What a Cartoon: Larry & Steve (1997) User Reviews

Simply OK, but led to the greatest cartoon currently on the air to be made

[movieman_kev · 6/10 · 19 May 2005]

A one-off about a dog, Steve, getting rescued by an idiot, Larry. Sort of a precursor to "Family Guy" in as much as the voices of Lary and Steve resemble Petter Griffen and Brian, the airline pilot sounds like Quagmire, and The store that they attempt to get a bed at is even called "Stewie's" which is a tad amusing in retrospect. But this short lacks the humor, if not the manic pacing that any of the episodes of the later panned Family Guy would have. It's cute (for a What A Cartoon short), but all in all I'm happy that it didn't get picked up to be a series. Allowing Seth to move onto greener pastures.

My Grade: C+

It was a bit too 'cartoony' for my tastes,

[possumjoel · 7/10 · 20 April 2006]

but it was still pretty good. It wasn't quite as good as 'The Life of Larry', but then again, it had to be a bit more child-friendly to be on Cartoon Network. It was worth the half hour download time (My computer is VERY slow) for the one or two laugh-out-loud moments, but any longer than that, and there's not really much point. It's not hard to see who Steve later evolved into (a more famous cartoon by Seth Macfarlane) but unlike 'The Life of Larry', none of the jokes are reused in 'Family Guy'. One of the only bad points I can make about it was the classic cartoon scream, where the characters eyes go wider than their head. When this is used on Steve, it's cringe worthy.

Family Guy progenitor

[riskytakr · 7/10 · 26 October 2005]

This is actually the precursor to Family Guy. The similarities between Brian (the Dog) and Steve (the dog) are virtually identical as are between Larry and Peter. It would seem that Seth McFarland's main characters are mostly moronic even when compared to Homer Simpson (cf. Johnny Bravo, Chicken from Cow and Chicken, Dee-Dee and the father from Dexter's Lab). I have no difficulties with low intelligence characters, but it would be nice to see another creation from Seth that did not employ this over used technique. I remember this show from WAC show as it aired with the excellent Chicken from outer space episode of Courage. I think it was better when courage didn't speak. I'm not sure if Seth had any input into this one as well, and if he did I commend him for it.

Too bad Cartoon Network didn't make a series on this great short

[plok253 · 16 July 2001]

There's five series on Cartoon Network that were given their first shot on TV on the What a Cartoon Show. Those five would be Dexter's Lab, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and the Powerpuff Girls. However, from the majority of the 50+ cartoons from the WAC, Larry and Steve was probably the most deserving of receiving it's own series (despite the fact it never did.) It stars a dog named Steve, who's practically all out of luck when the cartoon starts. He's in the kennel and just about to be put to sleep, for good. Fortunately (or maybe more unfortunately,) a guy named Larry walks into the kennel looking for a new pet, and he can actually what Steve is saying! The irony of the situation is that Larry is a total imbecile, yet he's the only one who can understand Steve's English. Impressed, Larry purchases Steve, and in the the words of Steve himself "thus began the ugliest day of my life." Larry lives in (Q)uality Apartments, and right after Larry gives Steve a room, all the appliances suddenly brake. Larry's too dumb to know what they should do, so Steve has to give him a clue: go shopping (to which Larry responds "Yeah that's what I was thinking!")

Well, I better not spoil the entire cartoon, but I can tell you it's a great one! It's unfortunate that this cartoon never became popular and received it's own series a la Cow and Chicken or Courage the Cowardly Dog. Another trait I found impressive about this short little cartoon is that it was written by Seth McFarlene, who not only does 8 out of 10 voices or so on Larry and Steve, but also does the voices for 6 characters on the much more popular Family Guy! And believe me, you can tell the similarity between Peter and Larry's voice ^_^

why didn't this short turn out to be a show?

[MairegChernet · 10/10 · 16 March 2008]

This had to become a show. they fund crappy cartoons to be crappy shows with boring story lines, and they didn't fund this or what is the problem? this is a hilarious show. I offer you the formula for this show.

