10 Funniest Self-Referential Jokes in Family Guy

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You have to laugh at yourself once in a while! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most memorable and hilarious jokes that the mean-spirited “Family Guy” made at its own expense. Our countdown includes moments from episodes “Stand by Meg”, "Petey VI", “3 Acts of God” and more! What are your favorite “Family Guy” roasts, meta or otherwise? Poke some fun in the comments.

Transcript

00:00What's the big secret reason Family Guy can't win an Emmy?

00:06All right, we'll tell you. Your show sucks.

00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most memorable and hilarious jokes

00:14that the mean-spirited Family Guy made at its own expense.

00:18You got everything you say, I say something a little bit worse.

00:23You got Simpsons?

00:23We have Family Guy.

00:25I did it to myself.

00:2610. Vocational School Benefit

00:31Stand by Meg

00:32No, vocational school is where less academically capable students learn a trade.

00:37Don't you have to be Italian to go to one of those schools?

00:40Yep, there will be plenty of those jokes later in the episode.

00:43Chris's only hope for a future with his grades is vocational school.

00:47Principal Shepard tries to reassure Lois and Peter with a list of career opportunities from this

00:52education. Well, all that scrolls by is Dishwasher Installation, Dishwasher Repair,

00:58and finally Family Guy Writer.

01:00Those are three terrible options.

01:02Parents who are okay with this say what?

01:04What?

01:04Gotcha. That one's on you, Lois.

01:06There are obviously plenty of lucrative trades to come out of such overly stigmatized schools,

01:11but don't expect it to be that easy to write for a hit sitcom.

01:15The writer of this episode alone, Billy Domino, is an NYU alumni who later worked on Saturday Night

01:22Live. With those qualifications, he can recognize that Family Guy does drag out its lazy jabs at

01:28groups.

01:28Chris, I'm going to say this in a way an Italian mechanic would understand.

01:32You're breaking your mother's heart!

01:34Ma! Why didn't you say so? Ma! I'll take care of it!

01:39Domino has, curiously, not written an episode since.

01:43Number 9. We get it already. The return of the King of Queens.

01:48Kevin James, why'd you have to come back to television?

01:51I ate Adam Sandler.

01:53Yoo-hoo! I'm in here with the pizza!

01:56With Family Guy's many swipes at Kevin James, they let him take a shot. Actually,

02:02Josh Robert Thompson voices the sitcom veteran when he asked to crash with his last fan on Christmas.

02:08Hi Peter, you were my last viewer. And now that you've gotten rid of network TV,

02:13I'm out of a job.

02:14We all know what's coming when Lois stares Peter to name 50 sitcom pilots in which somebody

02:19randomly takes another person into their home. When Kevin eventually begs him to stop,

02:23Peter responds,

02:24Oh no, no, this is a name all 50 kind of show.

02:27And on he goes. Family Guy has been criticized for filling

02:31time with long dialogue gags and lists, especially when referencing pop culture. At least they can admit

02:36to getting no less lazy than the shows they degenerate.

02:408. Finally Beating The Simpsons

02:43We're a hundred. More boxes, more power. And I got some ideas to make TV better.

02:48Peter's artificially inflated Nielsen ratings forced TV producers to cater to his terrible tastes.

02:54Realizing the error of his ways, he rushes to the Television Producers Guild to rescue quality

02:59programming. It turns out he's not the only one facing this problem. When Homer Simpson follows,

03:10Peter gloats about Family Guy doing a storyline that wasn't already done by The Simpsons.

03:15Guys, I broke television and now you have to help me fix it.

03:18Yeah, looks like this is one we beat you to.

03:21But it doesn't feel like the writers are bragging about long-standing allegations that their show

03:26is a rip-off. It's a given, as Fox's longest-running animated sitcom has had more influence than the

03:33cartoonist Nielsen scheme. While Family Guy is more imaginative than some give it credit for,

03:38it seems well aware of the phrase, Simpsons did it.

03:427. Little Bit Worse Version Speaking of Simpsons did it,

03:46Family Guy makes no claim that it did it better. When Peter visits the Grand Kremlin Palace,

03:52he asks Vladimir Putin about TV entertainment options in Russia. An exchange of names reveals

04:07that they only have little bit worse versions of American brands. This sparks Peter's curiosity

04:13about what they have instead of The Simpsons. It's Family Guy! Peter's disappointed reaction

04:18reflects the show's insecurities about being to The Simpsons what Fox Sports is to ESPN.

04:24Cletus the football robot, you're my only hope!

04:35No one likes you!

04:36It's a real boomerang blow to several brands, and Russia's supposedly substandard pop culture. As

04:42controversy over season 21's Russia episode suggested, such jokes may actually cost Family

04:48Guy some fans in that country. Though the air is bitter cold, and I'm constantly patrolled,

04:55I've never felt so much at home.

04:596. Seth's Vocal Range

05:01Seth MacFarlane's versatility as a voice actor may seem boundless to fans, but not to him. During a visit

05:08with Dr. Hartman, Peter notices that he and his father-in-law, Carter Pewterschmidt, have near

05:14identical voices. It's then revealed that Carter is also in the middle of an appointment.

