Adorable couple at heart of 'Marry Me' make it a winner

Jake and Annie are not Bogie and Bacall.

You can't imagine the couple at the gooey heart of "Marry Me," network TV's funniest new sitcom, seductively blowing smoke in each other's ears and whispering daring double entendres.

Their idea of foreplay would be a brisk round of charades. They're not sultry; they're cute.

"Next episode, we'll all be wearing fishnet stockings," said Ken Marino, 45, on the phone earlier this week with co-star Casey Wilson. "That should make it a little more sexy for you."

No need. Cute can be downright hot, especially in the hands of two comedy veterans.

Marino and Wilson play a Chicago-based couple in the engagement process, but only after Annie throws a fit worthy of Nicki Minaj. Annie's high-strung reaction to the world around her, pitted against Jake's take-it-as-it-comes stoicism, drives the series.

"You're always in the moment," says Jake after Annie's enthusiasm at his workplace gets him canned. "Why must everything be such a production?"

"My timing is so broad and probably borders on mimicry," said Wilson, 34, who spent two seasons as an "SNL" castmate. "I probably should have studied subtlety."

Asking an actress how much she resembles her character is a lousy question, but in this case it seems appropriate. The show was created by Wilson's husband, David Caspe, and it's loosely based on their courtship. They were married earlier this year — yet another adorable twist.

The two met on the set of Caspe's woefully missed sitcom "Happy Endings" (2011-13), on which Wilson let her freak flag fly as the lovesick Penny Hartz. Her new character is a slightly more mature version of Penny — but only slightly.

"I think Annie is a little more upbeat and friendlier than I am," Wilson said. "But there are definitely similarities. I have big ideas and want to see them through, even though they may be wrongheaded."

Wilson's real-life determination is exemplified by a tweet she recently directed to entrepreneur/reality star Bethenny Frankel:

A couple of crates of Frankel's low-cal alcoholic drinks soon arrived at the office.

"I basically bullied her into providing stuff," Wilson said.

Marino, co-founder of the sketch comedy troupe the State and a veteran of the underappreciated sitcom "Party Down," seemed to get a kick out of the story and Wilson herself. The two don't need a script to riff off each other.

At one point, Wilson outed Marino as a karaoke addict.

Wilson: "We may need to hold a full-fledged intervention about his problem. That's the thing. He's in denial."

Wilson: "See, he can barely get out of bed. It's affecting his work. It's a problem."

Cute.

Neal.Justin@startribune.com