Cleveland is usually depicted as exceedingly patient and sweet-natured, and only on rare occasions has he been known to lose his temper and
resort to violence. However, Cleveland gets visibly annoyed with racist behavior. He often acts as the voice of caution when other characters hatch harebrained schemes. Cleveland's speech is slow, almost elongated. Various flashbacks give conflicting histories of his speech patterns. A flashback in the episode "
Death Lives" shows that Peter Griffin met Cleveland in the 1970s, when Cleveland already spoke in the slow manner that he is known for. Likewise, in the premiere of his spin-off, it is revealed that Cleveland talked in a slow manner when he was in high school. In the fourth season episode "
Blind Ambition", an out-of-continuity flashback depicts Cleveland as a fast-talking
auctioneer when a
totem pole falls over onto his head, resulting in a slower rate of speech. He was conceived during the
seventh-inning stretch of a
Cleveland Indians (now
Guardians) game. One of the
running gags throughout the series is that Peter's shenanigans frequently destroy the front wall of Cleveland's house, revealing him in the
bathtub. He then exclaims: "No, no, no, no, no, no!!!!!" as the upstairs floor tilts and the tub crashes to the ground and shatters. In the pilot of his
spin-off, this gag was the last straw that convinced Cleveland to leave Quahog. However, even several states away, the Griffins' antics are still seen to cause this event, such as when debris from the
missile that Brian, Stewie,
Dan Aykroyd and
Chevy Chase destroy happens to fall right on Cleveland's new house in the episode "
Spies Reminiscent of Us". In "
Brian's Got a Brand New Bag", Cleveland's now-unoccupied house is destroyed when Peter watches the movie
Road House and beats up
Brian, which results in a car crashing into the house, and the empty bathtub crashes to the ground. Afterward, Peter says "Oh, that's right. Cleveland moved." In the
Cleveland Show episode "
Gone with the Wind", the same running gag affects his former wife
Loretta Brown, and she breaks her neck on the ground, causing her death. Cleveland's bathtub accidents have been caused by
Peter's giraffe stumbling backwards into his house, the flying missile as stated above, Peter and
Lois trying
to move their mentally disabled horse by driving into it, missing, and driving into his house, and other accidents. Cleveland has acknowledged that he ought not to take baths during Peter's shenanigans. Cleveland sometimes will show some sexual deviance or arousal towards attractive women. This is shown in the episode "
Petarded", when Peter brings seven prostitutes into his house to get back custody of his children and prove to
child services that Cleveland is an unfit father. Cleveland responds, "Peter! You and five of those prostitutes get out!" In the
Family Guy episode "
Love Blactually", it is suggested that he may have contracted genital warts by having sex with a woman with whom Brian was previously involved. Additionally, Cleveland has "no toenails anyhow" according to season 14 episode 19 "
Run, Chris, Run" in which he and Jerome discuss a toenail fungus commercial. ==Development==