David Duchovny stars in Californication as a man who is addicted to sex. Duchovny went into rehab last year for sex addiction.

David Duchovny says playing Hank Moody on Californication has confirmed something, over and over again.

"It has taught me that people always will be surprised that I'm funny," said Duchovny, who first rose to TV fame as Fox Mulder on The X-Files. "That'll just happen until I die.

"It's always a surprise, no matter how many times I'm funny. 'It's the way I'm drawn,' like Jessica Rabbit used to say."

Well, Hank Moody isn't a cartoon, but he's often animated. And Hank's "cool loser" antics will continue in the third season of Californication, which kicks off tonight on The Movie Network and Movie Central.

"I don't know why Hank is so restless, I don't know why he's so unhappy -- it's a very good question," Duchovny said. "I think it speaks to why some people may enjoy the show."

As last season ended, frustrated writer Hank was back together with the on-again, off-again love of his life -- Karen, played by Natascha McElhone -- theoretically, if not physically. Karen was moving to New York for a job opportunity, and it was decided at the last minute that Hank would remain in Los Angeles for the sake of their daughter Becca, played by Madeleine Martin.

"Yes, Hank got the things he wanted that he figured would make him happy, to get (Karen) back and to be able to have a strong hand in raising his own daughter," Duchovny said. "But knowing Hank, it's not going to last.

"He's just a guy who's fumbling in the dark like all of us parents and doing the best he can. He obviously cares, just about more than anything, for that girl, and that he screws up is a source of great pain to him.

"There's no right way of parenting. That's not the way I parent, but I'm not going to sit in judgment of Hank in that way."

Speaking of judgments both fair and unfair, Duchovny's personal life was thrust into the news last year when he entered rehab for sex addiction. Hank Moody, of course, is addicted to a lot of things, sex being one of them.

Duchovny is quick to deflect any vague suggestion of a similarity between himself and Hank. Duchovny either responds with humour -- "We look very much alike, but he's got better makeup" -- or with a slightly colder tone.

"I don't feel closer to any character that I play," Duchovny said flatly, when asked if he felt closer to Hank or Mulder. "That kind of thinking never enters into my consciousness."

Duchovny lightened up a bit when asked how he would react if he ever met Hank.

"God, if I met him, I don't know," Duchovny said. "As a father of two young kids, I don't see myself in a place where I would meet Hank Moody.

"But I think people sympathize with him mostly because he speaks his mind and he does have a heart."

Yes, despite Californication's aggressive sexual content, Duchovny believes the show primarily is about heart and about laughter.

"In terms of the shocking stuff, the reason we get away with it is that it's never played for deep shock or serious shock," Duchovny said. "We know it's a comedy.

"It never has been an idea of mine, or an agenda of mine, to loosen anybody up. It's just to entertain and to entertain ourselves, really.

"We're kind of a weird, hybrid, half-hour comedy, sentimental, weird show."