Season 4 · Episode 20 · First aired 29 January 2006

Patriot Games

Episode 20 of Family Guy season 4 (S04E20), the 70th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Mike Henry and directed by Cyndi Tang. First broadcast on 29 January 2006.

Story

At his high school reunion Peter claims to be a secret agent, astronaut and millionaire, until the truth emerges on meeting the programme's version of Tom Brady. Drunk, Peter flattens everyone between himself and the toilet, and the impressed character gets him a place on the New England Patriots. After a touchdown against Dallas, Peter stages a huge Shipoopi number and is dropped for showboating. Traded to the London Sillinannies, a team that cannot play, he challenges the Patriots to a match. His teammates flee at kick-off, leaving Peter to be tackled alone, but his nerve wins back the character's respect. Meanwhile Brian bets Stewie $50 on a celebrity boxing match. Brian loses and will not pay until Stewie has beaten him badly twice. Stewie then grants Brian one free revenge hit, and the wait drives Stewie to paranoia. In London, Brian finally pushes him under a bus.

Production and reception

Mike Henry wrote the episode, which aired a week before Super Bowl XL; much of it was written with Patriots coach Bill Belichick in mind before Tom Brady agreed to voice himself. Wikipedia, Patriot Games (Family Guy)
Carol Channing, Bob Costas, Troy Brown and Jay Leno voiced themselves, though Mike Tyson did not. Wikipedia, Patriot Games (Family Guy)
Several production staff were offended by the scenes of Stewie beating Brian, but cast members and Seth MacFarlane's mother enjoyed them, and they were kept. Wikipedia, Patriot Games (Family Guy)
The Shipoopi number, from the 1957 musical The Music Man, runs about two and a half minutes and was directed by Dan Povenmire with one of the largest orchestras the show had used. Wikipedia, Patriot Games (Family Guy)
The episode drew 8.45 million viewers, the 55th most watched programme of the week, and IGN ranked the Shipoopi scene first in its list of the show's top musical moments. Wikipedia, Patriot Games (Family Guy)

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin, Ellen
Seth Green	Chris Griffin
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin
Lori Alan	Diane Simmons
Jeff Bergman	Fred Flintstone
Tom Brady	Tom Brady
Troy Brown	Troy Brown
Carol Channing	Carol Channing
Bob Costas	Bob Costas

Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.

Guest voices

Tom Brady as himself, Tom Brady
Troy Brown as himself
Carol Channing as herself
Bob Costas as himself
Jay Leno as himself
Jeff Bergman as Fred Flintstone
Alexander Siddig as London Sillinannies Player
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
Ralph Garman as Number Three

Season 4: episode 20 of 30

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 30 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 4 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: Patriot Games (Family Guy)
Wikidata Q4046535
IMDb
TVmaze
Data refreshed: 6 September 2026
Verification: Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
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Licence: Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
Note: The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, then checked against those sources in a separate review pass by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-10-06; not read by a person. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.