As Psych gets set to make its 2008 debut, we caught up with the show's stars Dule Hill and James Roday on a recent conference call to find out what we can expect from Washington's guest role, Shawn's relationship with his father, and how the running joke got started surrounding the popular pineapple.

Dule Hill on whether he prefers drama or comedy after The West Wing:

"I like balancing it out, personally. I mean, after doing seven years of the drama, to be able to do some comedy with expressions I didn’t want to go and do another show where I had to dig deep and deal with a lot of my personal issues of bringing stuff out. Making the transition wasn’t that hard to me because most of the time I’m more of a lighthearted kind of person anyway. I like to crack jokes and have a good time and this show is a blast. I mean, working with this cast is amazing. So from day one I knew I was going to have a good time. From the cast itself to Steve [Franks] writing the episodes and all that, I’ve had a blast. So it was very easy."

Hill on how much of Charlie Young from The West Wing carried over to Gus on Psych:

"None. I don’t think I brought any of Charlie over... because they were different. Gus didn’t have all the history that Charlie had in terms of, you know, his mom being killed and working with this co-worker who died in a car accident. Gus had a lot of baggage - I mean, Charlie had a lot of baggage and you just - no, I didn’t bring anything over because it was just two different shows - two different shows, two different characters. One being a comedy and one being a drama definitely helped draw the line how you would [separate the two]... How I would approach things with Shawn [on Psych] was completely different how I would approach things with President Bartlet or any of the other characters on that show. So no, I don’t think I brought anything... Also the thing about Gus, too, is Gus lets things out and Charlie held things close. So from the beginning that takes it in two completely different directions."

James Roday on whether they provided input into The Big Adventures of Little Shawn and Gus:

"You know what? I didn’t, man. We were just as surprised as you guys were when we heard they were doing that. But they’re funny little looking dudes, man. Running around, having adventures, animated and whatnot, they’re in their own little world over there in marketing and with website and stuff. And they keep us on our toes. We get surprised a lot by them, actually."

Roday on whether Shawn will be seen as a fake or whether more characters will be brought into their inner circle:

"Yeah, you know, I think the answer to that question lies almost exclusively in how long the show runs. I think we’ll try to get away with not doing that for as long as possible. And so we’re all sort of sitting at the table going, "You know, we’ve clearly hit a wall. It’s time to either shut it down, bring someone into the inner circle, show that he’s a fake or bring a child onto the show," because that’s what happens when you hit walls. One of those four things has to occur... I think we’ve found the formula that works for our show and now that we know what it is, I mean, me personally, I’d like to spend at least another full season just having fun with it now that we don’t have to worry about what it is anymore. You know, doing as much silly stuff as we can come up with. We’ll take a look at it again after Season Three and see what needs to be done. I mean, I would much rather learn more about the characters from their lives and sort of start questioning in that direction than do something like plot-driven. So, we’ll see."

Dule Hill on how the pineapple joke got started:

"It actually started from the pilot because in the pilot episode in my apartment when Shawn came to wake me up and I went back to my room, I guess, to get ready. There just by chance was a pineapple on top of a refrigerator on the set. And Roday, doing what he does, just kind of took the pineapple and asked me if I wanted him to cut it up. And ever since then... well, the improv that Roday did, it stayed with us."

James Roday on the many references to the 1980s within the show:

"We’ve sort of created a landscape for this show that is very '80s friendly, you know, from the way we talk and the music that we add to the guest actors that we bring on. So any time something even sort of makes sense, we’re certainly encouraged to give it a shot. So there are tons more that you’ve actually never seen because we spew them out at an alarming rate."

Roday on whether the show will delve deeper into Shawn's relationship with his father (Corbin Bernsen):

"Yes. There’s some stuff coming up that I think - that’ll shed some light on that and then there’s a big bopper of a cliffhanger that you can look forward to at the end of the sixth episode. So yeah, we’re definitely doing some of that stuff."

Dule Hill on how the show landed Kerry Washington:

"... Kerry, she’s a friend of mine that I’ve known for years back - from back in New York. And when the role came up, I thought that would be a fun role for her to do. I thought she would enjoy it. And I called her and asked her to come bless us with her talent and she said, 'Sure'.

Hill on the backstory of Gus' prior relationship with Washington's character:

"It was a time where I guess Gus was tired of always living by the rules and decided to take a walk on the wild side... For one night until he woke up the next morning and realized what he had done - and then kind of pulled himself back in - reigned himself back in."

James Roday on whether they ever met and learned from real psychics for the series:

"Way back before we shot the pilot, I did a little bit of research and I met with a few psychics, you know, just to sort of get an idea of like what happens to them physically when they have episodes that I could sort of have a reference point of where to go, if there was anything cool that I could feel. I made sure that I told them I was playing a real psychic so that they didn’t get offended. Nobody called me out on it."