Comedy Central is hell-bent on pushing the comedy barrier.
The cable network has announced that it’s developing a series called “JC” — a half-hour animated show about a dude named Jesus “JC” Christ who wants to escape his dad’s (aka God) considerable shadow to chill in New York as a regular guy.
Things have changed on earth over the last 2,000 years and JC quickly discovers that he’s a fish (and possibly a few loaves of bread) out of water. He gets little sympathy from a “powerful but apathetic” God, who prefers playing video games to listening to junior blabbering about life in the city.
The potential series is being described as a “playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb.”
The announcement comes less than a month after Comedy Central’s controversial decision to censor an animated image of the Prophet Mohammed during an episode of “South Park,” a series that includes recurring characters God and Jesus, the host of a public access TV show.
Comedy Central isn’t the only network that has broadcast an animated Jesus, though.
In 1997, NBC’s “SNL” featured a “Saturday TV Fun House” segment in which the Son of God tried to fix everything wrong about the commercialization of Christmas.
Other eyebrow-raising Comedy Central series in the works this year include pilots for sex- panel talk show “Live Sex Show,” hosted by comedian Bert Kreischer and Maxim model Layla Kayleigh, and “Highdeas,” in which co medians will explore “mind-blowing ques tions” that can only be conceived of by stoners.
Also in development is the animated series “Su permax,” where bold- face named inmates like Sammy “Bull” Gravano, shoe bomber Richard Reid and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski learn about life and love while living out their days in a Colorado super maximum security prison.