Don't expect to see James Van Der Beek doing the Tango anytime soon.
The 35-year-old actor is back on television and playing a "bizarre" version of himself, who uses the nostalgia of the "Dawson's Creek" theme song and whipped cream bikini from "Varsity Blues" to bed women in ABC's "Don't Trust the B---- In Apt. 23."
While his washed-up character does campy energy drink commercials, teaches acting classes and has a gig on a "Dancing with the Stars"- type show, you'll never catch the real James Van Der Beek shaking it on TV for your votes.
"My character became this fictional creation concocted in some comedy laboratory," he told Parade. "When we started making up things on my resume that don't exist, it very quickly stopped seeming like me and started seeming like a parody of actors and Hollywood and pop culture in general. I just thought it was so funny ... The less seriously you take yourself, the better work you do in general."
And although he had a "blast" filming the faux "DWTS" experience and actually had to learn to dance, he told the magazine he doesn't think he'll use his new skills on the real show.
"I think it's more fun to do it this way. You can play it for laughs and not have to do all that work!" he said.
Dancing competitions may not be his thing, but Van Der Beek continues to prove he has a great sense of humor about himself.
"One of the things I said right from the start, I told the writers: "Don't ever be afraid of offending me. Always go for what's funniest and if there's anything that's really offensive, I'll tell you to scale back, but don't ever self-edit," he told The Huffington Post. "We didn't find anything that offended me to the point where I said, "We can't do that."
For more with James Van Der Beek, click over to Parade.
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