Editor’s note: Welcome to Dear Costume Department, a bi-weekly feature brought to you by our fashion-minded friends from Of a Kind, a curated shopping site of limited-edition goods by emerging designers. With each installment, they’ll bring you a head-to-toe look inspired by a buzzed-about pop culture personality — complete with info on where to grab the pieces for your own closet. Enjoy!
It’s hard not to get excited about a new Paul Rudd movie — even when the dude is playing opposite of Jennifer Aniston. In his latest — directed by David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer! Role Models!) and produced by Judd Apatow (every man-child comedy ever!) — Rudd’s character George trades life as a Manhattan power player for some time at a hippy-dippy commune that they thought was a B&B. Fingers crossed, laughs ensue. Here are our suggestions for what he should put on when he opts to wear clothes at all.
If you’ve got 37 seconds to spare this morning, then we invite you to check out last night’s episode of Childrens Hospital, which featured a Party Down reunion of sorts. Yes, this scene at Ken Marino’s bar mitzvah is entirely too short, but at least you get to see him and Megan Mullally sharing the small screen with Lizzy Caplan, Martin Starr, and Ryan Hansen again, right? Plus, there’s the always hilarious David Wain as “an undercover slutty rabbi.” What’s not to love?
Last night the Stella gang (aka David Wain, Michael Showalter, and Michael Ian Black) celebrated the 10 year anniversary of Wet Hot American Summer by hosting an event at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Vulture has a nice recap of the evening’s highlights, which included taped bits by Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler, audition footage for Bradley Cooper and Naomi Watts (who was not cast!), and in-person appearances by a few of the cult classic’s most beloved characters, including frumpy Camp Firewood director Beth (Janeane Garofalo), who is currently busy at work on “a line of clothing for the imminent Rapture,” and legendary Catskills comedian Alan Shemper (Showalter), a man who went to camp so long ago that Jesus Christ was his counselor. Click through to watch Shemper’s all-to-brief routine, and if you’re craving for more WHAS action, head over to Entertainment Weekly where Wain, Showalter, and Joe Lo Truglio all reflect back on their experiences making the film a decade later.
Today at Flavorpill, we celebrated the summer solstice with Murakami’s adorable Google Doodle. We looked at Bon Iver’s new album by the numbers. We found some filthy jokes hiding in these ancient works of art. We had some of our lingering questions about Columbia House’s mail-order music club (namely, was it legal?) answered by our friends at Mental Floss. We were strangely excited to hear that Conan O’Brien will appear as a background extra in an upcoming episode of How I Met Your Mother. We went inside of the Momofuku Kitchen Lab, a top secret location where David Chang performs his culinary experiments. We learned about the origin of the Good Humor bar. We watched the worlds of Peanuts and Doctor Whovisually collide. And finally, we wondered if that Wet Hot American Summer prequel that David Wain’s still talking about is such a good idea. Outside of the salaries issue, we think it would be almost impossible to replicate the magic that made the comedy a cult classic.
1. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke wants to soundtrack the Twilight sequel. [via TwentyFourBit]
2. The Limelight — a notorious church turned New York nightclub back in the ’80s and ’90s — is going to be converted into a retail space. [via NYP]
3. John Goodman will star as a veteran CIA agent in a Ben Stiller-produced, David Wain-directed comedy for FOX. [via THR]
4. Bonnie Fuller has resurfaced as the editor in chief of Hollywood Life, an LA-based entertainment web site. [via NYT]
5. A second person has died after a stage being erected for an upcoming Madonna concert collapsed in France. [via EW]
After a wait of more than a decade and a half, ’90s sketch-comedy series The State is out on DVD.
The State: The Complete Series collects all four seasons and bonus material from the MTV show, which launched the careers of Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, David Wain, and friends. Included on the five discs are all the classic skits — featuring characters like Doug, Louie, and Barry & Levon — as well as more than an hour of unreleased material, the original pilot, cast commentary, interviews, and outtakes.
Members of the troupe went on to create Stella, Reno 911, Wet Hot American Summer, and Viva Variety, and have written, directed, starred in, and produced numerous big-screen and web-based comedies. Read More »
A 1996 Details article asked, “What has 20 legs, 18 balls, and 1 brain?” The answer: The State. This MTV sketch comedy series is an unmatched cult classic; it’s also the show that gave established funnymen like Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain their first big Hollywood break. As of Tuesday it’s available for the first time ever on DVD. Read More »
David Wain has been making people laugh for close to two decades (and most likely longer, if we count his formative years). A founding member of The State and Stella, the funnyman is also responsible for the popular web series Wainy Days on My Damn Channel. The show returns for it’s fourth online season tomorrow, and to celebrate, Wain is bringing it live to the stage at 92YTribeca in NYC, with help from friends including Paul Rudd and longtime cohorts Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black. We caught up with the man behind modern comedy classics Wet Hot American Summer, The Ten, and Role Models to find out what he has in store, as well as his thoughts on his original troupe’s MTV series getting the DVD release fans have been clamoring for since last century.
To comedy fans, the release of The Stateon DVD has been as long-awaited (and seemingly as likely) as the unveiling of Guns ‘N Roses’ Chinese Democracy. Of course, against all odds, that album did finally come out, so perhaps there’s a domino effect at work here. MTV Networks has announced a July 14th street date for a five-disc DVD set collecting the entire run of the cult sketch-comedy series — over 16 years after the show originally debuted on MTV. After the jump, watch the DVD trailer and clips of some of the series’ best moments. Be sure to share your own fondest State memories in the comments!
(PS: Nice work MTV. Now let’s get the Sifl & Olly set out!)
