some years earlier Quagmire had murdered everyone that lived in 742 Evergreen Terrace.
From The Simpsons’ camp, Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Al Jean were invited to the episode’s table read, with the power to give notes and talk about anything that they weren’t happy with in the script. Incredibly, it wasn’t Peter and Homer’s graphic carwash, Bart’s meta joke about Nelson beating him up for 24 years, or jokes about The Simpsons’ decline in quality that they wanted changed, it was a minor scene involving minor character Hans Moleman.
After running Peter over, Hans was to get out of the car and mutter something along the lines of "just like the Farmer's Market all over again." As he was such a loveable character, Matt Groening asked for this to be changed, as he didn’t want to add into his history that he mowed down innocent bystanders. He still ran Peter over, but at least he didn’t massacre anyone at a past Farmer’s Market.