Nothing breathes new life into the mockumentary format better than a story about centuries-old vampires living together in Staten Island, New York. What We Do in the Shadows is an American remix of the 2014 New Zealand sleeper hit, which starred and was co-created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. Though What We Do in the Shadows is currently in its third season, the show remains fresh full of expertly timed and seemingly improvised gags that keep audiences interested, such as werewolves chasing after a car.

What We Do in the Shadows features four eccentric and laughably confused vampires. Nandor (portrayed by Kayvan Novak), also known as Nandor the Relentless, is an Iranian vampire. He’s over 700 years old, once had 37 wives and 200,000 direct living descendants. He adopted a familiar, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), a modest and responsible servant who wants to be a vampire but may or may not also be a descendant of the legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing. Guillermo also serves as their housekeeper.

Originally from England, Lazlo (Matt Berry) is a 300+ year-old vampire with a penchant for seduction and music. In the second season, Lazlo spent time in Clairton, Pennsylvania, adopted the human alias Jackie Daytona and briefly owned Lucky Brew’s Bar and Grill. His wife, Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), turned Lazlo into a vampire. Over 500 years old, the Romani-born vampire lived in a village that was burned down by her future roommate Nandor. Both Lazlo and Nadja had multiple affairs throughout the centuries, yet somehow remain committed to each other and wear matching outfits. The fourth vampire roommate, Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), is an energy vampire who drains emotional energy instead of blood using boring conversation, awkwardness and online trolling.

The basic premise of What We Do in the Shadows is: how can these vampires handle the 21st century? It’s not a spoiler alert to say they barely can. They hilariously fumble their way into society with a rarely detectable presence, which is a fortunate circumstance. They wrestle with modern conveniences and consider them all-encompassing mysteries worth investigating or avoiding. In one episode, the vampires struggle to wrap their heads around the ramifications of a promised “curse” from a chain email.

They’ve tried to assert world domination by taking over Staten Island and attending Staten Island Borough Council meetings. They’ve faced the wrath of an international vampire tribunal after a drunken adventure with a member of vampire royalty goes horribly wrong. Their house is threatened several times by other vampires, werewolves, and one of their own when Colin acquires new powers and drains everyone – including vampires – of nearly all their energy, and they rapidly age.

There is an undeniable charm and quirkiness in every episode of What We Do in the Shadows that effortlessly transcends traditional sitcom comedy tropes. Almost everything the characters do is haphazardly schemed – the scheming often being misrepresented as a stroke of genius – and poorly executed. None of the chaos seems to have a big impact on the characters either because Guillermo bails them out of trouble (they’re never really grateful for it), or a series of their mistakes somehow cancels everything out. Yet the show’s writers always find a way to flip the script on typical vampire tropes and inject their characters into situations that test their ability to comprehend and survive, with belly-busting results.

With an abundance of visual gags, jokes and well-executed set pieces, What We Do in the Shadows never falls flat. The show’s pacing is steady and chock full of unexpected twists and turns that always lead to delightful comedic payoffs. It’s a bloody good time for all.

What We Do in the Shadows airs on FX Thursday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Watch it the next day streaming on Hulu.

What We Do in the Shadows