NBCUniversal, ‘Beavis’ Creator Mike Judge Team to Torment NPR

Mike Judge makes comedies that zig while everyone else is busy zagging.

His Fox animated sitcom “King of the Hill” simultaneous mocked and honored deep red Texas, while 2006’s “Idiocracy” eerily predicted our dumbed-down America present.

Now, Judge is co-producing a new comedy series that takes on the sanctimonious sounds emanating from your local NPR affiliate.

And he's got a big partner-in-crime to make it happen... NBCUniversal.

“In the Know,” debuting Jan. 25 on the company's Peacock streaming platform, follows a male NPR host named Lauren (voiced by Zach Woods) and his wacky world of public radio co-horts. Judge is a co-creator and executive producer on a project told via stop-motion puppetry. Woods, who played the unctuous Gabe on “The Office,” serves as a series co-creator and star.

The show’s news release teases not just the guest stars appearing on the series (Hugh Laurie, Mike Tyson and Nicole Byer) but the irreverent tone in play.

We love public radio. It’s engaging and comforting. But it also reflects aspects of ourselves that we're embarrassed by … We’re privileged, well intentioned, guilty hypocrites. We buy ethically-sourced dog treats and have them delivered by people who are penalized for bathroom breaks. We put “No Justice No Peace” signs next to our home security lawn decals. We’re sanctimonious doofuses who should be ridiculed more. We want this show to start funny, scary, friendly conversations. 

That’s a lot to unpack, including the idea that NPR isn't as universally beloved as we've been led to believe.

The show's trailer teases its potential without serving up any belly laughs.

NPR deserves a healthy roasting, from its hard-Left biases to the hosts’ breathy tones. The show will likely ignore the former while luxuriating in the latter, and then some. 

What Judge brings to the table is clear. He doesn’t live in a Hollywood bubble and he never has. His work shows just that, including his recent “Beavis & Butt-head” reboot which mocked woke culture in glorious fashion.

What other showrunner would treat “King of the Hill” patriarch Hank Hill with love and respect, all the while poking fun at his curious mannerisms?

The show’s mission statement reveals its team has the self-awareness necessary to make “In the Know” click with audiences. Hypocrisy and the Left are like peas and cah-rots, as Forrest Gump might say. It’s prime fodder for satirical comedy, and mainstream films and TV shows refuse to do much about it.

Another hopeful sign? This isn’t the first time Judge targeted the pious Left. He was a decade ahead of his time during his first go around.

His 2009 sitcom “The Goode Family” poked fun at kind-hearted liberals, drilling down into their cultural absurdities. Case in point? The parents adopt an African child to promote racial tolerance, but due to a paperwork snafu ended up adding a white South African child, Ubuntu, to their brood.

Young Bliss Goode, voiced by Linda Cardellini, served as the show’s Alex P. Keaton type, a center right teen who kept her uber-liberal parents honest.

The Goode clan’s family dog? A vegan mutt named Che. Of course.

The show exploited a genial clan that tried ever so hard to be, well, Goode without being mean-spirited in the process. The series lacked the snap of his best work and quickly got the ax before it could find its footing. That’s a shame, because the series could have become the latest Judge project to enjoy a delayed popularity boost.

Both Judge’s “Office Space” and “Idiocracy” flopped in theaters before assuming cult classic status.

Now, with “In the Know” he’s getting a second chance at gently roasting the Left. And Judge and co. couldn’t have more material from which to work.