Family Guy’s Alex Borstein Looks Back on 450 Episodes

Can you believe we’ve just watched the 450th episode of Family Guy?

This show has had a terrific run so far — 27 years! — but it certainly didn’t feel possible in the beginning.

Alex Borstein, who has voiced Lois Griffin since the show’s inception as well as other characters along the way, looked back on her time on the series while chatting with us at TV Fanatic, and she delved into the wonderfulness of the 450th episode.

TV Fanatic: So few TV shows get to 450 episodes, so what’s it like for you to get to this point of Family Guy?

Alex Borstein: It’s unheard of. I can’t even believe it. I remember early on, in one of our DVD extras, we used to do these interviews and bits, which I kind of miss, and we would watch the episode together and make a commentary.

In one of them, I said I planned to gain a pound for every episode, so I would be 450lbs by this point. Well, on top of what I already weighed, so 600lbs.

Never in a million years did I imagine this would happen, or that I would be part of it. Not a day goes by that I do not realize how I am the luckiest woman in show business.

I remember watching it from day one, and we kept going despite the fear that Family Guy wouldn’t be renewed. Now you have a four-season renewal, so how has that felt?

It’s crazy! I wonder if having been canceled twice made us stronger. I know divorce made me stronger, and every time you break a bone in your body, it comes back a little stronger because it’s reset. I wonder if that happened for us.

It’s like a superhero origin story. It didn’t break us, but it made us more invincible.

Some episodes are better than others, but what we’ve done consistently is punch everybody. We go into every corner, and we hit the right, and we hit the left. And I think that works.

We’re an equal-opportunity offender, and people just like letting go because the world is a toilet. Just to get half an hour with these animated creatures is such a gift.

I’ve always loved that it’s topical without being too topical. As you say, it’s possible to sit back and relax.

Honestly, because it takes us over a year to make each episode, we can’t be hyper topical. I think that makes a big difference. It makes the episodes more evergreen.

You can come back to them and rewatch them anytime. They’re topical without being hyper front-page news.

I love Lois and Peter’s relationship, and we got to see what I think really makes them work in the 450th episode. She simply accepts him as he is and treats him like a child. What has that been like for you to bring to life?

She’s a better woman than I am, because I’m divorced. I couldn’t do it.

Same!

There weren’t enough Oreos in the world! I think that’s what hits a lot of women in this show. It’s how honest Lois is about what life is like with a husband and a family, and carrying all of the weight and mental load.

Being the one who plans everything, who knows the names of the kids’ teachers. I think it just hits on such a real, honest depiction. Of course, it’s ballooned out for comedic effect, but it comes from a real, honest place, and I think people identify with that.

During the Family Guy Season 24 Premiere, she gets to let go a little bit. How much fun was that script for you?

Really fun! I had nothing to do with writing this script, and when we read it live at PaleyFest, it was so good. There was this actual moment where Seth [MacFarlane] and I were really acting. We were able to have these moments together doing a scene.

Those are the scenes that could be done in an acting class. You forget that they’re animated characters.

It’s an honest depiction of a mother-son relationship. I have a 17-year-old boy, and it’s complicated, and this does get to the heart of so much of that, so it was a pleasure, an unexpected surprise. Honestly, I think it’s one of the best episodes we’ve done.

I was going to ask what your initial reaction was when you found out Lois was getting high with Stewie.

I was pretty excited from the get-go. I loved the idea of this new layer. What’s wonderful about animation is that we decide whether to reference it again. Animated shows reset after each episode, unless you want to do a callback, like the chicken bites.

I think it’s what helps keep the show fresh.

Some things, we have to revisit. I would love this to become an annual thing, like on Lois’s birthday, she decides to get high with Stewie, and it’s a different drug each time.

They do get to have a beautiful heart-to-heart moment, with Stewie admitting why he thinks he’s always tried to kill her. What was that like for Lois to have this moment of clarity and understanding?

Yeah, it’s character-changing. Even her delivery is different, because she’s high. She’s not shrill, and the pace is slowed down. Seth wants us to keep up the pace, but we were able to slow everything down and have two people actually communicating.

We weren’t necessarily working for the big moment at the end of the scene. It was a real pleasure to be able to have a completely different side of a character you’ve been doing for 27 years.

I know you don’t always record scenes together, so it definitely must have been great to do the live read-through.

Each week, we do live table reads, so that’s our rehearsal. We could anticipate how each actor would do it in the booth, but it was a real pleasure to do it face-to-face with Seth in a room full of thousands of people.

It also helps that we’ve worked together for many years, so we can anticipate how lines will be delivered. I’ll do the other person’s voice right before I do mine, just so I get the cadence and the timing. We are multiple-personality lunatics in the booth for a little bit.

With 450 episodes, there are many iconic moments. What’s been your favorite Lois moment on Family Guy?

I think it has to be this premiere. I also love the Stewie Untold Story that we made into a movie and released on DVD, with all the red-carpet beats in between. That was a fun episode, because it was like pulling back the curtain a little.

I also loved the episode where Lois sang in the basement after opening the bar. I love the singing.

There’s one moment where we were all harmonizing the Bette Midler song “The Rose” while we were in the car. I don’t even remember what the episode was, but these moments stand out.

I honestly feel like this episode is maybe my new favorite.

_{This interview has been edited for clarity and length.}

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