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 The 40-year-old actress is the nasally voice of long-suffering Lois
Griffin, wife of hapless hubby Peter Griffin on the Fox animated
series "Family Guy."
But soon, Borstein's face could become familiar, too.
Though the actress logged five seasons on the Fox sketch-comedy
series "MADtv," only now does she seem ready for her close-up.
Borstein joins Laurie Metcalf and Niecy Nash as one of the three
leads in HBO's Americanization of the widely acclaimed British
comedy "Getting On."
Like the original, HBO's version, which debuts Sunday at 10 p.m.
EST, gleans laughs from the most unexpected place: a hospital's
neglected all-women's geriatric wing.
It spoils nothing to reveal the pilot's series-defining moment, as
nurses played by Borstein and Nash frantically attempt to understand
a woman's pleas for help. Problem is, she's shouting in a foreign
language. It takes the caregivers two desperate and side-splitting
minutes to decipher what is being said, but an interpreter's
translation is worth the wait:
"I can't stand this. I wish I was dead. Please kill me."
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 The patient could well be referring to the hospital
wing's hilarious yet heartbreaking "M-A-S-H"-like setting and
characters.
"There are really funny things that happen," Borstein commented in a
recent interview. "(But) we're not laughing at anyone. It feels like
a real honest peek into this world."
In fact, "Getting On" is also serious business, even for the
frequently funny trio of leads.
"Laurie, Niecy and I are actresses of a certain age," said Borstein,
"and most places don't want to look at that anymore. I just think
it's amazing that HBO says, 'No, I think people do.'"
Borstein brought her 2-month-old daughter (with actor-husband
Jackson Douglas) to the set while filming the pilot, and she clearly
left work that day with a grasp of what "Getting On" was getting at.
"I had to clean her bottom and take care of her," Borstein said of
her newborn. "And you can't help notice: We're the same coming in as
we are going out."
[Associated
Press; MIKE CIDONI LENNOX]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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