The latest installment of the show about everyone’s favorite foul-mouthed CGI bear, “Ted,” premiered on Peacock on Thursday, and fans noticed a presidential cameo that turned out to be the series creator, Seth MacFarlane, employing the use of AI for one hell of a Bill Clinton impersonation.
In the season’s fifth episode, entitled “The Sword in the Stoned,” the series’s out-of-touch, Boston-accented father, Matty Bennett (Scott Grimes) is forced to take a job at local Dunkin’ Donuts in Massachusetts. That’s when MacFarlane — as the AI-assisted and creepily accurate incarnation of the 42nd president — strolls into the store. Watch the clip here.
Though AI gave MacFarlane, also the voice of the titular character, the uncanny appearance of Clinton, the voice is very much all him, as he’s done the impression for many years.
“I’ve been doing my Bill Clinton impression since the early days of ‘Family Guy,’” MacFarlane told the Associated Press. “It’s an interesting example of how AI can be used as a tool and not necessarily trample on the art that the rest of the industry is doing. We tried prosthetics, we tried traditional CGI and everything just looked terrifying. So we just said, ‘To hell with it, let’s try AI.’ It worked. It was the only way to look like Bill Clinton.”
The setting for the show’s second season is 1994-1995 (the characters learn about the O.J. Simpson verdict in the season finale), a timeline where Clinton would be firmly established in the Oval Office.
In the scene, Clinton asks Matty for a recommendation on what to order, which prompts Matty to let the commander-in-chief know just what he thinks of his job as president.
“I would recommend you do a better job,” Matty says, nervously stuttering. “You’re not doing a very good job.”
Clinton responds cordially enough before dismissing his Secret Service detail and demanding that Matty “throw some fucking Munchkins in a bag, gimme a cup of coffee and shake my hand and smile to the window, so people know we’re having a good fucking time.”
Many viewers expressed disappointment at the use of AI, which has caused trepidation within the entertainment industry that the technology could replace human artists.
“Why not just get a decent Bill Clinton impersonator?” one user on X wrote.
“It honestly looks awful. It looks like he is being dubbed over with English, and the face can barely express an emotion. They would be better off just having the actor dress up as him,” another wrote.
However, others defended the use of the technology.
“Using AI like this has never bothered me nor should it to anyone else. They’re using a real production crew, writers, lighting, actors, set, etc. and just using a some tools on top to sell the final image. This really is no different than what Photoshop did back in the 90’s,” one user wrote.
“Ted” is a spinoff of the 2012 movie of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg and MacFarlane as John Bennett and the voice of Ted, respectively. It became a surprise hit on Peacock after premiering in 2024, with Max Burkholder taking up Wahlberg’s role as the younger version of Bennett.
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