Entertainment

'Wet Hot American Summer' Just Got Even Better

by Alanna Bennett

Jan. 29, 2015

Larry Busacca/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Sometimes a film or television show's cast is just too much. Too many talented people in one place, being talented at you — it can be a lot to handle, you know? Take 2001's Wet Hot American Summer: It was a cult classic in part because of its unique brand of wacky humor, and in part because of its amazing cast (who it's worth noting, for the most part, all became approximately 1000 percent more famous in the years following its underwhelming box office run). With that in mind, now that the Michael Showalter comedy is coming back to us via a Netflix limited series, this is absolutely no surprise that the Wet Hot American Summer cast is even more impressive this time around — in fact, it seems it just keeps gaining power, somehow. Case-in-point: Most recently, the Netflix limited series added Kristen Wiig, Chris Pine, Jon Hamm, and Jason Schwartzman to its cast.

For a comedy fan — or, really, just about anybody who consumes a moderate-to-heavy amount if American media — this is pretty overwhelming. There are a lot of people known for comedic roles floating around in Hollywood, but the cast of this series has gotta be a nice chunk of them. The very fact that they managed to schedule all of these famous comedians — like Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, for instance — for filming seems like an entertainment industry miracle.

There are a lot of emotions flying around out there. This series is going to be an event. The sheer celebrity power may very well melt all our eyeballs, and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. After all, there are a lot of emotional stages a comedy fan goes through when hearing casting news like this:

Disbelief

Just the initial announcement alone was so full of big names:

[The members of the ensemble returning include] Elizabeth Banks, H. Jon Benjamin, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, Nina Hellman, Ken Marino, Zak Orth, David Hyde Pierce, Joe LoTruglio, Christopher Meloni, A.D. Miles, Marguerite Moreau, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Marisa Ryan, Molly Shannon, Michael Showalter and Kevin Sussman.

HOW?

Unabashed Joy

Holy crap I'm so excited.

Nostalgia

Aw, remember when Amy Poehler and Bradley Cooper played co-theater counselors? Remember when Cooper's character an Michael Ian Black's character had sex in that shed? Goodness, those were some good times.