'Wet Hot American Summer' director, an Ohio native, reunites with all-star cast for live read

Over the past two decades, Shaker Heights native David Wain has been involved with some of the more popular film and television comedies. Not only did he direct and co-write "Wet Hot American Summer," "The Ten," "Role Models," "Wanderlust" and "They Came Together," but he also appeared in "Broad City," "Portlandia," "Superstore," "New Girl," "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," "Fresh Off the Boat" and "The Daily Show." Of course, Wain got his start in the mid-'90s as part of MTV's "The State," which on Saturday, Oct. 24, returns with an original cast live read of its 2001 movie, "Wet Hot American Summer." Returning to Camp Firewood along with Wain will be Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pine, David Hyde Pierce, Jason Schwartzman, Josh Charles, John Slattery, Michael Cera, Alyssa Milano, Janeane Garofalo, Michael Ian Black, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Molly Shannon, Bruce Greenwood, Michaela Watkins, A.D. Miles, Zak Orth, Marguerite Moreau, Michael Showalter. The Chronicle-Telegram talked to Wain — who co-wrote "Wet Hot American Summer" with Showalter — about the cult movie, Chardon's Camp Wise and his fondness for Northeast Ohio. David, good afternoon. How did the "Wet Hot American Summer" live read come together? We did a "State" reunion to read some sketches and have fun in June to raise money for the California Immigrant Resilience Fund. It was really sort of a last-minute thing and a lot of fun. The 11 of us in "The State" are kind of a family, so whenever there's an excuse to do anything we try to do it. We just had an idea, let's do a Zoom. Why not? We didn't want to overthink it or make it that big of a deal. We were shocked by the level of interest and how much money we raised. Now we're doing the "Wet Hot" thing for the Biden Victory Fund. How exciting is it to revisit "Wet Hot American Summer?" I'm always excited. "Wet Hot American Summer" has emerged as the ultimate cult movie. I'm so happy people care about it still 20 years later and that people have a relationship to it and talk about it with their friends. I'm happy to make the fans happy. I'm sure it'll be fun, easy and loose. Here we are nearly two decades later and "Wet Hot American Summer" is still airing on TV and finding new fans. Why is that? I think partly because it didn't do so well, so when people discovered the movie it felt like it was something special that only they knew about. It had a certain proprietary quality about it. It became a special bonding thing for people. I also think it has such a specific tone and point of view that was not watered down by any studio or producer telling us what to do. We just followed our whim. Certain people responded to that. At the time of its studio release, how bummed out were you that the movie didn't do well? Well, interestingly, it was such a wacky movie in a way that I was so grateful we got it made. I really felt like, if it got released at all that was the win. Anything beyond that was a bonus. So that's what happened. It got released, was barely seen, didn't do well at the box office, got a few reviews and that was the end of it. I was kind of happy. I never expected that it would stick around and reemerge the way it did through word of mouth over the years. How big of an influence did attending Camp Wise in Chardon and later Camp Modin in Maine have in writing "Wet Hot American Summer?" Pretty much all of "Wet Hot American Summer" is inspired by or based on experiences that I had at those two camps. Mike Showalter also had camps he went to, so we just kind of combined it all together into our little fictional universe. The movie is really based on our real experiences. It's not really referencing other camp movies or other movies as much. The one scene that is totally forgettable on the surface but always makes me giggle has the kid struggling to play the double-neck guitar. Somebody did have one at a camp I was at. I like when people bring up those little moments. We put a lot of thought into little details, so I'm glad when people notice. I remember we had a "Beatles Night" at Camp Wise and some of the counselors dressed up — like barely — as The Beatles. They were like, "We have The Beatles reuniting here at Camp Wise." I was like 9 years old. I remember thinking that might be real, even though they look just like our counselors. Even though you haven't lived here in decades, do you miss Northeast Ohio? I was just there. Most of my family live in Cleveland. I try to get back as often as I can. Every time I come back, I'm like, I wish I could live here. It would be so nice. Just the other day I was driving to Shaker Square and saying, man, this is a great town. I love the whole vibe here. Finally, while there's been a couple of iterations of the "Wet Hot American Summer" universe, including a prequel and sequel run on Netflix, do you see returning to Camp Firewood in the future? We feel like we put a real button on it at the end of "Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later" on Netflix, but I would never rule out anything. Who knows. I do love the world and the characters, and would happily jump back in if we had the right idea at the right time and place. Contact John Benson at Ndiffrence@att.net.