CBC sitcom star Gerry Dee is feeling a bit lonely.

The standup comic-turned-TV personality says there aren’t enough Canuck comedies on the tube and it’s especially tough for half-hour laughers to find success.

Dee says he was disappointed to see CTV’s Satisfaction conclude after just one season but is hopeful for upcoming arrivals, including CTV’s Dave Foley project, Spun Out.

“If we keep having shows cancelled it’s certainly not incentive for networks to go, ‘Let’s keep doing this,’” Dee said at a recent CBC event to launch its winter lineup, including Dee’s Mr. D.

“We’ve got to get these shows more successful and keep them on the air. Because otherwise Canadian comedies are going to go by the wayside and they’re going to hire American shows.”

Dee notes that his high school comedy Mr. D is the only scripted sitcom on CBC’s winter schedule. But he understands why the public broadcaster might be more willing to gamble on an hour-long drama or reality show than a quirky sitcom.

“People aren’t talking about comedies, they’re talking about dramas. They’re the ones that bring the numbers in,” he says, adding he’s glad to see City’s recent half-hour arrivals Package Deal and Seed.

“Comedy is not easy and I think the people that run these other shows are finding that, too. The numbers aren’t great on any of the comedies in this country. And when the numbers are low, you get cancelled and that’s the pressure we have on a weekly basis.”

Dee’s Mr. D co-star Darrin Rose is among several comics with development deals for prospective sitcoms. Rose’s CTV venture Chasing Manhood is an ensemble comedy inspired by his standup material.

The network says it’s also considering the twenty-something comedy We’re Adults Now, from Kids in the Hall member and Less Than Kind showrunner Mark McKinney; a multi-cam friends comedy called The Team from Little Mosque on the Prairie writer Rob Sheridan; the half-hour dramedy The Lainey Gossip Project inspired by eTalk correspondent Elaine Lui’s celebrity website LaineyGossip.com; and untitled projects from Corner Gas writer Paul Mather and Community scribe Vera Santamaria.

Over on Global, hopes are high for the greenlit comedy Working the Engels, with Andrea Martin and Benjamin Arthur. And the 2014 slate for The Movie Network and Movie Central includes the half-hour comedy Sensitive Skin, starring Kim Cattrall and Don McKellar.

Mr. D kicks off its third season in February.