some family history. and clearly your lifestyle that you maintain your weight, that you do the exercise has helped to decrease your risk. >> if diet and exercise can make tonight, one of the greatest talents in the history of television. seth macfarlane. >> if he had it to do over again. >> it's really angry, fantastic angry sex. >> and his thoughts on the tea party. >> my god, that would be just wall to wall laughs for four and possibly eight years. >> seth macfarlane, no holds barred. >> you just did. i think we expected it from you. >> this is "piers morgan tonight." >> there's a lot you don't know about him.

and all will be revealed about the dark secret side of seth macfarlane this evening. evil genius, welcome. >> oh, we're starting. >> we're starting. i thought you were doing a promo. >> we're off and running. how do you feel about being an ooel genius? >> i'm a fairly peaceful, docile individual. evil isn't my primary goal, i'll take it. what was your original intro? >> the original intro, i just told you was tonight one of the greatest talents in the history of television family guy seth macfarlane. it was rejected. we turned it into evil genius. you started a t the age of -- >> i have no recollection of doing those which tells me that probably about 2 or 3 years old. >> barney, fred, wilma. >> looks like barney is misspelled.

>> you're 3 years old. they're very good for 3. clearly a cartoon genius. >> i'm not quite sure why fred is -- waving an american flag there. >> it could be an ax. which is where the evil starts to filter through. >> wilma looks like she's ready to -- i'm not even going to go there. she's ready to make shaquille o'neal's day. >> at what point did you go for being a 3-year-old cartoonist into evil person? >> probably at about 4. i guess. >> where did the dark stuff come from? it's hilarious. >> a lot of that is my family. my cousins, my mother, a lot of people in my family had a very dark, very twisted sense of humor. >> do you -- dark isn't quite the word.

you seem to be absurd and slightly sinister in everything. >> the absurd, absolutely. the sinister i think i think is something that people get from stewy and bleeds outd into the rest of the universe. >> how much of that is you? >> stewy? very little, believe it or not. >> you're a liberal. >> yes. >> you went to a conservative school. you worked for fox. i'm doing the math here. it's not adding up the right way. >> fox is a company that is schizophrenic in a lot of ways. the news division is very conservative. the entertainment division is very progressive. they really kind of keep their hands out of our business, within reason. i think at the top it's a company. i've never met rupert. i always assumed he was a businessman first and a conservative second. >> i can confirm that.

absolutely. business is always first. sort of dug a little bit into politics then. let's go straight hard core. because we're heading towards an election. america is economically tanking. is this great comic value for you? are these cast of characters emerging? >> i guess rick perry or michele bachmann it would be the best possible thing to happen to comedy. >> that is dream double ticket? >> probably, yeah. my god, that would be wall to wall laughs for four and possibly eight years. but, you know, for me i constantly have to remind myself to try and see the absurd to try and look at it from a comedic standpoint. really that's what people want from me. they don't want to hear me giving my personal views on politics.

it is hard not to get really, really frustrated. you saw it coming when obama was elected. people were expecting him to magically fix everything within a few years and i remember thinking that's going to go south pretty fast. because you figure eight years of damage has to take 16 years to fix, longly, i would think. it's much easier to -- somebody i think it was mr. spock said it's far easier to destroy than to create. >> it's true. >> you have to allow a lot more time. there steams so be this revisionist history that somehow this haul startsed after obama got elected. >> isn't the problem -- >> it was horrible many years before that. >> isn't the problem that obama came along as the new messiah. >> the expectation were high. >> if you didn't agree with what george bush and many americans didn't, it didn't matter because hope, change, audacity had arrived.

