Stewart Gilligan Griffin is a fictional character from the animated television series Family Guy. He is voiced by series creator Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the Griffin family, in a 15-minute short on December 20, 1998. Stewie was created and designed by MacFarlane himself, who was asked to pitch a pilot to the Fox Broadcasting Company, based on The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve, two shorts made by MacFarlane featuring a middle-aged man named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. After the pilot was given the greenlight, the Griffin family appeared in the episode "Death Has a Shadow".