Family Guy Brings Back Surprise Character After Over a Decade

Family Guy is back in action this Spring with new episodes, and the latest Season 23 premiere has brought back a surprising character over 11 years since their last appearance. Family Guy Season 23 took a while to make its return to Fox’s Animation Domination block with new episodes due to some changes to the schedule in the past year, but the series is finally back and running. The new season thus far has been hitting some high marks, and the newest episode really dug deep in the vault for one of its gags that fans haven’t seen in a long time.

Family Guy Season 23 Episode 4 is titled “Lois C.K.” and sees Lois trying out stand up comedy after finding out that people are loving her jokes at Peter’s expense. After trying out some jokes at an open mic night, the crowd loves every one of her jokes. This includes the Fat Laughing Clapping Guy, who hasn’t been seen since in an episode since 2014, and hasn’t been heard since 2009, and hasn’t been heard laughing and clapping like in this episode since 2008. So this was a real blast from the past.

Who Is the Fat Laughing Clapping Guy?

Family Guy is often held in high regard for the way it likes to reference running gags not only over the course of a single episode, but over multiple seasons. The series has introduced a ton of background, one-note characters that pop up on occasion over the years. But the animated series has been running for such a long time, that even many of these more well known jokes from the earlier seasons have disappeared in the years since. This includes the Fat Laughing Clapping Guy, who first debuted in the Season 5 episode, “Brian Sings and Swings.”

This character has never been officially named in the series, and has only been described as a “fat laughing clapping guy” in passing by the characters. But he’s immediately recognizable each time he appears as he’s there to ecstatically clap and laugh at something happening. It’s exaggerated, but it’s hilarious. He was last seen speaking during the Season 7 episode “Ratings Guy” in 2009 (where he notably did not laugh), and has only popped up in the background ever since. His last appearance was as part of a crowd in the Season 13 episode, “Bookie of the Year,” but has now returned to the series 11 years later.

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How to Catch Up With Family Guy Season 23

Family Guy Season 23 is now airing its new episodes on Sunday evenings with Fox’s Animation Domination block, and you can catch them streaming after their initial premiere with Hulu. It’s where you can also find every previous season of the series thus far. The animated series is briefly taking over The Simpsons‘ time slot until the series returns for Season 36 later the month as well. It was a big shift for Family Guy as fans went through the entirety of 2024 without seeing any new episodes.

The return of the Fat Laughing Clapping Guy might seem like a small return in the grand scheme of Family Guy‘s history, but it showcases that those behind the scenes are experimenting more with the new episodes. The premiere was a full on parody of Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick, and this episode brought back a classic character. Now it’s just a matter of seeing what other changes could be on deck as it continues with new episodes.