>> people were desperate. >> the reality is it doesn't work like that as he's found out. are you disappointed by obama or do you feel he couldn't do much more? >> the only thing i'm disappointed about -- on the whole, i'm not disappointed i don't think anyone else would have any better luck given the obstructionism that the policy op obstructionism by the right wing right now. before the guy can even- he takes a breath before he can say the first word of the first idea that pops into his head, nope. can't do it. anybody who's in that position is kind of screwed. i think his flaw was that -- i all equate it to blazing saddles. not to use a black analogy. when the sheriff comes into the sheriff's office after going autoand trying to mike friends with the locals and they give him the reaction that they gave him and gene wilder says, what do you expect? in a way that's what he did. he was sheriff bart going out there in the congress and trying to make frepds. he was trying to reach across the aisle you've got to think,

really? really, did you think you were going to get a response that was any different than the response you got. did you really think they were going to be your friends. they want to see you fail. it works better for them if they see you fail. that's the only thing that is kind of a colossal screw up i think. >> you said i think about rick perry. >> i'll get filleted by my

republican friends for this. he was too noble. he went in, let's work together and they of course were going to have none of that. >> i think that's absolutely right. there's a slight naivety to the expectation that they would. and why would they? >> there are far worse things to say about a guy than he tried to compromise. he tried to be too collegiate. there's a lot worse characteristics in a president than that. >> when you see the gop, you've tweeted quite extensively. a governor from texas, that might be worth trying. >> i don't fundamentally dislike conservatives. i have a lot of conservative friends. and i think that at one time -- >> do you fundamentally dislike their policies. >> in 2011, yes. if this were 1955, i'd probably be the first guy, yeah, republican right here. i think we had a middle class then. now everything is going here and going here. we have the very rich and the very poor and fewer and fewer people in between and conservative policies don't work as well in that kand of an environment. it just doesn't work. and it's not that i dislike conservatives. occasionally i find myself agreeing with things now and then. >> have you dated a conservative. >> yes.

>> snowingly? >> it's really angry fantastic angry sex. when you take a position such as the denial of evolution. it's not a theory. it happened. there's -- i've never gotten to do this on tv. you can zoom in on this if you want. >> who is that? >> it's stewy. >> how do you know? >> enough of the pieces are there. >> that's to me is evolution. >> the basic math adds up. climate change is -- that's still really crazy to me. to take a position of denial with regard to climate change. but if you are being really forgiving ubd at least say, all

right, it's a relatively new -- we know less about climate change than about evolution. we understand more about evolution than we do about gravity. nobody questions gravity. >> when you see these tea party candidates and they're against evolution and climate change. they think gay marriage is a sin. when you see all this but you see the traction they're getting, it's quite clear probably the way the polls are going one of them will be at least either the candidate or the running mate. what do you feel this is about? >> they're angry. everybody's angry and we're looking for some place to focus our anger. that's what we do as human beings. i mean, they can't all be crazy. this can't be a mob of crazy people.

they can't all be clinically insane. all i can think of is they're just getting a lot of really bad information. it's strange that we all kind of vote against our interests the conservative members of the tea party vote against their pocketbooks and i vote against my pocketbook. why do i vote for politicians who are going to tax me more. >> did you think that obama can win the next election? >> no idea. no idea. i think ultimately if the republicans -- if the republicans put up a michele bachmann then, yes, i think he can win. if they put up mitt romney, then who knows. that's a guy who is by today's standards a pretty down the middle conservative. which is kind of scary. >> he's more electable i would imagine to the mainstream. >> rick perry, i don't know, he falls somewhere in between. he's fairly extreme in his

views. but he's a little bit more articulate about it. >> when i say things like that, people they tweet me in droves and say what's extreme to you, you snarky little brit. it's not extreme to millions and millions of americans. is it right -- >> what is the left wing equivalent of the tea party, would you say? >> i struggle to find one. that doesn't mean necessarily that they are out of kilter with the believes of many millions of americans. >> obama -- you can disagree with obama's economic policies. you can disagree with miss position on health care. these are gray areas. he's never done anything as crazy as questioning evolution. why? why question something that is so -- so thoroughly backed up by science? >> let's take a break. let you calm down a bit. have a class of water. with when we come back we'll talk about the birth of "family guy." later you're going to reveal the newest member of the cast. >> oh, really? >> may be news to you, that's what i'm told. >> hey, how about that? it says there's another state to

