James Van Der Beek Will Play Diplo in a Viceland Series

The series began as a simple video (above) called A Day in the Life, where Van Der Beek parodies what it’s like to be Diplo, which includes saying “fam” a lot and having a black dude write his tweets. Hmm! The video was initially used as promo for Diplo’s Mad Decent Block Party concert and now it’s a six-episode comedy produced by Viceland, their first scripted show.

Via Deadline:

In WWDD, described as “Louie meets WorldStar HipHop crossed with This Is Spinal Tap,” Van Der Beek plays a fictional version of DJ superstar Diplo in collection of parables about life as told through the eyes of guy who can bring 60,000 people to their feet… but kind of sucks one-on-one. “The show doesn’t take itself too serious but it’s not cynical,” Van Der Beek told Deadline.

In addition to his role as sort-of-Diplo, Van Der Beek is also the showrunner for the series, which premieres later this year. “I’ve enjoyed deconstructing my own image quite a bit over the years,” Van Der Beek says, “but to have the chance to do it with a global megastar like Diplo who’s letting us to do something fun and ridiculous that few people have the balls to allow is crazy.”