Showtime’s Kidding: A look at Michel Gondry and Jim Carrey’s new show

Let’s look at Jim Carrey’s new show, Kidding, which premieres on Showtime on Sept. 8 at 10 p.m. EST.  Why might it be awesome?  Why wouldn’t it be? 

What do we know so far about Kidding?

It is a comedy-drama created by Dave Holstein, directed by Michel Gondry and starring, of course, Jim Carrey. Carrey plays Jeff Piccirillo, who himself plays “Jeff Pickles” on a children’s television program called “Mr. Pickles’ Puppet Time.”

Frank Langella plays Seb Piccirillo, a producer for “Mr. Pickles’ Puppet Time” and Jeff’s father. Also appearing as regulars are Judy Greer, Cole Allen, Juliet Morris and Catherine Keener.

The first season has 10 episodes, which implies that the show isn’t just a miniseries.

In an interview with Variety, Michel Gondry recently discussed the first season, which deals with Jeff’s grief with losing a son (and other problems) while playing a lovable children’s TV host.

Regarding his directing of Carrey’s performance, Gondry said, “The actors are their characters. Sometimes they know things that you don’t know, so you have to let them try different things.”

Many know this isn’t the first project with Gondry and Carrey. The 2004 film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is critically acclaimed, and Gondry said he wanted to re-discover “the Jim that’s a little bit sad and touching.”

Although the premiere was made available on YouTube on August 31, Sunday’s premiere will be the uncensored version (with swear words and whatnot!). Still, the show’s main emphasis will undoubtedly be its characters.

Michel Gondry himself has an impressive range.  In addition to directing movies, he’d directed music videos for Björk, Sinéad O’Connor, The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Cibo Matto, Beck, Radiohead and on and on.

There will no doubt be dramatic moments as Kidding progresses, but it’s a show that could certainly build into many different things.

For example, the first episode features Conan O’Brien and Danny Trejo, and also a surprise on-screen reunion between Carrey and In Living Color co-star Kelly Coffield Park (known then simply as Kelly Coffield).

It will be interesting to see if Mike Quinn, a puppeteer for The Jim Henson Company, becomes a regular character on the show, too (considering how important puppeteers are to a puppet show).

Kidding has star power with Jim Carrey alone, but it also sounds like it will have heart, interesting characters, nuance, and at least a dash of dark humor.