Neither actor has had much experience filming a multi-camera sitcom in front of a live studio audience, which is what they do every week with "The Millers".
Both of them will be in action at the Salford Sitcom Showcase this week, where six new sitcoms will get their first outing in front of a live audience at MediaCityUK.
Before "I Love Lucy," the sitcom filmed in front of a live audience did not exist; Desi Arnaz invented it.
And, oh yeah, it'd be a cheap multi-camera sitcom filmed in front of a live studio audience.
At the lower level, in an L.A. apartment filled with posters of past comedy stars, Mark Jason Schwartzmann) dangles his first serious paychecks from a sitcom in front of his impoverished roommates, Ira (Seth Rogen) and Leo (Jonah Hill), two zaftig young men who do an occasional ten minutes of standup at a local club.
The production of the show was in a conventional sitcom format, with episodes taped live in front of a studio audience, interposed with pre-filmed location material.
"We've always wanted to write a sitcom," says Tom. "We're putting this in front of a bigger audience than we've ever attempted to reach before.
The effect of those first seven years, when Fox was in deep denial and would, incredibly, film in front of a live studio audience every week on the sitcom Spin City, have been thoroughly expunged.
It might not sound like the template for one of the most successful and groundbreaking sitcoms of all time, yet not only was I Love Lucy hugely popular – with 67.3 million viewers at the peak of its six-season run – it was also the first programme to broadcast repeats and to record on film in front of a live studio audience.
His last sitcom, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, also focussed on spiralling conversations in front of a dashboard and screened online at Sony's Crackle.com.com
