New England Patriots Star Rob Gronkowski ‘Wrecked’ the Writers’ Men’s Room at the TV Show ‘Family Guy’

In 2017, Rob Gronkowski joined a slew of New England celebrities to appear on the Fox animated sitcom Family Guy – his episode fondly remembered, his timing quite good.

But it wouldn’t be a visit from Gronk without…well, a story about Gronk. “He famously wrecked the bathroom next to the writers’ room,” recalls longtime writer and producer Chris Sheridan. “And someone called him out on it and he just laughed and was like, ‘Yeah.’”

Sheridan, a native of Gilford, New Hampshire, was one of the original writers for the long-running series, and recalls that he was initially reluctant to take the gig.

“My agent said, ‘Hey, there’s one show left hiring…it’s this new kid from Rhode Island who’s like 24 years old. And it’s a cartoon.’ And I immediately was like, ‘Well, my career’s over.”

But Sheridan took the meeting, and has fond memories of meeting a young Seth MacFarlane. “Seth was there with his Coke bottle glasses and his weird Cesar haircut, and his rugby shirt, and he was like every nerd I knew in high school."

“Definitely the New England thing, we had a lot in common.” In fact, Sheridan said that MacFarlane was likely looking to staff the show with writers from the region to give it its trademark…well…bluntness.

But right now, Sheridan – who departed Family Guy to run the hit SyFy series Resident Alien – is trying his best to enjoy some unwanted downtime, thanks to the Writers Guild of America strike.

“Writers’ pay has gone down, studio profits are skyrocketing because of streaming, and we just want a fair deal,” Sheridan explains, adding that writers’ rooms – which used to have as many as 15 on staff – are sometimes allowed just three or four.

To hear Sheridan’s full interview – which covers his own UFO sighting, Resident Alien, and how Family Guy was canceled (and then unexpectedly brought back), CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.