David Wain Ken Marino Gail Daughtry and Middle Aged Dad Jam Band interview

David Wain, Ken Marino and Craig Wedren never really left summer camp.

The trio, all of whom worked on the seminal 2001 comedy “Wet Hot American Summer” — Wain directed, Marino acted, Wedren scored — refuse to let the good times go 25 years after their iconic comedy cult-classic hit the multiplexes.

That’s especially true this wet hot American summer. Over the past few months, the three pals released the goofy romp “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” and their group, The Middle-Aged Dad Jam Band, embarked on a brief East Coast Tour.

“This is a long [tour for us],” Marino told The Post in an exclusive interview. “We set up five days and five nights and I’ve been stressing out because vocally, I can’t make it past two nights.”

One might not believe that after having seen the band live, though.

MADJB packed out New York City’s standing-room-only Irving Plaza on Friday, July 25 and delivered a true powerhouse performance with Marino wailing on lead vocals, Wain owning on drums and Wedren doing a little bit of everything.

Their live show is fan service to the max- if you like “The State,” “Viva Variety,” “Wet Hot American Summer,” “Stella,” “They Came Together” or Wain/Marino/Wedren’s previous collaborations “The Ten” and “Wanderlust,” the show is built just for you.

In-jokes comes fast and furious in between faithful versions of classic rock staples like Elton John’s “Honky Cat” (Wedren’s groovy favorite), Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run,” The Box Tops’ “The Letter” and Billy Joel’s “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant.” It’s part “comedians dreaming of being rock stars” wish fulfillment, part family reunion (Wain’s 18-year-old son Henry impressively crooned The Smiths’ “This Charming Man”), part goofy sing-a-long, all good time. The songs sound great and the bits like a musical recreation of Roger Ebert’s pan of “Wet Hot” are belly laugh-worthy.

Unfortunately, the Jam Band doesn’t have another tour scheduled at the moment but they have visions of what another might look like.

“If we somehow got it set up like the way Weird Al does it, and we could make enough to live on it and have days off and be comfortable, that’d be perfect,” Wain mused.

“No more than two or three shows in a row,” Wedren added. “Given the logistics of it, would be to sort of have like a monthly residency in Vegas or something.”

“We’ll get ‘Gail Daughtry’ at Sphere and then come and do a live show,” Marino riffed.

“They’ve been on us to do that, and I just don’t answer their calls anymore,” Wain tagged.

Thankfully, while we wait for fingers crossed another tour, fans can check out “Gail Daughtry,” which Wain, Marino and Wedren rank near the top of their canons (“Out of all of the stuff that we’ve done, each time I watch it, it’s really special. It’s number one for me,” Marino noted), which is in theaters now and will hit streaming services soon.

Or, if you prefer live, Ken Marino will be starring as in the national tour of “Death Becomes Her,” which kicks off in Cleveland with a run at the KeyBank State Theatre starting in mid-September.

“‘Death Becomes Her’ is inspired by the movie and honors all the things that people love about the movie but expands on that and goes deeper into some of the characters and the relationships,” Marino shared. “It’s its own thing. The music is f—ing great and campy as hell.”

After that, expect more Wain, Marino and Wedren collaborations.

‘Cause, for them, summer camp never really ends.

Where is the “Death Becomes Her” National Tour going?

To make sure you’re in the loop, here’s when and where you can see Ken Marino in “Death Becomes Her” live these next few months:

Cleveland, OH’s KeyBank State Theatre
Sept. 12 through Oct. 3

Columbus, OH’s Ohio Theatre
Oct. 6-11

Saint Louis, MO’s The Fabulous Fox Theatre
Oct. 13-25

Omaha, NE’s Orpheum Theatre
Oct. 27 through Nov. 1

Nashville, TN’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center
Nov. 3-8

Durham, NC’s Durham Performing Arts Center
Nov. 10-15

Atlanta, GA’s Fox Theatre
Nov. 17-22

Knoxville, TN’s Tennessee Theatre
Nov. 24-29

Orlando, FL’s Walt Disney Theater
Dec. 1-6

Tampa, FL’s Straz Center
Dec. 8-13

Fort Lauderdale, FL’s Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center
Dec. 15-27

Naples, FL’s Hayes Hall
Dec. 29 through Jan. 3, 2027

Greensboro, NC’s Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts
Jan. 5-10, 2027

Boston, MA’s Citizens Bank Opera House
Jan. 12-22, 2027

For all other dates up until August 2027, with the run ending at Tempe, AZ’s Gammage Auditorium, click here to find “Death Becomes Her’s” complete calendar.

David Wain, Ken Marino and Craig Wedren interview

As fans likely know, the trio met at NYU back in the ’80s, made sketches with The New Group on campus and then created “The State,” one of the definitive sketch series of the ’90s that made the sardonic cast members Gen X icons in the process.

In the decades since, Wain, Marino and Wedren have gone their separate ways — Wain co-created the seminal sitcom “Stella” and directed a number of studio and indie comedies; Marino has shown off his chops in shows like “Party Down,” “The Other Two” and the criminally-underrated “Marry Me;” Wedren scored “The United States of Tara,” “Bones” and “Hung” — but somehow always come back to each other.

And, while Marino and Wain have written films together with a unique seven-day process before like “The Ten” and “Wanderlust” (that Wedren scored, of course), they’ve never been more bonded than now.

Here is our brief interview with the three about a number of topics ranging from The Middle-Aged Dad Band to the unmade “Stella” movie to the “Death Becomes Her” national tour.

The Post: Is the band ironic for you guys or totally sincere?

Marino: Totally sincere. The jokes between the songs are…

Wedren: Sincerely ironic.

Marino: It all comes from a sincere place. We want people to laugh, we want people to enjoy the music.

