Jay and Mark Duplass, who rose to indie film royalty in the early 2000s, began their six-episode stint on Mindy Kailing's "The Mindy Project" on Tuesday. The brothers play midwives who steal clients from Mindy's team of OBGyn's. The funnymen's guest appearance marks Jay's acting debut.

The guest spot comes as little surprise considering Mark and Kailing frequently engage in witty banter over Twitter in which they praise each others' work and plan get-togethers.

"@markduplass I want to get lunch with you and Jay again but I have no pretense of a reason besides just, like, you're fun," tweeted the former "Office" star in April.

In August Mark attended the Hollywood Reporter's celebration of "The Mindy Project," in West Hollywood, Calif.

"I've never met a competitive, new agey male midwife before, so naturally I was excited to play this odd character," Mark told the Hollywood Reporter of the guest spot. "But, when Mindy told me I would have a brother and that she wanted my actual brother to play the part, I really flipped for the idea. This is the first time Jay and I have been on screen together. I don't love that he is more handsome and a better actor than me, but I will beat his ass in ping pong later to make up for that."

Though Jay has not acted before, Mark has appeared in several films this year including "Your Sister's Sister," "Safety Not Guaranteed," and the upcoming Kathryn Bigelow-directed drama "Zero Dark Thirty." He also stars on the FX series "The League," alongside wife Katie Aselton.

The Duplass brothers first caught the attention of filmgoers when they emerged at the forefront of the "mumblecore movement," in which a number of promising new filmmakers began releasing low-budget, cineme verite-style projects. Their debut film, "The Puffy Chair," was shown at the South by South West and the Sundance film festivals, earning them enough recogniction to launch a highly sought after career.

Earlier this year, the two co-wrote "Jeff Who Lives at Home," starring Jason Segel and Susan Sarandon.

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