Cleveland Brown

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This article is about the fictional cartoon character. For the NFL team, see Cleveland Browns. For his son, see Cleveland Brown Jr.
Cleveland Brown
Family Guy / The Cleveland Show character
First appearance
Last appearance
  • The Cleveland Show:
  • "Wheel! Of! Family!" (2013)
Created by
African-American
Age42

Cleveland Orenthal Brown Sr. is a fictional character from the animated television series Family Guy, and its spin-off series The Cleveland Show.[1][2] He is a neighbor and friend of the Griffin family and is best known for his mild-mannered deadpan delivery. His established profession was that of a deli owner, before he switched over to being a postal worker after his return to Family Guy.

In the earlier seasons of Family Guy, Cleveland frequently appeared alongside his wife

Loretta Brown (voiced by Alex Borstein), until their divorce was portrayed in the Family Guy season 4 episode "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire". The pilot episode of The Cleveland Show
depicts Cleveland's farewell to the familiar characters and settings of Family Guy. The Cleveland Show establishes its setting of Stoolbend, Virginia as Cleveland's childhood home town, and introduces a new family and set of characters supporting Cleveland as lead. Following The Cleveland Show's cancellation in 2013, Cleveland returned to Family Guy the following year.

Personality

Cleveland is usually depicted as exceedingly patient and sweet, and only on rare occasions has he been known to lose his temper and

Cleveland Indians game.[3]

One of the

Something, Something, Something Dark Side", this gag is parodied when R2-D2 (played by Cleveland) slips off Luke's (Chris Griffin) X-Wing ship and falls into the swamp after they crash land on Dagobah.[citation needed
]

Cleveland's bathtub accidents have been caused by Peter's giraffe stumbling backwards into his house, the flying missile as stated above, Peter and Lois trying to move their mentally retarded horse by driving into it, missing, and driving into his house, and other accidents. Cleveland has acknowledged that he ought not to take baths during Peter's shenanigans.

Cleveland sometimes will show some sexual deviance or arousal towards attractive women. This is shown in the episode "

Love Blactually", it is suggested that he may have contracted genital warts by having sex with a woman with whom Brian was previously involved. Additionally, Cleveland has "no toenails anyhow" according to season 14 episode 19 "Run, Chris, Run
" in which he and Jerome discuss a toenail fungus commercial.

Development

Creation

Writers may have named the character Cleveland Brown in reference to the similarly named football team,[4] although his last name was not revealed until after Family Guy returned from cancellation in 2005. Furthering this connection, a commercial aired during Super Bowl XLV that showed many TV characters wearing NFL jerseys, with everyone in Quahog wearing New England Patriots jerseys except Cleveland, who is wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey in reference to his name.

During a live broadcast of "Loveline", Seth MacFarlane announced that a Family Guy spin-off featuring Cleveland was currently in the works with the studio and writers.

anthropomorphic bears, a redneck couple and a Victorian-era British family, and one of his son's soccer rivals includes a boy voiced by Kanye West.[7]

Cleveland was officially written out of Family Guy during Season 8 before

Go Stewie Go", where Cleveland appears in the Griffins' house along with other characters just to investigate Meg's normal boyfriend. Another idea had been that Peter Griffin and possibly other Family Guy characters would be traveling in the South and make a guest appearance on The Cleveland Show.[13]

Additionally, Cleveland appeared at the end of the

crossover storyline with Family Guy and The Cleveland Show called Night of the Hurricane
.

The Cleveland Show aired its last episode on May 13, 2013, and was cancelled on July 16. On the same day, Seth MacFarlane revealed that Cleveland would return to Family Guy during the 12th season in the episode "He's Bla-ack!".[14] In that episode, Peter, Quagmire, and Joe mock The Cleveland Show, but still accept him back into their group of friends. Lois and Donna have an argument about parenting which ends with the two women forbidding their husbands to be friends with each other anymore. However the fight is eventually resolved and Peter and Cleveland can be friends again. Cleveland replaces Mort Goldman in the opening credits soon after the episode on-wards.[15]

