Family Guy: Stewie Facts That Are Funnier Than A Babbling Baby
Stewart "Stewie" Gilligan Griffin is easily one of the most memorable characters on "Family Guy." Despite being a baby, he's always getting up to wild antics, whether he's traveling through time, plotting to kill his mother, or trying to take over the world.
There are many reasons why "Family Guy" has been around for 20 seasons (and counting), but one of the biggest ones has got to be Stewie. He's often considered the most popular character on the show, and on top of that, Entertainment Weekly chose him to be part of their "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years" list. His dark sense of humor, sharp wit, and violent outbursts provide a lot of opportunities for hilarious storytelling.
Fans have gotten to know a lot about Stewie over the years. Most of us already know that Stewie is eccentric, evil, and highly intelligent, and that he has a serious love-hate relationship with his mother.
However, there is some lesser-known trivia about him that helps explain why he looks and acts the way that he does. Keep reading to find out some fun facts about Stewie that are just as interesting and bizarre as he is.
He speaks with a British accent, but has admitted it's fake
Stewie is the only one in his family with a British accent, but it turns out, there's a reason for that. In "Send in Stewie, Please" (Season 16, Episode 12), Stewie has a much-needed session with a child psychologist and reveals that his British accent is fake.
He fakes his accent because it's part of a persona he has created to keep people at arm's length. This protects him from being truly vulnerable with others. At the same time, it helps him feel special and stand out from those around him.
In that same episode, Stewie speaks with his real voice and has an American accent like the rest of his family. This makes sense, considering his parents are both American and he has grown up in Quahog, Rhode Island.
Writer Gary Janetti told Entertainment Weekly in 2018, "I didn't know if Seth would go for it. [But] when he read it, it was hilarious, because he instantly read that voice that he does in the episode, which is this normal kid voice, and it's very disarming. It felt very true. When you feel like you're an outcast, and you feel like you don't fit in any place, you construct a bit of a façade to protect yourself from the world. His is just extraordinarily sophisticated. What would that mean if he could release it and be more authentic — and himself? Does he want to?"
He wasn't born with a football-shaped head
One of Stewie's most distinctive features is his football-shaped head. It's easy to assume that he was born that way, since many other characters also have strange distinctive features, like Quagmire's huge chin and one of the neighbors having an upside-down face. At this point, it'd be hard for fans to imagine Stewie looking any other way.
However, in "Stuck Together, Torn Apart" (Season 3, Episode 19), it's revealed that Stewie used to have a normal-shaped head. In a flashback, Stewie is shown jumping on the bed, as many kids do. Brian is supposed to be watching him, so he tells Stewie to stop, but doesn't do anything else about it. Being the rebel that he is, Stewie tells Brian to shut up and keeps jumping on the bed. It isn't long before he hits his head against the ceiling, flattening it into a football shape.
They didn't explain if this caused any other long-term side effects (like his aggressive tendencies), but it is interesting knowing the truth behind Stewie's unique appearance.
He's two years old and doesn't have an official birthday
Stewie doesn't have an official birthday, but he was born in 1998. He was technically just under 12 months old at the beginning of the show, then he celebrated his first birthday in "Chitty Chitty Death Bang" (Season 1, Episode 17) and stayed that age for most of the series. He finally turned two in "Life of Brian 2: Revival Reversal" (Season 16, Episode 11), even though many years had passed since his previous birthday.
Since "Family Guy" is an animated sitcom, most viewers probably don't expect the characters to age. If that happened, Stewie would already be a full-grown adult by now. The whole evil genius baby schtick wouldn't work at all anymore, so that wouldn't be any fun.
Although Stewie is just a baby, he's a genius and has invented tons of advanced devices. A mind control gadget, time machine, and cloning device are just a few of the inventions he's dreamed up, largely with nefarious intentions in mind. In "Road to the Multiverse," (Season 8, Episode 1), he even made a device that allows him and Brian to travel to parallel universes.
Mr. Burns and Rex Harrison were inspirations for Stewie's voice
We have Seth MacFarlane to thank for designing and voicing Stewie. Creating a character with such a distinct personality and voice wasn't a straightforward process. He said that when he designed other characters on the show, such as Peter, he imagined how they would sound first. From there, he sketched how he thought they'd look based on their voice.
That didn't initially happen for Stewie, though. At PaleyFest LA in 2010, he said he originally drew Stewie as a "stupid-looking baby" with a "pinwheel hat." The character had the same name as he does now, but everything else was different. He didn't just want Stewie to be a forgettable side character, so he thought about how he could give Stewie some more personality.
