A Long Island, New York man who has gone viral for his imitations of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin has opened up about his impression of the character, and getting a mention on the animated show.
Robert Franzese made his first public appearance as Griffin at 2012’s New York Comic-Con, which was ‘the first time [he] had ever dressed up’ as the character.
‘I decided to go to the Con dressed as characters, and if you’re familiar with the character Ghost Rider, there’s a Western version of him,’ Franzese told LAD Bible. ‘But, I got heatstroke in that costume, and [decided] I can’t wear something like this to the Con tomorrow.’
Details: A Long Island, New York man who has gone viral for his imitations of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin has opened up about his impression of the character, and getting a mention on the animated show
Franzese said he eventually ‘decided to wear something comfortable,’ and ‘found the Peter Griffin shirt and pants in my closet.’
He added: ‘I just happened to have everything, it was like the planets aligned’ and ‘everything was in the house’ as things ‘came together’ for the impersonation.
He said when he attended the Comic-Con event he ‘had a whole entourage following’ him like he ‘was Stan Lee or something.’
Franzese opened up on the renewed boost in attention he received with the popular impersonation.
Backstory: Franzese said he eventually ‘decided to wear something comfortable,’ and ‘found the Peter Griffin shirt and pants in my closet’
Franzese was snapped alongside comic book icon Stan Lee
‘I thought that was my 15 minutes of fame, and that it was over and just a cool day of my life,’ he said, ‘but on the Fourth of July that next year, somebody had posted one of the videos of me at the Con and it was blowing up on Reddit.’
The impression has led to Franzese amassing big numbers of social media followers, with 600,000 on TikTok, 261,000 on YouTube and 45,000 on Instagram.
Franzese was mentioned on the show’s 16th episode of its 17th season titled You Can’t Handle the Booth, in a sequence which the show’s creator Seth MacFarlane provided the vocals as he explained to the characters that they’re all fictional.
‘None of you are real, you are all TV characters voiced by me, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, and Mila Kunis,’ MacFarlane said, to which the Griffin character said, ‘Wait, what? Hang on a second, if I’m not real, then why does a fat nerd pretend to be me at every Comic-Con?’
The Griffin impression has led to Franzese amassing big numbers of social media followers, with 600,000 on TikTok, 261,000 on YouTube and 45,000 on Instagram
Details: Franzese was mentioned on the show’s 16th episode of its 17th season titled You Can’t Handle the Booth, in a sequence which the show’s creator Seth MacFarlane provided the vocals
MacFarlane said in response, ‘Please, don’t mention him, it’ll only encourage him.’
Franzese said he took the shade in good humor, as he ‘never thought [he’d] be referenced on it’ in the first place.
‘It’s Family Guy, if you’re not getting roasted – it’s like Weird Al Yankovic in music – you can’t be mad when he parodies your song,’ Franzese told the outlet. ‘It’s like, that’s when you know you’ve made it.’
Franzese opened up about past touch he’s made with those involved in the long-running Fox cartoon.
‘When I first started doing this, I didn’t know if I was going to get sued or not, so I went on IMDb and made a profile so that I could contact them, and I got as far as a representative from [MacFarlane’s production company] Fuzzy Door and I introduced myself, and she said, “Oh yeah, we’ve heard about you, we love what you’re doing, you’ve even come up in table reads about the possibility of doing a live episode.”‘