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Peter Griffin
Family Guy character
Peter Griffin
Character information
Full name	Peter Löwenbräu Griffin
Relatives	Mother: Thelma Griffin Father: Francis Griffin (step-father; deceased) Mickey McFinnigan (biological) Brother: Thaddeus Griffin[1] Wife: Lois Griffin Sons: Chris, Stewie, Bertram[2] Daughter: Meg
Age	early 40s [3]
Gender	Male
Hair color	Brown
Occupation	Assembly worker at "Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory"; Private fisherman; Shipping department of the "Pawtucket Patriot Brewery"
Religion	Roman Catholic[citation needed]
Heritage	Irish American, Mexican American
Show information
First appearance	Death Has a Shadow[citation needed]
Voice actor	Seth MacFarlane[citation needed]

Peter Löwenbräu Griffin is one of the protagonists in the American animated television series Family Guy.^[6] His voice, which has a thick New England accent, is produced by the show's creator and lead writer, Seth MacFarlane. Peter is the head of the Griffin household and the central character in the show. He is married to Lois, and is the father of Meg, Chris, Stewie, and (through sperm donation) Bertram. His friends include his talking dog Brian Griffin, African American deli owner Cleveland Brown, sex-obsessed airline pilot Glenn Quagmire and paraplegic police officer Joe Swanson.

Contents 1 Backstory 1.1 Jobs 1.2 Running gags 2 Personality 2.1 Health 2.2 Musicianship 3 Ancestry 4 Parodies 5 Video Game 6 Footnotes 7 References

According to Peter's Two Dads, Peter's mother Thelma had visited Ireland when she met Mickey McFinnegan, Peter's father, and became pregnant. In Padre de Familia, it is shown that she went to Mexico to search for an abortion, but Peter is born before she finds one. She then returns to America without filling out his citizenship papers, causing him to be branded an illegal immigrant. ^[7] His birth in this episode conflicts with at least one cutaway gag in another episode.^[8]

Apparently, Peter's birthday is in July, as told by Dr. Hartman (In Meet the Quagmires, also he asked to be 18 and ended up in 1984.In The Fat Guy Strangler, his Zodiac sign is revealed to be Cancer).

In his youth, Peter worked as a towel boy at a country club/resort, where he met his future wife (then Lois Pewterschmidt), with whom he quickly hooked up.^[9][10] Lois' father Carter objected to Peter because of his lower social class — this resentment remains a theme in Carter and Peter's relationship, as shown in some episodes, like the e-mail Mr. Pewterschmidt sends to Peter, which punches him in the face, or Peter's quote to Lois after they sell their old house in Quahog to be able to afford luxuries in their newly inherited mansion, the Cherrywood Estate, "It's time you start living like the piece of Schmidt you are." ^[9]

Further information: List of Peter Griffin's jobs

Peter has primarily worked as a safety inspector at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory, as a fisherman owning his own boat, and at the Pawtucket Patriot brewery as an office worker and "that guy who fishes out the dead rats". Throughout the series, he regularly mentions that he has had many different odd jobs. He has also had a few periods of unemployment, one of which lasted several episodes. He has also had a number of jobs that only lasted for one episode before going back to his usual jobs. Peter also is a current resident of New Egypt,New Jeresy where he used to fish.

Peter's arch-nemesis is a giant chicken named Ernie. They met in 1984, during a dance at the country club where Peter worked ("Meet the Quagmires"). Ernie holds a grudge against Peter for accidentally hitting him at the dance (though he is assured at the time that he will not meet Peter again), and years later attempts a strange form of revenge by giving Peter an expired coupon. Peter's outrage when the coupon is refused sparks the first of many random, unexpected fights where Peter ends up the victor and leaves Ernie for dead, only for a random movement to show that the chicken is still alive. Their battles feature long strings of action film-style sequences, full of explosions, high-speed chases, and excessive damage to both property and innocent bystanders, becoming more outlandish and destructive with each occurrence. They have fought in the episodes "Da Boom", "Blind Ambition", and "No Chris Left Behind" (where he is given the name Ernie). He also appears in the video game as the final boss. It has been said that he will be featured in the next Star Wars parody episode as Boba Fett, though it is unknown if he will get into a fight with Han Solo, whom Peter will play.

