A male camp counselor in a midriff-baring shirt telling a girl he wants her inside him. An old Jewish man telling young children he went to camp so long ago, ""Fucking Jesus Christ was my counselor."" This is the kind of humor you can expect if you see Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black's stand-up comedy tour that comes to Madison this Sunday. Showalter, who co-wrote and starred in ""Wet Hot American Summer,"" and Black, who co-starred in ""Wet Hot"" and is a fixture on VH1's ""I Love the '80s,"" are two of the most original, hilarious comics working today. In part one of Showalter's interview with The Daily Cardinal, he talks about his varied career and what makes ""Wet Hot"" so amazing.
The Daily Cardinal: You operate in different media—TV, film, stand-up. Some comedians talk about using one to get to another. Is there any particular goal for you?
Michael Showalter: No, I wish there were. I would probably be a lot more successful if there were, but right now I'm really enjoying doing stand-up and I'm also developing a TV project and I'm also writing another movie. I'm sort of doing that all at once. I'm not big on doing one thing to do another thing, it's just never really been my MO. Because what if you get the sitcom and the sitcom gets cancelled, and then what do you do? Go back to stand-up?
DC: ""Stella"" didn't get picked up for a second season? Why not?
MS: Nobody watched it.
DC: Were you happy with how it turned out?
MS: Very. I think it's a great show, but nobody watched the show. I could spin it a million ways, but that's what it is. It didn't get good ratings; if it had gotten better ratings it would have gotten picked up. Comedy Central internally really loved it: They were proud of it, they thought it was really funny, they desperately wanted people to watch the show. It wasn't one of those things where the network was to blame. Comedy Central cared deeply about it. It just didn't find an audience.
DC: Do you think the humor was just too off-beat?
MS: I guess so. We didn't think that when we were making it, but apparently people weren't connecting to it. Apparently people weren't connecting to three incredibly effeminate Jewish guys... in suits. I guess that just didn't connect with the mainstream audience.
DC: That does seem like most of America. Maybe they just couldn't take seeing themselves.
MS: Right, they didn't want to see themselves reflected back to them like that.
DC: ""Wet Hot American Summer"" is such a cult smash, it's pretty much the ""Animal House"" of this generation. Why do you think it found such a cult audience?
MS: I actually have no idea. You'd be able to answer that question much better than me. I can only say that it's very gratifying that it has, but I'm not sure what it is about it that connects to people. I think there's something not bullshitty about it that people appreciate. Also, it's got a great cast and we had a lot of fun making the movie, and I think you can tell.
DC: How did you get so many big names for a small picture?
MS: Well, Janeane [Garofalo] we were friends with. David Hyde Pierce did it because he wanted to work with Janeane. Paul Rudd we were friends with. Molly Shannon, we just asked her and she said yes. Christopher Meloni auditioned—he wasn't famous at that time. And then [we got] Amy Poehler and Michael Black and Bradley Cooper and a bunch of other people that are really well-known [now, but] weren't at that time.
DC: How did you get a movie like that funded?
MS: It was independently financed.
DC: How did you get it distributed?
MS: USA Films.
DC: They just liked what they saw?
MS: Not really. They acquired it for really not a lot of money, and gave it a very half-assed release. And it's done very, very well on video.
DC: Moving on to ""The Baxter,"" it's in the same style as ""Wet Hot,"" but—
MS: Not as funny.
DC: And a lot more conventional plot-wise. What motivated that?
MS: I just wanted to do something different. I was doing ""Wet Hot"" and ""Stella"" at the time, these sort of crazy, sodomy and group sex and necrophilia kind of stuff. And I just felt like doing something different, something quiet and sweet. And ""The Baxter"" is what came out.
DC: Were you happy with the results?
MS: I was. I'm really proud of it, I think it's a sweet movie. It is what it is: It's a small, cute... it's a pretty little box with a bow on it or something like that. It's nothing huge but I think it's a sweet little film, with some very nice moments and some great performances. I think it's consistently funny and much like everything else I've done, I think if you pay attention to it and see it a few times you'll see there's layers there. Little secrets hidden in the movie that make it better the more you watch it.
DC: Any examples?
MS: No. Performance moments, things like that. Certain lines that are great, or just little moments. I'm really happy with the movie. I wish it had done better, but what are you gonna do?
DC: Why do you think it didn't do well?
MS: People didn't like it. I think that you have to be fairly familiar with me and my work to get it. Otherwise you're just going to think it's a clichAc romantic comedy. You wouldn't understand that there's some edginess to the humor.
Part two of The Daily Cardinal's interview with Michael Showalter will run when he returns to Madison on Nov. 1, where he will share insights on TV and film and talk about his life as a comedian. This event is sponsored by The Jewish Cultural Collective and UW Hillel, and will be held at the Hillel House, 611 Langdon St.
