This was so much fun to read. I’m the commenter who prompted Walt’s initial explanation on Substack, and you and Walt each separately convinced me. I have always thought of Family Guy as vaudevillian, and thus comprising an entangled web of WASP and Ellis Islander influences, but honestly even within that framework vaudeville was much more Ellis Islander in its comedic/storytelling sensibilities.

The Simpsons v Family Guy dichotomy has some parallels with Disney v Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies in the 1940s/1950s. Walt Disney was the WASP-coded giant that homogenized amidst pursuit of respectability after achieving international stature, while the lower prestige and more vaudeville/Ellis Islander influenced Looney Tunes shorts honed rapid-fire timing/dialogue, metamodern sensibilities, bawdy jokes, and shock value humor to stand out.