abolish the death penalty. >> oh, is that right? >> it says it makes you share a pops kl with tom waits? >> what state is that? >> i don't know. looks like oklahoma chasuetts. >> when you watch that your very first proper animation, what do you think? >> not very proper. >> was that your pathetic attempt at a british accent? >> yes. it's not very good. i have yet to make any profit off of it. it's -- i look at it -- it doesn't look that much different than what i would do now. >> you can recognize it as your kind of style. even amateurish. >> the life of larry my degree film from college. most of those gags have been pillaged for "family guy." it's a very crude, very early version of "family guy" in a lot of ways. >> when you have this kind of vision, what was the ethoes going to be? has it maintained a consistency? did you have a clear idea of what eventually you would love to do in animated form? >> no. when i was in college disney was having their second golden age, "beauty and the beat"adus3pomut

>> hey, how about that? it says there's another state to abolish the death penalty. >> oh, is that right? >> it says it makes you share a pops kl with tom waits? >> what state is that? >> i don't know. looks like oklahoma chasuetts. >> when you watch that your very first proper animation, what do you think? >> not very proper. >> was that your pathetic attempt at a british accent? >> yes. it's not very good. i have yet to make any profit off of it. it's -- i look at it -- it doesn't look that much different than what i would do now. >> you can recognize it as your kind of style. even amateurish. >> the life of larry my degree film from college.

most of those gags have been pillaged for "family guy." it's a very crude, very early version of "family guy" in a lot of ways. >> when you have this kind of vision, what was the ethoes going to be? has it maintained a consistency? did you have a clear idea of what eventually you would love to do in animated form? >> no. when i was in college disney was having their second golden age, "beauty and the beast" had just come out and they were doing amazing movies, that that's what i wanted to do. i wanted to go and be a disney animator. then -- >> didn't work. >> i got out here and i found out that you start hearing stories that make it seem -- so i said maybe that's not for me. sensiblity wise, i had veered in a different direction by that point. i was doing stand up in college and kind of enjoying the more adult humor that that allowed me the ability to do.

and at the same time the simpsons had got and lot of traction. and rewritten the rule book for primetime television animation. there was now really a whole new genre that was available to produce in. that's kind of more what i want to do. >> were you thinking simpsons only ten times for vile? >> not really. when i look at the show i don't -- i don't know. i guess it is. >> it is ten times as vile. i think we both agree. the vileness has made you the highest paid tv producer in the world. >> really?

>> your contract is believed to be over $100 million? >> is that true? >> it's believed to be. that makes it true in america. >> no denial. >> thatst that's what may lawyers tell me. >> you are repulsively rich? >> i guess. i guess. >> are you motivated -- >> and a republican president, i'm going to get richer. it's going to be fantastic. >> it would help my revulsion at your fast success of wealth if you are displeasing to women, but you're not unfortunately. you must be living the life of riley. you must be -- >> nobody believes me. i have the same problems as anyone else. >> you have a problem getting a girl?

>> if i was, you know, a taylor lautner walking around, it would be -- i would have no difficulty at all. >> how many times have you been turned down for a date in the last year? >> as much as the next guy. >> is there a problem with your lines? >> maybe. >> are they too unpleasant. >> i'm just as awkward and uncomfortable as i was in high school. that might be the problem. >> is that true? >> maybe that's the downside of not caring about money, you're still -- you don't gain the [ bleep ] confidence. can you say [ bleep ] on cnn. >> you just did. i think we expected it from you. i think maybe that's a problem. >> extraordinary. >> let's take another break as i reel from that confession. i'm going to talk about you as a family guy. one of the great stories about nationwide insurance, what's up ?

