TVSquad

FX has announced a couple of interesting new additions to its slate of comedies - The League, about a fantasy football league, and Louie, an autobiographical sitcom starring Louis C.K. (Variety broke the news Wednesday). The League features some talented comedians, namely Paul Scheer (from Human Giant), Nick Kroll, and Jon Lajoie. But it's Louie that I'm most interested in.

Louis C.K. is, hands down, the funniest and most productive comedian working in America today. He has taped his third stand-up special in three years, called Hilarious, which is set to come out later this year or early next year. I've seen him perform the material for it, and it's just as funny as the first two. And he's already dropped most of that material in favor of a new hour of material intended for another special. That's a tremendous pace for any stand-up comedian. George Carlin, the guy who inspired C.K. to do this, is the only other comic I can think of to keep to a schedule like that.

With Arrested Development, Mitchell Hurwitz went through the ringer with critical support, winning awards, and grassroots campaigns to convince Fox to keep the show on the air that ultimately failed. So what does Hurwitz do for a follow-up? He takes some of the same cast (Will Arnett, Jason Bateman), goes back to the same network (Fox), and back to an idea he had before Arrested hit the airwaves.

The new show is Sit Down, Shut Up, an animated series that debuts April 19th at 8:30 PM, in between The Simpsons and Family Guy.

"It's funny, this is a show that I actually wrote in the year 2000, and it was an adaptation of a live-action show from Australia," Hurwitz said in a recent conference call. "I kind of kept it in the drawer for a long time, and finally brought it out, mostly because I needed money, which - I enjoy money, and I also use it for all sorts of different things in my life, but mostly for food and shelter."