Alex Borstein

0:00Exactly. Yeah, the stuff that airs we're always nine months. It takes about nine months. So Interviews are impossible when they say hey, what's coming up? I think I have no idea across that question off them Yeah, it's like impossible to remember what what does happen? Uh I don't want to Ration about an episode that's two years away and I forget Um, I should get like a cheat sheet. I should ask production and give me a cheat sheet of okay What's what's airing soon and when and you know, yeah, that'd be good that'd be good And I guess what well this while I print this piece though Uh in a couple of weeks, it'll be around Oscar time in which I guess it seems that the episode that's gonna run that night Will be it will be a repeat anyway, so it's not that big of a deal Um probably that wouldn't want to compete with himself. Yes, exactly. Well, let's go with that

0:50Well, so what what have you have you helped out with the hosting process? Is he asked you guys for I guess writing bits or parody bits or what's going on with that Yeah, he has been working with some of the writers at family guy for bits. I have not been a part of it I've been I've been kind of I was shooting a HBO pilot and writing a different pilot for Fox So whether it's something that I could be at the time that he's been working with some of the writers and You know, they they've been working a a long time on this. This is preoccupied sets for quite a while and he's kind of obsessed with it You know, they've they've used some of our the room at family guy to test some of the material Oh, you know, we've we've been privy to some of what's gonna be or some of what's not gonna make it and all that bad

1:35And what what are your thoughts so far of of what you've seen without giving away too much? I guess I think it's great. I mean I you know, I adore Seth and except as a genius and hilarious. So I'm certainly biased. I can't really be subjective and I think it's I think it's Material is really funny and I think the way he's going at it I think the best way to go at it. Have you had time to do anything? I mean, I know you did a couple of parodies last year for for blacks. I guess two years ago for blacks one in king's beach Yeah, you know, we want to um, we're trying to do we're trying to squeeze what in before the wire. So oh, okay It will we'll try to do a little uh lame as a rob Yeah, there you go So we're trying to get that done, but between losing my voice and having a form on pull maybe it

2:21It's been tough. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's having a form on thold baby and it's when you say you're shooting an HBO pilot and you're writing something else like How do you have time for all this? you know everything kind of magically Worked in the little patchwork this time, right? You know, we had the baby in october and then In november was found out that I was going to be doing this HBO pilot and we shot at the beginning of october I mean the beginning of thecember um And then I was writing a pilot for fox and turned that in just just in january and So it's kind of amazing how everything has little by little just what are these? I've had a tremendous I've had a tremendous amount of help. Oh, I'm sure

3:08What what are the pilots? Pardon me. What are the pilots? Can you can you talk about the middle? Um Well, you know nothing nothing's anything yet. So the pilot that I wrote is a redevelopment of a british series um called linda green a half hour um show in the uk but as a one hour Okay, um working with paul abbot who is the original creator of the show and You know these things you write they were hearing you have no idea of anyone who's ever gonna Um And what about this show that I shot for hbo We're waiting to hear we're waiting to see if it'll get picked up. It's also a british

3:57A british import but I had no Absolutely no hand writing that that was just something I was cast in as an actress. Are you playing it with a british accent? No, we are redeveloped redeveloping, you know, just like they did with the office for the state and um You know they they like to take you Brilliant british shows and then we like to try funny in this state. Mm-hmm But you got a great british accent like the paren norman your voice You're like hanging on the vowels. I like the way I don't know how you crafted that voice maybe with sam and chris or it was just you that came in with that voice. How did that work? You know it was something it was a funny situation the um paren norman opportunity a friend of mine Emailed me or texted me or called I forget them said hey, I've got this audition for this voice character

4:45And I don't do a lot of voice when you do can you help me to get the audition? It's sure and my friend was reading for the part of the mom or something in the movie something different than But she came over and we worked on our audition a little bit and then I was just curious about it and I called my agent I said hey, can you send me a script for this? I'm curious what this project is and I read it and then immediately said why why are guys going in on something for this? All right I want to read for something listen. I thought that mrs. Hensford looked pretty funny and apparently That you know the folks at paren norman at leika that's who they kind of thought I'd be best for so they had me Need for that And I just kind of did my own take on it. I just randomly I guess and way they liked it

