The 'Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' star and her 88-year-old father, Irv, sat down for a special Father's Day edition of 'Spilling the E-Tea.'
When The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Alex Borstein and her father, Irv, sat down with ET for a special Father's Day edition of "Spilling the E-Tea," the proud 88-year-old papa wasted no time in breaking one of the cardinal rules of parenthood.
"You're my favorite child," Irv shared with his daughter and the cameras. "You are my favorite, that's all there is to it."
"You just broke all the rules, you're not allowed to say that you have a favorite," responded his daughter, who, by the way, has two older brothers. "You're supposed to say, 'I can't choose, I love them all equally!'"
Irv, who Alex boasted is a PhD-level mental health professional, just scoffed. "Parents lie about that," he said. "You're my favorite, you are... Because you're so remarkable, that's why. You're such a good person and such a talented person. I just love you, that's all."
Alex was born outside of Chicago before her family moved to California when she was young. She got her start in comedy doing improv in Los Angeles before joining the cast of the Fox sketch comedy series MADtv in 1997 -- which her father says was the moment he knew she would make it.
"I think I worried about a lot, you know, about you being able to do it, until you got on MADtv," Irv shared. "That was very exciting when that happened, and then also after that was Family Guy -- I became very sure you were gonna have a career."
And when Alex joked that her career is currently headed for its downturn after the series finale of Mrs. Maisel -- which has so far won her two Supporting Comedy Actress Emmys -- Irv was sweetly supportive as ever.
"It's not over," he reassured. "I'm 88 years old and I wanna be around when that movie comes out -- your movie that you wrote that's supposed to be so terrific. I wanna be around to see that movie, that's the goal I have."
Irv names Mandy Patinkin as an actor he'd love to see his daughter work with in the future -- possibly in "that movie," which Alex joked her father is helping her fund -- but, as it turns out, he's also tried to join her onscreen from time to time!
"If you told Amy [Sherman-Palladino], 'Put the poor guy in the show!' she would've done it," he teased, recalling how he angled for a part on Mrs. Maisel.
"I think I was afraid you'd upstage me," Alex replied with a laugh, though she noted that she did bring her dad in once to audition for an NBC pilot she was on.
"I auditioned and you thought I was terrific, but that guy that was producing the show said I didn't have the chops or something," Irv recalled, though his daughter remembered the situation slightly differently.
"I think what happened at the audition is you looked down the whole time," she teased.
"You're right," he admitted. "I didn't remember the lines. I had to look down at the script."
Alex also teased her dad about being too much of a gossip to tell him about any upcoming projects, but his support and love for his daughter is evident. He keeps one of her Emmys in his apartment, in an "Alex Borstein tribute corner," reminisced with her about catching the performance bug during their Passover seders, and joked about showing her "X-rated" comedy special -- Prime Video's Alex Borstein: Corsets and Clown Suits -- to friends at his retirement community.
"I mean, it's not X-rated," Alex fired back. "I'm not like, full-frontal or anything."
"I mean, for me it was OK -- I know about your mouth," Irv told his daughter. "But I was really worried about other people, friends of mine, seeing it."
Irv and Alex's mother, Judy, were even in the audience for the taping of the special, but the proud father claimed he wasn't taken aback by any of the material, no matter how blue.
"I don't think I was embarrassed," he shared when his daughter asked. "I was a little shocked at times, you know, a little, but then I'd seen you do this show before."
"But there was some new things," Alex reminded him. "There's a song called 'Dick Slap.'"
"Yeah, I don't know what in the hell that is, so it doesn't bother me," Irv replied, earning a big laugh from his daughter. "It sounds impossible."
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Alex Borstein: Corsets and Clown Suits are both streaming now on Prime Video.
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