More local color

Rhody provides the setting for Family Guy

by Bill Rodriguez

Let's hope that the good luck of Seth McFarlane sets a new standard for Hollywood success legends. All Lana Turner had to do was smile fetchingly and cross her legs at Schwab's Drugstore when she was discovered. But before he rode his slow-motion skyrocket to acclaim, McFarlane had to actually demonstrate talent -- making an animation short at RISD that wowed 'em at Hanna-Barbera and Mad TV and at the Fox network.

Four years later, the 25-year-old McFarlane is executive producer and creative font of Family Guy, the new animation series premiering April 11.

If the first two episodes are typical, Rhode Island, where he studied from '91 to '95, is as much a character in the show as the Griffin family. People drink Pawtucket Patriots beer; kids go to Buddy Cianci Junior High.

McFarlane grew up in Kent, Connecticut, a 2000-population town that didn't even have its own movie theater. He has described his parents -- "there's not a lot that fazes them" -- as ex-hippies who share his off-the-wall sense of humor.

He spoke recently from Los Angeles. On the way to a meeting and on a cell phone, needless to say.

Q: Of course you're certainly going to be compared to The Simpsons. How you feel about that, and what are you going to do about that?

A: It's inevitable that we will be, because it's at the top of the list, as longest running and most successful as far as the animated shows are concerned. I don't think it'll take long for the audience to realize that this is a really very different show and has its own style going.

There's sort of a stream-of-consciousness feel to the way we tell the stories. If a line prompts a cut away, even if it's not directly related to the story that's being told, if it's funny then we'll put it in. It's kind of a meandering method of storytelling that we employ on the show, and I think that it's something people will find very unique to the series.

Q: You do three male voices as well as executive produce. Are you going to have time enough to keep the show the way you want it?

A: We'll see. I'm in the rewrite room and working on storyboards and character design. We're in editing now. It's been tough to have any free time at all, let alone to sit down and write a script. As we move along further into the series, the whole production process will smooth out and I'll have a little more time.

Q: Why did you locate the family in Rhode Island? Are the words Rhode Island intrinsically funny, like bellybutton lint?

A: I spent four years in Rhode Island, went to RISD. I guess I missed New England, working out here, and it was sort of a way to bring a little of that out here. I'm a born and bred New Englander. The people have a lot of character.

Q: Was your time at RISD the catalyst for your twisted sense of humor, or were you already too far gone by then?

A: I started doing stand-up my freshman year at RISD. Coupled with learning the techniques of animation, I figured out what type of comedy I wanted to do and, more importantly, what was going to get laughs.

Q: Your RISD animated short, "The Life of Larry," really knocked their socks off in LA. How would you describe it?

A: I wrote a half-hour script for that film and then realized that there was no way in hell I could animate that much. So it ended up being about 10 minutes long, and I sort of strung it together with some live action film, as if it were a network pitch, and just showed the funniest bits. The live action part was just a guy in a smoking jacket sitting next to fireplace making a pitch. The film itself was just about a sort of tactless guy who tends to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. The personality type was what inspired Peter [the father in Family Guy]. Visually, it was a completely different style.

Q: Now that you've made it big, is there anybody at RISD, some mentor or friend you'd like to give all the credit to -- or humiliate?

A: God! You know, I have all good things to say about the Rhode Island School of Design. I don't know who I would want to humiliate there. I had a great four years there, and the instructors that ran the animation program were really terrific.

Actually, I suppose I should say "hi" to Floyd Luton, the physical plant guy at RISD, who was one of the funniest guys I knew.

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Father doesn't know best

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Dan Tobin can be reached at dtobin[a]phx.com.