The slapstick kind of comedy of Tom and Jerry + The sarcastic humor of Family Guy = Larry and steve.

Larry and Steve is a short animated comedy that depicts a dog, steve (Voiced by Seth Macfarlane) and his idiotic owner Larry( again voiced by Macfarlane himself) the chemistry of those two characters is just hysterical.

i have seen the short comedy macfarlane made in 95, the life of larry. but larry and steve is even funnier. larry and steve is mainly focused on physical humor where ourrageous explosions and car crashes occur in every 20 seconds.

if i was seth macfarlane, i would consider making this as a sitcom, there is no doubt that it'll be successful.

Funny Show, where's the rest?

[DragonGk · 10/10 · 13 November 2002]

This was a hilarious cartoon short on the What a Cartoon Show. I particularly liked Willie the Xenophobic Scotsman. While it was not eventually made into a series, you can see it sort of set the stage for Family Guy later on.

Way to go Mr MacFarlane, only convincing if you look at his age and effort

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 5 June 2017]

"Larry and Steve" is a 7-minute (not counting credits) animated short film from 1996, so this one had its 20th anniversary already last year. And the fact that it is still somewhat known does not really have to do with the quality of the material in here or the story-telling, but with the fact that it was made by a man in his early 20s who goes by the name Seth ManFarlane, the guy behind Family Guy. And the connections in this movie we have here (talking dogs...) can easily be made out. However, in terms of comedy, MacFarlane is still far far away from the level of Family Guy. I personally must say though that it is somewhat amazing to see that it did not take long after this movie for FG to start and it also shows how long-running this show is. Back to this one here, MacFarlane also voices almost all the characters (just not the females) himself and it somewhat shows how multi-talented he is. The writing is a negative deal-breaker though as the story starts somewhat okay with a dog trying to get adopted from a shelter, but the longer it goes the weaker it gets. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

This is prob. better than Family guy

[modmyass · 10/10 · 24 November 2009]

If u watch it and replay it a few times, they add things into there slapstick comity that takes a lot of intellect to decipher. When there car cut in half, when he was about to hit the mound of TNT, yes very "kid" slapstick, he turns around and says " isn't this a bit contrite." funny to most adults, no kid would pick that up. like when the Peter predecessor asked the Brian Predecessor, if he was OK after thrown into the wall, he brought tragedy which i do not know how to spell or even get a hold of how to spell it. although it was Child based it given a lot of adult humor. Summarizing, although it was made for kids, i find the dry and hidden humor quite funny. it is probably more comedic than family guy its successor in the fact that Family Guy is more, Here is the joke every one will understand it, while this is more, lets be discrete.

Bad!

[ilovestarwars · 1/10 · 3 January 2005]

This is one of another What a Cartoon short movies that was shown at Cartoon Network.But, unlike Hillbilly Blue and Gramps, this cartoon is really a bad thing. This cartoon tells about a little documentary made by a talking dog saying about his new pathetic life with a bald dumb called Larry.After buying him, Larry goes to a department store in downtown to buy some new furniture.But the old guy makes many stupidities like putting a nuclear globe in a common lamp and then destroying part of the store, or when he puts his dog in a little SPA bed but Larry adjust to a killing(And not relaxing) speed. Afteralls, my vote is simply 1.I can't give 0, and I can't give more than one, because this is a crap!

Basis of tv series "Family Guy"

[CellarDorm · 20 October 2002]

This hilarious short is about an old (kind of) man and his dog. They go shopping and cause several mishaps and problems. This short was originally part of the "Cartoon, Cartoon" showm from which several cartoons were turned into full series. "Larry and Steve" was later expanded upon and matured for an older audience to create the hilarious, classic tv series "Family Guy." Larry and Steve are basically Peter and Brian Griffin from the aforementioned series. The short was funny, but not nearly as entertaining as "Family Guy."