AceShowbiz -

Jim Carrey is back on television, more than two decades after he starred on "In Living Color". The two-time Golden Globe Award winner will headline new comedy "Kidding", which has received a 10-episode straight-to-series order from Showtime.

On the half-hour comedy, Carrey will play Jeff a.k.a. 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."

The gig marks Carrey's first series regular role since "In Living Color" ended in 1994. The show, which is created by "I'm Dying Up Here" co-executive producer Dave Holstein, will reunite him with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" writer-director Michel Gondry, who will direct the series.

Carrey will also executive produce the series along with Gondry, Jason Bateman and his Aggregate Films executive Jim Garavente, Raffi Adlan ("The Green Hornet") and Michael Aguilar ("I'm Dying Up Here").

"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," says Showtime CEO David Nevins. "With his 'Eternal Sunshine' partner Michel Gondry on board to direct, we are on our way to a magnetic, volcanic and emotional viewing experience."

A premiere date for "Kidding" has not been announced yet.

Carrey executive produces "I'm Dying Up Here" which recently was renewed for a second season by Showtime. His Netflix documentary "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond" debuted to solid reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival.