One of TV's most whimsical shows, Showtime's Kidding constantly provides surprising juxtapositions between Mr. Pickles' cheery, puppet-filled world and Jeff's starkly repressed emotions. Perhaps an even stranger pairing, though, is that of Jim Carrey and Ariana Grande, who joined the upcoming Season 2 for a guest-starring role. And guess what? Both entertainers were pleased as punch to work with one another.
Ariana Grande was the first to go public with the reveal that she took a "tiny" part in Kidding Season 2, and from the sound of things, she couldn't have had a more positive or enjoyable time. Check out the gushing Instagram post below.
Tell us how you really feel, Ariana! It sounds like if creator Dave Holstein had asked her to take a more steady role in the show, she might have said yes without checking her schedule to see if it was even possible. "Arena tours, schmarena schmours."
While on the stage for Kidding's panel at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, Jim Carrey took a second to share his own feelings about working with Ariana Grande, and they were equally buoyed by a deep satisfaction for the collaboration. In his words:
I just wanted to say this is really an exciting part of things. Admiration doesn’t just go kind of forward to an older generation. It goes backward as well. And I love all these like, she’s a singular artist. She has a gift. She has a thing that she does that’s like magic. When she opens her mouth and sings, she’s just magical. And it’s nice to find out that she’s a lovely person and that she was so game and willing to do it and to put herself in a place of just being silly and innocent and fun. And she was just a breath of fresh air. It was a really lovely, lovely time when she got on the set.
Having been in the business for as long as he has, Jim Carrey has likely come across a ton of comedians and other entertainers who maybe weren't all that worthy of his admiration and attention. But Ariana Grande clearly makes the grade in his mind.
The two mega-stars had also recently rained appreciation on each other on social media, concerning the topic of depression. It's a topic that's covered extensively by Kidding, which is about as far from stereotypical fare as it gets. (Carrey also talked about Sonic the Hedgehog's redesign, which is also a pretty atypical situation.)
Though she hasn't done a whole lot of television in her post-Nickelodeon days, outside of awards ceremonies and talk shows and things, Ariana Grande is the kind of performer that many series would jump at the chance to include in any capacity. (She'll be in an upcoming Netflix musical, also.) Her fanbase is large enough that if everyone tuned into Kidding's Season 2 premiere in the fall, it could become the highest rated cable premiere of all time.
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To that end, Dave Holstein told the TCA press tour crowd that after Grande tagged him in one of her Instagram posts, his phone blew up so often that it turned itself off and wouldn't come back on for another ten minutes. Such is the power of social media that not even modern technology can stay conscious.
While not much was shared about Ariana Grande's role within the show, Dave Holstein confirmed that she does have a singing part, and he also shared this:
Every episode of the show we get ten episodes, and we try very hard to make a every episode a different color of the rainbow and a different tonal choice. The one that she’s on is one of my favorite episodes this year because it is a visual departure and a really exciting and emotional choice that we made that she really sunk her teeth into.
That makes it sound like a pretty heady role for something that could be described as "tiny," doesn't it? You can get a first look at her appearance in the trailer below, which was unveiled at TCA.
Currently in production, Kidding Season 2 will hit Showtime on Sunday, November 3, at 10:00 p.m. ET.
