Family Guy

1Family Guy and stacking comedy filters one at a time

• Family Guy stacks character, irony and madcap, one simple beat at a time. Scott Dikkers uses Peter Griffin to show how several funny filters can work together in one joke. You see a dumb guy, then a smart guy, then a guy falling down the stairs, in sequence. Each beat is gettable on its own, so the stack stays funny.

  Dikkers says beginners who pile all the filters on at once end up with mush. His rule: "one concept, one thing at a time." He also notes that about 90% of the show is broad, gross-out comedy and 10% is smart jokes, so viewers tend to write it off.

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