"Saturday Night Live" alumna Cheri Oteri has teamed with multihyphenate J.J. Abrams to develop a comedy project for ABC and Touchstone Television.

The project will be based on an idea that Abrams dreamed up for Oteri, who has a holding deal with ABC specifically for the Abrams project. The two are said to have hit it off instantly after their first informal meeting to discuss the prospect of developing a project together for Touchstone, where Abrams' Bad Robot Television banner is based.

ABC and reps for Oteri and Abrams declined comment on the deal. Sources said Abrams and Oteri have also reached out to veteran comedy writer-producer Carol Leifer ("Seinfeld") about collaborating on the project as well.

Oteri is gearing up for pilot season again after spending part of her summer in China filming the indie feature "Smile," a drama starring Beau Bridges about U.S. physicians who travel to Third World countries to perform routine surgical procedures on children.

The actress, a former member of the Groundlings comedy troupe, is best known for her 1995-2000 stint on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." A "Best of Cheri Oteri" compilation of her memorable "SNL" skits aired on NBC this past weekend and is due out this year on DVD.

Oteri also did a comedy pilot last year for CBS, "With You in Spirit," and was also seen in the feature "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd."

The Oteri project is believed to be the first foray into half-hour comedy for Abrams, who also has a new drama launching on ABC later this month, "Lost," and the fourth year of his stylish spy-fi actioner "Alias" on deck for a midseason debut. He also co-created and executive produced the WB Network drama "Felicity."

Abrams is also lined up to direct Tom Cruise in Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 3" next year.

Oteri is repped by UTA, manager Peg Donegan and attorney Michael Gendler. Abrams is repped by WMA.