Is Jean-Claude Van Damme actually in on the joke in Amazon’s Jean-Claude Van Johnson?

The New York Times

“It’s not always clear how aware the actors are that they’re playing versions of themselves,” says Mike Hale. “In the new Amazon series Jean-Claude Van Johnson, it’s not a question — Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Jean-Claude Van Damme, a former action star on the downside of a career that peaked more than 20 years ago. The question is whether Mr. Van Damme is so in on the joke that he forgets it’s supposed to be a joke. Although occasionally funny, Jean-Claude Van Johnson sits in an odd no-man’s-land between clever self-parody and aggrieved vanity project. Even as the show is sending up Mr. Van Damme’s signature balletic splits and his troubled personal life, the tone wobbles — you’re not sure whether you’re supposed to be laughing along with him or giving him a shoulder to cry on.”

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