Much of the appeal of bearded comedy guy Zach Galifianakis is his unpredictability. Whether it’s staggering around in drag in the weird vodka movie for Absolut or appearing onstage in early American garb during the Comedians of Comedy tour, the whole thing with Galifianakis is that you have no idea what he might do. 

Which makes me really curious to see where a starring role in Todd Phillips’s new movie will take him. Galifianakis has been in features before, but rarely in a primary role where he might have to hold down a semi-serious character through a story arch. (There might be less uncertainty if we’d had a chance to see Visioneers, his first lead role and a film in which, by many accounts, he’s terrific.)

Hangover, which begins shooting this weekend, stars Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms along with the comic in a story about best friends who lose their friend at his Vegas bachelor party only hours before his nuptials. I’m already imagining a series of outtakes and deleted scenes that are much more funny than the actual movie.

In addition, ZG will join Jason Schwartzman (and Ted Danson, as it turns out) in the HBO pilot Bored to Death. He’ll play Ray, a comic book writer who is best friend to Schwartzman’s alcoholic fake private detective. You can now count me as seriously interested in that pilot; if it follows up on the potential I’ll be praying for the network to pick it up. If they can go with another season of Tru Blood, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.