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David Wain: Notes On Camp

David Wain joined <em>Ask Me Another</em> at Central Park's SummerStage.
Steve McFarland
/
NPR
David Wain joined Ask Me Another at Central Park's SummerStage.

David Wain is part of the comedy troupes The State and Stella, and directed the films Wanderlust, Role Models and They Came Together. But he is perhaps best known for creating one of the quintessential summer movies, Wet Hot American Summer, an absurdist chronicle of last-day shenanigans at a Jewish camp in the 1980s.

For Wain, this movie sprang directly from his deep well of experience attending camp in Maine. When he was too old to be a counselor, he spent his late teens with a band created for the sole purpose of touring summer camps. And when he was too old for that, he wrote Wet Hot American Summer with his friend, actor and comedian Michael Showalter.

Fans of the film have been champing at the bit for any details regarding a much-rumored sequel/prequel, and Wain confirmed to Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg that one is indeed in the works — just as soon as they can get the massive cast (which includes Amy Poehler, Janeane Garofalo and Paul Rudd) together again.

Since no summer camp session is complete without Color Wars and Capture the Flag, we figured Wain would be game for our own twist on an outdoor challenge in Central Park. In a round called "New York, You're the Star," we aimed to replicate the feeling of being on one of those double-decker tour buses in New York City. Only this time, we "visited" the locations from famous New York-centric films, such as Dothe Right Thingand Ghostbusters.

This story originally ran on July 12, 2013.

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