Season 12 · Episode 8 · First aired 15 December 2013
Christmas Guy
Episode 8 of Family Guy season 12 (S12E08), the 218th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Greg Colton. First broadcast on 15 December 2013.
Story
The Griffins find the Christmas carnival at Quahog Mall cancelled, and Vinny learns that Carter is behind it. Peter tries several ways to give Carter some Christmas feeling and finally succeeds by telling him that people are wondering whether he is Jewish, at which Carter reinstates the carnival. Stewie is still low, and tells the mall Santa that what he wants is Brian back. At the mall he then spots his own past self, who has time travelled to buy a present, and Vinny flatters that Stewie into handing over his return pad. Stewie goes back and pulls Brian clear of the car, sends the pad away to avoid a paradox, and fades from existence. On Christmas Day Brian is alive and thanks the present Stewie, who knows nothing about it.
Production and reception
- After the character came back, Seth MacFarlane thanked viewers for caring about the dog and indicated that the production had never meant the death to be permanent. Wikipedia, Christmas Guy
- Nielsen figures gave it a 3.0 rating and an audience of 6.37 million. Recorded playback added 2.21 million, taking the total to 8.58 million and the rating among viewers aged 18 to 49 to 4.3. Wikipedia, Christmas Guy
- Eric Thurm of The A.V. Club graded it B plus and wrote that the three episode story worked well enough, while calling it a bit forced. Wikipedia, Christmas Guy
Voices
| Voice | Characters |
|---|---|
| Seth MacFarlane | Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin |
| Alex Borstein | Lois Griffin, Secretary |
| Seth Green | Chris Griffin |
| Mila Kunis | Meg Griffin |
| Chris Cox | Cashier |
| Ralph Garman | Sandwich |
| Joshua Rush | Kid in Bed |
| Julius Sharpe | Evan |
| Tony Sirico | Vinny |
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
- Joshua Rush as Boy
- Tony Sirico as Vinny
- Lucas Van Wormer as Kevin McCallister
- Robert Wu as Asian Man
- Uncredited in Deleted Scenes:
- Rachael MacFarlane as Girl in Hot Tub #2
- Patrick Stewart as Susie Swanson
- Fred Tatasciore as The Grinch
- Mae Whitman as Girl in Hot Tub #1
- Kari Wahlgren as Girl in Hot Tub #3
- Seth MacFarlane as Carter Pewterschmidt
Season 12: episode 8 of 21
- E1Finders Keepers
- E2Vestigial Peter
- E3Quagmire's Quagmire
- E4A Fistful of Meg
- E5Boopa-dee Bappa-dee
- E6Life of Brian
- E7Into Harmony's Way
- E8Christmas GuyYou are here
- E9Peter Problems
- E10Grimm Job
- E11Brian's a Bad Father
- E12Mom's the Word
- E133 Acts of God
- E14Fresh Heir
- E15Secondhand Spoke
- E16Herpe the Love Sore
- E17The Most Interesting Man in the World
- E18Baby Got Black
- E19Meg Stinks!
- E20He's Bla-ack!
- E21Chap Stewie
SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 12 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.
Provenance
Facts only- Data refreshed
- 6 September 2026
- Verification
- Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
- 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.