Peter is consistently depicted as crude and lowbrow. He enjoys activities such as going to up-market tailors and farting inside the suits. His favorite pastime is watching TV. A running gag on the show is Peter's preference for Pauly Shore movies over classic films such as The Godfather and Citizen Kane. He is also a huge Kiss fan and followed them during the KissStock shows and even got a copy of Kiss Saves Santa for Christmas.

An I.Q. test confirms he is below mentally retarded ^[11] His mental shortcomings have resulted in various accidents and deaths to other people; most notably to his surrogate father Francis Griffin. His attention span is also incredibly short; when he discovers his mental retardation in "Petarded", he closes his eyes while driving, wishing "it would all be over". (hitting Tom Tucker with his car instead).

Peter also has a habit for proving his masculinity, not wanting Lois to fall for another man. He is incredibly jealous of other attractions Lois has in her life, an attitude that tends to get out of hand in most cases; in "Stuck Together, Torn Apart", he goes so far as to punching his reflection in the mirror after Lois comments on his reflection being handsome.^[12] In "Brian Sings and Swings", he tells Lois, "... remember, if I come home to find you sleeping with another man, I'll kill you both" (though when he catches her in bed with Bill Clinton in "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey", he takes no hostile actions whatsoever). However, he seems not to mind the fact that she, of course, slept with other men before they met, just so long as she doesn't do so again; he is particularly proud of the fact that she once slept with Gene Simmons of Kiss when he discovers this in "Road to Europe", but forbids any sexual actions between the two now as seen in "Don't Make Me Over".

Peter seems to find it frustrating when he is "wrong" while Lois is "right" about issues all the time, and apparently takes these issues competitively, just waiting for the day she slips up. This day finally comes in the episode "PTV" after settling a conflict with Lois about censorship on television that she appeared sure to win. In an ironic twist that forces Lois to concede defeat, Peter celebrates by opening a secret compartment within the ceiling containing balloons, streamers, confetti, and a banner reading "PETER'S RIGHT!"; Peter then claims that he set up the stall 15 years ago, suggesting that this was a pretty major issue for him for quite some time (there was also a clown in the stall, but he had since died after being in there for so long). Curiously, in the non-canon episode "Da Boom", after Lois admits he was right about the end of the world and she was wrong, Peter makes no reference to the compartment, though he had been bragging about his "victory" for two weeks straight.

Among the members of his family, he tends to treat Meg with the least amount of respect; in "Peter's Daughter", for example, he reminisces to various pranks he played on her, including tripping her and even shooting her at one point. He is known to embarrass her at times and with things that mean the most to Meg; the entire family once huddled together to read her diary and continues after Meg catches them. However, later episodes of the series show Peter developing greater respect and unity between himself and his daughter.

Despite being overweight, a heavy drinker, and accident-prone, Peter appears to be in good health. Periodically, in typical cartoon fashion, Peter is shown recovering quickly from serious injuries,^[13] and in some episodes displays enormous strength, such as when singlehandedly challenging a professional football team in "Patriot Games". He is also fit enough to fight off his arch-nemesis, Ernie the Giant Chicken, in several epically destructive fistfights. He underwent a vasectomy in the episode "Sibling Rivalry."

Family Guy has frequent musical sequences and storylines, and Peter has been shown in several single-episode situations to have various music skills, such as playing the piano only while intoxicated,^[14] playing guitar accompaniment parts while singing, playing the trombone,^[15] and reciting poetry in a Subway commercial. The extent of his musical training has never been made clear.

