I don’t think Family Guy is funny. Hopefully by the time we’re through here, you won’t either.

Sure, there’s a really clever joke from time to time, but overall the entire show consists of out-of-context silly things that seem funny, due to the way they’re juxtaposed with the actual plot-driven stuff. The kicker, though, is that those things are not funny by themselves — they require the context-twist in order to seem funny. Really, it’s just a terrible trick being played on you, the viewer.

See, the storylines actually aren’t very funny most of the time and generally require “padding” to reach the full 22-minute running time. How better to spice up your unfunny, too-short storyline than with seemingly funny moments that can be inserted willy-nilly without any actual scripting? This juxtaposition of completely unrelated — and probably manatee-generated — out-of-context scenes is just a crutch the writers use to fill their otherwise unfunny timeslot.

Once you become aware of this technique, it is impossible to not be angered by the constant use of it — at least if you’re me.

In case you don’t understand what I mean, or simply refuse to believe it, I’ve prepared a couple audiovisual aids.

I’ve taken the first half of a random episode off my PVR and edited all of the out-of-context things into a separate file, leaving us with a Family Guy storyline (unencumbered by random crap) and a bunch of random Family Guy crap (unencumbered by unfunny Family Guy storyline.) Everything that was in the first segment of the episode is in the two files; nothing has been lost except the opening credits.

If you’ve watched both of these files, you’ll have seen that the contents of the episode simply aren’t funny (or as funny anyway) without the context-shift, meaning that it isn’t the show or writers that are funny — it’s simple juxtaposition that’s making you laugh. One could take any out-of-context clip and place it within an episode of Family Guy and achieve exactly the same results — which, many have argued, is exactly what the Family Guy creators do from week to week.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with liking Family Guy or enjoying the gimmick they use, I just think it’s important that people understand the distinction. I would like to stop hearing about how hilarious the people that make the show are, though, at least until they stop relying on this lame-ass gimmick and start actually being hilarious.