A taste of some tasteless musical numbers from ‘Family Guy’ and ‘American Dad’

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Few people working in television today know their way around an old-school musical-theater number as Seth MacFarlane does. The triple threat behind Fox’s ‘Family Guy,’ ‘The Cleveland Show’ and ‘American Dad’ often incorporates song-and-dance routines into his animated sitcoms, mixing old-fashioned Broadway aesthetics with his own off-color brand of humor. (His main competition would seem to be ‘South Park’s’ Trey Parker and Matt Stone, also aficionados of the musical.)

MacFarlane is scheduled to perform a series of big-band songs from the 1940s and ‘50s on Saturday at Club Nokia in downtown L.A. A trained singer, MacFarlane will croon along with a live, 36-piece orchestra conducted by Joel McNeely. He’ll also be joined on stage by guest Sara Bareilles.

‘It will feel like an old Vegas show,’ MacFarlane said in a recent interview. ‘If you listen to those recordings of the Rat Pack, they’re having a good time but it’s serious music. That’s what we’re trying to capture, that sound.’

The musical numbers in MacFarlane’s TV shows are about as irreverent as they come. Here are three musical clips from ‘Family Guy’ and ‘American Dad’ that make fun of back-alley abortions, the FCC’s rules on obscenities and Log Cabin Republicans.

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-- David Ng