A man who’s dubbed ‘the real Peter Griffin’ from hit cartoon series Family Guy is now making thousands – after videos of him at Comicon went viral.
Robert Franzese, 33, first dressed up as Peter Griffin at Comicon back in 2012 when his original Ghost Rider costume became unbearably hot.
The warm weather proved a damming flaw in an otherwise superb costume, forcing Robert to think outside the box for the second day of the event.
He reluctantly decided to use the clothes he’d already brought, to put together a makeshift Peter Griffin costume – which he was convinced no one would recognise.
But, after attracting some attention with his hilarious Peter impressions he spent the entire afternoon being followed by ecstatic Family Guy fans.
Enjoying what he thought was his “15 minutes of fame”, Robert started to bring the costume to other Comicon events – and a year later a video of him went viral on Reddit.
In 2015, at another Comicon in Pennsylvania, he was asked by the organisers to keep the crowd entertained whilst they decided the winner of the costume contest.
Whilst Robert put on a show for the gathering crowds, a video of him went viral again, this time racking up 17 million views.
He couldn’t quite believe the reaction he received, and, soon after, news outlets and fan pages started to rapidly reach out.
Robert, from Long Island, New York, said: “It really is crazy because I never even planned to dress as Peter in the first place.
“I was gutted about my Ghost Rider costume and convinced no one would even bat an eye lid.
“I was actually at the ATM getting money out and a Peter impression just slipped out.
“A group of people who heard burst out laughing and started following me around all afternoon.
“By the end of the day the audience had tripled in size and people were crowding around me with their phones out – it was really bizarre.”
Robert, who’s day job is in retail, started his own YouTube channel under the name ‘The Real Life Peter Griffin’ which now boasts hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
His social media accounts are also very popular, and Robert has recorded over 3000 personalised videos on Cameo for Peter Griffin fans – earning him thousands of dollars.
He also works birthday parties, high profile events and religious ceremonies where he performs for hundreds of people at a time.
Word of Robert’s impressions quickly spread, and producers of the show recently flew him out to Los Angeles to promote a new Family Guy video game.
They even mentioned him on the show in series 17, episode 16 ‘You Can’t Handle The Booth’ – which really cemented his success.
Robert says his dream is to quit his 9-5 job for good and become a voice over actor in the film industry.
“I want people to realise that I’m not a one trick pony and I can do more than just the Family Guy stuff,” he added.
“I’m really good at improv and reactionary jokes and that’s what really put me on the map.
“Any fat white guy can dress up like Peter Griffin but not everyone can do what I do.
“Hopefully as I get more publicity people will realise that there’s more to me than meets the eye.
“I’ve had an absolute blast with the Peter Griffin bit but I’d love the opportunity to do more than just cosplay in the future.”
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