(l-r) Tim Meadows as Gregg, Gigi Zumbado as Ceci, Tony Cavalero as Vic, Alex Tarrant as Noa and Harriet Dyer as Colette in DMV. ©CBS Broadcasting. CR: Bertrand Calmeau/CBS

By JUDY SLOANE

Front Row Features

HOLLYWOOD-CBS’ new single-camera workplace comedy, “DMV,” is set in the East Valley Department of Motor Vehicles, where the staff has to deal with customers who are frustrated before they even walk through the door. In the branch is Colette (Harriet Dyer, Australian series “Colin from Accounts,” “American Auto,”), a driving examiner with a heart; Gregg (Tim Meadows, “The Goldbergs,” “Poker Face,”) a onetime English teacher; Vic (Tony Cavalero, “The Righteous Gemstones,”) a former bouncer; Barbara (Molly Kearney, “Amazon’s A League of Their Own,” “Saturday Night Live,”) a newly promoted manager; Noa (Alex Tarrant, “NCIS: Hawaii,) an amiable surfer and Ceci (Gigi Zumbado “Pitch Perfect,” “Doctor Odyssey,”) an edgy photographer.

Writer/producer Dana Klein and members of the cast came together to talk about their new sitcom which premieres on Monday, October 13^th at 8:30-9:00 PM, ET/PT on CBS, and streams On Paramount+ the day after the episode airs.

Q: Dana, what interested you in doing this sitcom?

Dana Klein: I am the mother of three teenagers, two of which took multiple tries to pass their driving test, which means that over the past few years I have spent a lot of time at the DMV. And one of those times, as I sat in the waiting room worrying if I had the correct forms, I thought, ‘This is really the perfect setting for a workplace comedy.’ Then I thought, ‘Why is there caution tape around the water fountain?’ And I missed my number being called!

For most of us, the DMV experience is likely not the highlight of our day, but imagine if that was your day every day. So the idea of a show about people who work at a place that is notoriously despised was really interesting to me. When I was sent Catherine Heine’s short story about a very big-hearted driving examiner, I got about 3 pages in before I knew I wanted to do it.

Q: Harriet, you’ve done a lot of physical comedy in shows, as you do in this one. Is that in your contract?

Harriet Dyer: Physical comedy keeps showing up for me, but I love it. They’ve given all of us stuff. We did a human pyramid the other day, and we did it with a plomb. We loved it, and I think the more [they] write the physical stuff, the more we get into it.

Q: Tony, you’re coming from “The Righteous Gemstones,” what is this experience like?

Tony Cavalero: It’s a very different experience. My improvs are a little X-rated, so I’m learning to toe the line a little bit. I loved ‘Gemstones,’ but I’d work four days a month on it. This is such a family environment and vibe, and I love every single person I get to work with on this show. They’re all hilarious.

(l-r) Tony Cavalero as Vic, Harriet Dyer as Colette, and Tim Meadows as Gregg in DMV. ©CBS Broadcasting. CR: Bertrand Calmeau/CBS

Q: Tim, you’ve been on many ensemble shows. How does this one compare?

Tim Meadows: Having worked on a bunch of different shows working with different ensembles, I think [doing] the pilot you get a feel for each other, and you learn about the other person; the people that you’re acting with, the timing, and the way they approach everything. When we got back for episode two, we were ready to go. We all had a good, clear understanding of what we were bringing to it, we were up and running and really in tune with each other.

Q: Did any of you fail your driving test when you were trying to get a license?

Harriet Dyer: I got mine at the Hollywood DMV, and I was scared to go.  I was 30. I could drive, I had been driving my adult life, and the lady was in such a bad mood. It was so DMV. At the end, she [said], ‘Well, you got 12 errors.’ Then I got inside, and I was like, ‘Oh, that was the meanest way of saying that I passed.’ She was so unhappy that I passed.

Tim Meadows: No, I passed mine [with] flying colors in Detroit. In Detroit, they had the actual driving instructing at the school. So, if you didn’t pass in Detroit, you were looked down upon. It was not cool to fail driving in Detroit.

Molly Kearney: My driver instructor’s name was Crystal. She had hair down past her butt. She drank six Mountain Dews during the driver test. She picked me up and she was like, ‘Oh, I’ve had a day. The last kid in here hit a deer. It was terrible.’ [I said], ‘Okay, here we go, Crystal!’

Gigi Zumbado: I swear, a couple months before I even got this audition or knew that “DMV” was in the works, I went with my dad, who was moving from Miami to L.A. and needed to get his new license. We were sitting at the downtown L.A. DMV, and it was insane. My dad looks over at me and just goes “This is a really good place for character study.”