Janeane Garofalo Joins '24' Cast

The Hollywood Reporter has the news that actress-comedian and former Air America talk show host Janeane Garofalo will be joining the cast of Fox's "24" next season:

The political left and the political right are going to meet on Fox's "24" this coming season.

Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo, an outspoken liberal, is set to co-star on the conservative-leaning real-time drama, whose co-creator/executive producer Joel Surnow jokingly describes himself as a "right-wing nut job."

On the Imagine TV/20th Century Fox TV series, Garofalo will play a government agent who is part of the team investigating the crisis befalling Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and company in the upcoming season.

Since her exit from Air America last year, Garofalo has been pretty quiet about politics, although (according to the article) she seems to have kept busy in Hollywood with voice-over work and other projects. 

What's interesting here is how this fictional "conservative-leaning" show manages to balance out its conservative image by not only hiring outspoken liberal actors, but including liberal views within its storyline...while shows like MSNBC's "Countdown" (hosted by Keith Olbermann), which you might expect would feel obligated to do the same since they are news programs, do little to balance out the liberal views often espoused by the host and guests.

h/t: Lifelike Pundits