Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Alex Borstein: Corsets & Clown Suits’ On Prime Video, Mrs. Maisel’s Manager Takes The Stage To Sing And Sling Jokes (2024)

On The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Alex Borstein plays the titular character’s manager, who’s learning everything about show business and managing talent as she goes. But in real-life, Borstein has long been a star in waiting herself, albeit mostly only because she’s been in the background or sight unseen, all the while providing animated voices you’ve loved to laugh at for decades. This is her chance to shine as herself.

: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Alex Borstein has won multiple Emmys, SAG and Critics Choice awards for playing Midge Maisel’s manager, Susie Myerson. She’s also earned another Emmy for her voice work as Lois Griffin and other characters on FOX’s long-running animated sitcom, Family Guy. And comedy fans with even longer memories will remember her as one of the early stars of MADtv. So for many, this might be the first time they’ve seen Borstein perform out of character.

Filmed at The Wolford Theatre, aka the fictional burlesque club first seen in season four of Maisel, Borstein takes the stage after an brief burlesque number by Rosie Cheeks, and with musical accompaniment from ukulele players Eric Mills and Salva Ray. There’s also an ASL interpreter onstage, to whom Borstein defers on occasion, just to make sure we all know the sign language for certain sexual terms.

What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?:There’s plenty of moments in her stand-up material that might have you thinking Borstein has gone through her own real-life Maisel moment, especially since she’s on that stage. There’s also more than a few comparisons to be made with Borstein’s work with Seth MacFarlane, including their previous duo act variety special for FOX in 2009, Family Guy presents Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show.

Memorable Jokes: She references the title of her special early on, wondering about how she’s perceived, not just because she’s a celebrity, but also because she’s trying to find out who she is and what she wants in the wake of a divorce. Kinda like Maisel?! But Borstein, after receiving flowers from an audience member and likening herself to “a pudgy Tonya Harding,” observed: “So I had to figure out if I could learn to breathe in a corset, or could I figure out how to make a clown suit sexy?”

Quick asides and act-outs, more animated with physicality than any animated bit from Family Guy, abound.

As do the musical numbers.

She previews her own take on a very different Hamilton. She advises women to get focused now that judges and politicians are taking away their rights. “We need to do for our bodies what the NRA has done for the guns, right?”

She’ll act out how differently llamas give birth from women, as well as what happened when a crew member on set gave her an “artisanal” tampon made with mint, or imagine an advertisem*nt for a product she has come up with called the co*ck Patch.

Songs range from medleys of David Bowie to LCD Soundsystem and back, from Nena to Joy Division to The Cure, to jingles about perverted sex acts, how Jews annoy strangers to win the game of “Jew-Manji,” and an ode to the maid who must’ve had cleanup duty after Hitler’s suicide.

Our Take: Since their musical selections range from the sublime to the ridiculous, we really get a chance to hear how surprisingly grand Borstein’s singing voice is. Perhaps a little less surprising if you close your eyes and can picture if Lois Griffin sounded younger and more glamorous?

Back in real life, Borstein’s in her 50s now with two kids of her own, and admits she cannot do Internet dating because she refuses to become “a story for boys” who want to claim they’ve had sex with Lois Griffin. So what’s she to do? But she also pauses often to reflect on the plight of women everywhere, not just when it comes to abortion rights, but also equal pay and civil rights in general. Her conclusion: “You can’t have equality without equity.”

Borstein believes we all must have access to the same resources if we ever hope to live in an equal society. Which leads her also into thinking nonbinary genders are worth considering for everyone, and that nobody should care enough about someone else’s gender that they decide to hate the trans community. Why would a man choose to have less rights, lower pay, and worse treatment by society? As she points out, even the Halloween superhero costume choices for women are reflective of their plight. Wonder Woman’s costume is built for the male gaze, and her superpower is, what, Borstein asks? “The Lasso of Truth?”

There’s a moment near the end of her special where Borstein pauses, slightly embarrassed that she’s making puss* and dick jokes when the world is seemingly on fire. But that’s quickly diffused. After all, as she even pointed out to the audience after pointing out her elderly parents in the audience, their warning that her filthy mouth would hold her back went unheeded.

“I learned that this filthy mouth, dad? This is the only thing that is going to take care of me in this world. This is my moneymaker.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. If you’re a fan of Borstein’s work on Family Guy and Maisel, then you’ll likely love this already. If you’re less aware of her for whatever reason, then just know what you’re getting yourself into: A variety show with plenty of musical numbers and sex jokes, and sometimes a little of both.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper,The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets@thecomicscomicand podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories:The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.