Wain: It’s not a spoof. We’re just doing it.

Marino: Although, I feel like, at this point, everything we do is seen as ironic.

The Post: What’s the most fun song for you guys to perform?

Marino: “Born To Run” is always a good one. We tend to end with “Born To Run” or “The Letter” or “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.”

“Born To Run” is always a cool one to end on because everybody so excited to sing it. There’s a call and response and by the end when you get to that last verse, the energy in the room is unmatched.

Wain: I would second that because we’ve played it for a really long time, it’s really in our bones. So for me personally I can just flow. I don’t think about what to do. The song just really feels alive that way.

Wedren: I like “Honky Cat” just because that groove. I’m sure it has a lot to do with John Spurney, our piano player. And the way that David drums.

Marino: We have a number of people in our band who are professional musicians. John Spurney is one. He plays piano and guitar and whatever instrument we need, and sometimes he sings backup. Jordan Katz plays trumpet and banjo. Craig Wedren is just a vocal powerhouse. We have these people in our band that make sure that David and I stay on track and that’s that’s a luxury.

The Post: Who are some of your favorite guests?

Wedren: I liked Tia Carrere singing “Heartbreaker.” That was pretty awesome.

Wain: Uzo Aduba was really fun. She was great. Having Neil Giraldo play.

Marino: Kristen Bell coming in. I really enjoyed singing with her because we have a history. I’ve done a number of TV shows with her. When she came in and we got to do a duet but we did a little wink to “Veronica Mars,” and that was fun because I thought we sounded pretty good, too.

It’s also wonderful when we get members of “The State” to come in and sing a song. We’ve got Tom Lennon, we’ve got Kerry Kenny-Silver, we’ve gotten Michael Ian Black.

The Post: Where would you guys rank “Gail Daughtry” in your oeuvre?

Marino: It’s up there.

Wedren: Way up there, like top five, even top three. It’s really so tight.

Wain: I’m very biased toward the most recent project. More than any movie in my memory of doing this, it sustains me staying interested in seeing it over and over again.

Marino: Also hearing people’s reaction to it [has been really special]. Like “Wet Hot,” there were people who liked it, but like you had to weed through like the f—ing critics. And then, all of a sudden, there was this momentum and groundswell of people being like “no, no, no, you guys are wrong. You just don’t understand what’s going on.” With Gail, both critics and people watching it have responded really positively to it and that makes us feel seen in a way.

Wain: It’s validating.

Wedren: I see it a little more objectively, like as a fan. So I’m thinking about “Stella” and “The State” and you guys did great. They worked the s— out of this movie. Obviously, I was doing the music for it, so I probably watched it a thousand times in a thousand different ways and it just kept getting better and better.

Wain: We just hammer it hard after the shoot.

Wedren: Somehow it doesn’t feel dry or overworked or strenuous.

The Post: With the success of “Nirvana: The Band: The Show: The Movie” is there a possibility that we might get another “Stella” thing? Ten episodes is not enough.

Wain: We had always dreamed about doing a movie. We actually sketched out a movie at one point involving a a roller rink. We go to a small town and find a roller rink and we’re going to save it even though nobody wants it. It’s like disgusting and run-down and they’re going to build a new community center there, but we say “we’re going to save the rink!” But who knows? I would love to do it.

The Post: David, what line do you quote the most from your work?

Wain: My son Solly has seen “Gail Daughtry” more than anyone because he watched the first cut and has seen the movie over and over and he keeps putting it back in daily conversation where we keep saying different quotes from it all the time. I feel like I’m somehow evolved just to the point where I don’t literally quote my work.

The Post: Do you think they’ll ever be a restoration of your thesis film “Aisle Six”?

Wain: There’s a good enough-video of it online I don’t know if there’s going to be a Criterion or Blu-Ray anytime soon.

The Post: Craig, how do you come up with a sound to match Wain and Marino’s footage and play with the absurdity?

Wedren: Sometimes it’s super clear what it means. We’ve been sharing each other’s spit now for most of our lives. So there’s a shorthand. Particularly with David because we grew up together from such a young age and have the same musical references. He can say the color green and I’ll know what he means. Beyond that, we all just bat ideas around until it feels right. But unlike other projects with strangers where that can be scary and I’ll think “oh, s—, is my job in danger?” With us? It’s like, “oh, okay, let’s try the next day.”

Marino: You’re very patient with us. When we’re like “that’s not it.” Then we try to describe it to you and you’re like “okay, let me try this.” Wain and I have overlap in our love of music but we have different styles.

Wedren: Ken’s more organic, earthy, groove-based and David is more like indie, punk, classic rock, Violent Femmes R.E.M.

Marino: I literally couldn’t name one R.E.M. song except for “Got My Orange Crush” or whatever. If you had held a gun to my head, I wouldn’t have been able to come up at the time.

The Post: Ken, can you tell us about what fans might expect from the national tour of “Death Becomes Her?”

Marino: When I saw the show, I was like, “Oh my God, I would love to be part of that type of musical.” It’s sort of similar to the stuff we do. It doesn’t take it too seriously. We’ll try to drop some themes in there and things you might pick up on, but, first and foremost, we’re there to entertain and be funny and fun and audacious and campy and big. And that’s right up my alley.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Huge comedians on tour in 2026

Although no act is quite like Wain, Marino and Wedren, here are five of our favorite comics with somewhat similar sensibilities that are out and about these next few months.

• Steve Martin with Martin Short

• John Mulaney

• Weird Al

• On Cinema! with Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington

• Seth Meyers with John Oliver

Who else is pounding the pavement? Take a look at our list of all the biggest comedians on tour in 2026 to find the show of your dreams.

This article was written by Matt Levy, celebrity.land live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.