Candid Snapshots of Life in Pieces (PHOTOS)

Actress Angelique Cabral (center, in black) is used to a big, messy family. “I ended up marrying a man with 60 cousins,” she explains with a laugh. So when her Life in Pieces character, Colleen, began dating Matt Short (Thomas Sadoski, in blue), Cabral found it easy to slip into the role of an outsider trying to fit in with a big clan—including Matt’s kooky dad John (James Brolin), mom Joan (Dianne Wiest), siblings Heather and Greg (Betsy Brandt and Colin Hanks), their spouses (Dan Bakkedahl and Zoe Lister-Jones), three nieces and a nephew.

Cabral and Sadoski were buddies before joining the comedy (thanks to mutual friends), and Cabral’s sunshine-y, head-in-the-clouds personality meshes nicely with Sadoski’s more pragmatic attitude. The two relished the opportunity to grab our cameras and show off their bright, bubbly set. See the funny and sunny behind-the-scenes photos that Cabral and Sadoski took, like this attempted group selfie with Hanks and Lister-Jones.

While Brolin, the show’s elder statesman both on screen and off, is not so into the social-media scene, he is an ace storyteller. “We get to spend a lot of time hearing Jimmy talk about how things used to be, in the best way,” Sadoski says. Added bonus: Brolin’s wife, Barbra Streisand, sometimes stops by.

“Princess Betsy with her superplush bathrobe,” Sadoski jokes. “It’s one of those dichotomies; the robe just doesn’t make sense when you know how unbelievably sharp her wit is.” Brandt has turned her trailer into a warm, inviting space, while Sadoski’s is still “totally barren. I’m trying to learn,” he says.

“This isn’t a particularly ‘L.A.’ group,” Sadoski says of the cast (from left: Sadoski, Giselle Eisenberg, Cabral, Bakkedahl, Brandt, creator Justin Adler and Wiest). In between takes, “We listen to the blues and Kanye West and play cornhole.” They’ve also gotten comfortable enough to start playing practical jokes on one another.

Don’t let the serious expression fool you. Hanks and Brandt are the ringleaders of all practical jokery. Once the duo discovered that Cabral was an easy mark, it was game over. “They scared me right as I was taking my picture for my ID. My eyes are bugging out of my head,” she laments.

Cabral is a total pro with kids. Prior to moving to L.A., she nannied in New York and taught preschool. Her character, Colleen? Not so much. “She’s a little freaked out by Greg’s new baby,” Cabral says, “so I’m smiling and going, ‘What do I do?’ inside.” The baby actor, meanwhile, was a little too well behaved. “She was supposed to be fussy, and she was so perfect and sweet!”

Despite having been a star for decades, Wiest isn’t fond of having her picture taken, Cabral says. (Thus the herbs in front of her face.) However, Sadoski reveals that the actress can often be heard rapping along to Kanye in her trailer. “That’s not something you ever get used to,” he adds. “It’s the greatest thing in the world.”