Interview: David Wain & Michael Showalter
Oct 2001.
KP Issue XIII: Welcome to the Pudding Dome
kp: Tell us a summer camp story!
DW: One camp story that actually happened was that I took a bunch of campers to a mountain in the middle of a huge state park and left them there so I could see a girl I wanted to make out with and ended up crashing the van. Then we adapted the real story for the movie.
MS: I crapped in my bathing suit. I hid my soiled trunks in the woods. My bunkmates found the bathing suit and confronted me with the evidence. I wholeheartedly denied any connection. The name tag sewed into the back with "Michael Showalter" written on it, gave me away. I was doomed.
kp: What do you think is up all these reviewers asses?
DW: We seem to have gotten a split: most reviews are either all-out raves, or hateful, hostile pans. I guess if you key into our comic sensibility you love it, and if you don't, you hate it. I don't take it personally.
MS: There's a thin line between love and hate.
kp: I love Porcupine Racetrack, but my brother doesn't. Should I ever speak to him again?
MS: Absolutely, blood is thicker than sketch comedy.
DW: Again, I'd try not to take these things personally, if I were you. But on the other hand, what's not to like about "Porcupine", there's colors, music, nice weather, and an inspiring story about a porcupine giving it his best shot to win the race.
kp: Exactly. Will there ever be a Porcupine Racetrack: The Movie?
DW: We're in discussions with Tom Hanks.
MS: ...but don't hold your breath.
kp: Do you TiVo?
DW: No.
MS: I love Devo. "Are We Not Men?" was the first record I ever bought.
kp: Who's better: Supertramp or Superchunk?
DW: Tramp - take the long way home
MS: Supertramp. No contest. Who's better Supertramp or Superman? That's a toughy.
kp: What was the first record you ever bought?
DW: Pretenders maybe, or Iron Maiden.
MS: Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers" (I lied about Devo). I bought so that I could listen to "Wild Horses" and pretend I was making out with my pillow.
kp: First concert?
DW: Rolling Stones, Fall '81, Tatoo You tour, Cleveland Colleseum.
MS: Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan -- still haven't seen one better.
kp: David, who did you play in the movie, and why did you cut yourself out?
DW: I play a guy who gets his motorcycle stolen by Joe and have a big argument about it with my wife played by Kerri Kenney.
kp: Michael, you're hot. Will you make out with me?
MS: I was about to ask you the same question.
kp: Is your mom really friends with Joyce Carol Oates?
MS: Yes.
kp: Why weren't you in the movie FOXFIRE?
MS: My vagina hadn't sprouted yet.