Matt Windman posted on amny.com 10 months ago:

'Family Guy' heads to Carnegie Hall

Seth MacFarlane (creator of "Family Guy," voice of Peter and Stewie Griffin) and Alex Borstein (voice of Lois Griffin) are unlikely cabaret stars. But on Thursday night they will take the stage of Carnegie Hall in a one-night-only benefit for the Writers Guild East Strike Fund.

My press release calls the show a "night of music and comedy." And that would mean? It's me, Alex and a trio of jazz musicians that have all played in the "Family Guy" orchestra. And it's basically a really, really dirty lounge act that we do. We take a series of songs and just rewrite them and rearrange their styles with very, very racy twists. We did the show at Comix two weeks ago and the response was so much better than the mediocre response we had expected. They wanted more. So the conciliation prize was Carnegie Hall.

Will the show have a "Family Guy" kind of humor? It's very, very similar. Some "Family Guy" elements are incorporated, but for the most part, it's its own entity. Fans of "Family Guy" will definitely get the same sense of humor. There are a couple of songs from "Family Guy" that we'll do in character.

What, exactly, will Patti LuPone be doing as guest star? We did a "Family Guy" CD a few years ago and she did a song with Quagmire. She'll reprise that and I'll play Quagmire.

What have you seen before at Carnegie Hall? You won't believe it. I've never been there. So, in a backwards way, this is my first time.

What made you want to throw a benefit for the Writers Guild? I myself was as inactive as anyone can be, but this is a very important, crucial time for the guild. We've reached a point where the novelty, fashionable aspect of the strike has worn off. Now it's really about the actual work of holding out. This is the period the studios have waited for. Now, we'll see if they'll negotiate.

Where do you think the writers now stand? We've gone a month and a half now where the studios just stayed away from the table with a "we'll stave the writers into submission" attitude. Until they're able to make a fair deal, we're looking at a continued strike.

How has the strike affected "Family Guy"? We finished the writing for our season before the strike, but somewhere down the line there's going to be a big gap. But let's not forget that "Family Guy" has dealt with a really extended break before and gotten back.

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