He knew he needed to give Stewie a unique voice. He took inspiration from the greedy, devious Mr. Burns from "The Simpsons." The character speaks in a low tone that always suggests he's plotting his next evil plan.
MacFarlane was also heavily inspired by British actor Rex Harrison, who played the snobby Professor Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady." MacFarlane liked his voice so much that he said he "worked up an impression of Rex Harrison in order to get girls" in college.
In 2012, he told Fresh Air, "There was something about [Harrison] that I found amusing and ridiculous, and so I came up with the idea to put Rex Harrison's voice in the body of this baby. And thus Stewie was born."
He's remarkably similar to Jimmy from the comic strip Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth
Stewie might seem like a one-of-a-kind character, but there's no denying that he bears a striking resemblance to Jimmy from the comic strip "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth." They both have football-shaped heads and sparse strands of slicked-back hair.
Jimmy is scared of his mother, so he invents gadgets to get away from her. Similarly, Stewie despises his mother and comes up with inventions to try killing her.
Chris Ware created the comic back in 1991, but "Family Guy" didn't air until 1999. So did MacFarlane base Stewie off Jimmy? MacFarlane had no comment about this, but his production company Twentieth Century Fox stated (via Entertainment Weekly), "[We] maintain that Stewie is an entirely original, independently created character."
Ware said that the similarities between the characters are "a little too coincidental to be simply, well, coincidental," but he doesn't let it get to him. "If I let it get the better of me, I wouldn't get any work done. I'd just sit around and stew about it."
Only some characters understand Stewie when he speaks
There's no doubt that Stewie is intelligent, but many of the adult characters perceive his sophisticated speech as mere babbling. They can hear him trying to communicate, but they don't take him seriously because of his age — it just sounds like baby talk to them.
At a Comic-Con panel in 2011, MacFarlane explained that the characters who understand Stewie change based on what would be the funniest at the moment.
In a 2015 interview with TVLine, executive producer Rich Appel said, "Within the family, Brian and sometimes Chris [understand him]. But to the rest of the outside world — Peter and Lois and Peter's friends — it's important that they can't."
Stewie said his first word that everyone could understand in "Stewie's First Word" (season 19, episode 1). He was at church with his family and was furious that cookies wouldn't be served at coffee hour, so he screamed a word that you definitely can't say on network television. Later in the episode, Brian says, "I don't get it, Stewie, you've been talking forever. Why did everyone suddenly understand you now?" Stewie responds, "I don't know. I was feeling such intense emotion in the moment, and that one word somehow just burst through."
Executive producers Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin told TVLine, "This episode showcases Stewie's first word in the traditional sense that parents always document: The first word they understand. Otherwise, yes, it's Stewie's 1,345,693th word."
He has a half-brother named Bertram
Chris and Meg aren't Stewie's only siblings — he also has a half-brother, Bertram, who has a football-shaped head just like Stewie. They don't look completely alike, though, since he has red hair and freckles.
A lesbian couple used artificial insemination to have him, but there was a mishap at the sperm bank, so his biological father is Peter.
Peter had gone to the doctor's office to get a vasectomy. While he was there, he knocked all the jars of sperm over, then refilled them with his own sperm. It's the kind of crazy scenario that could only happen on a show like "Family Guy."
Although Bertram and Stewie share the same father, they're mortal enemies. They first crossed paths in "Missionary Impossible" (Season 2, Episode 16) before Bertram was even born. Stewie didn't want to have a younger sibling, so he shrunk himself down and entered Peter's body to destroy his sperm. He slaughtered most of the sperm, but not the one that would become Bertram.
After Bertram was born, they fought again in three other episodes. They're both cunning and extremely violent, but Stewie always comes out on top.
He's distantly related to Leonardo da Vinci
Stewie definitely didn't get his intelligence from Peter, but he may have gotten it from his distant ancestor Leonardo da Vinci.
In real life, da Vinci was way ahead of his time, creating brilliant inventions such as the flying machine, parachute, and scuba gear. Stewie is quite the genius himself, and has invented a weather-controlling device, freeze gun, and many other technically advanced gadgets. It seems like intelligence runs in the family.
In "The Big Bang Theory" (Season 9, Episode 16), Bertram goes back in time to try to prevent Stewie from being born. To do this, he attempts to kill da Vinci, who is distantly related to Lois. Bertram manages to kill da Vinci, but that doesn't spell the end for Stewie.