what's vanishing deductible all about ? guys, it's demonstration time. let's blow carl's mind. okay, let's say i'm your insurance deductible. every year you don't have an accident, $100 vanishes. the next year, another $100. where am i going, carl ? the next year... that was weird. but awesome ! ♪ nationwide is on your side

one of the great stories about this is you found out family guy was being picked up from your mother who had read it in the trades. which is an extraordinary story. i want to talk to you about that and your mother who i know you're extremely close to. >> mom, it's kind of cold in here. >> don't touch the thermostat, meg, your father gets upset. >> oh, come on, this this thing goes up to 90. >> who touched the thermostat? >> how does he always know. >> brain implant.

every father's got one. tells you when the children play with the dial. >> my thing went off. >> my kid over here? >> forget it. >> that was the pilot of "family guy" on fox. you made it extraordinarily $50,000 as opposed to the millions it ought to have cost? . how did you do that? >> i was an animation major in college i had very good training from the rhode island school of design. i was able to sit at home and have a stack of papers and stack of magic markers and pen sils and whatnot in front of me and do it with the skills i learned in college. >> they said $50,000 or forget

it. >> you had a budget. >> i was completely green. i had no credits to my name. they said, if you can do this for $50,000. we'll give you a chance. >> and then you didn't hear anything. then your phone goes early one morning and it's your mother who tells you -- >> who says, hey, your show got picked up. i said what? my mother had taken to reading the trades as i think a lot of people in hollywood have the same story. their parents start to read variety. it's hilarious they start to use terms that they don't really know, my mother could call and say now is that a go. i think the show is a go. i think it's been green lit. the -- alpha net -- green light. >> you didn't know. this is how the news was broken to you. your mother told you. how did you react? >> i mean, look, my mother was always the first to know any piece of gossip. it only stood to reason. i was very -- i was cautiously

excited. of course, i double-checked wit the network. my mother was right. >> you were very close to her and she died a year ago from cancer. how important was she to your career? >> really, really -- you know, certainly from a comedy standpoint just invaluable. she was had a wickedly vicious sense of humor. there was really nothing on family guy or any of the other shows that could offend her. >> i was going to ask you that question. let's cut to the quip here, family guy you've ripped into pedophiles, to aids, you name it. even a perversion of the nicole simpson murder. you would imagine that there was not a mother in the world that wouldn't be offended by something you've done. you're el thing me your mother went along with ail this. >> she was unflappable. there was really nothing that phased her.

she in fact, told me some jokes and some stories from her past none of which i can repeat on camera that shocked me. i was never able to do the reverse. she was -- and for that reason, you know, even over 60 she was really a valuable resource as any colleague or friend of mine would be. >> do you have any limits? >> there are things that are justify limits? >> whatsome. >> we wouldn't make a 9/11 joke for at least two weeks after 9/11. and now we feel -- within reason comfortable treading on that ground as do many other comics. >> how do you make that decision? >> that is just your gut. that's just sitting in a room with in the case of our writer's room about 15, very smart conscientious people who are aware of what is funny and what is going to be over the line, or at least we try to be. if we're wrong about something, we have a take where we read the script aa loud for the network, and we get a lot of groans. if we make it past that point, there's always broadcast standards who in fox's case are actually very reasonable people who genuinely care about the comedy as much as they care

about not getting the network fined. >> is religion a particularly sensitive issue for networks? >> yes. >> only in america. >> in britain it wouldn't be an issue at all. >> yes. that's something that america really needs to get over. religion is an institution that for better or worse is here to stay for a while. >> and most people from most religions have a huge core humor about their religions. that's what i always find slightly perverse about you can't tell religious jokes. there are books and books and books written by jews and catholics and muslims. >> i can think of two extremely christian people who are very close friends of might be who have a great sense of humor about christianity. absolutely. i think at times, you know, the networks bow down to the most angry and the most vocal. the two folks i'm thinking of are very comfortable in their religion. they're very at ease. they have no reason to be offended. >> we're going to come back and talk about charlie sheen who you

