Robin Van Swank for My Damn Channel
The entertainment world is finally catching up to David Wain. The co-creator of television’s The State and Stella helped introduce a fresh new comic sensibility — as well as the likes of Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, and Elizabeth Banks — in Wet Hot American Summer, a certifiable cult classic. With Role Models, he proved he could direct a mainstream hit movie, and he just completed work on Wanderlust, the Jennifer Aniston comedy that comes out in February.
But even as bigger and more expensive Hollywood projects come his way, Wain remains dedicated to his smaller, quirkier projects. Last week, he began shooting the fourth season of Childrens Hospital, Adult Swim’s off-kilter medical satire that began as an online series. And this morning, Wainy Days returns with two new webisodes after an 18-month hiatus. The web-series, which is produced exclusively for MyDamnChannel.com, chronicles the inane dating misadventures of adorable/pathetic “David Wain.” It’s sort of like Seinfeld — if George had been the likeable hero. “It’s the only thing I do that’s 100 percent just mine, you know?” says Wain, who admits that many of his alter-ego’s social mishaps are inspired by his own real-life encounters and promises that this season’s six episodes will deliver more of the cringe-worthy delights that have made the series an underground hit.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I’ll be honest, it took me awhile to warm up to Childrens Hospital simply because I felt like it was indirectly responsible for killing Wainy Days. But now both are back, which is wonderful, but it makes me wonder how you’re juggling it all.
DAVID WAIN: It had to go to the side for a little while, but Wainy Days was always something that I could sort of squeeze between the cracks. The whole first bunch of them I did while I was prepping and shooting Role Models. On average, we usually shoot two a day. I usually write a script very quickly — maybe in an hour or two. So we would do them on the weekend — some in New York, some in Los Angeles, wherever I was, just because it was so much fun. READ FULL STORY »
