INWOOD — Watch out Steve Carrell, Juan Bago is coming for you.
Juan Bago, one half of the rap-spoof duo that cranked out a series of parody music videos, is branching out into scripted comedy with the launch of "Studio Heads," a new web series that creators say is similar to "The Office."
Bago, whose real name is Michael Diaz, rose to prominence after his 2011 rap parody "Pan Con Queso" racked up one million views. In "Studio Heads," Diaz and fellow uptown comedians Jamie Fernandez and Anthony Palmini play fictional versions of themselves. The six-episode series follows the clueless characters as they try to run Inwood's Enharmonics Productions studio.
Along the way the characters run into trouble with underage rappers, lock themselves in the studio for days and struggle while trying to impress guest actor Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The show resembles "The Office," Fernandez said, with the similar direct-to-camera character interviews between scenes.
"We have that quick, fast-paced humor," said Fernandez, 33. "We try to hit them with a joke and if they don’t like that one maybe they’ll like the next one."
"There's something for everyone," added Palmini, 32. "It has the physical humor, or we can do the fast one-liners, and we do flashbacks."
While the majority of the epsidoes were filmed at Enharmonic, the group also shot scenes at Papasito Mexican Bar & Agave Grill, Isham, Inwood Hill and J-Hood Wright Parks.
The trio was inspired by all the time they spent in Enharmonic, where Diaz records the Juan Bago songs, and Diaz said they have worked over a year to get produce the series.
"It's something that was a passion project," said Diaz, 32. "We really wanted to get this out."
The first season of "Studio Heads" is now streaming on Remezcla.com.
