Interview with James Van Der Beek
O'BRIEN: Oh, Michelle Williams.</s>BERMAN: Are they going to play the whole intro?</s>O'BRIEN: We're waiting for James Van Der Beek to come out.</s>BERMAN: Maybe we could all talk about what our favorite "Dawson's Creek" episodes were. Really?</s>O'BRIEN: If you look at that show and why he has done so well in his new show called "The B in Apartment 23," in that new show he makes fun of himself from "Dawson's Creek." He plays himself. When you look at those people who were all elevated to stardom from that show, who did we see there, Michelle Williams, who won a Golden Globe, Katie Holmes, of course. Sometimes she's on the front page for tough things.</s>BERMAN: She's been in the news.</s>O'BRIEN: I think his strategy of -- he doesn't really mock himself, but plays himself in a way.</s>ROMANS: It's a daring thing to play yourself as an aging sort of fading star. That's a great daring thing for him to be doing.</s>BERMAN: It's a hard part to play. It would be harder to cast someone else in the role of James Van Der Beek in this show.</s>O'BRIEN: And he's joining us this morning, let's bring him in. Come on over, James. We've been showing clips. That's okay. We'll give you a mike.</s>BERMAN: Quite an entrance.</s>O'BRIEN: Nice to have you with us. I'm well. We got news you were in our elevator.</s>JAMES VAN DER BEEK, ACTOR: Yes.</s>O'BRIEN: We were playing an entire episode of" Dawson's Creek."</s>VAN DER BEEK: I heard this song in the elevator that's been haunting me since I was 20 years old.</s>O'BRIEN: Have a seat right there, next to John, nice to have you. We were talking about what it's like to play yourself on your new show. Is it fun? Was it weird to get that kind of pitch to do that?</s>VAN DER BEEK: Yes. Honestly, it's the most liberating, healthiest thing in the world.</s>O'BRIEN: Why liberating?</s>VAN DER BEEK: Everyone, especially actors, can afford to take themselves a little less seriously from time to time. And so it's really therapeutic to just kind of destroy the ego a little bit every single day.</s>O'BRIEN: You had a funeral for your character.</s>VAN DER BEEK: We did, a Viking funeral. We set a bunch of memorabilia on fire in Central Park, as one does.</s>O'BRIEN: Was it liberating to see the character go up in smoke?</s>VAN DER BEEK: You know, it's really -- I've had an interesting relationship with the whole phenomenon. "Dawson's Creek" is something that happened to me when I was 20. I started out doing theater here in New York when I was 16. And a couple years later I got this pilot on this show on a network I never heard of. And then six years later, I had this thing kind of following me. And, you know, now at 35, it's fun to appreciate just the fact that anybody remembers anything that I did ten years ago.</s>O'BRIEN: Is it true that the shot of you crying, which everybody knows, is the most -- what did you say, downloaded meme?</s>VAN DER BEEK: Is that true?</s>O'BRIEN: The research says that, sir.</s>VAN DER BEEK: It's so funny.</s>BERMAN: For you personally, it was almost like too much of a good thing, right? Then you had to redefine your brand, right? I read that you did a lot of parts against type in order to get people to think of you differently.</s>VAN DER BEEK: You know, I've always enjoyed shaking it up. For me, doing the same thing for too long makes me crazy. So, I don't know. I always felt like I had some tricks in my bag. It's been fun at times to -- it's a lot harder to get famous than it is to change an image, I think. When you have something going for you that people are expecting and then you're able to pull something out that they don't, that's fun.</s>O'BRIEN: Which brings us to our new show. Talk about playing yourself but at the same time, going against -- let's play that.</s>CARTOON CHARACTER: I love ice cream.</s>DREAMA WALKER, ACTRESS: This is the invite for your Halloween Party?</s>KRYSTEN RITTER, ACTRESS: James is terrified of Halloween.</s>VAN DER BEEK: I hate being scared. Hate it. Hate it worse than I hate applause for other people.</s>RITTER: Every year James throws a positivity party where we celebrate life and happiness.</s>VAN DER BOOK: Absolutely no scary costumes, just happy ones. It started when I was a kid when my dad played a VHS tape of Halloween on Christmas, ruined two holidays at once.</s>O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about this new show and the chemistry, because what they've done is kind of make a really edgy show -- it's getting great critical reviews.</s>VAN DER BEEK: Thank you. yes. It's been -- it's the most fun I've ever had on any job.</s>O'BRIEN: Every actor says that, it's the most fun, I'm working with the best people.</s>VAN DER BEEK: If they're on another job, they're lying.</s>VAN DER BEEK: We work pretty short hours. And the writing is just really consistently funny. It's edgy. It's all of the brain child, of Nahnatchka Khan, who worked on "American Dad." So it's that vein of comedy. It's centered around the two girls, Krysten Ritter and Dreama Walker, and I'm for all intents and purposes I'm the wacky friend who lives down the street.</s>BERMAN: Some of the jokes are fairly shocking. I watched last season, and my wife and I were like, wow! Is there ever anything that you find too shocking? Is there anything that gets left on the cutting room floor?</s>VAN DER BEEK: Yes. Every once in a while they tell us we've gone a little to far.</s>O'BRIEN: This is cable. You can say it now.</s>VAN DER BEEK: Huh?</s>O'BRIEN: This is cable. You can say some of those jokes, right?</s>VAN DER BEEK: Oh, really? Well -- so you know our challenge then becomes when they tell us you can't say that, to come up with something potentially worse that they can't argue with.</s>O'BRIEN: James Van Der Beek, it's so nice to have you with us this morning, thank you for joining us. We have to take a short break. Thanks. We're back in just a moment.