TVSquad

Napoleon Dynamite lead Jon Heder will star in a new Comedy Central sitcom written and produced via Will Ferrell's Gary Sanchez Productions.

Heder exploded onto the entertainment scene when Dynamite made more than $40 million on the indie movie circuit after costing less than a million to produce. He went on to star opposite Ferrell in the less funny figure skating movie, Blades of Glory. Now Ferrell will shepherd Heder's first TV venture.

The show doesn't have a title yet, but it reportedly feature Heder as "an out-of-work IT specialist who leaves the city and returns to his small hometown to live with his parents and younger brother."

If you tune in to the premiere of the new Comedy Central Presents... stand-up shows tonight, you'll see a couple of familiar faces in John Mulaney (11PM) and Kristen Schaal (11:30PM).

Schaal might be the easier face to place - her role as Mel, the lone groupie on Flight of the Conchords expanded this season, to the point where Bret and Jemaine were actually living at her apartment for a while. Mulaney has done more work behinds the scenes writing for Saturday Night Live (he's been on camera once or twice, in the fine tradition of writers like Conan O'Brien). But he's also been on shows like Important Things with Demetri Martin and Best Week Ever.

Both are worth catching for their stand-up acts. Schaal brings some of the quirkiness of her Conchords character, without the creepiness. She's got a great, vivid imagination, which is easy to see in this clip about her dreaming of George Washington.

Actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan has come a long way from driving down the stock price for Hot Pockets.

He landed his own short-lived sitcom on CBS, thanks to David Letterman, called Welcome to New York and a co-starring role on the hit TBS' dramedy My Boys, which returns for a third season on March 31.

He also racked up a long resume of funny and dramatic roles on hit shows like Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords, and That 70's Show. He is also one of the few actors to score appearances on all of the Law & Order series if you don't count the spinoff that hardcore L&O cultists are forbidden to say out loud.

Comedy Central's intermittently funny stand-up showcase Comedy Central Presents is returning January 12 for its eleventh season. The first episode, airing at 10pm, will feature comedian Marc Maron, a personally favorite of mine. This will be followed by Last Comic Standing winner John Heffron at 10:30pm, to whom I'm indifferent. Other comedians to be featured this season include Maria Bamford, Tom Papa, Nick DiPaolo, Chelsea Handler , Finesse Mitchell, Mitch Fatel and Howard Kremer. Yes, some of them have performed for the series before.

I like this show, though it's not on my Tivo's Season Pass since I have to carefully pick which episodes I want to record. Marc Maron and Maria Bamford will get Tivoed for sure, but Tom Papa and Finesse Mitchell I can do without. It's called choice, and that's what makes this country so awesome.