The next featured guest in Comedy Central’s roast series will be an actor who broke out with a role on the NBC series "Freaks and Geeks" and went on to a well-received lead performance in the TNT biopic "James Dean" in 2001.

The target of the roast is James Franco, the actor, writer, director and what The New York Times calls a "student of life."

Franco, who has also appeared in movies such as "127 Hours" and the "Spider-Man" trilogy, made the announcement in an Instagram video posted Tuesday evening.

"Hey, yo, what’s up? I’m going to get roasted on Comedy Central. Be sure to check it out. They wanted me to tell you that. All right. Ha ha," Franco said in what The Times described as a "laconic, half-mumbled style."

That created some questions over whether Franco would in fact follow other roast honorees such as Charlie Sheen and Roseanne Barr, but Comedy Central followed up with a news release that confirmed the roast.

The event will take place in Los Angeles in August and debut Sept. 2 on Comedy Central.

Franco won a Golden Globe for "James Dean" and was nominated two other times, for "127 Hours" and "Pineapple Express." He also received an Academy Award nomination for "127 Hours."

James Franco