"Call Me Kat," in which Mayim Bialik runs a cat cafe, is never as charming as the actor's previous sitcom, "The Big Bang Theory." But it's worth checking out for the final minute. During the closing credits, the entire cast shatters the fourth wall, taking exaggerated bows to fake applause.
It's a gag borrowed from the British sitcom "Miranda," which the new Fox sitcom, premiering Sunday, is not-so-loosely based on.
It's as much fun for the cast as it is for viewers.
"It just feels like a curtain call at the end of the show," said Kyla Pratt, who plays one of the cafe employees, during a virtual news conference last month. "When we do have that moment to wave and smile — and make sure you are not smiling too hard — it feels like, 'Oh, yeah, I did something good.' "
What makes the bit even goofier is that the cast is currently shooting the multicamera series without a live audience.
"You don't see people out there when you are waving and bowing and saying thank you," said Leslie Jordan, who also plays one of Kat's employees. "We are actually waving to the audience out in TV land."
"Miranda" and "Kat" are not the first sitcoms to fiddle around with the closing credits. Here are six more that delivered laughs when you least expected them.
'Police Squad!' (1982)
Each of these six classic episodes concluded with cast members pretending to freeze while chaos erupted around them. In one, Leslie Nielsen and his co-stars stayed motionless as the set literally collapsed around them. In another, a prisoner takes advantage of the situation by escaping, only to find himself boxed in by the TV screen.
