Glenn Quagmire

Glenn Quagmire
Family Guy character
Glenn Quagmire
Voiced by	Seth MacFarlane
Character information
Full name	Glenn Quagmire
Relatives	Wife: Joan (deceased)
Gender	Male
Hair color	Black
Occupation	Airline Pilot
Show information
First appearance	"Death Has a Shadow[1]"

Glenn Quagmire is a character on the animated series Family Guy, best known for his hypersexuality.^[2]

Creator Seth MacFarlane describes Quagmire as "An appalling human being who is still caught in the rat-pack era" based on anachronistic 1950s party animal clichés.^[3] His neighbor and friend Peter Griffin describes him as a "heartless sex hound."^[4]

Quagmire is voiced by Seth MacFarlane, the show's creator and lead writer.

Sexual behavior

Many of the storylines, and most of the jokes, about Quagmire feature his wanton and deviant sexual behavior.^[5][6] Quagmire's foot fetish is referenced in several episodes.^[7][8] Quagmire is also known for extreme predatory behavior, such as drugging the drinks of his dates.^[9][10] A few gags even suggest that he is a registered sex offender,^[11] and is not above sex with a dead woman.^[12] In one episode, while out at sea with Peter and his friends, Quagmire confesses to a seemingly endless chain of bizarre sexual acts, such as picking up illegal aliens at Home Depot and Jo-Ann Fabrics stores to suffocate him while he masturbated, and giving a reach around to a spider monkey while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.^[13]

Aside from these excesses, Quagmire finds sexual arousal in seemingly banal situations, and sexual innuendo in much of the show's dialogue.^[14]

Origins and appearance

MacFarlane stated in an interview that he came up with Quagmire's voice after listening to fast-talking radio jockeys from the 1950s era, ultimately describing the character as a "50s radio guy on coke."^[3] Quagmire's home follows the same retro theme, decked out in a style reminiscent of the swinging party set of the fifties and sixties. In the episode "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire" it appears that nearly every part of the house has a discretely hidden bed.

Quagmire has short black hair, parted in the middle. His facial characteristics (modeled after Bob Hope^[15]) include a large jaw with a cleft chin, and a long pointed nose. He is usually seen wearing a red Hawaiian shirt with yellow flowers.

The name Quagmire was coined by a college acquaintance of Seth MacFarlane's;^[3] the word refers to both a soft soil that yields easily (such as quicksand), or a situation that is difficult to get out of. The title of the infidelity-themed episode "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire" plays on the second meaning.

Job

While seldom depicted at work,^[16] Quagmire is an airline pilot for the fictional TransNational Airlines. He uses his position to get Lois a job as a flight attendant in "Dammit Janet!". In the episode "Death Lives", Quagmire is shown in flashback to have been an Ensign in the United States Navy.

References