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Jokes and references in the "Family Guy" in English to be explained

"Family Guy" is a kind of cartoon for adults, which is very fond of in the USA. In style, it is similar to The Simpsons, but the jokes in it are much tougher.

In Russian-speaking countries, the cartoon was adopted rather coldly. The main reason is that almost all gags and jokes are tied to American culture and realities, so translating them into Russian while preserving humor is extremely difficult, and in most cases completely impossible.

We decided to dilute serious posts a little and tried to explain several of these jokes from the point of view of sociocultural characteristics and linguistics.




By the way, the original name of the animated series is “Family guy”, which translates as “Family man”. But the Russian-speaking audience knows him as “Family Guy”.

To explain such a trick of translators is quite simple - they wanted the cartoon to be associated with the Simpsons, which at the time of the release of the cartoon were already very popular.

Now we turn directly to jokes and references.

1. Autopilot engaged


Season: 11
Episode: 09
Name: Space Cadet



Let's start with a simpler joke that is not tied to culture, but to language. In "Family Guy" a lot of humor is tied to verbal puns. When a word or phrase can be understood in different ways.

Brian: Oh, look! It says "Autopilot engaged"!
Peter: Good for him. I'm glad he found someone.

The dialogue cannot be translated into Russian while preserving the joke. "Autopilot engaged" translates to "autopilot engaged." But the word "engaged" has another meaning - "betrothed, engaged."

Translated literally, the joke will simply disappear:

Brian: Oh look! It says "Autopilot is on!"
Peter. Fine. I'm glad he found someone for himself.

In dubbing, they tried to translate the joke, but it turned out, frankly, weakly.

Brian: Look, it says "Autopilot wound up!"
Peter: Well, sure! We are all cocked.

They tried to pass the pun, but the joke was lost. Not only does the phrase “autopilot wound up” sound crooked, it’s also “wound up with a cock” even with a stretch of the word can not be called a funny pun.

Actually, such puns are one of the reasons why the cartoon is very popular in the USA, but practically has no fans in Russian-speaking countries. More than half of the jokes are simply overlooked or not funny enough to adapt during localization.

2. Mayor West has problems


Season: 4
Episode: 25
Title: You May Now Kiss the ... Uh ... Guy Who Receives

Many references and jokes in "Family Guy" are associated with famous Americans, who are known only within the United States.

To draw an analogy, it’s like the mayor of Moscow Sobyanin. Almost everyone in Russia knows him, but abroad he is familiar to units.

The whole plot of the series "You May Now Kiss the ... Uh ... Guy Who Receives" is one bold reference to a real person and event.

According to the plot of the episode, two guys fly to the city to get married. And then suddenly the mayor forbids same-sex marriage, but as a result of the mayor they persuade that this is good.

The thing is that the cartoon mayor Adam West is a banter over the real-life politician Jim West, the former mayor of Spokane, Washington, USA. Real West pursued a systematic policy of prohibiting and restricting same-sex marriage, but as a result was caught in relationships with men and visiting gay dating sites from a work computer. As a result, he left his post with a scandal.



If you watch a series without knowledge of the context, then it is just rzhachnaya and no more. But if you take into account real events, it turns out that the episode ridicules not the situation around gays in general, but a double attitude to this.

That is, in fact, the background is much more socially significant than just “a gag to neighing”.

3. The Forgotten DuMont Network


Season: 2
Episode: 6
Title: Death is a Bitch


Some episodes contain references that even most Americans will not understand.

For example, Death comes for Peter, sees the TV and says:



Death: How old is this TV? You can probably get the DuMont Network on this thing.

DuMont Network is one of the first television networks launched in the United States. She began broadcasting in 1946 and produced a number of her own television shows. But in 1956, it was bought out by ABS, which subsequently destroyed over 20,000 episodes of programs, “in order to free up space in the warehouse of video cassettes.”

Only single episodes and excerpts from the DuMont Network programs have survived to this day, which is why the channel is called the “Forgotten Network”.

There is a rather subtle joke in the phrase Death. It seems like the DuMont Network has died and now only Death remembers her. But to localize it with all senses is impossible. When dubbing, it was transmitted as:

Death: How long have you had this TV? He probably takes the transmission of the 40s?

There is a joke, the translators even tried to convey the meaning, but it turned out much less subtly than in the original.

4. Robert Lodge


Season: 5
Episode: 10
Title: Peter's Two Dads

In one of the episodes, the scriptwriters paid tribute to the actor, who played in dozens of famous and most popular films, but only film critics and directors know his name.

At the airport, they made a parody of Robert, who calls his name as follows:



R as in Robert Loggia.
O as in ‘Oh my god, it’s Robert Loggia.’
B as in ‘By God! It’s Robert Loggia.’
E as in ‘Everybody loves Robert Loggia.’
R as in Robert Loggia.
T as in ‘Tim, look over there! It’s Robert Loggia.’


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The Russian joke was conveyed very well, but if not all Americans know who Robert Lodge is, then the Russians are all the more so.

By the way, the dubbing incorrectly conveyed the sound of the name of the actor. The correct option is Robert Lodge, not Robert Lodge.

Despite the fact that the word “loggia” sounds like [ˈlɒʤɪə], surnames that are derived from common words often have a different sound. The sound “and” in the surname “Loggia” is reduced, and in the dubbing, on the contrary, it was emphasized by analogy with the sounding of the word “loggia”.

Probably, the dubbing actor was simply not allowed to listen to the name in English, but was simply given the text.

5. What would I do?


Season: 4
Episode: 1
Title: North by North Quahog

“Family Guy” not only trolls the social and cultural life of Americans, but also do not hesitate to joke about religion. In the episode, Jesus appears as a real character, and many gags are associated with him.

But to understand one of them, you need to be a Protestant. In the scene, when the cartoon Jesus is driving, you can see the number of cars "WWID". This is a parody of the phrase "WWJD" or "What would Jesus do?" (What would Jesus do?).



The phrase was extremely common in the 1990s, but now it is very common among religious Americans. She identified the believer’s desire to live and act on the basis of the canons of her religion. The phrase or its abbreviation was often sewn onto bracelets in order to always have it in front of the eyes.

So, the cartoon Jesus says “WWID.” If decrypted, it turns out “What would I do?” (What would I do?). A very subtle joke that those who are not familiar with Protestantism and its features in its development in the USA will definitely miss it.

6. Horse carriage and dog food


Season: 1
Episode: 3
Title: Chitty Chitty Death Bang




"Family Guy" has a very large number of links to popular advertisements of different years. In one scene, we see a dog Brian chasing a small cart drawn by two horses. She walks through the nightstand in the kitchen, and there Brian discovers a whole bag of dog food.

This is a parody of a 1976 movie that advertised Purina Puppy Chuck Wagon dog food.



Advertising was very active on American television in 1976. Therefore, many viewers of "Family Guy" saw her in childhood. There are many posts on the Internet like "I can’t understand the joke in this cartoon series, but I’m sure I saw something similar before." Actually, the sending was added precisely for the sake of such an effect and it achieved its goals.

As we can see, to understand some American jokes and references, just knowing the language is not enough. Sometimes knowledge of the characteristics of culture and traditions is also required. That is why the "Family Guy" is much less popular in the Russian-speaking space than in the United States.

But English is still the foundation. And if you want to understand the Americans, then first of all you need to understand the language. Learn English!

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