Jim Carrey Wants Showtime’s ‘Kidding’ to “Remind People There’s Hope” (Exclusive Video)

Teasers for Showtime’s forthcoming series Kidding have emphasized the disconnect between the on-camera sweetness of Jim Carrey’s children’s TV-host character and the bottled-up anger that comes out when he leaves the stage.

As Carrey explains in the featurette from the show (below), however, Kidding wants to be more than just a portrait of a man whose private life doesn’t match his public persona.

“What I love about this whole project is the idea that no matter how bad things may look, there’s an innocence inside us that can never be destroyed. It’s always there,” Carrey says.

That idea will be tested over the course of the series as Carrey’s character, Jeff Pickles — whom the actor describes as “not unlike Mister Rogers” — suffers a tragedy and subsequently has trouble keeping the pain he feels away from his TV show.

As creator and executive producer Dave Holstein puts it, Jeff is a “kind man in a cruel world,” and that realization makes him into a “ticking time bomb.”

Still, Carrey says, “I think that this show is going to remind people that amidst all the chaos, there’s hope and there’s light.”

Kidding also stars Judy Greer, Catherine Keener and Frank Langella. Michel Gondry directed six of the show’s 10 episodes. It’s set to premieres at Sunday, Sept. 9, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.

July 20, 7:46 a.m. This post initially misstated the number of episodes Michel Gondry is directing.