How did Seth MacFarlane make it?

Really, I don't get it. Sure, there are some great episodes, even seasons of Family Guy, but Seth MacFarlane is largely a unfunny comedian. How does a unfunny comedian get to make a movie with Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson and a bunch of other big actors? Makes no sense.

Maybe I'm just in the wrong here, and he's actually super funny. But I'm not wrong though, am I?

he made it big because alot of people including me really like family guy.also that movie you are talking about looks really good imo.

Lowest common denominator.

Ted made a lot of money so he gets to make another movie with a bigger budget that will hopefully create even more money.

The truth is he failed many many times before and kept trying. Family guy was cancelled like 3 times but he kept trying to get it back on the air. Before that he kept trying to make crummy cartoons that never took off. So let that be a lesson, the other lesson is you won't make any real money until you're 40.

For the record I think he's about as funny as cancer.

i actually hated ted,so i dont think he is jesus christ of comedy.but i do like family guy and so did alot of people.hopefully the new movie doesnt suck like ted did.if it does then he may want to stay out of movies.

I think he's fairly funny, but he's also kind of a douche who clearly thinks he's the shit. I heard Family Guy best described once by someone who said the show "high-fives itself too often". And that was largely my issue with the show and his humor in general. It got old, and I grew out of it.

He kept trying, that's his road to success, which i can respect.

Plus there are times I do find him funny, but family guy for example has become sh*t, because while some episodes at least had some form of structure or plot, they are now mostly gag compilations. American Dad is waaaaay better.

( South Park and Boondocks blows both out of the water though)

Teenagers

I don't know but why shit on someone's success?

He embraced his inner nerd and turned it into a successful mainstream cartoon. Some of the best gags on Family Guy are things only nerds would get. Haven't watched the show for years but he's clearly doing something right.

Johnny Bravo.

Lots of people like him and think he's funny, mostly.

@legion_: He gets the actors because he's fucking rich, and bankable. And I personally think he's a comedy genius.

@corruptedevil said:

Yep. Well, predominantly teenage guys. Sure, there are girls into the kind of humour on Family Guy, but Family Guy has way fewer good female characters, since Meg is just hated on constantly and Lois has her moments but is basically a trophy wife where half the punchlines are like, she's kinkier than you'd think. Peter and Chris both have shades of Homer, but Family Guy has always lacked a female character as likable as Marge or Lisa, or even Leela.

Yeah he's made some funny stuff. I mean not all of it is great, and Family Guy has had more episodes that fall flat than great episodes, for the last couple of years.

I also though that Ted was all right. Not mind blowning in anyway, but a good time on a lazy sunday. The whole Flash Gordon thing in that movie was pretty much what won me over.

oooohhh the hate is strong here, so strong you can feel it!

He "made it" because he's a hard worker and he knows the right people. Listen to any podcast with celebrities on it (and I mean podcasts not those shitty radio interviews) and it's always the same story. You put in work and good things will come.

Simply saying "this dude's body of work sucks" therefore it's impossible anyone likes it has never been true.

for me family guy got old fast. every episode is the same episode forever and forever and forever. somehow he managed to spread that one episode across to two other cartoons (american dad and that hot in cleveland thing). nintendo has shovelware. seth has shovelscripts.

the reason he can be in a movie with a hot lady is because:

people are dumb

dumb people spend money on dumb things

investors want dumb people's money

seth probably blew most of the budget on Charlize's fee so he could kiss her

thank you.

As many others have said, he worked hard through his life. Family Guy was cancelled so many times but he never gave up on it. He kept making other shows and kept working. He's hardly some blow in who just suddenly gets to make movies with famous people.

Yep, it's all about persistence. I don't like Family Guy at all, but he conceived it broadly in college, produced related shorts on his own for a while, and like 4 years later got a contract from Fox for a pilot. I don't like his humor, but I admire his drive.

Plus, OP, if you've never seen this oddity from 1997...

We live in a society where, for example, people like the fucking Kardashians are "A-list celebrities" worth like what? Collectively a couple hundred million dollars at this point? Quite frankly, it'd be crime if someone Seth McFarlene couldn't make it also. I'm not necessarily a fan of his, but at least he's actually done shit instead of sitting there and looking pretty.

He does have that voice.

Because American Dad is a national treasure and anybody that doesn't enjoy it is a monster.

Hard Work.

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, that really takes me back! Funnily enough it's actually better animated than Family Guy and its spin-off clones, too. The animation quality of Family Guy always looked so.. soulless and plain.

I don't really enjoy any of his shows anymore, but you can't deny that the guy works insanely hard.

@lordandrew: whatever helps you feel better about yourself.

Family Guy is funny. Relax guy

I'm sure he has a lot connections and contacts in the industry that keeps him working. Plus don't forget he also executive produced Cosmos which makes up for all the low brow humor found in his other projects.

He can be funny at times in my opinion, not the greatest but not the worst either. Some people really like him and that is why you'll probably see him around for a while.

I don't love his humor but I won't deny the man has talent, no matter what I think of how he delivers it. He found an audience who liked FG enough to get it put back on the air.Mind you, the best of FG is not a patch on the Simpsons' golden years, like it's not in the same stratosphere, but I always did like the interplay between Stewie and Brian.

I don't really know how he got famous. But, that brand of comedy just does absolutely nothing for me.

Also, that new western movie he is in looks awful.

