In Season 2 of ABC's "Shifting Gears," Riley (Kat Dennings) hits the town in a fuzzy bear ensemble.

It's surreal to see yourself as a Halloween costume.

Take it from Kat Dennings, whose roles in the "Thor" franchise and CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls" have made her a spooky season staple.

“I’m actually more surprised when I see a Darcy Lewis at this point,” Dennings says of her brainy Marvel sidekick. “There seem to still be a lot of Max and Caroline ‘2 Broke Girls’ buddy costumes, which is super fun. I love that they’re an opportunity for friends to dress up together.”

The actress now stars in ABC comedy "Shifting Gears" (Wednesdays, 8 ET/PT and streaming the next day on Hulu), playing a single mom named Riley who moves back home with her crotchety, conservative dad, Matt (Tim Allen). In the Oct. 29 episode, Riley gets a night off from parenting to go out for Halloween. After ditching her sexy vampire outfit, she opts for a more demure "mama bear" look, only to get mistaken for a certain "Star Wars" character.

Dennings, 39, tells us about her own misbegotten Halloween attire and more.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Question: Riley doesn't have the best of luck with costumes in this episode. Looking back, is there a Halloween costume that you immediately regretted?

Kat Dennings: There were so many times I thought I was being clever and it was just so dumb. One year I went as the font Comic Sans. It was sort of a cop-out: I wore head-to-toe black, and then I hung a big sign around my neck that said “Comic Sans” in the font Comic Sans. I thought that was brilliant, but so few people knew what was going on that I was like, “God, let's pretend I'm a mime or something.” There was also one year where I was John Waters and drew a very small black mustache on myself, and people were like, “Are you Little Richard?”

You and your husband, singer Andrew W.K., dressed up as a cat and witch last Halloween. Have you chosen your costumes for this year yet?

Since we are a (Disney-owned) show, I was toying with the concept of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice (from "Fantasia"). I could just be a broom and carry a bucket – that’d be very cute. I always have such lofty Halloween goals and they never happen. My dream is to be the Gary Oldman Dracula, with the gray suit, gray top hat and little purple glasses.

Do you have any favorite Halloween traditions?

I used to do more. I'm thrilled to be on the show and we work on Halloween, which honestly, I would prefer at this point in my life. I'm sort of a curmudgeon-y old man. I used to go to parties in my teens and 20s, but I just don’t have the energy right now.

Did you always love Halloween growing up?

I was very into Halloween. I took it extremely seriously and my mom, God bless her, would hand-sew my costumes because we lived in a pretty forest-y Pennsylvania area where there wasn't a Spirit Halloween down the street. One year I was Wednesday Addams, and she sewed this whole elaborate dress for me that took her weeks. I was fully obsessed with Wednesday. It was obviously perfect practice to realize I just wanted to be an actress.

Your childhood home was also haunted, right?

Yeah. I was very into the Ouija board thing, but I really didn’t want to do that in my house because I was afraid of what might happen. As crazy as it sounds, this house was legit haunted. The adults who lived in the house also experienced this stuff, so it wasn’t just me. There were times where it just felt like other people were living there, which was the nice vibe of the haunting thing. But there were also times where I felt scared and freaked out.

For someone who loves Halloween so much, you haven't done much in the horror genre. Would you like to make a scary movie?

I can’t really watch them. For someone who lived in a real haunted house, I have no tolerance for being scared, which is kind of hilarious. A real haunted house is so much less scary to me than going to Halloween Horror Nights or whatever. (Laughs.) But I like that genre of horror where it’s psychedelic, trippy horror, like “Color Out of Space” or “Mandy.” I’m more interested in doing that than I am in something slasher-y. So if it ever comes my way, I’ll see. I’m scared of it!

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kat Dennings shares the 'nice' thing about growing up in an actual haunted house

Reporting by Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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