The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve

The Life Of Larry And Larry & Steve

"The Life of Larry" and "Larry & Steve" are two animated short films created by Seth MacFarlane in the late 1990s that eventually led to the development of the animated sitcom Family Guy. MacFarlane originally created "The Life of Larry" as a thesis film in 1995, while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design. His professor at RISD submitted MacFarlane's cartoon to Hanna-Barbera, where he was hired a year later. Later that year, MacFarlane created a sequel to "The Life of Larry" called "Larry & Steve", which featured the main character of his first film, the middle-aged Larry, and an intellectual dog named Steve. The short was broadcast as one of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons.

Executives at Fox saw both Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series based on the characters, to be called Family Guy. Peter Griffin, one of the main characters in Family Guy, was largely based on Larry. In addition, Steve would be the main inspiration behind the Griffin family dog, Brian. Fox proposed MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short, giving him a budget of $50,000. MacFarlane stated that the pilot for Family Guy took half a year to create and produce. Recalling the experience in an interview with The New York Times, MacFarlane stated, "I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot." Upon completion of the pilot, the series went on the air. The network executives were impressed with the pilot and ordered thirteen episodes, seven of which aired during the first season of Family Guy. MacFarlane was offered a $2 million per-season contract.