>> i can think of two extremely christian people who are very close friends of might be who have a great sense of humor about christianity. absolutely. i think at times, you know, the networks bow down to the most angry and the most vocal. the two folks i'm thinking of are very comfortable in their religion. they're very at ease. they have no reason to be offended. >> we're going to come back and talk about charlie sheen who you roasted to within one inch of your life. and your bizarre connection to 9/11. you actually through a hangover avoided on being on one of the planes that crashed into the tower.

hello and happy thanksgiving weekend. i'm gary tuckman. three american college students studying in egypt are now free. the men were arrested on monday accused of throwing molotov cocktails. they have left the police station on cairo and are planning on boarding three separate commercial flights back to dust. black friday turned ugly today at a walmart in north carolina, off duty police officers used pepper spray to keep shoppers at bay before the start of an electronics sale. at another walmart in los angeles a shopper used pepper spray on another shoppers to ensure she got her hands on an x box console. the plan worked. police are reviewing security tapes to track down the woman. analysts from come store are expecting a record $1.2 billion in sales on one of the internet's biggest shopping days of the year. more news later.

stay tuned to cnn.

>> ground zero, so this is where the first guy got aids. >> peter this is the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. >> some guys from iraq? >> no. >> that one lady who visited

iraq that one time. >> iraq had nothing do with this. >> so you're saying we need to invade iran? >> that was family guy poking fun at 9/11. as you say, you edge towards that line each time. in your case very personally. this is an extraordinary story. tell me about it again. because there you were, you were booked on the flight i think from boston that hit the south tower. and you didn't get on it, why? >> a combination of two things. i was giving a lexture at my college the night before and went out with some of the faculty afterwards and had a few pints. >> you got drunk. >> yes. >> and a couple the fact that my travel agent had listed the flight on my itinerary as leaving ten minutes later than it did. i was generally late for flights.

i've missed a lot of flights prior to that. it wasn't like it was anything out of the ordinary. i got to the counter and i said, i'm booked on flight 11. the woman behind the counter i'm sorry, you're too late they just closed the gate. i said i'll take the 11:00. went into the lounge. fell asleep, woke up about 45 minutes later to a commotion and the first plane had hit. and sat there and watched the second plane hit and they announced what flight it was. i turned to the guy next to me and i said that was the flight i was supposed to be on. i was late. i missed it. >> what an incredible thinking to realize to the plane you should have been on. >> there was -- that wonderful unity that we've since completely abandoned. i've never felt more than when i was standing at the bar at 9:00

many the morning saying to the bartender, hey, can you pour me a shot. here you go, it's on the house. that feeling that must have been what our grandparents felt during world war ii where this is in that moment everything was -- we -- we're all the same. but i was -- i was -- you know, i'm not a fatalist. i was not shake on the the core in the way that i changed my whole outlook on life. mainly because i had missed planes before. and coincidences do happen. a day before that incident i could have been crossing the street five minutes earlier and got hit by a car and never known that i just missed it. >> the ignorance of many americans about why 9/11 may have happened, why iraq had nothing to do with it and so on, you are making important points through this cartoon medium.

>> we try now and then. it always has to be funny. if we're ever getting preachy or soap box yy then we're not really doing our jobs. and there have been times we have been preachy and soap boxy that's us not works as hard as we should. with animation as the simpsons proved and continues to prove, one of the elements of their rewrite to having primetime animation medium is this is a great forum for that great kind of humor. this is the -- this is the televised translation of that. >> let's have another quick break and get stuck into charl lee. one of my heroes. >> fascinating phrase.

