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Michael Richard Kyle, Sr.
Portrayed by: Damon Wayans
The patriarch of the Kyle family. Despite his snarky and carefree personality, he's far from being a Doting Parent (except to Kady), and has a quite unique yet strict parenting style. His favorite way to punish his children is... trolling them.- Abusive Parents: He loves his children, but he is not above insulting them, making fun of them (especially Junior), giving them harsh punishments as Disproportionate Retribution to prove a point or just for his own amusement.
- Benevolent Boss: Michael is friends with the workers at his shipping company at treats them kindly, but still reminds them that he's the boss.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Even after getting proof, time and again, that Tony is pretty much a boy scout, Michael still offers some stubborn resistance to letting Claire date him - even going so far as to drag Jay with him to turn their first date into a double date.
- Catchphrase: Michael had "Ehhhh... No." whenever someone made an idiotic suggestion and he felt like giving them false hope, and a Running Gag was Michael dragging out the "Ehhhh..." part or coming with increasingly creative ways to drop the phrase. Eventually adopted by the rest of the cast.
- Deadpan Snarker: One of the most sarcastic fathers ever.
- The Gadfly: He likes to trick and make fun of his wife and kids, especially Junior, often for the fun of it.
- Freudian Excuse: When Michael and Jay were still in high school, she got pregnant with junior, they got married and had to put off whatever plans they had for after high school for several years. That experience made Michael an overbearing Boyfriend-Blocking Dad towards Claire, and the only reason she's allowed to date is because Jay convinced him to. Even though her latest boyfriend, Tony, is more than happy to wait until marriage, which he understands and has clearly stated to be several years after high school, and even college, Michael would rather he stayed as far away as possible from Claire.
- Happily Married: He and Jay love each other a lot.
- Hypocrite:
- Michael saying he won't punish Junior for getting a tattoo, then kicking him out of the house when he finds out Junior drank all the milk, and again when Jay points out that her husband has an earring that his own father didn't exactly approve of.
- In the episode "Road Trip," Michael berates the family for breaking one of his rules of the car by switching seats, despite the fact that he broke one earlier in the episode when he threw Claire's phone out the window.
- In "The Whole World Is Watching", Jay and Michael have sex in Junior's room and Michael is more bothered by the fact they were caught on webcam than the fact they disrespected the sanctity of their son's room. Fast-forward to the season three episode "Jr.'s Risky Business" and Michael immediately throws Junior out of the house after catching him and his girlfriend Vanessa in Michael and Jay's bed. Jay herself even points out Michael's hypocrisy.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's clear that Michael truly does care for his family, despite his Jerkass behavior.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Michael's Boyfriend-Blocking Dad tendencies are so big it's very satisfying to see him getting out-gambitted by Claire and learning to trust her word about not having sex with her boyfriend.
- Manipulative Bastard: Michael forced Junior to live in the garage for around about two seasons, as he had kicked Junior out of the house. By the time he was allowed to move back in, Michael had converted his son's room into his own play area and didn't want to give it up. Eventually, Junior was joined by his wife and son in "The Remodel", which led to him asking Michael if they could convert the garage into an apartment. An entire episode was spent doing that, after which Michael tells Junior he can move back into the house purely so he can take the remodeled garage for himself. And everyone else just went along with this.
- Parental Favoritism: He is much nicer to Kady than he is towards Junior or Claire.
- Prematurely Bald: It's mentioned a couple of times that Michael began losing his hair in his 20s. Same also for Damon Wayans.
- Sore Loser: In "Of Breasts and Basketball", after losing a basketball game to Junior, Michael starts making excuses as to why he lost, e.g. claiming Junior was showboating and being derisive to him the whole time, and went as far as to punish Junior for beating him. Then, Junior soundly beats Michael again at a rematch, with Michael having to do Junior's chores.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: The way he picks on his own children is Played for Laughs.
Janet Marie "Jay" Thomas-Kyle
Portrayed by: Tisha Campbell
Michael's wife, more reasonable than her husband, yet flawed in her own way.- Big Eater: Jay's gluttony is a running gag.
- Catchphrase: Jay has "What kind of foolishness...?" whenever someone does something stupid.
- Competition Freak: She was once her school's star soccer goalie who got thrown off the team because someone else wanted a turn. She insisted on winning every competition since.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Jay has an... interesting laugh.
- Happily Married: She and Michael love each other a lot.
- Hartman Hips: Her cartoon version has a very huge butt.
- Hypocrite: Several examples.
