'Detroiters' returns for a second season. It's more Detroit-centric than ever.

Julie Hinds | Detroit Free Press

The season premiere of "Detroiters" features guest star Tim Meadows, who hails from Detroit, as a low-esteem personal injury lawyer with the slogan "I'm Walt Worsch and I try my best."

But wait, is that real-life local attorney Joumana Kayrouz, whose billboards pepper the sides of local freeways, in the same episode? And is she cracking an actual whip in a fake ad to demonstrate how hard she'll fight for clients?

Yes, that's Kayrouz, says "Detroiters" star Sam Richardson with a laugh. "When we’ve come home and we’d see these billboards, (we were) like: 'Whoa, Joumana, hello! She’s got to be part of this world.' ”

The Motor City-centric world of "Detroiters" kicks off its second season Thursday night on Comedy Central with back-to-back episodes.

It's even funnier than last year, and it doubles down on its Detroitness.

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The half-hour comedy starring Richardson (earnest Richard Splett on HBO's "Veep") and Tim Robinson (whose credits include "Saturday Night Live") has always been laced with local references and cameos. This season, there are even more.

For instance, University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh will make a hilarious cameo in an upcoming episode. The Michigan Science Center gets star billing in the first episode. Former longtime WDIV-TV anchor Mort Crim is back for more absurd cameos and, this time, has an entire episode built around him.

From the big picture to the tiny details, "Detroiters" lives up to the name. Take the moment from the second episode when Sam and Tim are dining at Detroit's Whitney restaurant and Tim decides he's had enough beer.

"I’ve got to switch over to Bob Seger’s diet Tequila," he says.

“Yeah, me, too," agrees Sam. "Excuse me, waiter. Can we have two Light Moves, please?”

It's just what you'd expect from the only big-name project that's committed to shooting in metro Detroit, even though Michigan eliminated its film incentives entirely in 2015.

The Bruce Waynes and Clark Kents of past shoots are long gone ("Batman v Superman," which shot here in 2014, we hardly knew ye). Yet Richardson and Robinson — real-life best buds who both grew up here — brought the show back to the Motor City for another season of shooting in the summer of 2017.

Even before "Detroiters" concluded airing its first season last year, it had become the rare TV series set and shot here that got renewed for a second season. Two high-profile dramas, ABC's "Detroit 1-8-7" in 2010-11 and AMC's "Low Winter Sun" in 2013, only made it through one season.

Last year's ratings were considered promising for a brand-new niche series on a cable network. "Detroiters" averaged nearly 500,000 viewers per episode, a total that included delayed viewing, according to Comedy Central.

Metro Detroit was its No. 1 market among the key advertising demographic of adults 18-49.

Just as important were the glowing reviews, including the upbeat New York Times assessment of "Detroiters" as " ‘Dumb and Dumber' meets ‘Mad Men' — if Don Draper was wildly goofy and handled accounts for D.U.I. lawyers and hot-tub shops."

The show had gold-standard comedy credits in its executive producers: "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michael and "SNL" alum Jason Sudeikis (who co-starred the first season as a Chrysler ad rep whose life was turned upside-down by Sam and Tim's ineptitude).

It took Detroiters to create a credible "Detroiters." Richardson, who's from the city, and Robinson, who's from Clarkston, became close friends years ago while they were working at the now-defunct Second City Detroit and Planet Ant in Hamtramck. They've remained that way as their careers have grown.

From the start, they conceived three leading roles: Richardson, Robinson and the city itself, the source of inspiration for the show's premise of two pals who work together at a small-time ad agency, Cramblin Duvet. The ads they make are often homages by Richardson and Robinson to the quirky Detroit commercials they grew up watching.

Oh,and just to further bond them, their characters live in side-by-side houses, and Tim is married to Sam's no-nonsense sister, played with zest by emerging Detroit actress Shawntay Dalon.

Upping the ante on the Detroit-themed content this season is "what felt the most fun for us," according to Robinson.

"It's nostalgic. It's our childhood. I don't think that it alienates people outside Detroit. You don't have to know the reference to be in on the jokes. It works on two levels, and moreso for Detroiters." he says.

Although it has only been a year plus a few months since the first season wrapped, it feels as if "Detroiters" is returning to a different universe, or at least a nation deeply divided by politics and national policies.

Robinson, however, says the goal was to get more personal this season, not political. "We definitely wanted to dig into our characters a little more and find out what their families are like." Specifically, viewers will meet more relatives of Sam Duvet and get their first introduction to Tim Cramblin's mother (played by another "SNL" alum, Nora Dunn) and stepfather.

Also expect to see more of the city than before. "In the first season, we realized we happened to be inside the (Cramblin Duvet) office a lot," says Robinson. "We made a conscious decision to get outside as much as possible, to shake things up a bit and take advantage of more locations."

The show's overall tone could be described as a respite from real-life anxieties. It's a comedy bromance that is sweet and inclusive instead of boorish and chauvinistic.

“It’s ignorance with love; it’s not ignorance with hate," says Richardson.

That vibe is reflected on the set, which other cast members describe as positive and marked by laughter.

Says Richardson: ”I’ve worked on shows where the set was very morose and boring, kind of like nobody wanted to be there. I felt that affects the work. I’ve worked on shows where it’s fun, you want to hang out. If you’re enjoying it, that’s how you take ownership of it. You want to give to be a part of this thing. I feel that’s the mood on the set of 'Detroiters.' ”

Detroit is too large and multifaceted to be defined by a single factor, according to Richardson. It's the people, the architecture, the good times, the tough times, the rich history and more. He and Robinson find the city changing rapidly every time they come back for work or family reasons.

"I was amazed when Buffalo Wild Wings was there," jokes Richardson of when the chain eatery reached downtown. "It changes by leaps and bounds every few months.”

Don't worry. "Detroiters" is chronicling as much of life here as it can, right down to the foot-pedaled beer trolleys that were a plot element last season.

Fingers crossed it gets a season three renewal. We've got to see how it finds a way to work in the Kaws statue in Campus Martius.

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.

'Detroiters'

Season premiere

10 & 10:30 p.m. Thu.

Comedy Central