American Dad! turned 20 this past year, so now seems like a better time than ever to go back and highlight some of Roger’s best personas in the entire series to date. Roger the Alien is one of the key characters in the long running animated series that has helped it to become one of the most streaming shows of the last few years. Roger got addicted to putting on costumes and playing a character early on in the series, and over the years has evolved to the point where he has over 200 personas active and living very full lives at any given time.
Videos by ComicBook.com
It’s gotten to the point where Roger’s personas have gone off to have stories of their own, and a full lore that keeps getting explored with each appearance. But with as many faces as Roger has put on in American Dad! over the years, there are a few of them that are much more memorable than the others. It’s time to actually rank the best ones by highlighting ten of the most standout Roger personas in the series overall.
Read on for our picks for the ten best Roger personas in American Dad! and let us know your favorites in the comments!
#10 – Kevin Bacon
Out of all his personas, Kevin Bacon is certainly one of the wilder ideas. In the Season 2 episode “Four Little Words,” Roger tries on a replica of Kevin Bacon’s nose and gets mistaken for the real actor. Then using Bacon’s celebrity to get all kinds of free stuff (and to escape a hit and run accident when the real Kevin Bacon is arrested), it’s one of the most memorable personas because it’s based on a real person. It’s Roger’s only real character that isn’t completely made up (or isn’t just the “human” version of himself), and that’s how it gets a spot on this list.
#9 – Laura Vanderbooben
Many of Roger’s personas are limited to a single episode, so they have to make the most impact with the little time they’re given. But there’s probably no better example of this early on than with Laura Vanderbooben, who makes her debut in the Season 3 episode, “Stanny Slickers 2: The Legend of Ollie’s Gold.” When Roger finds out about a million dollar settlement in a sexual harassment lawsuit, he goes undercover with the plan of getting someone to hit on him.
But following a fart laden debut with a memorable walk through the office, Laura Vanderbooben cemented herself as one of the best personas in the series overall. As of note, Roger does get a settlement but it’s much less than a million dollars because Laura isn’t pretty.
#8 – Tearjerker
Tearjerker is a persona that exists outside of the main universe, but it’s still one of the best. The Season 4 episode, “Tearjerker” is a send up of James Bond that sees Stan taking the place of the famous spy. In this story, Roger is the villain Tearjerker who wants to use the world’s saddest move to force everyone to cry themselves to death. This is one of those personas that’s very memorable thanks to the story that’s around it, and Tearjerker is just a fun villain for the series overall. It’s one that returns in a later season because it’s so good, and one that should come back again someday for sure.
#7 – Genevieve Vavance
Some of the best Roger personas are also very dedicated to their respective careers (of which you’ll see a much more notable examples of later in this list), and “News Glance With Genevieve Vavance” in Season 9 is named after the persona for a reason. When Haley finds out she’s gotten a job reporting for Roger’s persona, Genevieve Vavance, it turns into a wild episode of Genevieve then forcing Haley to find the best story and Steve pretending he’s gone missing. But the cutthroat Genevieve gets her story either way even when the rest of the Smith Family goes away. It’s just a fun situation all around.
#6 – Jenny Fromdabloc
When it comes to iconic one-offs, Jenny Fromdabloc from da Season 6 episode of the same name is just one of the wildest concepts that Roger has ever explored. While Jenny herself isn’t that far out of a premise compared to other personas, this one goes the extra mile for having a full on physical relationship with Steve’s best friend Snot (“…on the reg”). Steve forces Roger to break up with Snot when Snot starts taking over the friend group, and Roger does so in a wild fashion. It’s here that it’s revealed he can move at super speed, and faked his persona’s death in a rather hilarious way.
This one really changed the game as Roger’s super speed becomes a linchpin of his personas in later seasons. It’s one of the last time American Dad really holds Roger back in that sense.
RELATED: Lois or Francine? Family Guy & American Dad Fans Can’t Decide Who’s Better
#5 – Sidney Huffman
The greatest one-off of Roger’s personas, however, is Sidney Huffman. It’s rare that American Dad forms an entire story just around one of Roger’s personas, and Season 4’s “The One That Got Away” really leaned into the idea and took it to a whole new level. Most of the story was told through the isolated perspective of Huffman, who is a bible salesman that Roger committed to so much that he basically forgot he was a persona. On the other hand, Roger himself is inspired by watching Death Wish and seeks to take out Huffman by any means necessary.
It’s a cat and mouse game where Roger is trying to kill himself, and ruins Huffman’s life in the process. It’s just a well made episode, and probably the fullest look we ever got into Roger’s other lives by that point. It’s something that was just a given in the years to follow.
#4 – Jeannie Gold
Some of Roger’s personas are so fun that they re-appear on multiple occasions. Jeannie Gold, incontinent wedding planner, is the best of both worlds in that she makes some surprise appearances later (with one of the biggest surprise reveals that she’s Ricky Spanish’s sister) but her debut is one of the best episodes in the series overall. In Season 5’s “Shallow Vows,” Jeannie helps to plan Stan and Francine’s vow renewal for their 20th anniversary. Through this, it’s revealed that Jeannie somehow has two adult sons and is so committed to getting a great wedding off the ground that she’ll even send a deadly assassin after Steve and Haley to make sure they get their parents a great gift.
Jeannie has to come up with a few different wedding ceremonies that fall apart in one way or the other, and reveals it’s likely the end of her career (only to show that she’s got advertising for a totally different kind of career in Mexico). The best Roger personas have a skill that they excel in, and Jeannie Gold is one of the wildest extensions of that idea.
#3 – The Legman
Speaking of skills and careers, you can’t forget the Legman. Steve and Roger team up as a TV cop like duo, Wheels and the Legman, in a number of different episodes across the series and each time it’s absolutely hilarious. There’s the debut episode, “Haylias,” that sees the two of them fighting over which one of them would be Wheels (to the point where Roger recruits an actress to pretend to be an angel), the one where he gets too into drugs, the case where Roger and Steve find out that they are way in over the heads on a very real (and violent) investigation, and so many more. The Legman is one of Roger’s best personas due to his flexibility and American Dad really has made the most of it over the years in turn.
#2 – Dr. Penguin
Speaking of multiple uses, Dr. Penguin ranks high on this list for the same reason. Although there have been a couple of different therapist personas over the years, Dr. Penguin is Roger’s most fleshed out. It’s in a more serious kind of way too as Dr. Penguin ends up becoming the Smith Family’s actual therapist, and when he disappears and Klaus tries to help them in his place, the family falls apart pretty much immediately. His role in various episodes over the years places him this highly on the list even if it’s not one of the wackier personas compared to the others seen here. It’s just hard not to love Dr. Penguin (especially with his monogrammed socks).
#1 – Ricky Spanish
There’s just no better Roger persona than Ricky Spanish, however. First debuting in the Season 7 episode of the same name, Ricky Spanish is Roger’s most vile character. He’s mean, he’s violent, and there’s basically no one that Ricky hasn’t stolen from, cheated, hurt or more. He’s a persona that comes with his own theme (of a woman whispering “Ricky Spanish”), and even scares Roger himself. It’s an identity that basically has a mind of his own as Stan found out in one of the episodes too.
When Stan becomes Ricky Spanish in the Season 13 episode, “Persona Assistant,” fans get to see just how wild Ricky Spanish really is (and even his sister Jeannie Gold isn’t enough to stop him). It gets to the point where Rogu (wearing his own Ricky Spanish outfit to become “Rogu Spanish”) has to outright kill Ricky Spanish to get Stan to stop. There’s just no other Roger persona that stands out like it.
