With an offbeat comedy that is both intellectual as well as provocative, Greg Giraldo has achieved a permanent rotation on Comedy Central with his new show, "Friday Night with Greg Giraldo." After premiering Sept. 30, the show features Giraldo as the host of a two-and-a-half hour block of comedy featuring a wide variety of skits and other stand-up comedians.

"It's not as different from what I've done in the past," Giraldo said in a conference call. Except "I'm not in control of the whole night per say."

This is not Giraldo's first appearance on Comedy Central. He was also featured on "Dave Attell's Insomniac Tour Presents Sean Rouse, Greg Giraldo and Dane Cook" and "The Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson."

Though Giraldo has always aspired to be a comedian, his initial career move was in a completely opposite direction pursuing law. It was after Giraldo graduated from Harvard Law School that he began to follow his love of stand up comedy.

"I didn't go directly into stand-up," Giraldo said. "It was a two year period. I thought, 'Drink for free and sleep all day and I'm pretty funny. Let me have a crack at that.'"

Even though Giraldo has been praised in the New York Times and cited as one of Variety's "Ten to Watch," the road to fame has not been an entirely hilarious journey. Giraldo first began his career as a comedian in the 1995 "Montreal Comedy Festival." Soon after, Giraldo was asked to develop and star in his own ABC sitcom, "Common Law," which would be loosely based on his experiences at a New York law firm. The show was canceled, however, after airing only four of nine episodes.

"I think it was way too early for me," Giraldo said. "The show didn't suck, I sucked."

After the disappointment of "Common Law," Giraldo's career took a turn for the better, and he began appearing in several comedy showcases both in the United States and overseas such as Showtime's "Latino Comedy Festival," "Funny is Funny," Comedy Central's "Comedy Cabana," Louie Anderson's "Comedy Showcases," "Late Friday" on NBC and "Live at Jongleurs" on BBC.

Giraldo's "rant" segments on "Last Call with Carson Daly," where some of his material about his wife, family and politics were formulated, was another positive. Although Giraldo gives credit to current events and politics, he believes that a mark of a true comedian is the ability to make anything funny.

"There is always (stuff) going on in the world," Giraldo said. "You don't need government to be a complete disaster."

Aside from Giraldo's fairly new and successful show, he has also gained widespread fame with "Underwear Goes Inside Your Pants," which he created and recorded with Lazyboy Productions, a production company that is headed by one of the founders of Swedish dance band Aqua. The song was released on Motown records and gained fame as the anthem for college parties.

"I thought people would be sick of my voice," Giraldo said. "It blew up way more than I expected."

Gilardo has no other side projects planned for the future, but he said he hopes to eventually come out with a DVD.

"I'm really scattered in terms of my focus," Giraldo said. "Once I get on the medication, things are really going to start to click."