Laverne and Shirley, Lucy and Ethel, Snooki and JWoww and now Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair? The two comedians and writers created and star in the new USA sitcom Playing House about best friends Maggie (Parham) and Emma (St. Clair), who decide to live together and help raise Maggie’s baby in the suburbs.
The show premieres on Tuesday, April 29 on USA, and here’s what you need to know about the funny ladies heading up TV’s next big comedy:
1. They Are Best Friends Forever … Literally
Before Playing House, the duo united for the underrated 2012 Best Friends Forever on NBC. Unfortunately, the show didn’t make it past season 1, but managed to create a cult following of fans who loved Lennon and Jess’s witty banter and onscreen chemistry.
2. Their Writing Process Is Very Different
With a background in the famous standup comedy troupe, the Upright Citizens Brigade, these two writers don’t take the traditional route when it comes to perfecting their script.
“Lennon and I have a weird writing process, which is that we improvise all of the scenes and we tape-record ourselves,” St. Clair revealed in a recent USA interview. “We transcribe that, and that becomes the basis for the first episode. Now that we have a writer’s room, we’ve filled it with amazing improvisers. Lennon plays all the men, and I gotta tell you, she does a very convincing man and sometimes says things to me that I wish a man had said to me in my dating life, but never did.”
3. They Have Clocked Time With Comedy Greats
In addition to working with Upright Citizens Brigade, which counts Amy Poehler among its founders, the ladies have each appeared on hit comedy shows. Parham had a guest role in the second episode of Poehler’s hit NBC comedy Parks and Recreation as an unruly member of Pawnee, and has also appeared on How I Met Your Mother and in the 2009 film Confessions of a Shopaholic. St. Clair has appeared in comedy films She’s Out of My League, Life as We Know It, and she worked in the wedding dress shop in 2011’s Bridesmaids—one of the biggest female comedies of all time.
4. They Are Both New Mothers
Though only Parham’s character Maggie is pregnant on Playing House, both ladies recently experienced the milestone in real life. St. Clair gave birth to daughter Isobel Kelly O’Brien in October 2013, just six months after Parham welcomed daughter Saraya in April. We spy future besties!
5. They Have the Help of a TV Icon
The ladies might be able to make this show stick, with the held of director Fred Savage! The Wonder Years star has been with the duo from the beginning, also directing Best Friends Forever in 2012.
Playing House premieres Tuesday, April 29 on USA at 10 p.m. ET.