- Jay taking offense to Michael calling their therapist, openly stating they only call him when she has a problem with Michael. When Michael decides that since he pays for the therapist, they're seeing a different one; Jay gets upset & immediately starts complaining when the new therapist takes Michael's side instead of hers, Eventually, they find an impartial therapist.
- In a later season, Jay decides that all the couples should play a game where they have to answer personal questions about their partner to see how well they know one another. All the men get their questions wrong, and after the women storm off the men realize that the women had yet to answer any questions, so they convince them to return so they can answer the men's questions. When they do, all the women get their answers wrong and forgive their partners for getting their questions wrong... except Jay, who refuses to forgive Michael for getting his question wrong even when she got hers wrong.
- In the last episode, "The "V" Story", Jay expects Michael to go and get a vasectomy because she's really that paranoid and petty about not having anymore children, so much so that she kicks him out of his own bedroom just because Michael doesn't want anyone else touching his reproductive system, but when he suggests that she get her tubes tied, Jay cannot be bothered to do the same thing.
- Jerkass Ball: While not as frequently cruel, sometimes she can be as callous as Michael.
- Never My Fault: Despite being saner than her husband, their are times when she will not admit she's in the wrong. When Michael wants to go to a therapist, she flat out tells him that they only go to therapy when 'she' has a problem with 'him'. It's also implied that she only goes to therapy to be told that she is right and Michael is wrong rather than get real help, as when it became apparent that the therapist Michael chose over their normal one note was not going to automatically side with her, she stormed out of the office.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: After her Season 2 makeover.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Jay is convinced that she's a lot smarter and more attractive than she really is.
- Teen Pregnancy: Jay was pregnant with Junior during her senior year of High School.
- Tsundere: To Michael, a rare case considering she's, well, married.
Michael Richard "Junior" Kyle Jr.
Portrayed by: George O. Gore II
The eldest child and the dumbest in the family.
- Big Brother Instinct: One episode featured Junior befriending a group of jerkasses who take advantage of him and pick on him. Because they're cool, Junior refuses to stand up to them...until they started hitting on his younger sister.
- Book Dumb: In the first season, when he was an underachiever at school but not particularly stupid otherwise. From season 2 onwards, he becomes The Ditz.
- Butt-Monkey: His stupidity makes him the butt of all the jokes and his father always makes fun of him.
- Childish Older Sibling: Despite being the oldest brother, he's an idiotic and immature underachiever who can't do anything right, for the most part. His younger sister Claire is clumsy but Book Smart, and his other younger sister Kady is a precocious Little Miss Snarker.
- Disappointing Older Sibling: To Claire, who considers him an idiot and they often have petty arguments. Their father Michael seems to agree with Claire's opinion about Junior's lack of intelligence.
- Dumbass Teenage Son: He even once forgot how to spell his own name.
- Flanderization: His stupidity. He goes from Book Dumb in season 1 to a complete moron in later seasons.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: He is a horrible student (Foolish), while Claire gets good grades (Responsible).
- Genius Ditz: He has shown himself to be quite bright when the chips call for it, and he's a very talented portrait artist and cartoonist. Also, it's hinted that his flash cartoon parodying his own family might become a hit.
- Malaproper: He occasionally mispronounces words.
- Too Dumb to Live: Junior has a standout moment in "Outbreak Monkey". While all other members of the family come down with flu through the usual means (Jay being patient zero, and Michael avoiding it like the plague it is until the end), Junior is the only one who actually infects himself voluntarily (if obliviously): he explains to Michael he had made a "study" on how the flu enters people's bodies, and demonstrates with a trashcan full of Jay's discarded tissues, which he proceeds to rub on himself while explaining how the virus could "hypothetically" enter his body.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Flanderized to where even his little sister has to help him with his homework. Little sister is about ten years younger than him. In later seasons, he's more or less at extreme levels of stupidity, although an episode focuses on the idea that Junior's son is a trigger for otherwise unseen levels of intelligence.
- The Unfavorite: Especially to Michael, who looks down on him and openly considers him an idiot, although he cares for him like the rest of the family.
Claire Marie Kyle
Portrayed by: Jazz Raycole (season 1), Jennifer Freeman (seasons 2–5)
The middle child and typical Bratty Teenage Daughter. She's also a klutz.
- Book Smart: Despite being a ditz, she gets very good grades, and she prides herself on being smarter than Junior because of this. But when it comes to common sense, she's only slightly smarter than him.
- Brainless Beauty: After the first season, she is played by a more conventionally attractive actress but she also becomes much ditzier.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: She is selfish, vain, boy-crazy, and always complaining about her parents.
