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“Peter’s Two Dads” is a season five episode of the FOX animated television series Family Guy. The title of the episode is a parody of the sitcom My Two Dads.

Plot summary

Meg asks Peter and Lois for a party; however, Peter and Lois have no idea what the party is for, and after being reminded by Chris that Meg’s birthday is coming up, they both admit they forgot and, worse yet, aren’t sure how old she will be. Meg doesn’t take too kindly of this fact after she finds out, but reminds them all the same that she is turning 17. Peter and Lois begin to organize the party, which Meg complains is too childish. Peter dresses up as a dirty hobo clown named Peepants and after getting drunk and, while trying to ride his unicycle down the stairs, accidentally falls and crushes his father, Francis. Francis is taken to the hospital, where he later dies, his last words to Peter being, "You’re a fat, stinking drunk!"

Peter sees this as a sign that his drinking habit was in part responsible his father's death, and vows never to drink again (temporarily switching his vice to crack). Brian refers Peter to a hypnotherapist, where he uncovers memories of Francis telling him he is not his real father. Peter goes to talk to his mother about it, and she admits that she had an affair with an Irish man while vacationing in Ireland 40 years earlier. After hearing this, Peter and Brian go to a stereotypical small Irish village to search for Peter’s long-lost father, whose name is Mickey McFinnigan. Upon asking the locals if they know him, they find out he is the town drunk (which is depicted as a highly respected position in Ireland). The two finally meet in a local tavern, but Mickey doesn’t believe that he is really Peter's father. Peter is about to give up hope, until Brian encourages him to take up drinking again and challenge Mickey to a drinking contest, saying that "a fat stinking drunk" is who Peter is. So Peter boldly confronts Mickey and wins, which in turn wins Mickey's admiration and proves to him that Peter must be his son.

Meanwhile, Stewie is going through a phase of selfishness that is typical of toddlers his age. Lois finally gets fed up over it after he starts rummaging through her belongings and spanks him as punishment. Apparently traumatized, Stewie runs away and causes Lois, herself immediately horrified at what she'd just done, to apologize profusely. However, Stewie soon gets over it when he discovers the rush he felt out of it and develops a taste for abuse. He repeatedly tries to get into trouble so Lois can strike him, but she has gained a much more tolerant attitude, having sworn to never lay a hand on him again. Stewie eventually gives up trying after realizing and admitting he has serious problems, and his addiction to pain immediately dissipates.

Notes

• This Episode has been nominated for the 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics .
• When the episode first aired on Adult Swim, it had the TV-MA rating. Later re-airings of the episode on had the TV-14 rating (possibly due to Brian yelling "WHAT THE FUCK!" when he sees Peter smoking crack).

Censorship

The following scenes were cut on FOX and Cartoon Network (for time) but left intact on the DVD:

• While Peter is at the hypnotherapist office, Bruce, the hypnotherapist/performance artist, has additional dialogue; he talks about the wind blowing up his legs, genitals, and anus, tells Peter that the anus has the second highest concentration of nerve endings, and lets slip other references that show he may be gay (making inappropriate art projects in school and being great at jumping rope, despite being disqualified from competitions because of his gender).
• When Peter and Brian ask the Irish man if they are in McSwiggen Village, he carries out his regular talk to the sweaters being thick (with a cut to a nun poking a man in the chest, who proudly declares that he can't feel anything because of this thick sweater). Brian then asks about two men, who are circling one another. The man who welcomes Brian and Peter to McSwiggan Village says that they are the McMurphy brothers, who have been circling one another for fifty years, waiting for one of them to throw the first punch.

Cultural references

This article may contain minor, trivial or unrelated fictional references. Trivia or references unimportant to the overall plot of a work of fiction should be edited to explain their importance or deleted.

• On the Fox website, the teaser details states, “This week, the manatees picked out topic balls reading ‘Peter’s real father lives in Ireland and Peter goes there to find him,’ ” a reference to South Park episodes “Cartoon Wars Part I” and “Cartoon Wars Part II” which suggested that the Family Guy "writers" (a group of manatees) use lottery balls with words on them (topic balls) to create random plots and jokes for the show.
• Peter tries to bury his dad in the Pet Sematary, a reference to the book by Stephen King.
• The song Lois sings in the flashback to Meg’s last birthday party is “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” from The Sound Of Music.
• The song that Chris (and Herbert) sings at Meg’s birthday party is called “Friends and Lovers” by Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring.
• When Peter discovers his biological father is in Ireland he performs the trademark transformation spin into Wonder Woman as done by actress Lynda Carter in the Wonder Woman TV series.
• During “My Drunken Irish Dad,” Lazar Wolfe can be seen dancing, a reference to the play Fiddler on the Roof.
• As a birthday present, Meg receives a copy of the first season of the TV show Sister, Sister on DVD from Cleveland.
• When Peter sees his father in a ghostly vision alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, Hayden Christensen appears in Jedi robes, a reference to the 2004 DVD changes to Return of the Jedi.
• At the end of Stewie’s fantasy about Lois beating him, he says “I love you Mommie Dearest!” This is a reference to the 1981 film of the same name (and the biography by actress Joan Crawford's daughter Christina).
• In a cutaway, Mother Teresa is seen experiencing an overdose in the backseat of Stewie’s car and then he and some teenagers throw her outside on the sidewalk of a hospital. This is a direct parody to the movies Trainspotting and Traffic.
• Peter exclaims, “Oh my god! I could’ve had a V8!” and slaps himself in the forehead. This is a reference to the series of commercials for V8 vegetable juice that played in the 1970s and ’80s, and again in 2007.
• When Peter's mother answers the door, she says "Hello Honey, did you bring the TV back?" This, and Peter's response, are derived from the movie Requiem for a Dream.
• The song sang by Peter in the pub in Ireland is a reference to the song “McNamara’s Band.”
• Peter flies to Ireland on JetGreen, what seems to be parody of JetBlue Airways. However, an actual airline based in Ireland used the name during its short period of operations.
• “Mickey McFinnigan” is a pun on “Mickey Finn,” a drug commonly administered in alcoholic drinks, and Tim Finnegan and Mickey Maloney, two alcoholic men in “Finnegans Wake.”
• In the scene when Stewie is being tortured by Lois, Stewie yelling “thank you” repeatedly is a reference to Little Shop of Horrors where Bill Murray’s character loves pain and goes to get a root canal for pleasure. Also, he requests that Lois slice his nostril, a reference to the movie Chinatown. Jack Nicholson, star of Chinatown, also starred in the original film version of 'Little Shop of Horrors' so its possible that the masochistic portrayal of Stewie is simply an homage to Jack Nicholson.
• Peter’s line, “So what? So let’s dance!” may be a reference to Rodney Dangerfield’s line in Caddyshack.
• This episode also marks the third time in which Stewie’s interactions (as a baby) with the rest of the family are questioned; when he draws a picture of David Tua on the wall he says so out loud, and a moment later Lois expresses surprise that the picture Stewie drew looks somewhat like David Tua, as if she had no idea what Stewie had said. Stewie’s intelligence and capacity to talk has only been questioned twice before, in the final scene of “E. Peterbus Unum and again in Untitled Griffin Family History.”
• After Meg says she loves Peter, Peter responds with "That'll do pig, that'll do", a line from Babe.

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• Family Guy episodes: Season 5