Comedy in American Dad
American Dad! Is an American adult animated sitcom created by
Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company.
Unlike similar shows, Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, American Dad! Does not
lean as heavily on the use of cutaway gags, and is less concerned with conventional
"setup-punchline" jokes, instead sourcing its humour mostly from the characters,
the relationships between family members, and the relatable plots. While the
core issues and resolutions are relatable in most episodes it is the bold
characters that bring the show to life.
There are five main family members each with their own quirky jokes.
Stan- Stan
Smith is the exaggeratedly masculine husband of Francine and father of Steve
and Hayley. Stan is an agent for the CIA. Tending to take extreme measures with
no regard for others nor potentially disastrous consequences, Stan is portrayed
as insanely drastic. He is one of the main sources of comedy within the family,
this is due to his crazy accusations and extreme stubbornness.
Francine- Francine
Smith is Stan's housewife and mother of Hayley and Steve. Francine is often
seen indignant, nagging and scolding her family (mostly Stan) over wrongdoings,
sometimes even becoming berserk in these moments. Seemingly a voice of reason,
Francine also nags at her family to uphold certain virtues. She is a
traditional house wife, Francine’s main source of comedy is her idiocy.
Hayley- Hayley
Smith is Stan and Francine's new-age hippie daughter. Despite being a married
adult for much of the series, she still lives under her parents' roof along
with her husband, Jeff. In mentality, she's portrayed as a far-left liberal.
Hayley’s main comedy comes from the strong contrast between her far right
father and her.
Steve- Steve
Smith is the baby of the family, Stan and Francine's high-school aged son. He
attends Pearl Bailey High School. Steve is portrayed as an enthusiastic,
ambitious, and wimpy nerd. The comedy created by Steve’s character revolves
around the relatable awkward teenage stage, most people can relate to.
Roger- Roger is
the Smith family's very zany alien. Blithely so, he is depraved, devious, and
cruel. Roger typically displays a light hearted, carefree temperament while at
the same time engaging in his freakish grossness. Many regard roger as the
funniest character in the series. He has many personas who he fully commits to.
Making him not only one funny character but many.
Audience pleasures include to laugh at the perils of the cast
members, the random scenes and stupid ideas bring pleasure to the viewer when
comparing themselves to the character as they are much more intelligent. Also the
use of an aliens means there is a slight comparison to the family but the
audience are positioned as omniscient to the characters.
Ricky
Spanish
Ricky Spanish is a famous sketch in American dad, Ricky is one of Rogers
(the alien) forgotten personas. The thing he forgets is that Ricky is the worst
person alive. This is in comprehendible to the audience and sounds ludicrous,
but as the episode goes on every time the name Ricky Spanish is said there is a
cut jump to an image of Ricky doing something horrible. There is also a voice
over whispering the words Ricky Spanish. Making a funny fake intensity. One of
the scenes in the episode is Ricky defending himself to someone for killing
there wife. Ricky says “you know how I get when I drink champagne”. The
audience they expects a jump cut of Ricky being tipsy and doing something by
accident. Instead the scene is a two second clip of Ricky quite on purposely
stabbing the wife with a samurai sword. This sudden random outburst, makes a
joke out of the shock of the situation. This technique is used a lot in many
American dad episodes.