05:18You sound a lot like my father-in-law, Carter Pewterschmidt.

05:21Oh, that's funny, he's a patient of mine. Here's my urine sample, doctor. Thank you, Mr. Pewterschmidt.

05:25As he and Dr. Hartman discuss the coincidence, Hartman remarks that something seems lazy. He's clearly

05:31referring to their mutual actor's poor judgment and putting on the same voice for multiple characters.

05:36I would give anything to see his face right now. He's probably all like,

05:40We're the deuces, everyone. I can't really do a good Stewie.

05:43Carter dismisses the matter by saying that some voices are bound to match up,

05:48but viewers are still hung up on the classic reminder that MacFarlane

05:52may not have entirely thought some roles through.

05:54Why is this story all about mom this week? What, are we giving Seth's voice a rest?

05:595. A Message from Conway Twitty

06:07Peter and the gang are wrapping up a trip to heaven when God tells them,

06:10Oh, by the way, Conway Twitty says cut it out. Just write a joke.

06:14This is a callback to Family Guy's tendency to segue from awkward moments to live footage of the

06:19late country music singer, Conway Twitty. The polarizing episode, The Juice Is Loose,

06:24even featured an unabridged performance of I See The Want To In Your Eyes.

06:37It's a rare running gag, but fans never let Family Guy live it down. The show has more often

06:43acknowledged their annoyance. With Twitty's message from the afterlife, we at least get a confession

06:58that he's just a lazy runtime filler. 4. Homer's Upper Hand

07:02The two-part crossover between Family Guy and The Simpsons culminates in an epic battle between two

07:16TV dads. When the action moves to the Springfield nuclear plant, Homer opens a cabinet to reveal a

07:22huge collection of Emmys. As he then throws them at his opponent, Peter whines,

07:26It's a hilariously scathing, if misleading, meta-joke. Family Guy had already won five

07:33Emmys by this 2014 episode, all in creative arts categories. But that's nothing compared to The

07:40Simpsons' literally towering 31 wins. Peter Griffin may hold his own in combat with Homer Simpson,

07:55but he knows that he can't compete in accolades. 3. It was all a… simulation.

08:01Your reign of terror has come to an end. I will not stand by while you make innocent people suffer.

08:08By the bloody end of Stewie's mission to kill Lois and conquer the world, Family Guy's canon is too

08:14far gone. Thus, it's revealed that the entire two-episode arc was just a simulation of the

08:19consequences of him fulfilling his ambitions. Yes, well you said I didn't have it in me to kill Lois,

08:25so I was just running a simulation to find out exactly how killing her and taking over the world

08:29would play out for me. As he explains this to Brian, the dog suddenly becomes the audience's avatar.

08:34His frustration accurately predicts that fans would be outraged at this classic cop-out twist

08:40that it was all a dream. This marked Family Guy's first major metacriticism, acknowledging the show's

08:46lack of serious narrative follow-through. At least Stewie is largely stuck to walking back

08:59his evil schemes. Otherwise, this classic scene confesses to the show's flippancy about audience

09:04investments. 2. Gotta start somewhere

09:18After Brian and Stewie travel back to Family Guy's pilot episode in 1999, most of the trip is

09:24spent on self-deprecating observations. If you're distracted by the mistakes in Death Has a Shadow,

09:42try being the people who made them. First off, there's the animation, with its crude designs and

09:47weird glitches. It's harder to excuse such abandoned tropes as Stewie's verbose vocabulary,

10:05and it's awkward to imagine that the Griffins just stood around during cutaways, especially with modern

10:11technology keeping everyone preoccupied.

10:27Death as a Shadow is still a classic which changed the course of adult animation,

10:32but it sounds like Family Guy mostly just remembers the kinks they needed to work out.

10:36Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about

10:41our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.

10:46If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.

10:521. Notes from Peak TV

10:55Really, this whole episode is Family Guy roasting itself. Despite seven creative arts awards at this

11:01point, the Griffins spoofed several acclaimed shows in a desperate attempt to claim a major Emmy.

11:06Hold up, are you wearing a The Wire?

11:09No, I need money for sympathetic reasons, and I have no other option than crime. I mean, I could sell

11:14stuff on eBay, but… shipping. After everything fails, several actors and showrunners of Peak TV

11:20visit to brutally explain why the sitcom isn't more respected. Aaron Sorkin criticizes the lazy pop

11:26culture references, Shonda Rhimes laments the racial representation, and Julie Bowen skewers the lack

11:32of narrative progression. And worst of all, you take this big pile of garbage and you tie it all up by

11:39having everyone sit around saying, at least everything's back to normal. Bowen is the only person

11:45actually voiced by herself. It's otherwise all Family Guy blasting its own lack of prestige. At least it's

11:52smart enough to occasionally direct the antagonistic humor inward. This self-consciousness is partly

12:06why we love the show, knowingly flawed as it is. What are your favorite Family Guy roasts, meta, or

12:13otherwise? Poke some fun in the comments.

12:16Has Seth MacFarlane ever written a book?

12:18Oh yeah.

12:19How'd it do?

12:19A signed copy is cheaper than a new one.

12:22Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,

12:26and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.

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