5:32And then I'd have to do it. How does how does a room like that differ from from family guy? Inter in terms of like actual process of recording the vocals it's very different because with with paren norman you have a single director who is um a single director who has taken the project on and in this case chris but more also wrote it And so he was um Kind of taking the whole It's kind of a more holistic approach a family guy. We have directors directing it and then we have someone else that is I mean when I say directing it. I mean the people who are in charge of what the animators are going to be drawing Directing the acting of the animated characters and then they have a separate person who records

6:20the cord view and separate people who are locking the show and separate people so all these different cards in the wheel where there's with paren norman to one person his vision his script his idea You know exactly what he wants Um and kind of works and works and works and works for work. So it's exactly what he's feeling You know what he's envisioned a little different that way and And the cool thing is I got to go to portland Um to record it, which was really fun. Oh, yeah, it's like a whole different world up there Got to take a tour of the lake of studios and But honestly, I mean I I was just such a fan of Their work that I was just I was wanted to be a part of it I wanted to see that I wanted to see the studio that wanted to meet the people who

7:09Who do this I couldn't I couldn't imagine how they how the time it takes to do the stop motion I Couldn't I just couldn't wrap my head around it and it was it was one of the most fascinating things getting to go into the Their studio and see how they make the other dolls. There's these little dolls. They make different faces that can attach Yeah from a 3d printer. They were telling me the other week. That's crazy. Yes and every and the clothing You know, there's a wardrobe person who's building clothing for these little balls. So they're wearing actual Fabrics and clothes and they need to have doubles and triples and quadruples of them And the stats are all miniature. It's It's absolutely amazing. I can't believe the amount of work in the artistry that goes into it So for me, it was just such a labor of love to get to be a part of it to see how this worked and

7:58I just wanted to work with these people desperately to have such a fan Are you constantly working on voices like are you constantly coming up with different characters and voicings and things like that? Um, you know, I I come from a background of a stand-up and sketch comedy So you're kind of always creating characters coming up with sketch, you know characters and different perspectives and You know when I was younger, I always used to do impersonations of family members and And um, you know, I think it's kind of grew out of that. I grew up with different languages in the home too and I think that Makes a big difference. You kind of develop an ear for thing. Oh Different languages around the house Um Hungarian my mother's from Budapest so

8:45You know Hungarian was spoken a lot and you know, I also grew up she up in the Spanish So I grew up hearing a lot of Spanish and Hebrew I learned a lot of Hebrews. So I think when you introduce that in an early age and it can get helps kind of affect your Health you're you're able to Create an effect more sound but you are familiar with Yeah, that makes sense as having kids changed it a little bit because I feel like you'd be doing voices for the kids all the time trying to make them laugh and what Yeah, it definitely and what's interesting is, you know, one of like one of the characters that I did for a long time on that TV is called Miss Swan. Oh, yeah, of course and It's so interesting to see that that that voice is something that just lights up lights the kids up They

9:31Love it and I you tend to kind of know that something that turns on like a four-year-old of a baby is something that is probably going to That people are going to enjoy like it's a good barometer. It's a good test if you Testing characters out on little kids and if they light up to it It's a pretty good chance that people are gonna like it That's funny, you know, it's interesting. I was you know, that's that though that and I both kind of have the same philosophy and that we um We think that you have to have You can't really create a character a character's not just going to be funny without a great voice you know, if you listen to like Peter Griffin on Family Guy or um Quagmire or just a big choice that he's made for all of them a huge choice

10:17And he's kind of committed to this very funny sounding voice and then a lot of the character can come from that We both kind of believe that animated characters or all characters but it's kind of what helps make them great and develop them as opposed to just writing a funny character and then having Someone come in and you know, Cameron Diaz voice that and it's just Cameron Diaz like We kind of believe that like An actual voice that's chosen and created specifically for a character can really really help make it more three-dimensional Has that miss one voice come up on Family Guy at all? Yeah, we did her one time we had We had Meg getting a Mandy Teddy Hand down and what the people it was it was it was miss fun. I'm gonna have to dig up that episode. That sounds funny