we all know there's a good chance charlie will be dead soon. so i wrote an obituary. charlie sheen who became a tabloid fixture due to his problems with drugs and alcohol was found dead in his apartment -- actually, you know what? i kind of actually just copied amy wine house's obituary. i only had to change three

things, the sex of the deceased, the location of the body and the part that says a talent that will be missed. >> that was the comedy central roast of charlie sheen. my god, that was dark. even you were grimacing. >> yeah. i was. >> does any part of you shudder at your own shocking humor? >> yes. at the roast, at the beginning of every roast a part of me says, don't do it. don't do it. but they're so oddly loose and freeing it's like a comedy vacation in a way. >> which has been your favorite. you've done a few now? >> this last one was pretty -- it was -- it was dark, but it was definitely fun. i was more he laxed than i'd been with any of them. >> what do you make of charlie? >> it's funny. i don't really know charlie that well. my person interactions with him if you took out any awareness of anything that i've read in the press, my personal interactions with him have been completely normal.

>> how would you feel if a member of amy wine house's family watching that was really upset and actually phoned you to say what were you doing making jokes about amy? >> what i would say is that the joke was about charlie. the phrase -- >> would you be uncomfort snbl. >> oh, absolutely. oh, totally uncomfortable. of course. >> have you had those calls? >> not -- no. i actually haven't. i never personally got the call from somebody that said listen, i'm -- i'm bonnie franklin and i got really upset at that joke you made. why did i go there? >> didn't john stewart call you and rant at you for an hour? >> how do you know about that? >> there was a daily show and a live show. >> you're the most deep digging journalist in hollywood.

i've never told that story. >> now we have the perfect platform because you dish id out to him. perfectly valid criticism. there was a live daily show in the middle of a strike. you poke fun of him and he reams you for an hour. >> how did you find out about this? >> never mind that. >> my publicist has forbidden me to talk about that. >> it must have passed. >> it was ap angry call. suffice it to say he's a phenomenally good debater if you were keeping score, i would have lost roundly. >> did you grovel pathetically. >> no. >> stand your ground like a man? >> i tried. i was really kind of in shock more than anything else. it was an odd hollywood moment. i was a huge fan of his show. and here i was getting this phone call.

really angry, angry phone call. >> do you think he was right on the point of fact? he was denying that he had done anything inappropriate? >> my talk on it in retrospect is this, i do maintain the standpoint, people have disagreements about unions. i think in that situation how much good the writer strike did is debatable. in that situation it is incumbent upon people in a certain position to stand up for the people who haven't made it yet if they can. if it's low risk. my argument is you are like the most successful guy on that network and arguably the most successful television personality many the genre. and you know, the argument was about whether or not i mean -- he was not pleased.

i think his response was, you know, who made you the moral aboutor of hollywood. >> which is exactly the position he plays is. there's a certain irony in john stewart ringing up you for mocking him? >> if i say yes, he's going to crucify me every night on his show for a year. >> let's take him down together. i'm not scared. if john stewart is watching this, you were in the wrong. you gutless coward. you can't take it, don't dish it out. come on. come with me, seth. >> i'll give a measured response to this. i think -- i do think he was wrong not to shut his show down. i disagree with his actions there. >> wrong to ringing?

wrong to not seeing the funny side? >> look, it's a free country, you can call whoever you want and scream at them. the gag that we did on family guy was coming from the right place, but was probably so over the line in its ruthlessness that it probably could have been more measured in its execution. how about that? >> a cop-out. stand farmly by your jokes. >> i stand firmly by my point of view. >> imagine who he would have done if you called him and ranted at him. >> he would have broadcast it. >> he probably would. >> i love him. i think he's a total genius. >> he's an important voice for the rational side of politics --

for the -- for the -- the sphere of rational thought that exists less and less in this country. he's an important voice. which is why i was frustrated by, you know, you're the good guy. you're the guy who's, you know, should be standing out there with us. and that was my beef. >> we'll come back after the break and talk about your exciting new project, which is an album. you've turned into a morphed version of dean martin meets frank sinatra. you're crooning. >> this is the first time i've seen this cd. >> after the break. >> all right. ♪ don't let the night go to waist looking for ways to say i love you ♪

>> last year you were a presenter of heroes. tell me about that experience. >> i was reading this about this incredible man and what he achieved.

