NEW YORK (AP) — The lines between work and family don't just blur in the new CBS sitcom “Poppa’s House” starring the father-son comedy duo Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. They fall apart.

“It's wonderful to come to work every day and see him and some of his children and my sister and brother and nieces and nephews. They all work on this show. They all do their part,” says the senior Wayans. “I don’t think there are words to express how happy I am.”

Wayans plays the titular Poppa, a grouchy radio DJ who likes to do things his own way, while Wayans Jr. plays his son Damon, an aspiring filmmaker stuck in a job he hates.

“My character, Pop, is just an old-school guy who's kind of stuck in his ways,” says Wayans, who starred in “In Living Color” and “My Wife and Kids.”

Pop longs for the days when a handshake was a binding contract and Michael Jordan didn't complain if he was fouled on the court. Pop laughs at the participation trophies from the younger generation.

“It's old school versus new school and they're giving each other lessons from both sides,” says Wayans Jr., who played Coach on the Fox sitcom “New Girl.”

“They (the characters) bring out the best in each other and are initially unruly. But then over the course of the episode they have revelations and those revelations help them become better people,” he adds.

The two have worked together before – Dad appeared in his son's Happy Endings and Happy Together, while his son was a writer and guest star in his father's My Wife and Kids. But this is the first time they've directed a series together.

The half-hour comedy, which premieres Monday and stars Essence Atkins and Tetona Jackson, cleverly leaves places in the script where father and son can let off steam and be creative, like a moment in the pilot where the son has to wait while his father sips tea.

“We have a lot of these moments in every episode. And that’s what we focus on, finding the comedic set pieces, at least one for each episode,” says the son.

“I tell writers, 'Don't write the funny thing.' Put us in the realm of funny and we’ll find it,” Wayans says. “You know, when you have Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, you don’t put them in a cake factory reading books.”

He has some influence on the writers: these include him and his son, as well as Kim Wayans, Michael Wayans and Shawn Wayans, siblings of the elder Wayans.

The Wayans family is like the Barrymores of comedy, a clan that includes Keenen Ivory. The Wayans were behind everything from “In Living Color” to “White Chicks” to “Bamboozled.”

Viewers of the first episode of “Poppa's House” see the older Wayans challenged when a new female co-host (played by Atkins) is hired, while the younger Wayans puts pressure on his happy marriage by threatening to quit his job as a salesman to give up.

In later episodes, Poppa will launch a podcast at home that further blurs the divide between home and work, and explores the different ways generations deal with grief and discipline. In one show, a family photo leads to a discussion about who and what makes a family. Will it survive the divorce?

“I think we're dealing with a lot of relatable storylines that I think people will enjoy. And besides enjoying it, you’ll laugh out loud,” says Wayans Jr.

Speaking of laughter, do the two men have the same approach to comedy? Wayans Jr. says they mostly laugh at the same things.

“I would say they are very similar and the differences are minimal. “That’s because my comedy is shaped by my upbringing, and that goes for him too,” he says.

Dad agrees: “Yes, I call it the same humor, different sensibilities. He will say things that I would never in a million years be able to joke about. And that's what I love about his sense of humor. It's like, 'This is so random.'”