By Ethan Forman
DANVERS — As Stewie might say: "What the deuce?"
On his 36th birthday Monday, Emmy Award-winning "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane paid a visit to Connors Farm where his characters Stewie and Brian Griffin are featured in a 7-acre corn maze.
While MacFarlane shared laughs with the farm's employees and farmer and "Family Guy" fan Bob Connors, one thing he did not come away with was a piece of his birthday cake. When MacFarlane did not show up on Sunday as expected, Connors, his mother and employees ate the cake the next morning.
"We were so upset that he didn't show up over the course of the weekend, yesterday morning (Monday), we all ate his cake," Connors said yesterday, laughing.
This was the second year Connors had installed a corn maze as a fall attraction at the 100-year-old family farm on Valley Road. This year, Connors had the Utah company The Maize create a maze featuring two characters from the edgy Fox cartoon, all with the blessing of Twentieth Century Fox.
MacFarlane's corporate jet didn't shake the farm stand until Monday afternoon on its approach to nearby Beverly Airport. MacFarlane arrived unannounced around 4:30 p.m.
Last week, Connors said he had received a text message MacFarlane might visit the farm over the weekend, leading him to believe he would show up on Sunday afternoon.
So, one of Connors' employees, "Family Guy" fan Matt Cardello of Topsfield, bought a large birthday cake that said "Happy Birthday Seth" and featured a picture of "Family Guy" characters. It cooled in the farm stand's walk-in refrigerator while Connors and Cardello waited excitedly for MacFarlane to show up.
"I gave my mother (Cathy Connors) a big piece of his cake," Connors said. "My mother's home eating his birthday cake, and she hears the corporate jet fly over the house and she started laughing, and she said: 'I'm eating his birthday cake.'"
Connors was thankful MacFarlane and his entourage spent approximately 20 minutes at the farm. It was plenty of time for him to put on the voices of baby Stewie, Brian the dog and others, and navigate the corn maze with Cardello.
"I'm not star-struck, but he's a genius," Connors said. "We asked him to do some voices, and it was obvious to me the guy was an absolute genius because he would say, 'Which one?' and I would say, 'Brian,' and just off the top of his head, he was doing these skits, ad-lib. It was unbelievable. He had us in stitches over there."
Connors did not have the heart to tell MacFarlane about missing his birthday cake by several hours.
"We were going to, in the end. We'd figure we'd let him read it," Connors said.
