Family Guy is known for its pop culture comedy bits, but it also features some great running gags that pop up at the most bizarre moments and always result in hilarious scenes. Seth MacFarlane created Family Guy in 1999, and the show was canceled. However, fan demand caused Fox to reconsider and bring it back, and there have now been 24 seasons as of 2025. MacFarlane mastered taking old-school pop culture items and throwing them into stories that are ludicrous yet hilarious. At the same time, Peter Griffin and others have taken on running gags and run with them, creating recurring moments that fans love to see.
Videos by ComicBook.com
From Peter Griffin fighting a giant chicken to an evil monkey hiding in a closet, here are the funniest running gags on Family Guy, ranked.
10) James Woods
Family Guy loves to take real-life individuals and add them into the show in over-the-top situations. A great example is Gene Simmons, who dated Lois when she was younger, and the KISS bassist even voices him in the show. Another running gag involves actor James Woods. In all, Woods has appeared in eight different episodes in different situations.
James Woods became friends with Peter Griffin, and he showed up in Quahog many times. He also died in “And Then There Were Fewer” and was resurrected in “Tom Tucker: The Man and His Dream.” Not only did James Woods appear in Family Guy as himself, but there was also a wooded area next to Quahog called “James Woods,” and the school was named after him for several seasons.
9) Kool-Aid Man
Family Guy takes many of its jokes from pop culture items from the past, as far back as the 80s, and moving forward. That is where this running gag came from. Of course, Kool-Aid is a flavored kids’ drink, and the classic commercials selling it featured a giant pitcher of Kool-Aid with eyes, a nose, and a mouth, often busting through the wall and yelling, “Oh, yeah!”
That is precisely what happened in Family Guy. The Kool-Aid Man has appeared in 14 episodes, as well as the movie Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. The character made its first appearance in the first season, when a judge sentenced Peter Griffin to jail. Lois said, “Oh no,” and the Kool-Aid Man busted through the wall and said, “Oh, yeah!” Later episodes had a car crash into Kool-Aid Man’s house, and he later showed up dating a giant Yoohoo chocolate drink.
8) Joe Keeps Breaking His Legs
Joe is one of the longest-running recurring characters on Family Guy, a police officer who uses a wheelchair after a serious injury left him unable to walk. Most of the gags about him involved his inability to walk. However, the funniest recurring gags with Joe involved the numerous times he regained his ability to walk.
Joe ended up in a wheelchair when he was shot multiple times. However, he was able to regain his walking ability several times in the series, only to end up back in the wheelchair by the end of the episodes. The funniest moment was when Peter, Quagmire, and Cleveland became jealous because he wasn’t hanging around with them anymore, so they re-broke his legs. However, he has regained use of his legs and lost them several times in the series.
7) Herbert the Pervert
There are a lot of disturbing moments in the series, and Quagmire’s sexual exploits are a running theme throughout the show. However, Herbert the Pervert is more of a running gag in Family Guy that is even more disturbing. That is because Herbert is mainly seen as a pedophile, and he has a strong attraction for Chris Griffin.
However, the gags often end up hilarious, especially since Chris mostly has no idea that Herbert is hitting on him. This even led to one of the funniest moments in the series when Herbert got tired of Chris being so oblivious and said, “You’re starting to piss me off, you piggly sum bitch.” When he turned on the TV and saw the Little League World Series and got excited, it was icing on the cake.
6) The Evil Monkey
The Evil Monkey had been around since the second season of Family Guy, voiced by Danny Smith. This was another running gag involving Chris. The Evil Monkey lived in Chris’s bedroom closet and came out to torment the teenage boy at the worst moments. Of course, as expected, Chris’s family didn’t believe the monkey was there and just mocked him for it.
The Evil Monkey first appeared in the second season, “Dammit Janet!” This gag even morphed into other items, such as when Chris wrote a song about him called “Evil Monkey Song.” At the same time, one of the funniest moments came when the Evil Monkey tried to scare Chris, only to find Herbert the Pervert in Chris’s room, and the Evil Monkey slowly backed out of this situation.
5) Mayor Adam West
The best guest star in Family Guy history also presented some of the best running gags on the show. Adam West, the man who famously played Batman in the classic TV series, voiced himself on the show as Quahog Mayor Adam West. He is an incompetent mayor who has wasted countless taxpayers’ dollars on ridiculous expenses.
However, he also plays off his past role as Batman and as a pop culture icon, while ensuring that people always respect him as the Mayor of Quohog. The show even named the high school after him, following Seth MacFarlane’s decision to let James Woods go after the actor’s real-world controversies. Adam West has been in well over 100 episodes, and he was always a highlight.
4) Peter Hurts His Knee
The “Peter hurts his knee” running gag has become a meme in its own right. The first time this happened was in “Wasted Talent” when Peter fell running home and hurt his knee. The gag plays off the moment of Charlie running home after finding his Golden Ticket in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. However, on Family Guy, it ends up with a character hurting their knee or other part and just repeatedly saying, “Ahhhh” multiple times.
This has been done many times since then, including an AT-AT Walker falling in one of the Star Wars episodes. There was also a moment where Lois Griffin fell, and then she immediately began doing it while holding her breast.
3) Surfin’ Bird
The “Surfin’ Bird” running gag has been happening for many years now on Family Guy, and it is always Peter Griffin who does it. “Surfin’ Bird” is a song by the Trashmen from 1963, and Peter has said more than once that it is his favorite song ever. The first time this happened, Peter heard it playing on the jukebox and began dancing around the restaurant, singing the song. He ended up getting the record from the manager, and it was used repeatedly on the show.
Peter has sung the song 13 times on Family Guy, and there were even variations of it. In “Welcome Back, Carter,” Peter sang an acoustic version. In one of Family Guy’s best episodes, “PeTerminator,” he sang a “Bad to the Bone” version, and in “Rock Hard,” the original song by the Trashmen was played. Fortnite added this dance as an emote in the game.
2) Cleveland’s Bathtub
The running gag with Cleveland in his bathtub happened several times over the seasons as well. This almost always happened when Peter Griffin did something crazy and ended up blowing up Cleveland’s house. Every single time, Cleveland was in his bathtub, and it slowly rolled down the floor and crashed to the first-floor landing with Cleveland saying, “No, no, no, no” all the way down.
This allowed the show to repeat the gag, but with different jokes each time. Once, Cleveland’s son was on the toilet next to his dad as he crashed down. Another time, Cleveland asked Peter to shoot down his towel, which Peter did. Finally, the last time it happened was hilarious because Cleveland had already moved and started his spinoff show, The Cleveland Show. When Peter blew up the house, and the empty bathtub fell, Peter said, “Oh yeah, Cleveland moved.”
1) Ernie the Giant Chicken
The funniest Family Guy running gag in the show’s history was the moments where Peter Griffin would fight Ernie the Giant Chicken. The basis for this gag was the prolonged fight in They Live, where Roddy Piper and Keith David fought for five-and-a-half minutes. The Peter vs. Ernie fights lasted longer and longer each time.
The funniest thing is that these two just hated each other and fought every time they saw each other, and it was so dire that they just wanted to kill each other every time. The fights always end with Peter killing Ernie, but as he leaves, Ernie opens his eyes and shows the battle had not yet finished. The two had nine incredible fights, and in Season 23, “The Chicken or the Meg,” Meg begins dating Ernie’s son, but when he threatens her, Meg kills Ernie the Giant Chicken, decapitates him, and leaves him dead.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios -
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
