Carrey talks canvas and comedy
His artwork, Showtime’s ‘Kidding’ dig deep.
What if Mr. Rogers had a midlife crisis?
That, essentially, is the basis for “Kidding,” Showtime’s new dramedy (Sundays, 10 EDT/PDT, ★★g☆) and Jim Carrey’s first regular television role in more than a decade.
At first, “Kidding” feels like a far-tooslow and misguided show, at once too strange and too familiar, yet another story of a sad, middle-aged white man coming to terms with his own reality. It’s often too somber as comedy and too shallow to be drama. But there are moments when the series starts maximizing its full, talented cast and turns the odd into the oddly fascinating, and they remind you why Carrey is a star.
Carrey plays Jeff Pickles, the host of a children’s public television show who is scarred by the sudden death of his young son, Phil, in a car accident.
Jeff is nearly indistinguishable from the character he plays on TV. He encourages the people not to use bad words. He’s naive about the workings of the real world. He’s wealthy but chooses to live in an unkempt apartment near a college campus while separated from his wife, Jill (Judy Greer).
Yet his soft-spoken demeanor barely conceals a mania that leads him to destructive behaviors as he mourns Phil. Instead of singing rhyming, educational tunes for the little ones, Mr. Pickles is off shaving his head, stalking Jill, trying desperately to bond with his living son, and Phil’s twin, Will (Cole Allen) and generally falling to pieces.
When Jeff tries to address his grief on air, it horrifies his father and producer, Seb (Frank Langella), for whom the show – a mashup of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “Sesame Street” – is a well-oiled merchandising machine. Seb’s concern for his son’s well-being is mostly self-serving: He tries to keep Jeff together mostly to keep the show from falling apart.
“Pickles” is a family affair: Jeff ’s sister Deirdre (Catherine Keener) makes its weird assortment of puppets, including a sentient baguette with a tongue made of cheese. Deirdre, besides monitoring her father and brother’s moods, is struggling with the discovery that her husband is cheating on her.
“Kidding” marks Carrey’s big return to TV, but it ends up being a surprisingly small show. The series is frustratingly myopic, so obsessed with Jeff ’s naivete and grief that there isn’t much going on when Carrey isn’t onscreen. A subplot about Deidre’s closeted husband and quirky daughter falls flat because we don’t know enough about anyone involved. But eventually, the writers figure out what an excellent cast they have, and in the fourth episode it finally feels as if the supporting actors – Keener and Greer especially – are more than window dressing.
The best moments are the absurdist opening scenes, self-contained short stories that eventually become relevant to the plot of the episode. In one, we follow the life of a pickle, from the people who pick the cucumbers to the ones who jar them to the jar being thrown on an unsuspecting door. The show’s worst are when it tries to force a punchline, like a cringe-y repeated joke about puppeteers having sex in a costume.
Created by Dave Holstein (”Weeds”), the series reunites Carrey with his “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Michel Gondry and marries zany visuals with a dreary script. It’s a juxtaposition that’s meant to be played for comedy but instead comes off as tasteless.
It’s not the dark, adult humor that makes “Kidding” different from other shows about men in crisis, but rather its unique setting. When the show’s sense of humor becomes more whimsical than dour, a heaviness is lifted; the series shines in more understated, earnest moments.
When the series tries to do too much, it’s really just, well, kidding itself.