Since “Family Guy” premiered in 1999, it has had a roller-coaster run.

It was canceled twice by Fox but was later syndicated on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. The show was given a stable time slot — something it never had on Fox — and when the show’s ratings on the cable network surpassed those of Leno and Letterman for the adult male demographic, and the “Family Guy” DVD sets sold more than 3.5 million copies, a cult following of the show was exposed.

It’s not like a David Koresh or Marshall Applewhite cult — it’s more like the following for “Star Wars,” “Tron” or “Care Bears.”

But now “Family Guy” is back, and with 35 new episodes on the menu and the premiere of his new animated series, “American Dad,” both beginning May 1, creator Seth MacFarlane has been a busy man.

He took an hour out of his schedule to speak in a conference call with college newspapers around the country, where he addressed such pertinent social issues as welfare reform, Medicare, the war in Iraq — and fart jokes. OK, so welfare reform, Medicare and the war in Iraq weren’t covered, but fart jokes were dissected and analyzed in full.

Seth MacFarlane on “Family Guy’s” audience:

To me, our biggest audience is college kids. As far as the show being brought back, it was the males, age 18 to 34 audience that did it, and that’s the audience we write for. I’m always surprised when younger viewers respond to the show, because there really are a lot of old, dated references — every writer in that room is over 30. Fart jokes, though, I think those are perennial. I think it’s a base of the brain thing — you hear a fart and you can’t help but laugh, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

Seth MacFarlane on pressure to make “Family Guy” a bit more tame:

There hasn’t been any pressure by Fox, per se. Certainly from beyond the borders of Fox there has. Fox has been under a lot of pressure from the FCC to watch its stuff, which does translate to us. From my standpoint, I have felt a very clear sense that they are doing their best to help shield us from as much of that as they can and keep the show the same as it has been.

Seth MacFarlane on the basis for his characters:

The Peter dialect was something I learned listening to security guards when I went to college in Rhode Island. Stewie came out of a Rex Harrison impression. Quagmire was one of those rare instances where you can actually pinpoint the emergence of a character. There’s a scene in which Quagmire is in bed with a woman, and he’s got his robe on and they’ve obviously just finished up. She says, “Glen, I have a question for you — what do you do for a living?” And Quagmire says [in Quagmire’s voice], “I have a question for you — why are you still here?” It was just this nasty remark that instantly defines who this character is — this very unredeemable sex hound.

Seth MacFarlane on coming up with jokes for the shows:

It’s never easy, but when there’s more going on in the political arena, when it’s more lively, then it does get a little easier — just because there’s more stuff to satire. It’s Hollywood, so obviously there are a lot of liberals, but we’ve made a conscious effort to not come off as liberals. We do try to satirize both sides. On “American Dad,” we’ve got the knee-jerk, flag-waving personality of Stan, and the Hayley personality — the type that will burst into applause if Bill Maher even sneezes. Hopefully, both sides will be able to laugh at themselves and at the other.

Seth MacFarlane on a Stewie vs. George Bush rivalry:

I think Stewie has his own flare for world domination, so that’s probably all he thinks about. Although he probably looks at Bush as an inspiration.

Seth MacFarlane on “American Dad”:

“Family Guy” was created during the Clinton years, and obviously this is a much more polarized political climate that we’re in now, and it just seemed like the right time to do a show like “American Dad.” “All in the Family” worked so well in the ’70s, during what I think was a similarly polarized climate. I’m not comparing us to “All in the Family,” because it was a very different show and probably one of the greatest sitcoms ever, but I think the political landscape was just as polarized then.

I don’t know if you’re going to see exactly the same type of visual jokes that you see on “Family Guy,” but I do know there are going to be very different kinds of visual jokes. Stylistically, you’re going to see similarities to “Family Guy,” but in other ways, you’re going to see something very different.

Seth MacFarlane on his own dad:

I remember my father, when he was in his early 30s, bringing a tape home to the family. All it was, was this audio tape of a guy taking the biggest, longest shit you’ve ever heard in your life, and [my dad] was just laughing his ass off. And this is a guy who is one of the most intellectual, socially conscious people I’ve ever known.

Seth MacFarlane on getting back into the “Family Guy” mentality:

I was really expecting it to be a rough transition, but we’ve had to do this twice before — basically shut down and then get back into it like it’s nothing. It’s actually good to do that, because animated shows don’t get hiatuses and you’ll find that, later in a season, as we get more tired, you see a lot more sex jokes and shit jokes and other signs of fatigue.

Seth MacFarlane’sinspirational closing remarks:

We’re working seven days a week and we’re trying to make these things good, so hopefully everyone enjoys them. Wow, that’s really not very inspirational, is it?