I still remember the first time I saw Wet Hot American Summer. It was on pay TV here in Canada, and I couldn’t believe how funny it was. It was a pitch-perfect spoof of the kind of wild teen comedies I grew up watching as a kid (like Meatballs and Porky’s), with a cast that seemed incredible—even if the only names I really recognized at the time were Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, and David Hyde Pierce. Of course, many of them went on to become comic superstars, with Wet Hot American Summer becoming one of those films like American Graffiti, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, or Dazed and Confused, where many of the cast members were fated to become superstars.
Being that it’s a movie I’ve always loved, I was thrilled to get the chance to sit down with the film’s writer-director, David Wain, who—like many other folks involved—went on to become a huge force in comedy, making movies like Role Models and the recent Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass. It was great to talk to him about Wet Hot American Summer as it celebrates its 25th anniversary with a theatrical re-release (it’s now playing in select theatres). I told him about how, when I worked at Blockbuster, we only had one copy of the film, so we kept it as kind of “private stock” behind the counter, only renting it out to customers we deemed “cool.” He also described when he first became aware of the film’s cult status, while touching on the two limited-series follow-ups he made for Netflix and whether or not he thinks we could get more from the franchise. He also talks about how he assembled the cast of stars and which performance he thinks is a standout.
Check out the interview above and let us know in the comments if you think Wet Hot American Summer lives up to its cult status.
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