Roger (American Dad!)

Roger Smith
American Dad! character
First appearance	"Pilot" (2005)
Created by	Seth MacFarlane Mike Barker Matt Weitzman
Designed by	Seth MacFarlane
Voiced by	Seth MacFarlane
In-universe information
Aliases	List Meredith Fields Stan's Uncle Roger Tearjerker Cecilia Takaro Raider Dave Samantha Kingsbury The Legman Scotch Bingington Applebee McFridays Sidney Huffman Chilly Arbuckle T. Boone Braf Zachland Jeannie Gold Becky Tenderharts Lieutenant Wingz Sholanda Dykes Mr. Deliver Jeremy Neederhoff Abigail Lemonparty Ricky Spanish Dr. Penguin Twill Ongenbone Lazlo Morphine Martin Sugar Krispy Kreme McDonald Jean Louise Finch Kevin Ramage Sweeps McCulloch Clive Trotter Tom Yabo Dimitri Krotchliknioff Fantasia Lopez Roland Chang Spartacus Vanderhill Chex LeMeneux Bing Cooper Roy Rogers McFreely Laura Vanderbooben Luke Fondleberg Reaganomics Lamborghini Alicia Wilkner Sgt. Pepper Cuss Mustard Ace Chapman Jenny Fromdabloc Winfrey Smith Bob Danalou Max Jets Jerry Jets Kevin Bacon Parker Peters Genevieve Vavance Billy Jesusworth Trish Unnamed Nigerian medical student Dan Ansom Handsome Clip Clop Professor Jordan Edelstein Warren Beanstalk Ruby Zeldastein Emmylou Sugarbean Ace Crouton Skylar Montessori Madeleine Carpal Tunnel Burt Jarvis Frankie Marconi Morris Buttermaker Horse Renoir Professor Baxter Captain François Dubonais LeVar Crush Marmalade the Cat Maurice Barnes Uncle Kappy Tony O'Chat Ragi-Baba Cosworth Smith Isaac Felipe Jaureka Ziegler Valik Lacey Krinklehoel Abbey Road Tasha Flunchtkin Aussie Michael The Weeknd Numerous other unnamed
Species	Jeff Fischer (housemate/friend/rebirthed son)
Relatives	Caroline (aunt)
Origin	Outer space

Roger Smith is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom American Dad!, created, voiced, and designed by Seth MacFarlane. Roger is a grey space alien living with the Smith family. Having lived on Earth since crashing in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, Roger came to live with the Smiths after rescuing main character Stan Smith at Area 51 four years prior to the beginning of the series. The character has also made cameo appearances in episodes of Family Guy.^[1][2]

Roger is usually insensitive and careless; he often takes advantage of, cheats, and ridicules people. Over time, the character has also exhibited increasingly

When voicing the character, MacFarlane speaks in a swish accent intended to resemble that of Paul Lynde.^[5] In April 2014, Roger was voted "Gayest Cartoon Character of All Time" in a first-ever March Madness style competition held by Logo TV.^[6]

Character

Roger loves drinking wine. He is currently single and is also bisexual^{[citation needed]}. Roger is slightly shorter than Hayley though he was also described as being 3 foot tall by Stan but this was likely just an insult. Having his feelings hurt usually spurs the creation of his alter egos and schemes.

Roger typically displays a lighthearted, carefree temperament while at the same time engaging in his freakish grossness, outrageous malice, and rascally shenanigans.

History

According to "Frannie 911", Roger has been on earth for over 60 years, having

Details on Roger's actual family and pre-Earth life have yet to be shown on the series. Although in the episode "Lost in Space", a brief clip revealed that prior to Roger's life on Earth, he was involved in a homosexual romantic relationship with another member of his alien race, Zing; however, Roger cheated on Zing, blatantly making out with a human male in front of him. It's also been revealed in the episode "I Am the Walrus" that Roger ate his father when he turned 15. Roger revealed in the episode "OreTron Trail", that he once visited Earth before in the 1800s after crash landing with his aunt Caroline and she died on impact.

Roger came into contact with the Smith family when he saved Stan's life back when Roger was a fugitive of Area 51 (four years prior to the show's beginnings). Feeling he owed Roger a life debt because of this, Stan rescued him from government capture and allowed him to live in his home. Stan has allowed this in defiance of his employer, the CIA. Roger now lives in the Smith home and uses the attic as his hideout/room/bar.

Roger's disguises/alter egos

After Stan took Roger in for saving his life, he felt that it would endanger him and the rest of his family if it were to be discovered that Roger is an alien and living with them. Consequently, Stan forbade him from leaving the house when the series first began, even in disguise. Confined to the house in the first couple of episodes, Roger was miserable and malcontent.^[4] However, Roger is able to skillfully use disguises to exist in the outside world, which has become a major plot device in following the first few seasons. Adding to this, he has created countless alter egos to go along with them.^[7]

Roger has, however, abused this practice, leading numerous lives and outrageously deceiving numerous people. In fact, some of Roger's characters are in prison, while others are widely despised, and others inexplicably have full-fledged human families and are even married; several of his characters somehow have birth children while others are graduates of Howard University. Roger also uses several of these personas to act in a criminal manner, as several of his alter egos have been seen to engage in robbery, sexual assault, police corruption, identity theft, drug trafficking, child abuse, and with one persona even admitting to being wanted "for a series of prostitute murders".

As the series has progressed, Roger's personas have inexplicably developed their own lives that even Roger himself can be unaware of and his control has been shown to be tenuous at best. In "The Horse Whisperer" he realizes seconds before walking into a room (to see a horse therapist) that he is the one inside. In another episode, both he and Stan express surprise that a character introduced by Roger wasn't one of his personas.

Despite his numerous disguises consisting of only a different set of garments and hair with no effort to disguise his gray skin,

Stan and Roger's relationship is best described as a sibling rivalry. At times Roger and Stan dislike each other and at other times they get along well. Roger is seen to be incredibly spiteful toward Stan and frequently makes fun of him when his ideas don't work well. However, unlike the rest of the Smith family, Stan is able to put Roger in his place in several occasions, usually by assaulting him in anger.

Although Roger and Stan seem to hate each other, they do get along in a few times. In "You Debt Your Life", Stan's complaints about Roger's behaviors forced Roger to move out after Stan paid his life debt by saving him from being run over, but later admits that he really missed Roger when he moved out.

Relationship with Klaus

Klaus and Roger's relationship is best described as a

In April 2014, Roger was voted "Gayest Cartoon Character of All Time" in a first-ever March Madness style competition held by Logo TV.^[6]

References