TVSquad

Maybe it's because they work on such a dark show. Maybe it's because many of the actors on the show have at least some comedy in their backgrounds. But the folks from Criminal Minds really like to yuk it up. At least that's what I got from the "informal" (again, that means "jammed in a far-too-small conference room") session for the procedural. The panel consisted of executive producers Edward Allen Bernero and Mark Gordon, and stars Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster and Shemar Moore.

Gibson started off the comedy by lifting a jar of candy from the table and offering them to the gathered crowd. "They're wah-fer thin," referring to a classic bit from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

Brewster, on whom I still have a bit of a crush from her stints on Friends and the late, lamented Andy Richter Controls the Universe, let off a couple of zingers. A few minutes after Moore mentioned he was on the "George Clooney track," and referred to his 8 pilots, she brought back that reference by going, "I beat you. I've done 16 pilots and I desperately wanted to be on a successful show."

Moore was also funny. When the producers asked if there would be more romantic entanglements on the show (Moore's character, Derek Morgan, is having a flirtation with Kirsten Vangsness' character, Penelope Garcia), they replied that it wasn't that type of show, and that there's no time for that kind of story. Moore added: "our show is such a ticking clock... When do you have time to take off your clothes and knock boots?"

Brewster took that an extra step by bringing up one of the darker storylines: "Maybe the little boy in the basement." she then did a mock-sly, "Hey, do you want it?"

The post Super Bowl episode of the show will be a "good episode," according to Gordon, but they haven't written an "event" episode, or one that will ease off on the show's usual grim style. "It was important for us to do our show," said Bernero. "The show is about what it's about. so we weren't asked to (tone it down)."

Of course, the cast is elated. Gibson wore his "Super Bowl pajamas" the night before they filmed that episode. Brewster's reaction: "I like it. The more people that see me, the better."