Mayor Adam West, or simply Mayor West, is a fictional character that was voiced by actor

Adam West William West Anderson (September 19, 1928 – June 9, 2017), known professionally as Adam West, was an American actor. He portrayed Batman in the 1960s ABC series of the same name and its 1966 theatrical feature film, reprising the role in ...

(as a fictionalized version of himself) on the American

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

and franchise ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

''. Depicted as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of the town of

Quahog, Rhode Island Quahog ( ) is a fictional town, fictional city, capital and largest city in the U.S. state of Rhode Island that serves as the primary setting of the American animated sitcom ''Family Guy'' and Family Guy (franchise), other related media. The t ...

, where the show is set, he appeared on a recurring basis from his first appearance in the second season until his final appearance in the seventeenth season.

Character

Mayor West is characterized as an intense yet friendly, soft-spoken, childish, immature crackpot whose

delusion A delusion is a fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some other m ...

s often came at great expense and even danger to citizens of Quahog. His

psychotic In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or incoher ...

whims include dispatching the entire Quahog police department to

Cartagena, Colombia Cartagena ( ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, along the Caribbean Sea. Cartagena's past role as a link in the route ...

, to search for the fictional character Elaine Wilder from the 1984 film ''

Romancing the Stone ''Romancing the Stone'' is a 1984 romantic comedy-adventure film directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Diane Thomas and produced by Michael Douglas, who also stars in the film alongside Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film follows a ro ...

'', or wasting city council money on a solid gold statue of the Dig 'Em frog, and cementing coffins since he was afraid the dead will return as

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

s. West was never revealed in the show as belonging to any specific

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

, suggesting political ambiguity. In the episode "

420 420 may refer to: Science and technology * 420 (number), in mathematics * 420 Bertholda, a main-belt asteroid * 4:2:0, a chroma subsampling layout Cannabis culture * 420 (cannabis culture), informal reference to cannabis use and celebrations ...

", he legalizes

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

after listening to a song

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

sings ("A Bag o' Weed"), only to re-criminalize it a few days later when Brian is bribed to sing a song condemning the substance. In another episode, West prepares to sign a

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

ban only to be taken hostage in his office by an angry Brian who supports same-sex marriage and aims to thwart West's intentions. He was also a brainwashed Russian sleeper spy activated by the phrase "Gosh, that Italian family at the next table sure is quiet". In the episode " Brothers & Sisters", he marries Lois' sister Carol. The episode " Dr. C and the Women" suggests he is fully sane and his bizarre antics are actually a smokescreen to throw people off and cover up a dark, murderous side.

Development

'' creator

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...

wrote several episodes of the cartoon series ''

Johnny Bravo ''Johnny Bravo'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network. The second of the network's Cartoon Cartoons, it aired from July 14, 1997, to August 27, 2004. The titular Johnny Bravo (voiced by ...

''. West played a similarly odd rendition of himself in an episode written by MacFarlane, "Johnny Meets Adam West!", first broadcast in December 1997. In the episode, West's fictionalized persona displays similar deluded characteristics to the later ''Family Guy'' character, such as believing a race of megalomaniac mole-people lives under a local golf course. However, he dressed formally and behaved slightly similarly to his character in the 1960s series of ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

''. MacFarlane found West's character and performance in ''Johnny Bravo'' so funny that he created a similar character for ''Family Guy''. Following the real

's death on June 9, 2017, Mayor West died offscreen in ''Family Guy'' as revealed in the episode " Adam West High". Following his death, MacFarlane said, "''Family Guy'' has lost its mayor. He is irreplaceable". Producer

Steve Callaghan Steve Callaghan is an American screenwriter, producer and voice actor, best known for his work on ''Family Guy''. He is a graduate of the Department of Public Policy at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Callaghan started his career in 1999 as ...

told ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' that there were still five unaired episodes featuring West that would air in the upcoming season. Callaghan revealed that they had not decided how they were going to address the departure of West's character from the series, while also revealing that it is something they have been dealing with concerning the loss of

Carrie Fisher Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the Star Wars original trilogy, original ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983) and reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The F ...

in December 2016. Callaghan went on to say that both the departures of Fisher and West from the show will certainly reflect the importance that each of their characters and actors had within the series. Starting in the episode "Wild Wild West", West's position as Mayor of Quahog was assumed by the character's western rural cousin,

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

, who is voiced by

Sam Elliott Samuel Pack Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades of film and television, he is recognized for his deep sonorous voice. Elliott has received various accolades, including a Screen Actors ...

References

External links

Adam West
on

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Adam Family Guy characters Television characters introduced in 2000 Cultural depictions of Adam West Fictional mayors Animation based on real people Fictional characters based on real people Fictional characters with schizophrenia Fictional political bosses Animated human characters Male characters in animated television series American male characters in sitcoms Characters created by Seth MacFarlane Animated characters introduced in 2000