When I originally saw that Family Guy episode back in 2010, and the subsequent viewings in reruns, thinking that it might have been based on a short story written by Richard Matheson was the furthest thing from my mind. Now, if you’ve seen that Family Guy episode you know how it ends. The Dean was going to keep them on their secret island because they couldn’t allow them to return home and tell others of their existence. But Peter, Joe, Quagmire and Cleveland were able to escape. As they got away they accidentally burned down the secret headquarters, killing everyone inside and destroying all the dirty jokes. (but you know, it’s an animated cartoon, so no one really died). Obviously, that’s not how Matheson’s original story ended, In his story, Talbert Bean III stays and becomes one of the dirty joke writers,

By the way, the original “The Splendid Source” story was first published in Playboy magazine in 1956.