Peter Griffin
Peter Löwenbräu Griffin Sr.[1] (born Justin Peter Griffin)[A] is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American animated sitcom Family Guy. He is voiced by the series' creator, Seth MacFarlane, and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the Griffin family, in the episode "Death Has a Shadow" on January 31, 1999. Peter was created and designed by MacFarlane himself. MacFarlane was asked to pitch a pilot to the Fox Broadcasting Company based on Larry & Steve, a short made by MacFarlane which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. For the series, Larry was renamed Peter.
This article is about the Family Guy character. For other uses, see Peter Griffin (disambiguation).Peter Griffin
"Death Has a Shadow" (1999)
Seth MacFarlane
Seth MacFarlane
Peter Löwenbräu Griffin Sr.[A]
Male
- Brewery shipping clerk
- Former safety inspector at the Happy-Go-Lucky toy factory
- Former fisherman
Thelma Griffin (mother)
Mickey McFinnigan (biological father)
Francis Griffin (adoptive father)
Chip Griffin (twin brother)
Karen Griffin (sister)
Meg Griffin (daughter)
Chris Griffin (son)
Stewie Griffin (son)
Bertram and dozens of other children who were born due to Peter's sperm donations
Mexican-born American
46
Peter is married to Lois and is the father of Meg, Chris, and Stewie. He also has a dog named Brian, with whom he is best friends. He has worked at a toy factory and at Quahog's Brewery. Peter's voice was inspired by the security guards that MacFarlane heard at his school. His appearance was a redesign of the protagonist Larry from MacFarlane's previous animated short films The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. He has appeared in several pieces of Family Guy merchandise—including toys, T-shirts, and video games—and he has made crossover appearances in other shows, including The Simpsons, Drawn Together, American Dad!, and Family Guy's spin-off series The Cleveland Show.
Role in Family Guy
Peter Griffin is a middle-class Irish American in his mid‑forties, who is a bespectacled, obese blue-collar worker with a prominent Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts accent.[2] Peter's age has never been officially confirmed and has fluctuated throughout the series, although he is consistently referred to as being in his early-to-mid 40s. Peter and his wife, Lois, have three children: Meg, Chris, and Stewie. He also has two deceased children: Peter Jr., who was shaken to death,[3] and Dave, Stewie's twin who is implied to have been killed by Stewie during childbirth.[4] He is the illegitimate son of Thelma Griffin and Mickey McFinnigan, and was raised by Thelma and his stepfather, Francis Griffin. It is uncertain whether Peter's legal parents were married before he was conceived, however, as Peter has a flashback in which Francis directly tells him, "I'm not your father!" in the episode "Peter's Two Dads", in which Peter realizes that Francis is not his true father, implying he knew that Peter is not his biological son. Peter and his family live in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, which is modeled after Providence, Rhode Island.[5][6][7] Peter primarily worked as a safety inspector at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory until his boss, Jonathan Weed, choked to death on a dinner roll while dining with Peter and Lois; he then became a fisherman on his own boat, which was known as the "S.S. More Powerful than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk Put Together", with the help of two Portuguese immigrants, Santos and Pasqual, until his boat was destroyed.[8][9] He now works in the shipping department of the Pawtucket Patriot brewery.[10][11] Peter is also shown in various jobs for single episodes and cutaway gags. In one episode, Peter played for the NFL's New England Patriots until his behavior resulted in his being kicked off the team. In a running gag, storylines are randomly interrupted by extremely long, unexpected fights between Peter and Ernie the Giant Chicken, an anthropomorphic chicken who serves as an archenemy to Peter.[12] These battles parody the action film genre, with explosions, high-speed chases, and immense devastation to the town of Quahog.[13]
Character
Creation
MacFarlane initially conceived Family Guy in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).[14] During college, he created his thesis film entitled The Life of Larry,[14] which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company.[15] Then in 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to The Life of Larry entitled Larry & Steve, which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons.[14] Executives at Fox saw the Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, entitled Family Guy, based on the characters.[16] Fox proposed MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short, and gave him a budget of $50,000.[17] Several aspects of Family Guy were inspired by the Larry shorts.[18] While working on the series, the characters of Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian.[16][19] MacFarlane stated that the difference between The Life of Larry and Family Guy was that "Life of Larry was shown primarily in my dorm room and Family Guy was shown after the Super Bowl."[18]
Cultural influence
Appearances in the media
Peter has made several television appearances outside of Family Guy, often in the form of direct parody. Peter has appeared in two episodes of The Simpsons, poking fun at how the two shows are frequently compared to each other. In the fourteenth season episode "Treehouse of Horror XIII", Peter is depicted as one of Homer Simpson's clones,[63] and in the seventeenth season episode, "The Italian Bob", a photo of Peter is in a book of criminals, which says he is wanted for "plagiarismo".[64] Peter also appeared in various episodes of the show's spin-off The Cleveland Show.[65] In addition, Peter has appeared at the end of the American Dad! episode "Hurricane!" with guns on both Stan Smith and former neighbor Cleveland Brown. During the stand-off, Stan accidentally shoots his wife Francine, which Peter declares as "classic American Dad!".
Merchandise
Peter is also featured on the Family Guy: Live in Vegas CD,[66] and plays a significant part in Family Guy Video Game!, the first Family Guy video game, which was released by 2K Games in 2006.[67] Peter was used in the game Family Guy Online as a character class for the game's character creator.[68] In December 2023, Peter was featured as a battle pass skin in the first season of the fifth chapter of Fortnite.[69] Files containing clips of Peter were data mined from the game as early as February 2021.[70]
MacFarlane recorded exclusive material of Peter's voice and other Family Guy characters for a 2007 pinball machine based the show, created by Stern Pinball.[71] In 2004, the first series of Family Guy toy figurines was released by Mezco Toyz; each member of the Griffin family had their own toy, with the exception of Stewie, of whom two different figures were made.[72] Over the course of two years, four more series of toy figures have been released, with various forms of Peter.[73] Alongside the action figures, Peter has been included in various other Family Guy-related merchandise.[74]
As of 2009, six books have been released about the Family Guy universe, all published by HarperCollins since 2005.[75] This include Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One (ISBN 978-0-7528-7593-4), which covers the entire events of the episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One",[76] and Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded (ISBN 978-1-4051-6316-3), a collection of 17 essays exploring the connections between the series and historical philosophers.[77] which include Peter as a character. Peter appears in comic-book based on the Family Guy universe; by Titan Comics.[78] The first comic book was released July 27, 2011.[78]
In 2008, the character appeared in advertisements for Subway, promoting the restaurant's massive feast sandwich.[79][80] Chief marketing officer Tony Pace commented "Peter's a good representation of the people who are interested in the Feast, and Family Guy is a show "that appeals to that target audience."[81] The Boston Globe critic Brian Steinberg praised the restaurant's use of the character for the commercials.[79]