TVSquad

One of your television's least-appreciated funnymen is getting a second wind on cable again.

The Upright Citizens Brigade's Matt Walsh and fellow founding member Trotter, er, Ian Roberts have landed their first starring roles in a show he created for Spike.

It's called Players, names after a sports bar his character runs with his brother as part of his eternal life fantasy to hit on hot waitresses and spend his days yelling at an HD television. Think of it as Cheers, but with more penis jokes and a Carla that doesn't make your eyes bleed.

Walsh is one of those names you may not have heard, but you know his face all too well. He's a founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy theater and a star of the groundbreaking sketch comedy show of the same name. He made for perfect casting as Adair, the impulsive tech guy in the group who's appetite for drink, dames and other vices that begin with the letter "d" that often led to inevitable failure for the UCB's mission to "proliferate chaos".

He also spent time on The Daily Show as a correspondent shortly after Craig Kilborn made the jump from Comedy Central to CBS to that place people go when they stop being famous. Then between appearances in a ton of mainstream movies like Old School, he returned to the network to play an image obsessed news anchor for the funny but uneven reality-comedy-sitcom Dog Bites Man.

Now he has another chance to jump into the mainstream and I, for one, hopes he and Roberts make it. His style of humor is dry, witty and original as evidenced by the live DVD commentaries for the UCB DVDs. Roberts will make the perfect foil for whatever character he has planned. He's also got as much experience in writing, acting and theater as his founding counterparts. It's a show concept that sounds perfect for him and if it doesn't work, he's still cooler than you.