The Wire vs. South Park

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

A pointless cutaway that one can read more or less however one likes by virtue of how devoid it is of any contextual meaning or significance is not a 'subversion of the expectations of' Family Guy. It is, rather, itself among the expectations of Family Guy.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The main joke, as someone else pointed out once, is that Brian, normally the calm and rational voice of reason, is introducing such an absurd, ridiculous and out of nowhere character. And in such a calm deadpan manner at that.

I guess I could conceivably be wrong about this, but I highly doubt that that is the only time that Brian has been the lead-in to one of the cutaways.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

And also more than Family Guy's. That shouldn't come as a surprise.