Humor is subjective, and there are a lot of people who find him funny, which is OK. He worked really hard to get where he is, failing a lot early in life. It's not really that amazing of a story.

Regardless what you think of him personally he has shown he is very funny and creative I like Family Guy and I liked Ted, but I liked Johnny Bravo and Dexter's Lab even more. Plenty of his work has merit I find it funny some would refer to it as lowest common denominator when his stuff isn't even close to that level of discourse, most of his jokes require Some basic level of thought process but he isn't afraid of some lowbrow jokes.

Yeah. Things are pretty rough for me right now and ragging on Seth MacFarlane helps me get through the day.

And for the record I think American Dad is totally fine.

The entertainment business is weird. I personally think Mike Judge is a genius, but somehow he only has made two movies (Office Space and Idiocracy, both amazing).

I thought Family Guy was amazingly funny at one point when I was younger (seasons 1-4ish). I actually think he's pretty funny as a stand up comedian the few times I've seen him on TV. Ted was alright. I agree with the above sentiment that Family Guy has become a show that basically "high fives itself too much". I will add his new western looks ludicrously bad.

Larry and Steve was the shit. Cartoon Cartoon (or What a Cartoon!) brought us a ton of great artists - who went on to do great things (Powerpuff Girl, Johnny Bravo, Samurai Jack, etc..)

Edit: Didn't mean to post the same video. So heres an even earlier one!

Don't forget Beavis and Butt-Head Do America which is also amazing, and Extract, which is... less amazing, but still not bad.

Family guy is pretty terrible, but it's also very popular. I thought Ted was great, but maybe I had low expectations going in. Ted also did very well. Regardless of whether or not you like the man's work (it's hit and mostly miss for me), he puts asses in the seats, and that's all that matters to the suits that green light film and television. There is plenty of garbage on tv and in the theatre. There are shows FAAAAAR worse than family guy, and movies that are barely fit to make it to youtube. How is it that films like Date Movie, Meet the Spartans, Disaster Movie, ect, get released? I'm positive that a 5 hour movie of homeless clown taking a runny shit into a dumpster would get green lit if Hollywood thought people would come see it.

Some of the earlier seasons of family guy had some genuinely clever humour. Then it kind of got lazy and resorted to any racism, mysogny or gross out tactics it could. Somewhere around this time all the good stuff from the earlier seasons finally took a foothold, and then ballooned into mainstream acceptance. Which is what happens when 80 percent of people (morons) actually listen to the other 20 percent who pay attention to whats actually going on in the world.

And then off this new found popularity (mostly idiot teens looking for their cool shoes) he made two more fucking shows and the material starts to spread a bit thin, although there are some decent American Dad episodes.

TED was fucking garbage.

It's a really popular thing to bash family guy, I bet most of the people who do haven't even seen it or at least not in a long time. I personally find it funny and I'm also not the lowest common denominator (go figure!) but I've not seen the new film or TED, although... TED did look pretty bad.

P.S American Dad is the funnier show btw.

He's pretty funny sometimes. I especially like when he gets meta, although that's a more recent thing with him.

I don't know, he just keeps working hard from what I can tell. Once you're in a studio then it's easier to pitch ideas and get them made. Especially when you have millions of fans to back you up.

I still enjoy how angry he was the first time Family Guy was cancelled. The commentary on those first four seasons of Family Guy on DVD are gold. He was dedicated to bringing it back, and he did. I didn't know the show got cancelled again, but Fox has a weird way of producing it's shows so I guess that makes sense.

Plus he produced two other shows and a fairly successful movie.

I haven't seen 'Ted' just because Mark Wahlberg is in it and he's not a great actor. There's only a few movies he was good in and that was because it was the perfect casting for him (a complete idiot sociopath in Pain & Gain just for example- perfect casting for Mark Wahlberg). Most of the time he's cast for his look even though he isn't the right fit for most of the roles he gets. Max Payne was an atrocity and while it's not completely Mark Wahlberg's fault he was part of the reason it was so bad.

I don't have a problem with Seth McFarlane and I'm glad he's found success. He has funny ideas, even if I don't like all his stuff, and he works hard from what I can tell.

So, obviously he's successful. You work hard for a long time and you become successful. That's how it works.

Addendum: You put in the work and know the right people and good things might come.

It's because he's very good at talking.

I like showing people who think he's human garbage youtube videos of him singing. Nobody really knows how to react. The guy is also really smart. I can't really remember what podcast I first heard him on, but I went in expecting Family Guy type humor and they spent the whole hour just talking about his philosophy on life and his love for singing. From that point on I was able to put aside my disappointment for what most of Family Guy had become and just admire his talent and determination.

And HE BROUGHT BACK COSMOS!! So fuck all you haters.

P.S. I'm interested in "A Million Ways to Die in the West" if only because a western comedy is the last thing I would've expected a movie studio to green-light.

He worked for years in various positions on multiple projects most of which are successful. After a while he gets mega popular with Family Guy and is able to branch out.

@manhattan_project: Sir, i need you to find that podcast for me, please.

@legion_: How does Shia LaBeouf get work and not just punched in the face whenever he speaks? No accounting for taste I guess. At least Seth has some writing skills.

Why doesn't this person I don't like have people who like him?

Also I forgot it's cool to hate on him. I remember everyone was begging for Family Guy to come back now it's suddenly "trash".