In a last-ditch effort, Stewie injects his DNA into da Vinci's girlfriend to become his own ancestor. It might sound inappropriate and completely absurd, but that's "Family Guy" for you!
Stewie has been married twice
Stewie might seem diabolical, since he wants to kill his mother and conquer the world, but he does have a softer side. He's already gotten married twice over the course of the show.
In "Chick Cancer" (Season 5, Episode 7), he falls in love with his old friend Olivia Fuller, a successful toddler actress. Olivia is initially uninterested in Stewie, but she ends up falling for him and they get married. Marital bliss doesn't last long, though — their old rivalry and Stewie's jealousy quickly get in between them. The final straw is when Olivia "cheats" on Stewie by playing with her friend Victor. Rather than trying to make things work, Stewie sets fire to the cardboard house that Olivia and Victor are playing in. Classic Stewie.
The second time Stewie gets married is much different. In "The Marrying Kind" (Season 19, Episode 14), he gets a mail-order bride from Ukraine named Zlata. He doesn't want to have sex with her, though, so she decides to hook up with Brian. After initially getting upset, Stewie lets Brian keep having sex with Zlata so he doesn't have to. Despite this, Zlata still ends up leaving Stewie. Probably for the best.
He has human-dog hybrid children that he created by combining his DNA with Brian's
Stewie and Brian have always had a special bond, but Stewie takes it to a whole new level in "Stewie Is Enceinte" (Season 13, Episode 12). Stewie is concerned that he and Brian are drifting apart, so he finds a way to have children with Brian in an attempt to bring them closer together.
He invents a special machine that takes some of Brian's DNA, which he then injects into himself so that he can become pregnant. Brian isn't happy when he learns what Stewie has done, but is unable to convince him to get an abortion. Stewie eventually gives birth to their human-dog hybrid children and they look just as messed up as you'd imagine, if not worse. Real "The Island of Dr. Moreau" stuff.
Despite these difficulties, Stewie and Brian take a shot at parenthood together, although it ultimately doesn't work out. They end up ditching their hybrid children at an animal shelter and in true cartoon fashion, they go back to how things were before.
His sexuality is ambiguous
You don't have to watch many episodes of "Family Guy" to realize that Stewie isn't strictly heterosexual. From fantasizing about shirtless men to calling Brian sexy while he was drunk, he's clearly interested in guys. That doesn't mean he's uninterested in girls, though: He's had crushes on girls and has even married two women so far.
His sexuality is never explicitly stated in the show. The writers and producers considered having Stewie come out, but ultimately decided against it. Writer Gary Janetti spoke about Stewie's sexuality in an interview with TVLine. "Stewie's awareness of his sexuality is this uncertain thing, and that needs to stay as it is. His uncertainty gives him a vulnerability, which is something we need to maintain for the series. Whether he is [gay] or not, that isn't going to be answered when he's a one-year-old. But if you read between the lines, it's not that difficult to decipher. He's not even sure 'heterosexual' is a real word!"
He has had a ton of different jobs
Stewie isn't just a brilliant inventor; he's also had a lot of odd jobs throughout the show. It might seem strange that a baby is allowed to work, but hey, that's far from the weirdest thing to happen on "Family Guy."
Stewie becomes a supermodel in "A Picture's Worth a Thousand Bucks" (Season 2, Episode 11) after Calvin Klein sees him and hires him to model designer diapers. When his family forgets to take him on a road trip in "Baby Not On Board" (Season 7, Episode 4), he gets a job at McBurgertown. They end up firing him for stealing a bunch of fish sandwiches.
He even lands a job following fat people around with a tuba in "No Chris Left Behind" (Season 6, Episode 5), the cruelty of which seems right up his alley. Some of his other jobs include being a pilot, paper boy, soldier in the U.S. Army, commercial diver, airport employee, Santa Claus, and co-host of a radio show. Now that's an impressive resume.
He originally had purple and green clothes
We're all used to seeing Stewie in his yellow shirt and red overalls, but he didn't look that way originally. There are two versions of the pilot episode: The one that aired on television, and the one that MacFarlane made by himself in six months for $50,000. In the unaired pilot episode, which is available online, Stewie had a purple shirt and green overalls rather than yellow and red.
This might seem like a minor difference, but it would have painted Stewie in an even more villainous light. Scott Wisander of NerdSync explains that superheroes usually wear the primary colors red, blue, and yellow, while villains usually wear secondary ones, such as green and purple.
The Joker, one of the most notorious villains of all time, dresses in green and purple. Stewie's original clothing may have been a nod to Batman's famous nemesis, to subtly show viewers how devious he is.