11:07And what about Go ahead No, no, go ahead I was just gonna ask you like where you were saying you had all these voices as a child growing up in the house I'm wondering where the voice for Lois came was it from a family member or where did that come from? Yeah, actually Lois is Lois is based She'd probably hate to learn it, but A cousin of mine it's actually the first cousin of my mother's I believe What would that make her to be a second cousin or once removed or whatever? Yeah, something like that But it's a cousin of mine who is Hungarian and lives in long islands Great neck and her voice is very nasal and very slow She has a bit of a Hungarian accent

11:56And then you'll add in from the Long Island. So it's just the most annoying thing you've ever heard And how did you do that? It was kind of based on that it went from there at the time when I met Seth I was doing a live show in Los Angeles Students gets comedy show and a character that I was doing I had adapted part of that voice board and so when Seth When I was contacted to do this thing for Seth I said how about this? What do you think of this voice and Last and he said well It you need to speed it up because the show is only half an hour, but You can speed it up and maybe get a little more, you know, it's funky and I think that could work and And that was the beginnings of Lois That's interesting and how did how did how did the character change when you started writing for the show?

12:43Did did more of your ideas? I guess they would have to be interjected into the sequences Yeah, you know when Seth first developed a show, you know, he was 25 years old, right? So it's like there's 25 year old single male, you know a kid basically trying to like imagine a mother character and even a sister character he will readily admit those were the two least developed characters in the show that Megan and the mom he just kind of Kind of left them as they were and figured we'll deal with that later And when I first went in to start recording, I would I would improvise a little bit and you know throw a couple Just little jokes in there or breathe a little more life into her and make her familiar to me

13:29And it was something they responded to so you shouldn't write to the show have you ever considered writing the show and At the time I was working on that TV and we worked out a deal where I was able to come in consult That's what I started doing. I was coming every Monday because it was the one day we weren't working at my TV And I would sit in the right of his room and pitch and You know was able to kind of just embody lowest kind of pitch for low it's not not that that's all I did but it's certainly um I jumped at the chance anytime something came up for her. I jumped to be able to Give her something funny or give her some kind of an attitude or make her You know making her kind of a little bit filthy and liking sex a lot and not being kind of a typical sitcom mom

14:17He's always just to let blanket and Isn't the track to do her husband? We kind of had a lot of fun making her the opposite Yeah, and that so that came from you a little more than than the actual writer's room I don't know. I don't know that I'd say it came from me, but I think me being in the room we kind of we all kind of came you know, whisked that and You know, I have such a filthy mouth and a filthy melon I think A lot of the things I ended up saying or pitching or joking kind of lent themselves in that direction. So people went hey That's kind of funny when she out of nowhere's you know getting really lusty or dirty or filthy. So I don't know how many interviews I watched of you this morning where you pointed out the interviewers breasts like almost Every single time you do have a very filthy mind Where I was where did I do you pointed out boobs and in very like oh yeah every interview I watched it was amazing

15:06um But how does that well well boob your big part of my life um What how does how does writing for family guy transform into writing for shameless because that is a completely different entity You know yes and no in a way um frant Gallagher and peter are similar You know, they're they are these suck-ups that Consistently abuse and do horrible things to their own children and their families and single-minded and drink too much So in a way they're very similar and yet somehow They're still likeable at the end of the day. There's these awful people who do horrible things and yet they're

15:51Somehow adorable clowns at the end of the day Um, but there is a similarity I think The difference is we can get away with a lot more with Peter Griffin. You don't have to You don't have to buy back people's emotions with an animated show Of anything goes with shameless. It's a little more you have to be a little bit more grounded And not every single thing is possible You know what I mean is you know and family guy you can go to the moon and come back in 10 minutes. You can explore Pluto You can Become a woman you can have a sex chain. You can you know have a boob job or whatever Anything is possible with shameless it to be a little more grounded. Although we go a little bit nuts sometimes

