'Reno 911!: Defunded' Cast Talks Raising Bike Gag 'Stakes' in New Season (Exclusive)

Reno 911!: Defunded recently debuted on the Roku Channel and the new season of the fan-favorite comedy has managed to "up the stakes" of its classic bike gags. Ever since the show first aired on Comedy Central, a staple of the series has been Lt. Dangle (Thomas Lennon) getting his bike stolen in creative ways. In support of the new episodes, Lennon and his fellow Reno 911! creators Robert Ben Garant and Kerri Kenney-Silver — both cast members — sat down for a virtual interview with PopCulture.com and shared some details about how the bike gags first started and how they got to where they are.

"I think back, back years and years ago, when we were first starting not Dangle, but Tom's bike was stolen, I think maybe on more than one occasion. And, and that just sort of became the Charlie brown football of our old series," Garrant revealed. Lennon then added, "In my personal life, it's happened like three times in usually pretty violently and in a violent, stressful way." Kenney-Silver then quipped, "Tom is really making lemonade with those," prompting Lennon to joke, "I'm making lemonade with all like the actual psychological trauma I've had."

This time around, the series also debuts a bike-cop squad, The Beige Angles, led by Dangle. As Lennon tells it, the idea came from Florida's actual cycling police unit. "We really make an effort to up the stakes of the bike events as much as we can. And this year, the Miami police department, with their quick riot response bicycle division, which they posted online, them doing bike stunts. And I'll tell you right now they were terrible at bike stunts. And we're like, 'Let's just, could we just do that?' So, we did up the stakes a lot. It was helpful cause we had like 11 stunt people."

Reno 911! Defunded debut on Feb. 25. In addition to Lennon, Garant, and Kenney-Silver, it also features fellow original stars Niecy Nash, Cedric Yarbrough, Carlos Alazraqui, Ian Roberts, Joe Lo Truglio, Mary Birdsong, and Wendi McLendon-Covey. The show also has an impressive list of guest stars as well, including Jamie Lee Curtis, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and George Lopez. All episodes of Reno 911!: Defunded is now streaming on The Roku Channel, which does not require a Roku-specific streaming device, as anyone can download the Roku app and stream the series for free.