In the episode Peter Griffin: Husband, Father...Brother?, Peter discovers the Griffins had a pre-Civil War era African-American ancestor named Nate Griffin, a slave owned by his wife's ancestors. (This is the first of several episodes which have Peter related to Lois’ family in various ways.) Nate Griffin is later shown again in the Untitled Griffin Family History, where it was revealed that he had children with one of Lois' ancestors; this implies that Peter and Lois are distant relatives if you ignore the fact that Peter is not actually biologically related to Nate Griffin.

While not a major theme in the series, Peter self-identifies as black in subsequent episodes; in the episode Peter's Two Dads, however, Peter later discovers he is the biological son of an Irishman named Mickey McFinnigan ^[16].

Various stories, flashbacks and cutaway gags reveal Peter-like ancestors and relatives, for example, a philosopher named Thomas Griffin, who used existential pondering as an excuse to his wife for remaining unemployed.^[17] Many of these historical characters have wives or girlfriends bearing an obvious resemblance to Lois, family resembling the Griffins, and associates resembling Peter's neighbors.

In the episode "Peter's Two Dads", Peter discovers that his real father is not the late Francis Griffin, the stern Irish Catholic patriarch of the first five seasons, but an Irish man named Mickey McFinnigan, a town drunk who resembles his son in every aspect, save red hair and an aged face.

Peter's middle name "Löwenbräu" is actually the name of a brand of German beer, which directly translates to "Lion's Brew." This would seem appropriate, since the creature of his surname's namesake is part-lion and Peter's favorite beverage happens to be beer. However, the phonetics of such a name appear to be the writers highbrow use of the term "Lowbrow", in association with Peter's comedy style.

• In one segment of the Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror XIII, Peter Griffin is depicted as one of Homer's clones.
• In another episode of The Simpsons (The Italian Bob) Peter is depicted as a drawing in a book of suspects owned by Italian guards, wanted for the crime of "Plagiarismo".
• In the Robot Chicken episode, "Suck It", Peter is shown alongside Space Ghost and Master Shake to determine whether or not Seth Green (creator of Robot Chicken, who also voices Chris in Family Guy), the chicken, and the mad scientist should be sentenced to the Phantom Zone (in a parody of Superman II). His only line in the episode — "Guilty!" — is voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

In the video game, Peter restarts his PTV television station and broadcasts a Mr. Belvedere marathon, which he watches for three days. His satellite eventually falls on him and he develops severe head trauma. When Peter awakes in the hospital, he believes Mr. Belvedere has kidnapped his family and goes on a rampage to find them. Once Peter discovers his family is safe, he goes to the Drunken Clam to get drunk. This is where Peter discovers his arch-nemesis, Ernie, the Giant Chicken, who is the final boss battle in the game. After another epic battle that takes them throughout the city, Peter defeats Ernie and leaves him for dead once again, not noticing his recovering.^[18]

• S. Callaghan Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide : Seasons 1 - 3 New York: Harper Paperbacks, 2006
• A. Delarte, "Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 4" in Bob's Poetry Magazine, 3.January 2006: 10 - 26 http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs03Ja.pdf

v • d • e Family Guy
Characters · Criticism · Episode list · History · Places · Quahog · Voice actors
Griffin family	Peter · Lois · Meg · Chris · Stewie · Brian
Related characters	Francis Griffin · Thelma Griffin · Bertram · Mickey McFinnigan · Pewterschmidt Family
Recurring characters	Cleveland Brown · Joe Swanson · Glenn Quagmire · Mort Goldman · Tom Tucker · Mayor Adam West · Neil Goldman · Bonnie Swanson · Kevin Swanson · Herbert · Jonathan Weed
Cast	Seth MacFarlane · Alex Borstein · Mila Kunis · Seth Green · Mike Henry · Patrick Warburton · Adam West · Jennifer Tilly · John G. Brennan · Nicole Sullivan · Carlos Alazraqui · Adam Carolla  · Lori Alan
DVDs and CDs	DVDs · Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story · Family Guy: The Freakin' Sweet Collection · Family Guy: Live in Vegas · Video Game