It’s been a long time — 24 years to be exact — since we’ve seen Canadian actor Jim Carrey on the small screen every week.
He’s returning in the dark 10-episode Showtime comedy Kidding, where he plays a kids’ TV show character, Mr. Pickles.
Mr. Pickles is like a Mr. Rogers or a Barney, an instructor for children, but behind the scenes he’s clearly struggling and it seems like his personal life is falling apart. Eerily similar to his own life, it looks like Carrey’s Mr. Pickles is trying to cope with being a “brand” while trying to live a normal existence.
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There are echoes of Carrey’s 1998 movie The Truman Show as well.
In the brief trailer, Carrey’s character is opining to the children, perhaps trying to instill a lesson about self-worth. The kids are rapt.
“It’s the part of you that no one can see, but you know it’s there and I do, too,” says the slow, measured voiceover. “That’s the part of you that no one can take away, cuz that’s the part that’s really you. You see, the stuff I like about you isn’t the stuff on the outside. What I like about you is the other stuff, the inside stuff.”
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Kidding is directed by Michel Gondry, who also directed and wrote Carrey’s 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The pair has collaborated on a few projects in the past.
Catherine Keener, Frank Langella and Judy Greer also star in the series.
‘Kidding’ premieres in September.
(You can watch the trailer in the video at the top.)