Seth MacFarlane might be the brain behind Family Guy and the voice of some of its most iconic characters, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to stage fright, especially with his oscars admission.
The 51-year-old actor, animator, and singer just got honest about how nerves still hit him hard, so hard, in fact, that he once relied on four Scotches to get through hosting the Oscars.
Speaking on CBS Sunday Mornings, Seth didn’t hesitate to admit his nerves. When asked if he considers himself an introvert, he joked, “Oh hell, yeah! I don’t even want to be here! No, I’m just kidding!” But behind the humor, he confessed, “I think I had, like, four Scotches before I walked out on stage at the Oscars. I do get… I definitely get nervous.”
This might come as a surprise to fans who see Seth as confident and effortlessly funny, especially as the creator and star of Family Guy, where he voices Peter, Brian, and Stewie Griffin. But the nerves are real, and apparently, so is the whiskey.
Before becoming one of the most recognizable names in animation, Seth’s life almost took a completely different direction. After finishing his animation degree at the Rhode Island School of Design, he was fully prepared to pursue a graduate degree in musical theatre. His sister was studying musical theatre at Boston Conservatory of Music, and he’d gotten accepted into the grad program there.
“I had gotten it into my head that I was going to go to grad school for musical theatre as well, so I applied and got in and was all set to go for their grad program,” Seth recalled. But then came a job offer he couldn’t pass up, an opportunity from Hanna-Barbera to work on an animated short.
Suddenly, he was working on Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and Dexter’s Laboratory for Hanna-Barbera, and just like that, he packed up and moved to California. “There was an incident there where I could have diverged into a completely different career and never even thought about something called Family Guy,” he said. That one decision changed everything.
Now, more than 25 years after Family Guy first aired, Seth admits he views the show, and comedy in general, very differently than when he started out. “When I started the show, my attitude was ‘It doesn’t matter, none of it matters. Let’s do it…’ and now that I’m older, I look back at the shows we’ve done and think it’s a little more complicated than that.”
He explained that comedy isn’t just about throwing out edgy jokes anymore. “Comedy and jokes do have an impact,” he said. “I have to figure out a way to maintain what the show is and maintain this thing that people love, but at the same time recognize that I am analyzing it now in a different way than I did when I was younger.”
That reflection doesn’t mean Seth is done making bold, edgy content, but it does mean he’s more aware of the weight it carries. It’s a shift that’s common for creators who’ve been in the game for decades, especially when your work has had the kind of cultural impact Family Guy has had.
Still, despite his long list of accomplishments, hit animated shows, multiple Grammy-nominated albums, and hosting major awards shows, Seth MacFarlane is just a guy who still gets nervous before a performance. And when the Oscars came calling, four Scotches helped him face the music.
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