Franz Gutentag was an elderly puppeteer who befriends Chris Griffin in "German Guy". He had recently opened the Quahog Puppet Store. His last name comes from the German phrase for "good day". Herbert recognizes him as a former Nazi named Franz Schlechtnacht, which, in German means "bad night".
During World War II, he was a sadistic SS officer of a concentration camp in which Herbert was imprisoned. According to Herbert, those who Franz chose to put those on his left side would be sent to labor camps, and those on his right side were executed. Franz forced Herbert to do recycling, which would leave his hands greasy and dirty.
After trapping Chris and his father Peter, Franz and Herbert have a long drawn-out battle when Herbert offers that only one of them would leave alive. Franz dies after falling off the porch stairs, unable to grab Herbert's hand.
The DVD cut ends with Herbert giving Franz a German send-off by placing him in an oven and turning on the gas.
He is voiced by John Viener.
He is seen in a hallucination of Peter's on a cruise ship full of deceased characters in the Panama Canal in "Coma Guy".