For any viewers looking for shows like Family Guy, there are some great adult cartoons available. By using and often subverting the animated family sitcom format popularized by The Simpsons, Family Guy's reign began in 1999, and, like its predecessor, appears to have no end in sight. In recent years, however, long-time archetypes of shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons have fluctuated in popularity and quality. This has allowed newcomers like Rick and Morty, Big Mouth, Bob's Burgers, and Invincible to contend for the after-dark TV throne.

Even loyal viewers of Family Guy's 22-plus seasons don't need to search that far in order to find an alternative to Seth MacFarlane's flagship cartoon. Shaped by audience expectations and the evolution of both animation and storytelling styles, modern adult cartoons rival live-action series and movies in just about any category. The best adult cartoons around are among the best animated shows available anywhere, especially for fans of Family Guy.

35 Sausage Party: Foodtopia (2024)

Food Takes Control Of Their Future

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg brought their decidedly adult humor to the animated world in the movie Sausage Party. The comedy sought to deliver an R-rated version of a Pixar or Disney movie, focused on anamorphic food items in the grocery store who come to the horrifying realization that the humans who are taking them out of the store are not bringing them to some paradise, but rather eating them alive.

Sausage Party: Foodtopia is the television sequel series that explores the aftermath of the movie. After defeating the humans and gaining their own control in the world, the food finds their existence in peril and are forced to team up with the humans. Sausage Party sought to bring the most vulgar and chaotic sense of humor to what looks like a kids movie and the series continues in that tradition. They do not hold back with the humor or the subject matter, regardless of the fact that it is a show about talking hotdogs.

34 Hazbin Hotel (2024)

A Hotel In Hell Seeks To Redeem

Family Guy loves to incorporate musical numbers in its series that are highlighted by the show’s more adult humor. While these make for some memorable moments, Family Guy has some serious competition when it comes to adult animated shows with a musical element. Hazbin Hotel is an animated series on Prime Video that follows Charlie Morningstar, the princess of Hell who seeks to establish a hotel that specializes in rehabilitating the souls of sinful demons.

The show embraces the dark humor of its premise, exploring the realities of hell in a laugh-out-loud way and playing into the idea of it being a place overcrowded with all of the sinners. However, one of the special things about the series is the music with the episodes filled with genuinely great songs that are as funny as they are catchy.

33 Fired On Mars (2023)

A Man Is Left Jobless On A Mars Colony

Family Guy’s famous cutaway gags allow the characters to exist in improbable and impossible situations for the sake of a joke. However, Fired on Mars is an adult animated series that uses an outlandish premise as the central part of its entire show and finds a lot of funny material from the situation. The series is set in the future and follows Jeff, a graphic designer who is hired for a startup company on Mars.

The show can find humor in the mundane aspects of Jeff’s existence as well as the clever depiction of life on a Mars colony.

However, after moving to the alien planet, he finds that his position has been terminated and he is left on the planet with no purpose. The show satirizes tech companies and vain billionaires as well as just having fun with the typical workplace comedy. The show can find humor in the mundane aspects of Jeff’s existence as well as the clever depiction of life on a Mars colony.

32 X-Men '97 (2024)

Marvel's Mutant Characters Get A Mature Update

Family Guy is an example of when humor in adult animated series can be pushed to a place that is not suitable for kids. However, adult animated shows don’t necessarily have to be overly vulgar or inappropriate content as they can also just tell mature and complex stories that are likely to appeal more to older audiences. Such is the case with X-Men '97, the ambitious reboot of the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series from the 1990s that elevates the franchise to another exciting level.

The series brings back the iconic X-Men characters, and while the original animated series was an acclaimed kids' show, X-Men ’97 appeals to the more mature viewers those original fans have now aged into. The violence is more extreme, though not overly gory so that younger fans wouldn’t be able to handle it. However, the series excels at telling big, thoughtful stories. Family Guy often leans into the pop culture of the 90s, so it is likely there is a lot of crossover between fans of both shows.

31 Creature Commandos (2024)

A Group Of Inhuman Misfits Must Save The Day

With its many pop culture references, Family Guy often has fun parodying comic book properties. However, there are also some comic book shows and movies that do a good job poking fun at the genre themselves. One of the best people to pull this off is James Gunn, who has an irreverent sense of humor and a deep love of the comic book world. However, that love also allows him to subvert expectations of the genre, as with his new adult animated series Creature Commandos.

The show is also filled with Gunn’s signature humor, making for some laugh-out-loud moments.