and just feeling -- i was just very, very moved. >> please join me in honoring cnn hero and i'm proud he's a fellow scottsman, magus in mcfarland. >> you choked up, yeah. >> yeah. one, it was a total pride that he was scottish and just that the humility with which you could feel everything about his story and the work that he did. >> you actually went and saw magus in at his home, didn't you? tell me about that. >> i chased him down. we swopd a couple phone calls. i said i'm coming to visit you. i went and spent the day with him and his family and saw his charity and all the people that worked for him. it is such a worthy cause. they feed half a million children every day all over the world. >> he is a remarkable man. >> a remarkable man and beautiful soul and really learned a lot from him just in the time that i spent with him.

♪ music was made for romance love and a sweet song go hand in hand ♪ ♪ every lover knows this and the sweeter the song ♪ ♪ the sweeter the kiss >> a multitalented, concert on the epics channel. music is better than words. i don't think you've actually seen a copy of the cd. >> there it is. >> dangle it in front of me. that is something. turned out pretty good, huh? nice. >> so here's the thing. this is fascinating about you. there you are, this evil genius as we've discussed for the last hour and mocking and poking fun. and then there is another side

of you that is this sensitive crooner that loves singing of love and romance. totally different person. what are you schizophrenic? >> probably, yeah. i love -- i love orchestras. i went to the uk last november to tour with the john wilson orchestra which is one of the greatest orchestras in the world. and they play at all these wonderful old mgm charts. and i love the sound of a large orchestra. i love all the different colors that you can paint with a band that size. >> do you mind the inevitably, given what you do for a in your other job, people are going to want to poke fun at you. >> listen, i'll do it myself. i'll be first guy in line.

yeah, it is a -- but luckily, it was different if i was doing a rap album. but here's -- the thing about -- then i'd really be asking for it. >> you do look like a crooner. >> this music never took itself that seriously, even in the '50s. >> that's true. i agree. >> even whether they were singing the romantic ball lodz, there was a sense of who cares? you know? yes, i'm in love but who gives a [ beep ] and in a way, that kind of characterizes -- >> i love this album. it's really good listening. >> but, you know, our goal was to really do something that was true to the way in which those albums were produced 50 years ago. joel mcneily, brilliantly talented composer who arranged 15 charts just so visually and exquisitely. we recorded it at capital with old microphones. >> i love that. >> we recorded it to reel to reel tape. our engineer rich breen did a lot of research to find out what

it is that makes the albums sound as warm as they do. one of the things was recorded to tape. it's not recorded digitally. and that's what gives it that mid rangy richness. >> you're content with conquering television and music. you just finished directing your first movie called "ted." it stars mark walburg. tell me about that. >> ted is about a guy who gets a teddy bear for christmas when he is 8 years old and makes a wish that the bear would come to life and speak to him and be his best friend. magically, it happens. so it opens in a very disneyesque fairytale kind of way. and then the movie itself takes place about 30 years later. and he's now got a girlfriend who he lives with and the bear is still with him. but it's now tattered, it's, you know, got rips and stains on it. and it gets high what him and drinks beer with him and it's just a burden on his relationship. >> i can't imagine knowing you now that you would be content with being behind the scenes. i mean you want to be a movie star, right?

>> i -- i enjoy many different pursuits. >> quietly, you see yourself as the new clooney? >> that's a bit of a exaggeration, i think. >> has to be in the back of your mind. some romantic comedy? >> how about the new maury amsterdam? >> finally, i'm told you had a very exciting new addition to your family guy cast list, is this right? >> yeah. it turns out. >> a handsome -- >> a handsome man of angelic dissent. >> there i am. and that is probably the one moment in my miserable little life -- >> look ought. >> i look fantastic there. so slim. >> yeah. >> my three sons were excited enough that i was meeting you, the comedy god. the guy that i'm now there as a family guy character, you -- >> you just made me cool. so f t