Jim Carrey may not actually appear in Showtime comedy I’m Dying Up Here, but the funnyman producer will nevertheless step out from behind the camera. Carrey will topline his own Showtime comedy, reuniting with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry to do it.

Per Showtime, Carrey will star in and produce the new half-hour Kidding, which has a ten-episode straight-to-series order with Gondry directing, and Jason Bateman executive producing. The series is created by Weeds alum Dave Holstein, and stars Carrey (his first regular TV role since In Living Color) as Jeff, better known as the actor behind children’s icon “Mr. Pickles”:

An icon of children’s television, a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America’s impressionable young minds and the parents who grew up with him – who also anchors a multimillion-dollar branding empire.But when this beloved personality’s family – wife, two sons, sister and father – begins to implode, Jeff finds no fairy tale or fable or puppet will guide him through the crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: a kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.

Said Showtime of the series:

No one inhabits a character like Jim Carrey, and this role – which is like watching Humpty Dumpty after the fall – is going to leave television audiences wondering how they went so long without him. With his Eternal Sunshine partner Michel Gondry on board to direct, we are on our way to a magnetic, volcanic and emotional viewing experience.

Carrey’s I’m Dying Up Here was also recently renewed for Season 2, so 2018 might well give the iconic comedian his own full hour. Stay tuned for more as Kidding comes together.

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