16:40How did that opportunity come And that's that has been like one of the most fun Fun things experiences in my life. I never ever ever thought I'd be writing for a one-hour show Never never knew if I could do it really but john well He apparently did he kind of had faith. It got a long roundabout story, but um A friend of mine and I were thinking about developing a show idea. I had an idea for a character I want to play he had an idea for a much bigger richer fuller textured show And he said let me put your character within this and then he started working with john well And the two of them wrote this really great script for something that ended up not moving forward And But I got the opportunity to meet john well through him enjoy for the company. I guess he thought I was funny and interesting and when shameless came about

17:37Which was a long time after um, I just got a call asking if I wanted to work on Work on the pilot they were writing and at the time I was pregnant with my first kid So that was about five years ago, which is kind of amazing to think about And so I was like, oh, I'm pregnant. I'm about to have to go up to seattle to have this baby and So it's not really gonna work out. But he said well if the show gets picked up, I'll I'll bug you again sure enough show that picked up and I got another phone call and Ended up writing for the show like I said, it's been like It was the greatest learning curve I've ever had and one that's been so rewarding. I really loved it Is there a certain character's voice in that show that you feel most comfortable writing for in terms of dialogue?

18:23um I don't feel most comfortable, but I love writing for I really like writing for um Kevin which is played by steve holly. Mm-hmm. And um Just because he's he's so great at delivering anything. It's really fun. I love writing for jones acts character. She love There you get to play with your filthy mind a little bit Yes, I get to be filthy. She's a little low-fi, you know, she She has this dark kind of filthy side and yet she's the mama there and but she's And she's just such a brilliant actress. I'm so talented. You never know how she's going to Deliver something and it's just so much fun to wait and see what she's gonna do But but really I mean everyone is

19:10Everyone of us are looking the kid the guy who plays lip Jeremy is Is so great too. He's so subtle and he's so understated and you always know Less is more with him. You can write something and he gets it. You know, that's exactly what you meant He never overplays anything, but really I mean everyone in that will you make me see it? I mean ruffin. They're all so good It It's a pleasure to write fault. I'm not I'm not blowing smoke. It really is They're they're just really easy to write for it because you just know they're gonna be able to deliver it I'm taking up another time and I'll let you get back to your kids, but we do something called five questions Five quick questions one word answers Hitchcock or Kubrick fair I ask everyone these same questions. So it's always interesting to see what the answers are

20:05It's not fair. That's I will answer it in a second, but I will qualify it first. All right the The the the the mass of Hitchcock's work impressive me to no end and they're all brilliant, but clockwork orange Is so dark and twisted and brilliant? I'm leaning towards Kubrick, but I feel like that would be a lie because I think that the full amount of the body of work. I feel like I Man, this is tough. I'll just print that that's perfect. I'm gonna say Oh man Can I can I say that I would like the two of them to make love and then I would vote for this child. Yes. I like that. That's good um Lenin or McCartney What Lenin or McCartney?

20:53Oh, Lenin your biggest influence as an actor. No, that can be I don't have to name a person. No, it could be anything I think my biggest influence as an actor is the movie ordinary people and the movie being there Oh, I don't know being there. I know ordinary people interesting look that up Being there Peter Sellers. Oh, Jeremy playing amazing. Um, roll your most proud of What am I most proud of role the role you're most proud of? Oh the role I'm most proud of, you know, I think it's this HBO pilot that I just shot that I don't know if it'll ever air

21:38It's called getting on the most proud of that. Um, but something that has been released. I'd say You know, I'd say probably um, good night and good luck. I had a small part in that, but it felt kind of important Night. Yeah, it's a good movie good film in one word. Alex porstein in one word There

22:30You know one word. Yeah How fast did you believe we answer these? Oh, it varies. I like to try and make it as fast as possible. So it's uh A whimsical kind of quirky answer, but if you want to take your time, that's fine too. Sometimes it can get deep The basis. Oh