Bookie’s very premise is funny: it follows old-school bookmakers Danny (Sebastian Maniscalco) and Ray (Omar Dorsey) as they manage bets via phone calls and actual visits to their clients’ (swanky) whereabouts. They have to do all this the hard way because, in Los Angeles, gambling has yet to be legalized, so the sneaking around makes for an entertaining watch. In true sitcom fashion, their increasing bad luck equals more zany misadventures, but there’s a grimness and darkness to it too as Bookie explores the struggles of Danny and Ray’s paycheck-to-paycheck living. They feel like real people, people you can bet on to have a good time.

The humor is a tad too old-school for my tastes (though some might dub it “bravely traditional”) but every delivery by Omar Dorsey as Ray lands with aplomb.