Kat Dennings Calls Tim Allen Her ‘Favorite TV Dad Of All Time’ (Exclusive)

Kat Dennings and Tim Allen are a father-daughter match made in TV heaven!

During her decades-long career, the actress, 38, has had her fair share of on-screen dads. As she embarks on a brand new journey with ABC’s Change gearsReflecting on her relationship with her former co-stars, Dennings tells PEOPLE exclusively why Allen, 71, holds a special place in her heart.

“Tim Allen, I would say, is my favorite TV dad of all time. It’s been a real pleasure to do this show,” she says, also noting that the actor’s crew has been with him since his days on Home improvementwhich ran from 1991 to 1999, and Last man standingwhich lasted from 2011 to 2021. “They followed him through all his projects, which I think is a real testament to him as a person.”

“We have a really fun banter. We really enjoy these scenes where we argue. It’s really fun,” she adds of their on-camera relationship.

According to the show’s official logline, the new series follows Matt (Allen), a “stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop.” When his estranged daughter Riley (Dennings) and her two children move back into his home, “the real restoration begins.”

Before Dennings got the call to Change gearsshe was in a “dark, sad moment in time,” feeling lost and unsure of her next move.

“I was like, ‘God, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I just feel so crazy,'” she recalls. When a friend suggested she think about what her “dream job” looked like 2 Broke Girls alum realized she wanted to do another multi-cam sitcom.

“Then the next day I got this call to do this show. So it felt like I wanted something and I got it. It just felt like a meant to be thing,” she continues. She also grew up watching Home improvement,” she says, so appearing on a show alongside a “cultural mainstay” like Allen was a no-brainer.

“He is Santa Claus (in Santa Claus film) and Buzz Lightyear (i Toy Story franchise). He is a big part of my consciousness growing up, so it was very surreal to work with him, but in a great way, because he is a very kind person,’ she says.

While Allen may be her favorite TV dad to date, Dennings says she looks back at all of her former fatherly co-stars. Some of them include the late Bob Saget, who played her father in the 2001-2002 sitcom Raising father.

“I’m so sad he’s gone,” she says of Saget, who died aged 65 in January 2022. “But he was a lovely, lovely person.”

In the 2005s The 40-year-old virginDennings played Marla, the stepdaughter of Steve Carell’s title character. She describes the film as “such a moment in time.” Not only was it Carell’s breakout film, but the hit comedy was also Judd Apatow’s directorial debut.

Dennings remembers feeling an anxious energy on set from the cast and crew, all of whom depended on the film’s success.

“Steve Carell, I remember him saying, ‘God, I hope it works.’ And he just did The office pilot or something like that, and now he’s one of the biggest stars in the world, rightfully so,” she says. “He’s the nicest man you’ll ever know.”

“I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had very good experiences,” she adds of her on-screen fathers.

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Change gears airs Wednesdays on ABC.