I was kind of the comic relief in my household. We had a chronic illness in the family. And so, a lot of emergency room visits, and my role was to be silly and add levity, and we're Jewish. So every Passover is a performance. You kind of learn to role play and do voices at the Passover Seder.

Alex Borstein

Categorized in : You Performance Play Family

Every comic is really a frustrated rock star.

Alex Borstein

frustrated rocks stars

Television and film acting is really fun because you are working with other people and you are not completely responsible for the outcome of the project.

Alex Borstein

acting fun people

I got my degree in rhetoric.

Alex Borstein

rhetoric degrees

I am a fan of whatever makes me laugh my ass off. If it happens to be a Jew joke, then it's a Jew joke.

Alex Borstein

ass fans laughing

I have no point in my system or morals where I say, 'This is too far'.

Alex Borstein

no-point moral

I think I was born because my parents had two boys and wanted to give it one more go and try for a girl... they got me instead.

Alex Borstein

girl boys thinking

I'm still auditioning and doing other movie parts, but I really like the developing and the writing. You have more control over your destiny.

Alex Borstein

destiny over-you writing

My biggest fear is the ocean. It's a great big, powerful sea toilet.

Alex Borstein

powerful ocean sea

Usually, impersonations come out of something you dig, because you're listening to it over and over. And you kind of start developing... You're really trying to emulate them, then you realize, 'I sound ridiculous doing this. Oh, hey, maybe this is a funny impersonation.'

Alex Borstein

sound listening trying

The writing is amazing because having a hand in creating what you're going to be performing... there's nothing like it. It's always going to be better suited for you. You're always going to know the lines faster, because you wrote it. The writing is so very hard. It's the hardest part of the whole process. In some ways the acting is a lot easier and a lot more fun.

Alex Borstein

acting writing fun

I have always been a HUGE Star Wars fan since I was like 5 years old. Most of us in the writers room at Family Guy were big nerds growing up and could recite almost any scene from Star Wars.

Alex Borstein

growing-up stars war

Never try to fit a target audience. Write what is true to the characters in their settings and the audience will find you.

Alex Borstein

target-audience writing character

I think all shows change as they age as do the people who make the shows. As do the people who watch the shows. All targets are moving.

Alex Borstein

people moving thinking

I don't do sketch anymore and sometimes I miss it. But I think what I really miss is that time in my life, it was kind of like college. No kids, no real responsibilities, just comedy, food and late nights.

Alex Borstein

real responsibility kids

I think this [Feels like Christmas] is one of the greatest, most unsung albums ever. It's Cyndi Lauper, and it's called Hat Full Of Stars. She's so underrated.

Alex Borstein

hats stars thinking

Guys can look like pigs. The girl always has to be a looker. Look at most TV shows: According To Jim - pig and a looker. Still Standing - pig and a looker. Ralph Kramden [on The Honeymooners] - pig and a looker. Family Guy - pig and a looker. It's a theme.

Alex Borstein

family-guy girl pigs

If for no other reason than it's just fun to watch people age, and it's fun to watch what happened to '80s hairdos and outfits, and what they look like now.

Alex Borstein

age fun people

My grandmother was in line to be shot into a pit.

Alex Borstein

top-news

My uncle is a hemophiliac, and my brother is one as well. I am a carrier, and it's a disease that my kids also deal with. It's something that has affected my family and I for so long, and I think it's actually what drove me to comedy as a means to cope during tough times.

Alex Borstein

me tough-times family brother

If you believe in romance, and if you believe in marriage, you also have to believe in divorce. It's like, with 'Getting On,' a lot of people say, 'I don't want to watch that. It's so dark.' But you can't just want to go to weddings and children's birthday parties. You've got to witness it all.

Alex Borstein

you marriage birthday children