With eighteen seasons, over three hundred episodes, and several Emmy nominations,American Dad!continues to beone of the best adult animated sitcomscurrently on television. Created byFamily GuywritersMike Barker,Matt Weitzman, and co-creatorSeth MacFarlane, this show about the hilarious escapades of an ultra-conservative CIA agent living with his dysfunctional family and an outrageous alien has managed to stand out from other of MacFarlane’s projects over the years.
Airing as the first television series as part of Fox’s Animation Domination block, the show would go on to find its own success once it transferred over to the TBS network. During its time on both channels,American Dad!entertained and made audiences laugh thanks toits likable charactersand amusing jokes. Various running gags also appeared throughout the show, becoming even more comical with every reoccurrence. These gags are all unique and memorable, representing the best parts the show has to offer and helping makeAmerican Dad!the hilarious sitcom it is today.
American Dad
10Klaus' Boys
Klaus is pretty popular outside the family.
Klaus Heisler (Dee Bradley Baker) has had a rough life ever since his mind was transferred over to the body of a goldfish by Stan (also voiced by MacFarlane) and the CIA. He’s at the bottom of the totem pole and constantly mocked by everyone in the Smith household, but at least he has plenty of human friends to have his back.
Klaus is the life of the party whenever he’s not interacting with the Smiths. He’s got a large and diverse friend group who see him as one of the most popular guys around. These friends often appear randomly several times throughout the series to show how different Klaus is when he’s not acting as the family’s punching bag. It makes the audience laugh and wonder why he even puts up with the Smiths' frequent abuse despite him being so well-liked by others.
9Toshi Only Speaks Japanese
Steve Smith (Scott Grimes) doesn’t have it easily in life as he constantly struggles to navigate through his troublesome teenage years. Thankfully, he has a loyal friend group consisting of Snot (Curtis Armstrong), Barry (Eddie Kaye Thomas), and Toshi (Daisuke Suzuki), who accompany him on his many awkward misadventures. Toshi even manages to stand out from the others in his group for being the only member and the only resident in Langley Falls to solely speak Japanese.
No one around him, not even his own family, speaks or understands what Toshi is saying. It’s hilariously never explained why he can’t talk in his friends' language. However, it’s heavily implied he chooses not to so that he could calmly insult and ridicule others without them even knowing it. Even when he does say something, his words are always wrongfully interpreted and not at all what he initially said.
8Terrible Principal
How did Principal Lewis even get hired?
Steve and his friends regularly hang out and attend classes at Pearl Bailey High School, one of the worst institutions in the country. Home to bullies, jocks, and drug dealers, it’s certainly not the best environment for the boys, as they’re constantly tormented on a daily basis. It also doesn’t help that the school is run by a highly unqualified and criminal-like principal named Brian Lewis (Kevin Michael Richardson).
How Principal Lewis became an educator is astounding, considering his dark past as a former convict and drug smuggler. He generally doesn’t care for his students' safety and frequently acts more like a bully himself. His constant disregard for his position has led to many times when Pearl Bailey fell into absolute chaos, all while he looked the other way.
7Stan’s Childhood
Several times throughout the series, Stan has opened up about his unusually troubling childhood. Mostly told through flashbacks, each insight into his unfortunate past was littered withdarkly comedic momentsthat increasingly got more absurd with each mention.
Whether it was that time he ran with the Harlem Globetrotters, or when he formed a father-son bond with an actual tree, Stan’s bizarre past is as unique as it is tragic. It’s easy to feel sympathy for him for having such a difficult upbringing. However, it’s also hard not to laugh at how ridiculous each of his stories are. He also has an abundance of these tragic tales, seemingly having one for any situation.
6Klaus’s Mistreatment
Poor Klaus can’t seem to catch a break.
Klaus, unfortunately, has received the butt-end of the joke more often than not by virtually everyone in the Smith family. The others constantly mock and abuse him many times for their own amusement. When he’s not subjected to their tortures, he’s often ignored and forgotten and viewed as a simple, boring fish, despite the fact that he was once human.
