In April 2006, South Park dedicated an hour’s worth of screen time to bashing Family Guy with their special two-part “Cartoon Wars” saga. The big reveal during the second episode was that Family Guy’s popular cutaway gags were constructed by manatees. As Cartman learns while visiting Fox Studios, the creatures come up with jokes for the show by selecting random “idea balls” that have different subjects written on them.
You can take a look at the scene in question right here:
Naturally, Family Guy fans were eagerly anticipating what series creator Seth MacFarlane would do in response. At the following year’s Comic-Con, MacFarlane was asked about South Park’s criticism, but didn’t react in the way many had been hoping he would. “We were actually overjoyed that they spent two half-hours of their airtime talking about us. I don’t have that kind of time,” MacFarlane explained.
“It really does come down to that,” he continued. “We would have to either do the greatest joke in the world that was really quick or do three episodes about South Park.”
‘Family Guy’ Cut Its Planned Response to ‘South Park’s Brutal Manatee Joke
MacFarlane went on to say that he didn’t know how to respond to the attacks and that it was probably best to leave it alone. He did reveal that there was one joke he considered doing to get even with South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone, though. However, at the end of the day, the Family Guy staff decided that it would’ve been too much of a low blow. When the Comic-Con crowd booed MacFarlane for taking the high road, he pushed back by suggesting that he’d get the same reaction regardless of the choice he made.
Luckily, for those who are curious about the deleted gag MacFarlane was referring to, it did end up surfacing eventually. The joke was originally part of a scene from the 2008 episode “McStroke,” in which Stewie, disguised as an older boy, takes his date to a place called Anal Point, where people go to have sex.
As initially conceived, a guy in the car next to theirs can be heard yelling, “Ow, Trey!” to which another man replies, “C’mon, Matt, just relax and let it happen!” Check it out for yourself below.
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