Rescue Me fans have been waiting far too long for this news. It was announced yesterday that the FX trademark drama will finally begin airing its 22-episode fifth season on Tuesday, April 7th at 10PM ET. And yes, the season will air uninterrupted, with the finale scheduled to air on September 8th.

Season four, which finished back in September 2007, received some of the drama's poorest critical reviews of the series to date. Season five, which has been delayed by over a year because of the WGA Strike, promises to be much better.

FX President John Landgraf said that, "...the quality of episodes...are some of the best they've ever produced," and when I spoke with Denis Leary by phone last June, he said the opening six episodes of the new season was some of the best stuff they'd written yet.

Excited? I sure as hell am. Keep reading though because the news gets even better.

Confidences of that quality must be running high because FX also announced a season six renewal for eighteen episodes. It should be noted that seasons five and six are changing the storytelling blueprint set with seasons one through four, which were only 13 episodes each. These are broadcast network length renewals on ad-supported cable and personally, I can't think of a better show to start breaking the mold.

In addition to all that, to drum up publicity for the new season and to raise money for The Leary Firefighters Foundation, Leary, Lenny Clarke (Uncle Teddy), and Adam Ferrara (Needles) will embark on an 11 city stand-up tour. It's the first time Leary has been on tour in almost 12 years and if you're like me, then you've worn the hell outta your No Cure For Cancer album too. Translation? I don't think you want to miss this. Here's the tour info: