Paul Scheer & Martha Kaufman have a new “Friends” for 2020’s, Improv Sitcom, “DINKS.”

 By Laura Medina 

TV producer, Martha Kaufman, had her finger on the plus, zeitgeist.

It was about making a family out of your friends during the ‘90’s, hence “Friends.” That define that decade.

For the past twenty years, the LA slang, “DINKS,” abbreviation of “Double/Dual Income No Kids,” have been bouncing around LA, to signify a type of marriage and what it takes to live a comfortable life in LA.

With comedian Paul Scheer and his wife, a fellow stand-up, Martha Kaufman is putting out an new, fresh fly by your set, unscripted, improvised sitcom defining today’s relationship and “friends as family, “DINKS.”

How’s this for audience participation.

Before taping, Paul and wife would ask questions from the audience then incorporate the audience’s answers into the dialogue, with actors’ rapid responses, sans script and only guided by scene outlines. Then, it’s up to the cast to fill in, using audience’s answers.

This makes for one hell of a hilarious improv roller coaster ride.

The standard prime time sitcom is still there. 4 to 6 cameras for 4 to 6 takes in 4 to 6 angles for the best shots and lines complied together for an episode.

That’s the only thing traditional thing about “DINKS.”

The rest is a free-form Jazz of unscripted dialogue and comedic zingers, again using only audience’s answers.

The weirder and more unusual the answers, the more they run and direct the episode.

Generally, “DINKS,” is a newlywed yuppy couple, who have previous marriages to other people, joining up in purchasing then renovating an historically haunted house up in the more affordable foothills above LA proper.

Yes, “DINKS” is all about accepting “baggage,” from adopting aimless, adult nephews to accepting new neighborhood friends, such as the realtor who sold you an haunted house. 

Ah, the reality of living in LA, in 2020’s.