Voice

Cleveland's original actor, Mike Henry in 2018

the Greased-Up Deaf Guy.[16] Henry met MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design and kept in touch with him after they graduated. A few years later, MacFarlane contacted him about being part of the show; he agreed and came on as both a writer and voice actor. Henry based Cleveland's voice on one of his basketball partners in Virginia.[17] During the show's first four seasons, he was credited as a guest star, but beginning with season five's "Prick Up Your Ears", he has been credited as a main cast member.[18]

On June 26, 2020, amidst racial tensions in the United States, Henry, who is white, announced on Twitter that he was stepping down from voicing the character after twenty-one years, stating "persons of color should play characters of color."[19][20] Actor Wendell Pierce launched a campaign to become Henry's replacement afterward.[21] On September 25, 2020, it was announced that actor Arif Zahir, who is African-American, would replace Henry as Cleveland, starting in the show's 20th Season.[22] Zahir had previously gained Internet popularity with voice impressions of the character. Speaking to Henry, who was to continue doing other voices for the show, Zahir, who was a longtime fan of both the character and the show, said: "...you created something truly special, and I promise I will do my absolute best to honor your legacy."[23] To the fans he said, "I promise not to let you down."[23] Before the 20th season premiere in 2021, Henry sent a video on Twitter saying that he was "handing the torch" to Zahir and said a farewell message in Cleveland's voice.[24]

References

  1. ^ a b Nikki Finke (24 April 2008). "Primetime Pilot Panic: Updated Hot List". Deadline.
  2. ^ Schneider, Michael (May 4, 2008). "Fox adopts 'Family Guy'". Variety.
  3. ^ Jonathan Green, Gabe Miller (writers) & Matt Engstrom (director) (April 3, 2011). "The Essence of Cleveland". The Cleveland Show. Season 2. Episode 18. Fox.
  4. ISBN 978-0-7391-8838-5
    .
  5. ^ Seth MacFarlane Loveline Westwood One January 16, 2008
  6. Fast Company
    . Retrieved October 18, 2009.
  7. ^ a b "TV Show News and Ratings - Live Feed". The Hollywood Reporter.
  8. ^ Schneider, Michael (May 4, 2008). "Fox adopts 'Family Guy'". Variety.
  9. ^ "Zap2it Fall TV Preview 2008: FOX's New Shows - Zap2it - News & Features". Zap2it.
  10. ^ "The Cleveland Show video: Mike Henry and Seth MacFarlane on TV.com".
  11. ^ Interview with McFarlane on FOX. Retrieved on the 27.07.08 Archived August 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ "TV Show News and Ratings - Live Feed". The Hollywood Reporter.
  13. ^ Fickett, Travis (July 15, 2008). "Fox Animation: The Future and Beyond". IGN. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
  14. ^ "Twitter / SethMacFarlane: RT @spartygirl8356". Twitter.com. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  15. ^ Julius Sharpe (writer) & Steve Robertson (director) (May 11, 2014). "He's Bla-ack!". Family Guy. Season 12. Episode 20. Fox.
  16. The Advocate
    . November 19, 2006.
  17. ^ "Mike Henry: The Origins of Cleveland and Herbert". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
  18. Campus Times
    . Retrieved September 8, 2009.
  19. ^ Haring, Bruce (June 26, 2020). "'Family Guy' Voice Actor Mike Henry Stepping Down From 'Cleveland Brown' Role". Deadline. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  20. ^ Otterson, Joe (June 26, 2020). "'Family Guy' Star Mike Henry Will No Longer Play Cleveland Brown". Variety. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  21. ^ Sharf, Mike (June 29, 2020). "'The Wire' Favorite Wendell Pierce Launches Campaign to Be the New Voice of Cleveland". IndieWire. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  22. ^ Swift, Andy (September 25, 2020). "Family Guy Reveals New Actor Voicing Cleveland Brown in Season 19". TVLine. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  23. ^ a b Rose, Michelle. "Stars out: Liv Tyler leaves '9-1-1: Lone Star'". TV Media. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  24. ^ Flook, Ray (2021-09-26). "Family Guy: Mike Henry Wishes "Cleveland Brown" Arif Zahir Best Wishes". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 2021-09-28.

External links

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