Showing Out

Missed out on your Sunday dose of Animation Domination? Fret not. Last night, Kanye West appeared on The Cleveland Show as Kenny West, a rapper who battles Cleveland Jr. after he finds the chubby teen chatting up his girl. After Mr. West drops a nice 16 (references to John Edwards, Tenderoni and Zac Efron abound), Cleveland Jr. decides to hop on the mic and give it a go as well. And let’s just say the young one knows how to spit a battle rap equivalent to a smack in the gourd. Soon, the pair trade bars in Klingon before deading the beef and pairing together like “eggs and bacon.” Nice stuff. Can’t wait for this one to hit DVD - we don’t like no pixelated middle fingers, either.

Yesterday saw Cleveland Brown and Rallo’s voice actor Mike Henry discuss how he came up with the characters that he brings to life on The Cleveland Show. Now, we get a sneak peek of Kanye West’s cameo on the show, for which he voices the rapper Kenny West. Kanye, who recorded his vocals before last June, appears in this clip doing what he does best, rapping on the mic and calling himself the “black Zac Efron” (he said it, no one else did). Kanye’s first appearance on the show will air this Sunday, which is a good look for Mr. West who’s been M.I.A. from the game since he Taylor Swifted the game. Looks like Ye did a good ass job right here.

Confused as to why a white guy voices the character of Cleveland on The Cleveland Show? Further confused that he also voices the character Rallo, the ladies man preschool son of Donna? So are we. But you can at least witness it for yourself in the above clip, where voice actor Mike Henry switches from voice to voice as he explains how he developed each character for the show. The key to Rallo, you ask? He gets into the booth and says, “I’ve got an eight-foot boa constrictor.” Yeah, weird on many, many fronts. Hit the play button and prepare to have your world shaken up.

This is pretty interesting. When Cleveland Brown left Family Guy for his own show, creator Seth MacFarlane had a tentative replacement in mind that would have rocked the toon’s foundation. According to THR’s Live Feed, MacFarlane wanted to replace him with Mr. T, though the A-Team star wouldn’t participate because he’s a born-again Christian whose morals don’t line up with the show’s edgy humor. “It would be like Mr. T was in the show as Mr. T, and he’s just the fourth guy in the group,” said MacFarlane. “Animation is one of the few remaining television genres where you can really touch on politics. [...] A live-action sitcom can’t really go there.” We’re actually kind of sad this didn’t happen - but clearly, the only fool to pity here is Mr. T.

Back in June 2009 when the world was first introduced to FOX’s The Cleveland Show, Kanye West had already signed on to voice the role of Kenny West on the series before it even aired. Now, thanks to EW, we get a look at the rapper’s character on the show. In the above pic, we get a sneak peek at Kenny West before the episode airs on May 2nd, when Cleveland Brown, Jr. will battle rap against him in an effort to win over a young woman voiced by Taraji P. Henson. “We knew that Kanye was a Family Guy fan,” Cleveland Show co-creator Rich Appel said. “He’s made reference to it on his website and stuff. In the writers’ room, we just thought it would be great to have him as a character on the town. So we came up with the story. He really liked it and said, ‘Sure!’” Kanye additionally recorded some vocals a month ago for future appearances, and while Kanye may not be back in the spotlight as himself, he’s at least taking baby steps here.

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is no stranger to hosting shows on live television, having previously hosted his own Family Guy half-hour special that featured performances and skits from the actor and his co-stars. Now, he’s taking a more serious approach to a hosting gig, with the announcement that MacFarlane has signed on to host the 2010 Writers Guild Awards’ West Coast ceremony on Saturday, February 20, at the Hyatt Regency Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. “I’m honored and humbled to be chosen as host of the WGAW awards. I look forward to catching up with my strike buddies from 2007, and making some new strike buddies for 2011,” said MacFarlane. “Everyone knows his extraordinary voiceover talents, but we’re only beginning to see him as a versatile live performer. He can sing, dance, spin plates…and we’re going to put him to work,” said Writers Guild Awards’ WGAW show executive producer Spike Jones, Jr. Better get that censor button ready.

Sound off: Do you think MacFarlane is serious enough to host a real award show?

Like all good cartoons, Family Guy is the brainchild of nerds, and with nerd territory comes all things Star Wars-related. Creator Seth MacFarlane previously made a parody of Star Wars before, and based off of its success, he’s going at it again, this time focusing on The Empire Strikes Back. In the above trailer for Something Something Something Dark Side, you can get an advance look at the full jawn before it hits DVD on December 22nd, when both Family Guy and Star Wars fans across the world will be able to revel in an entire cartoon episode dedicated to the film. Sounds creepy, right? It is.

If you’re not a dedicated viewer of The Cleveland Show, you have to at least watch this. Last night’s episode focused on Cleveland trying to prevent his step-daughter to give up her virginity at a young age, prompting him to bust in on her and her boyfriend getting busy in the backseat of his car. After he invades their privacy, he asks the boyfriend if he’d help Cleveland Jr. become more of a ladies man, leading to this amazing and hilarious clip. Though the above clip is only a snippet of the whole thing, you pretty much get the gist of it all. Hit the jump to see the full episode.

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Last week didn’t really go so well for Seth MacFarlane and his upcoming Family Guy special. After inking an exclusive deal with Microsoft to have them entirely sponsor their forthcoming Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show, the conglomerate backed out after a few execs were invited to the taping and were horrified by the sense of humor. But now, it looks as though Fox has nothing to worry about. According to THR, Sherlock Holmes has stepped in as the new sponsor for the 30-minute special, allowing the show to air commercial-free in exchange for the special being woven into the show’s content (you can take a peek at what it would have looked like for Microsoft here). The special, which airs on November 8th, will now feature a sneak preview of the film before it hits theaters Christmas Day. Looks like MacFarlane can go back to enjoying that scotch like in the picture above, huh?

The fate of the lesser loved animated series on Fox always makes us nervous. Sure, everybody tunes in for Family Guy during the Sunday lineup, but most people tune out as soon as the American Dad credits start to roll. Lucky for us, then, that Fox has given the series a life extension, with the announcement that the studio has ordered yet another season of the show, which is currently in the beginning of its fifth season. According to the report, renewals for series like these are needed far ahead of time to prevent the interruption of production cycles, considering that it takes forever to animate each and every episode. Nonetheless, we’re happy to know that the fourth chip on the Sunday animation block won’t be knocked off anytime soon. Take that, haters.