Family Guy’s latest episode breaks the fourth wall in Deadpool-like fashion

Marvel’s Deadpool is known for adding spectacular commentary to his own movies—commentary directed towards the audience itself. And while extremely funny, Family Guy just broke the fourth wall in an even bigger way.

Who knows what drove Seth MacFarlane to write the latest episode of Family Guy but it did something rather unique to animated series—something that’s never been done before. To plainly put it, the episode broke the fourth wall.

When “You Can’t Handle The Booth” begins, we can see that the Griffin family is in the studio. They’re providing commentary on Family Guy—the fictitious show in which they star in. The Griffin family is well aware of their roles on the show but none of them are prepared for the even stranger reality that is set upon them.

Towards the end of the episode, the Griffins learn that they’re not even actors on a show. In fact, they’re creations concocted by Seth MacFarlane. The almighty creator of Family Guy makes his voice heard and explains to the Griffins that all the meaningless dribble they’ve been squabbling over means nothing.

At first, they’re all in disbelief of the truth, but once the rest of the cast chimes in to back up Seth’s story, the Griffins believe. Everyone from Mila Kunis to Alex Borstein takes a moment to speak with their cartoon counterparts. It’s a pretty hilarious exchange between fictional characters and the real people that bring them to life.

What’s interesting is that we haven’t seen an animated series take this approach. Plenty of known series like The Simpsons have at one point or another spoken directly to the camera, but there haven’t been many instances of voice actors speaking directly to the characters themselves.

Family Guy went even further by exposing the grim reality of their existence and the Griffins now know they’re just imaginary characters. It’s unclear if this development will affect the overall plot but looking at the malleable nature of the show, the Griffins will probably be in blissful ignorance the next time we see them.

What did you think of the latest episode of Family Guy? Let us know in the comments section below.

Family Guy airs Sundays on Fox. Episodes are uploaded to Hulu the following day; all episodes are currently streaming. For more on Family Guy, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Account @HuluWatcherFS or on the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.