Stan is usually at the forefront when bullying Klaus, even though he’s the one responsible for putting him in a fish’s body in the first place. Despite taking this abuse multiple times throughout the seasons, there are a few rare and satisfying moments where Klaus finally takes his revenge on the family, even swapping minds with Stan in one episode to give him a taste of his own medicine for all his mistreatment.
5Wheels and the Legman
Wheels and the Legman are on the case.
No crime is too great, no mystery is unsolvable, and no case is too harrowing for Wheels and the Legman. After watching one of their favoritedetective duo showstogether, Steve and Roger begin to dawn their unique crime-fighting personas whenever a mystery is afoot or usually when they’re bored.
Steve and Roger grew a strong friendship many times throughoutAmerican Dad!. Their partnership as Wheels and the Legman is a testament to the pair’s hilarious chemistry. In most cases, the two always end up disastrously as it’s usually revealed that Roger was the culprit all along. Despite being terrible detectives, they sure make for an entertaining watch.
4Steve’s Perfect Singing
Steve can really make a career out of his amazing voice.
American Dad!fans would be delighted to know that Steve’s voice actor,Scott Grimes,is a surprisingly good singerwho’s been perfecting his vocal talent for much of his career. Grimes is no stranger to incorporating his unique singing voice in many of his acting projects and especially brings his talents when playing Steve, who frequently bursts into song.
Steve’s incredible singing voice is a testament to his multi-talented voice actor. Several interesting subplots have revolved around his singing, including plenty of opportunities for his impressive vocals to shine. While the songs are fantastic, it’s also hilarious to see Steve spontaneously burst into these performances at times, often appearing randomly and dragging on for a ridiculously long time.
3The Golden Turd Saga
The Golden Turd goes through many owners.
Many subplots occurred sporadically throughout the show’s run, often revolving around random characters in ridiculous situations that have little to no effect on the main plot of the episode.None of these B-plots are as recurrent or as recognizable as the iconic Golden Turd saga.
First appearing in season 1, episode 6, “Homeland Insecurity,” the cursed Golden Turd came from Roger, who revealed that he has the mysterious ability to excrete gold and other precious jewels whenever he eats specific foods. Since its creation, the turd soon fell into other people’s possession, many times, leading them to suffer unfortunate outcomes and even death. It’s a bizarre subplot that has become frequent throughout the series and has made several prominent recurrences in the newer seasons.
2It’s All Fake
Like many of MacFarlane’s animated properties,American Dad!frequently includes clever moments ofself-referential humor and fourth-wall gagsthat poke fun at the show itself and other sitcoms. It even takes things one step further by including a hilarious running joke that the show itself is a series within a fictionalized world where characters like Stan and Francine (Wendy Schaal) are actors.
One moment, characters would be acting normally and playing out the scene as usual and then suddenly breaking character just like if they’re in a live-action sitcom. Other times, characters and voice announcers would actually speak to the audience, blatantly addressing that they are watching a fictional show.This brilliant joke makes fun of how sitcoms are made and lets the audience know that even the series' writers can make fun of their work sometimes.
1Roger’s Personas
Roger has over 4,000 disguises throughout the show’s history.
While living amongst humans for decades,Roger has had to conceal his extraterrestrial identitymany times by dressing up in his ridiculous costumes. Over the years, his love for wearing these disguises would cause him to develop hundreds of entertaining and unique personas, each with its own amusing character traits and backstories.
Sidney Huffman, Jenny Fromdabloc, Max Jets, and the notorious Ricky Spanish are just a few of Roger’s many absurd and hilarious personas. No matter the time or place, there’s a disguise for any situation, and he easily slips into these different costumes, often at random. Even when the family tries to do their own separate storylines, he always manages to sneak his way in and to instantly steal the spotlight.Over the years, Roger’s personas became a driving force forAmerican Dad!’s popularity, and for many fans, they make up some of the best moments of the show.
