James Van Der Beek 'Wanted To Play' With Funny Or Die

The 'Dawson's Creek' star explains how his 'Vandermemes' clip came to be.By Jocelyn Vena





James Van Der Beek in a video for Funny or Die "Vandermemes"

Photo: Funny or Die




James Van Der Beek is showing Pacey how it's done. The actor teamed up with Funny or Die this week to show the world just how funny he can be thanks to a group of clips he created that poke fun at his sensitive "Dawson's Creek" image.

"I mean, I've loved the stuff that Funny or Die has been doing," Van Der Beek told MTV News. "And I thought, 'I want to play; this can be fun.' And they're just great guys and we talked about stuff."
From there, the brainstorming began, and Van Der Beek was happy to make others laugh at his expense. In "Vandermemes," the actor decides to bank on a widely circulated gif of Dawson Leery crying and offers other useful expressions for online use. In the second video, "A--hole for Hire," he tries to make up for making men still suffer when their girlfriends compare them to his über-sensitive character.
Van Der Beek explained it was a great way to let everyone know he's in on the crying meme joke. "It's one of those things people always get me on Twitter. Like, they'll tweet me something, and it's always a trick," he said. "And then [I'll click on the link] and it's the shot of me crying, and I laugh every time. I think it's hysterical. I mean, you do a show for six years, and it all gets reduced to a five-second clip of poor Dawson crying. It tickles my funny bone."
There's even a JamesVanDerMemes.com site, complete with every gif a fan could ever wish for. "I thought, 'That's so ridiculous, I think it's something I have to do,' " he laughed. "I didn't realize it would take on a life of its own, but it's all in the name of making the funny."
Asked if he had to pick his favorite meme to sum himself up, he laughed, "It depends on what kind of Van Der Mood I'm in."
Van Der Beek also revealed that there are more videos to come. "I think the more ridiculous the better with Funny or Die," he said. "I had so much fun hosting 'SNL' when I got to do it that this is kind of what that felt like, the same kind of energy. ... I'm such a goof anyway in real life."
What's your favorite Vandermeme? Talk about it in the comments!

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