This slight glimpse into Gunn’s DCU follows a team of inhuman creatures who are assembled to carry out covert government issues. Just as Family Guy embraces the flaws and dysfunctions of the Griffin family, Creature Commandos is all about these imperfect characters learning to work together. The show is also filled with Gunn’s signature humor, making for some laugh-out-loud moments.

30 Smiling Friends (2020- )

A Company Whose Goal Is To Bring Happiness

Smiling Friends is an Adult Swim series that follows a business that sets out to bring happiness to customers. However, it is the mission to bring happiness that proves that it is not always easy when the people they service have some pretty disturbing problems. Like Family Guy, this series shows that many people are their own worst enemies, but at the same time, there is always a chance to find a smile somehow before it ends. Also, as in shows like Family Guy, there are some disturbing characters that show up that often create an unnerving and awkward viewing experience.

This is thanks to its subversive humor, which is another way it compares to Family Guy.

Smiling Friends arrived in 2020 and has become one of the top critically acclaimed animated series in recent years. This is thanks to its subversive humor, which is another way it compares to Family Guy. However, the one big difference is that each episode only runs for 13 minutes, so there is a lot more humor condensed into a smaller area of time. With creators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack making each episode its own small adventure, it is just different enough, but with similar comedic moments.

29 M.O.D.O.K. (2021)

A Marver Supervillain With Family Issues

Marvel set out to release some bizarre and off-the-wall adult comic book series on Hulu, and while the venture didn't last long, it did result in some gold. One of the best Marvel shows on Hulu was M.O.D.O.K. The series had almost nothing to do with the character from the comics other than the fact that he ruled over AIM and wanted to dominate the world. However, his biggest goal was to figure out how to run AIM while keeping his family together, which brought great humor to the show.

Thanks to the creative team involving Patton Oswalt, M.O.D.O.K. was a huge success and found from none other than Kevin Feige, who allowed them to create their own Earth in the Marvel multiverse (Earth-1226). Oswalt took on the voice role of M.O.D.O.K., and the show ended up as a comedic look at supervillains. With the Robot Chicken-styled animation and rapid-fire jokes, it is a great alternative to Family Guy with its humor and the series deserves all the attention it ever receives.

28 Krapopolis (2023- )

A Family Comedy In Ancient Greece

Krapopolis is the brand-new adult cartoon on Fox from the creator of Rick & Morty. The series airs on the same nights as Family Guy and is part of the network's package of adult animation. This allows it to fit in well with shows like Family Guy. The series takes place in Ancient Greece and follows a family of gods, including Tyrannis, a demigod who wants to create the world's first city.

Much like Family Guy, there is no shortage of family dysfunction in this adult animated series, as no one can get along, and it is almost harder to keep the peace than it is to build a society.

The best way to describe Krapopolis is to ask what the Griffin family would look like if they lived in Ancient Greece instead of modern-day society. The family here are just as irreverent as in Family Guy and the humor is as full of puns, single-shot gags, and low-brow jokes. With both shows airing on the same night, they share the exact same audience.

27 Harley Quinn (2019- )

A DCU R-Rated Supervillain Cartoon

DC has also worked on creating more adult cartoons based on its characters, and the best of them is Harley Quinn. While Harley got her start as Joker's sidekick, she ended up becoming a popular character on her own and has actually eclipsed Joker in the eyes of many fans. While non-comic book readers mostly know her from Suicide Squad, the Max cartoon has helped position her as a hero with a healthy bit of LGBTQ+ representation thanks to her relationship with Poison Ivy.

For fans of shows like Family Guy, there is a lot to love here. This is a Harley Quinn cartoon, so expect plenty of off-beat humor and references from the lead character throughout the series. The inside jokes are plentiful in this animated series and fans of Family Guy should love the winks and nods the series gives to the DC Universe. However, this series has more heart than most Family Guy episodes, although that isn't to say the Griffin family doesn't have their moments.

26 Archer (2009-2023)

A Superspy Satire

While the storyline from Archer is as different from Family Guy as it might get, there are a lot of similarities between the two adult cartoons. The biggest comparison is easily the rapid-fire jokes in every episode. Archer is about a secret spy organization led by Sterling Archer's mother, while Sterling is the top agent and also a wise-cracking, womanizing, alcoholic, and irresponsible man-child. Each season had spy action until the later seasons when the series had different themes while Archer was in a coma.

Every episode sees the characters getting in over their heads and doing as many amoral things as possible, all while cracking jokes, making pop-culture references, and being as disrespectful as possible - just like Peter Griffin and his family. The insults and sarcastic wit from Sterling Archer would feel right at home coming out of the mouth of Peter Griffin or Stewie at any given time.