Bill Hader has been nominated for an Emmy Award twice for his various performances on Saturday Night Live, but he actually won an Emmy for his contributions to the 2009 South Park episode "Margaritaville". Since 2008, the actor has served as an on-and-off writer on the show, but this year, he is on the writing staff full time for the 10-episode Season 17, which kicked off last night with "Let Go, Let Gov" on Comedy Central. When I spoke with the actor yesterday about returning as Flint Lockwood in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, I also had to ask about writing full time with the South Park crew.

When I asked if he could tease any potential story lines, the actor revealed that the show is still breaking stories the week before each episode airs, a process which is commonplace for the series, but practically unheard of anywhere else.

"I don't know what we're going to do, but we have ideas for other episodes or ideas that are partially-written. That's what we're going to talk about on Thursday, what we are doing for next week, so we don't know. I asked (series co-creator) Trey (Parker) that yesterday, because I'm in New York doing press. After our writer's meeting on Tuesday, I said, 'What episode are we doing next week?' He said, 'I dunno' (Laughs)."

I also asked if there was a chance he would lend his voice to any characters in the series, although that is still uncertain as well.

"I don't know. We'll see if they want me to. It's up to them. I never vie for that kind of stuff, I never ask. It's up to them. I approach it as, 'You're helping them with their show.' If they said, 'Hey man, do you want to do this?' I'd say, 'Yeah, sure.'"

Back in January, we reported that the series is getting a reduced 10-episode order that will run consecutively on Wednesday nights at 10 PM ET. This season marks a shift from the typical 14-episode South Park, which is split into seven-episode halves. When asked if this new format is beneficial to the show, he had this to say.

"Yeah, it's nice because you get a nice groove going. This, to be honest, is my first time being a writer for a full season on the show, so it's the only thing I know how to do, I guess (Laughs)."

While we don't know what is in store for the rest of Season 17, the season airs Wednesday nights at 10 PM ET only on Comedy Central.