Almost all character dialogue is improvised by the cast members.
The police station scenes are filmed in a real working substation of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in Carson, California. According to Thomas Lennon, some female employees of the station complained to their superiors about the short shorts that he wears as his Lieutenant Jim Dangle character.
The main actors and actresses frequently appear on the show as other characters with their faces blurred. - Kerri Kenney: Jackie the Prostitute - Niecy Nash: T.T. - Carlos Alazraqui: Chief Carl, and - Robert Ben Garant: Mime, The Streaker. Wendi McLendon-Covey played a wife servicing her husband, and the Water Heater Lady.
According to an interview with Thomas Lennon, the main cast member who ruins the most takes by laughing out loud is Carlos Alazraqui (Deputy James Garcia).
The show was originally conceived in 2001 as a sketch show titled "Ugly Americans" for the FOX network. Scenes with the police characters were to be short interstitials between longer sketches. But during filming, the cast realized that they enjoyed playing the police characters so much, that they decided to make the series about them. A pilot was shot, but it was rejected by FOX. Two years later, it was remade for Comedy Central, who picked it up.