Season 10 · Episode 8 · First aired 4 December 2011

Cool Hand Peter

Episode 8 of Family Guy season 10 (S10E08), the 173rd Family Guy episode overall. Written by Artie Johann and Shawn Ries and directed by Brian Iles. First broadcast on 4 December 2011.

Story

Cleveland Brown is back in Quahog for a week and joins Peter, Joe and Quagmire on a road trip to New Orleans. A sheriff in rural Georgia stops them, takes exception to Cleveland, smashes their headlights and plants cannabis in the boot. The four are sent to a county work camp, and when their sentence is extended by thirty days they break out, with Joe tipping himself from his wheelchair as a distraction. They shelter in a house that proves to be the sheriff's, and Peter, hiding in a wardrobe, talks him into letting the fugitives go. The men reach Quahog by train to find the sheriff waiting, but Joe has called ahead, and he shoots the sheriff in the knee and orders him out of town. Meanwhile Lois, Bonnie and Donna drink wine and dress Brian as a bumblebee.

Production and reception

Artie Johann and Shawn Ries wrote the episode, their first for the series, and Brian Iles directed. Walter Murphy scored it, and the episode was announced at San Diego Comic-Con on 23 July 2011. Wikipedia, Cool Hand Peter
Mike Henry came back to voice Cleveland Brown, having left the role to lead The Cleveland Show, and Sanaa Lathan guest starred as Donna Tubbs. Wikipedia, Cool Hand Peter
Bob Gunton voiced the warden, echoing the part he played in The Shawshank Redemption. Jennifer Tilly and Julius Sharpe also guest starred. Wikipedia, Cool Hand Peter
The title points to the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. The jury at the men's trial is made up of characters from The Simpsons. Wikipedia, Cool Hand Peter
Nielsen put the first airing at 7.14 million viewers with a 3.6/8 share in the 18 to 49 group. Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club graded it C and Terron Moore of Ology scored it 6 out of ten. Wikipedia, Cool Hand Peter

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin
Seth Green	Chris Griffin
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin
Mike Henry	Cleveland Brown
Ralph Garman	Sheriff Nichols
Bob Gunton	Warden
Sanaa Lathan	Donna Tubbs
Julius Sharpe	UPS Guy
Chris Sheridan	Log #1, Correctional Officer

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

Bob Gunton as Warden, The Warden
Sanaa Lathan as Donna Tubbs, Donna Tubbs-Brown
Julius Sharpe as UPS Guy
Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
Adam West as Mayor Adam West
Seth Green as Log #1

Season 10: episode 8 of 23

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 23 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 10 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: Cool Hand Peter
Wikidata Q5167306
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, awaiting editorial review. 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.