- Butt-Monkey: Second only to Junior. She is very clumsy and occasionally picked on by her father. A running gag involves her falling down stairs.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Really emphasized in the home movie episode where she destroys the tape of her getting hurt, declares it's the last time they'll ever see it... and then trips as she storms upstairs.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Claire stops dating someone because her father loves him. The person in question is a strict Christian who believes in waiting until marriage for sex. Even though she likes him, she wants to irritate her father, so she starts dating a rough gang banger.
- Ditzy Genius: She is The Ditz, The Klutz, and inept at almost everything (singing, cooking, cheerleading etc.) She is also inexplicably an A student, probably just to have a book smart sibling in contrast to Junior's Book Dumb.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Being Junior's sister, she is the Responsible by default. She would be the Foolish in any other show.
- Girly Bruiser: Can break the nose of her brother's bully with a punch.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: She's pretty, popular, vain, and can be a brat, but is never a bad person. She actually loves her family, but she doesn't like to show it.
- Lethal Chef: One episode has Franklin trying to help improve her cooking... and it doesn't quite pan out.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: She was smart and level-headed in the first season, when played by Jazz Raycole. After the actress change... not so much.
Kady Kyle
Portrayed by: Parker Mckenna Posey
The precocious youngest daughter and Michael's favorite.
- Alliterative Name: Kady Kyle.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: In later seasons, she becomes annoying to Claire.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Originally the youngest member of the family.
- Bratty Half-Pint: She can be a mischievous brat, especially in the final seasons. She grows older and more clever, she starts showing signs of being a Manipulative Bastard, just like her dad.
- Daddy's Girl: It's revealed Michael's Parental Favoritism for Kady was because she has always preferred Jay to him, ever since the day she was born where she would cry whenever he went near her, and so he has been trying to win his daughter's affection literally since she was born.
- Deliberately Cute Child: She sometimes takes advantage of her cuteness to get away with some sort of action.
- Little Miss Snarker: She tends to be very sassy with her boyfriend.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: She goes from a sweet Adorably Precocious Child to a sneaky Bratty Half-Pint in later seasons.
Franklin Aloysius Mumford
Portrayed by: Noah Gray-Cabey
Kady's smart playmate who is in love with her.
- The Ace: A genius who also has many talents in various areas.
- Black and Nerdy: Black and a nerdy genius, although he's not socially awkward.
- Breakout Character: Starts off as a friend of Kady, but eventually becomes The Lancer to Michael.
- Catchphrase: Franklin (and later, Michael) had the habit of making a particularly bad joke and then following it up with "Any-who...", with a slight elongating of the "any" much in the way of "ehhh.....no".
- Child Prodigy: He had accomplished attending and graduating from Harvard University by age 7. He also learned Bach at the age of 2 and is considered smart enough to teach classes at the college level.
- Cousin Oliver: A precocious child character, introduced later in the show, who becomes a spotlight stealer.
- Innocent Prodigy: He is a genius, outsmarting pretty much the entire cast. But at the "where do babies come from" department, he still believes that pregnancy comes from plant seeds. Justified, since he was purposefully left out of Sex Ed classes.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: A recurring character in season 3, part of the main cast in season 4 and 5.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The later seasons can be called "The Michael and Franklin show".
Tony Jeffers
Portrayed by: Andrew Mcfarlane
Claire's religious boyfriend in later seasons.
- The Ace: He saved children from a burning orphanage after his first date with Claire.
- The Ditz: Occasionally shown to be very dimwitted.
- Flanderization: Tony was initially just a Nice Guy boyfriend of Claire's, that in his early appearances got a bit rude when Michael's Boyfriend-Blocking Dad tendencies got a little too far. Then he got a bit more subdued and even nicer, until he becomes a holier-than-thou Christian evangelist, and pretty condescending to Claire and Michael when they do or say things that doen't agree with his beliefs.
- The Fundamentalist: Tony often sought ways to prove his devotion to purity and to God using extreme measures.
- Names to Trust Immediately: His real name is Honest Tony Jeffers and he is a sensitive, deeply religious boy.
Vanessa Scott-Kyle
Portrayed by: Meagan Good (season 3), Brooklyn Sudano (seasons 4–5)
Junior's eventual wife and mother of Junior, Jr.
- Parenting the Husband: Implied with Vanessa and Junior.Jay: You're going to make a great mommy.Vanessa: I get a lot of practice with Junior.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: A recurring character in season 3, part of the main cast in season 4 and 5.
- Teen Pregnancy: She and Junior become teenage parents.
