Did you ever wonder what it would be like if one day, Mr. Rogers slipped on his outdoor shoes, left the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, and abruptly spiraled into a rage-filled breakdown complete with freaky hallucinations and meaningless puppet sex? Well, uh, you don't have to wonder anymore—Jim Carrey and Michel Gondry have got you covered.On Monday, Showtime released a full-length trailer for Kidding, Carrey and Gondry's new series about a children's icon on the verge of total collapse—and the thing is exactly the depressing Mr. Rogers story you didn't know you wanted.The upcoming comedy stars Carrey as beloved star Mr. Pickles who, when not singing and dancing onscreen for children, is wrestling with what appears to be a very strange mental breakdown. In the trailer, Pickles loses his shit on a date, shaves a strip down the center of his head, and, yes, gets a handjob from a puppet, though hopefully, that's just part of the hallucinations, since this isn't The Happytime Murders or whatever."I have a tremendous amount of pent-up anger inside of me," Pickles says in the trailer. "Every day it grows and grows. I don't know where it's coming from or how to stop it. I am magma from the neck down."Kidding is Carrey's first regular TV role in over two decades and his first collaboration with Gondry since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and it looks like the perfect role for the actor right now, riding the line between the physical comedy of his early work and the raw, fragile vulnerability he's dipped into lately.The show also stars Catherine Keener, Frank Langella, and Judy Greer, and was created by former Weeds writer Dave Holstein, who shrugged off the Mr. Rogers comparisons during a recent TCA press tour. "It wasn’t about crafting an arc about a psycho Mr. Rogers,” Holstein said, according to LA Times. "[Kidding] is about a character, in this age of darkness and lies and bullying, who just wants to be good." Apparently, he also wants to fuck a puppet, too.Kidding premieres September 9 on Showtime. Until then, watch Carrey lose his shit in the trailer above.Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.Follow VICE on Twitter.
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