Hear Stewie's Real Voice On 'Family Guy'

Say what you will about his work as an Oscar host, but Seth MacFarlane is an undoubtedly talented voice actor. On American Dad, he’s an uptight CIA agent and a sexually adventurous alien; on The Cleveland Show, he’s an Eastern Europe bear; and on Family Guy, he’s half the population of Quahog, Rhode Island, including horny neighbor Quagmire, newscaster Tom Tucker, and quintessential New England Patriots fan (and all-around slob) Peter Griffin.

He’s also the voice of Stewie Griffin, a flamboyantly brilliant baby who speaks with a distinctive upper-class British accent reminiscent of James Mason. Except, as we learned in last night’s commercial-free episode — “Send In Stewie, Please,” which had Stewie discuss his sexuality with child psychologist Dr. Cecil Pritchfield (Sir Ian McKellen) — that’s not his real voice. This may come as a surprise, but the Rhode Island-born child doesn’t sound like he’s auditioning for Macbeth. He sounds like, well, his father’s son.

“I didn’t know if Seth would go for it,” said writer Gary Janetti. “[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. I didn’t want to do anything unless it felt true to the character because I’m very protective over him. Like all kids can, 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 felt like he could release it and be more authentic — and himself?”

The episode was also expected to include Stewie coming out, as it’s been long suspected that he’s gay, but instead, his sexuality was left as fluid.