Road to Europe

Road to Europe (originally called European Road Show) is an episode of Family Guy that first aired February 7, 2002.

Written by Daniel Palladino, directed by Dan Povenmire. Guest starring the members of KISS (Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, and Paul Stanley) as themselves.

Plot summary

Stewie is entranced by a show called Jolly Farm Revue (a parody of children's shows such as the Teletubbies). Despairing of his future in Quahog, Stewie decides to travel to Jolly Farm and live there forever. He sneaks aboard an intercontinental flight, intending to travel to London and find the BBC (where Jolly Farm is filmed). Brian follows him, only to discover that they have landed in the Middle East instead. Stewie and Brian perform a musical number together in order to steal a camel, which dies from exhaustion in the middle of the desert. At a nearby Comfort Inn, they steal a hot air balloon and gradually make their way to Vatican City, then board a train to Munich and get stoned in Amsterdam. Upon finally arriving at the BBC studios, Stewie is horrified to learn that there is no actual farm and his beloved characters are mere actors. Disillusioned, he travels back home with Brian and replaces his love of Jolly Farm Revue with a love of "funky fruit hats."

Peter is overjoyed to hear about KISS-stock, a five-night set of concerts in New England by Peter's favorite band. He and Lois dress in leather and face paint, and stand only feet from the stage. When Gene Simmons points the microphone at Lois, encouraging her to sing the next line of Rock and Roll All Night, Peter is humiliated to discover that she does not know the words. He accuses her of only pretending to be a KISS enthusiast, and they leave the concerts in disgrace. To punish himself, Peter stops at a Denny's on the way home, where KISS happens to have also stopped. Lois recognizes Chaim Witz, who she dated before he changed his name to Gene Simmons; Gene introduces her to the rest of the band, who have heard Gene's stories of "Loose Lois". Peter's faith in Lois is restored, and he proudly shares the news on public-access television that his wife did KISS.

References to movies

Brian slices open a camel's belly to save Stewie from the cold, much like Han Solo did with a tauntaun to warm Luke in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

This episode is similar to an earlier Brian/Stewie road-trip caper, "Road to Rhode Island".