'Big Lake is dumb but not funny dumb

THE SITCOM"Big Lake"WHEN | WHERE Premieres tomorrow at 10 p.m. on

Comedy Central

WHAT IT'S ABOUT"Financial Einstein" (Chris Gethard) has to move back in with his small-town parents after his Wall Street gambles lose their life savings (plus another $200 million). So he goes back to hanging out with loser friend Horatio Sanz and burned-out history teacher Chris Parnell, much to the chagrin of stern dad James Rebhorn and delight of loopy mom Deborah Rush.

REASON TO WATCHTry to figure out why things that seem so sharp on paper turn so limp on screen.

MY SAY Granted, a sitcom pilot has a high hill to climb for me after one of the guys explains his lot in life by claiming his mom has "a substandard uterus."

So "Big Lake" has a big job in front of it, but there are moments it seems equipped to conquer the climb. The stories are so stream-of-consciousness bizarre that they feel fresh, despite the basic dopey-guys-doing-dumb-things formula. Some of the mondo dialogue would feel crisp, too, if the actors could spit it out with a modicum of aplomb.

There is even one superb performance, from "SNL" vet Parnell, as the guys' old history teacher, now dreaming of opening a topless bar - that's just being there every day for the opening, not actually owning it. Fellow "SNL"-er Sanz and standup Gethard simply aren't actors, which means writer Lew Morton ("Undeclared") and director Don Scardino ("30 Rock") have their work cut out.

BOTTOM LINEDemented ideas, pedestrian execution.

GRADEC