It’s not been a good week for comedians. Last week, nurses were offended and protested because they were portrayed by Rochelle Rao as a hot nurse on The Kapil Sharma Show. Yesterday, there was a national calamity because Tanmay Bhat, a comedian with All India Bakchod, released a Snapchat imitating singer and Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar and our resident demi-god and Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar. People were most upset. How could Bhat mock Tendulkar or Mangeshkar? They were living legends! Our very own non-bovine holy cows!

That people were offended and reacted in what most right-thinking — although not Right-thinking — people would call an absurd manner is stating the obvious. That Bhat obviously knew that he was pressing the right buttons for a reaction is also obvious.

But well before Bhat’s Snapchat, another comedian had already pushed the envelope when it came to offending India – while using Tendulkar as one of the main plot twists. The only reason this went under the radar was that the We Are Always Offended brigade evidently doesn’t watch television at 11.30pm on Sunday nights.

Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy, a show which thrives on the principle of the Right To Offend, gets the late-night slot because despite being a cartoon it’s meant for grown-ups. The show is about an American family made up of a bright mother, a silly father, a very dim-witted and overweight son, an unattractive but genius and largely unloved daughter, a homicidal toddler, and Brian the talking dog, who is the most intelligent person in the house. Armed with this motley crew, Family Guy pokes fun at anything and everything.  

Which is why I think everyone turning blue in the face about Bhat’s Snapchat should watch Family Guy’s season finale, titled Road To India. Think of all the offensive, racist, culturally-inappropriate jokes you’ve ever heard about India, add a dash of finesse, wrap a narrative around it, and you’ve got MacFarlane’s Road To India. And Tendulkar plays an all-important role – as he does in the lives of most Indians.

The episode sinks into offense straight off the bat with the montage that accompanies the opening credits. Brian the dog and Stewie the murderous toddler are sitting at a dining table, on seats that are commodes, eating Indian curry. Then we see them as the tiger and boy in Life of Pi, and then Stewie crossdresses to do a mean impression of Saraswati while Brian metamorphoses into Brahma.

Stewie is also seen as a little Gandhi, carrying the India flag, while Brian becomes a British soldier who is running away.

In the episode, India first appears as the disembodied voice of – what else? – a call centre worker called Padma, with a pronounced desi accent. Padma makes statements like, “Oh I am just bursting your balls.” Because she can’t pronounce English correctly, you see.

Brian falls in love with Padma via her voice and travels to India to meet her, with Stewie for company, only to find out she is about to be married. Brian must now take part in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to win the prize money in order to pay her dowry and marry her.

It’s not all offensive to India, though. There are Shakespeare jokes, gay jokes, gay jokes about Shakespeare, paralysis jokes, a joke about Jeb Bush’s wife being a Mexican maid and a fabulous section on a Tori Spelling Bee (where people spell out offensive names for the actress). Family Guy is definitely not for the faint-hearted or feeble-minded. MacFarlane is an equal opportunity offender. No one is spared.

The entry into the country starts with a view of Taj Mahal and the Indira Gandhi International Airport looking all spiffy.  There are lots of brown people. There’s even a turbaned man. Stewie comments, “I can already smell the enlightenment and tranquillity.” Which is the cue to kick-start the offense.

The opening frame shows traffic, stinky smells, crowds, pollutions, garbage. And a holy cow’s derriere covered in flies.

It’s like a humorous version of City Of Joy.

At one point, Brian says he’s really hungry and wants to eat a big juicy steak and has a mob – I think it’s my friends from Twitter – jump on him and tell him that cows are sacred. To want to eat cow is to disrespect all of Indian culture.

There’s a bit where Ganesh (our first plastic surgery patient, remember?) plays the drums.

There are jokes about everything we Indians hold near and dear to us: arranged marriage, dowry, how if a marriage falls through with one sister you get to marry the next as a consolation prize. The only thing MacFarlane leaves out is a mention of the non-existence of homosexuals and marital rape in India.

To pay for Padma’s dowry, Brian participates in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Anil Kapoor reprising his Slumdog Millionaire role of game-show host. It’s at this point that MacFarlane displays his keen understanding of modern India. The question that will decide the fate of Brian and Padma’s love story is on … cricket. Brian is asked which retired Indian cricketer scored 18,000 runs in his “ODI career”. His choices are:

A: Anil Kumble

B: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

C: Sachin Tendulkar

D: Jiminy Cricket

Brian has no clue what ODI stands for and chooses Jiminy Cricket. Only to lose, both a chance at winning the prize money and also Padma’s affections. And that, ladies and gents, is the importance of Sachin Tendulkar.

And just when you think it’s all come to nought, Anil Kapoor steps in with the one thing India may love just a little more than Sachin: a Bollywood and a song and dance routine. Brian gets ripped to shreds by a Bengal Tiger in the middle of the music number. Because, well, why not?

It’s a hilarious episode, with great attention to detail – from the costumes to the correct signages in Hindi, to cows sitting in the middle of busy roads and Anil Kapoor’s booming Yankee-Bandra accent. But can you imagine this show being made in India? MacFarlane would have been strung up and burnt on Rajpath while the cyber crime cell would have been looking for YouTube’s landline to get the episode pulled down.

That MacFarlane can make fun of politicians like Jeb Bush and his wife, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow as well as paraplegics speaks volumes about absolute freedom of speech in America. Family Guy is one of the most popular shows in America, so it’s not like those being mocked don’t realise the reach of the show. There are enough people who don’t find MacFarlane funny or think his humour is tasteless and cruel. But the point is, those people don’t demand that his right to offend be taken away.

So here’s a prescription from me to those who get offended too easily: watch this episode of Family Guy. One of three things will happen. It’ll either immunise you to offense or help you develop a sense of tolerance and humour. Or it will leave you catatonic and save us from your humourless drivel on social media and in the real world.

It’s a win-win-win if you ask me.

 You can watch the entire episode here 

The author can be reached on twitter @rajyasree