David Wain

David Wain
David Wain
	Wain in 2019
Born	David Benjamin Wain; August 1, 1969 (age 55); Shaker Heights, Ohio, U.S.
Alma mater	New York University
Occupations	Comedian; actor; director; writer;
Years active	1991–present
Notable work	Wet Hot American Summer ; Role Models ; Wanderlust ; They Came Together
Spouse	Zandy Hartig (m. 2009;div. 2015)
Children	2
Website	davidwain.com

Last updated February 10, 2025

David Benjamin Wain (born August 1, 1969) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and director. He has co-written and directed six feature films, including Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Role Models (2008), Wanderlust (2012), and They Came Together (2014). He has also served as a creator, producer, writer and director on a number of television series, including Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later , Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp , Childrens Hospital , and Medical Police . He has had small roles in most of the films and TV series he has produced or directed. Wain had a starring voice role as The Warden on the 2008–2014 Adult Swim animated series Superjail! , and has provided the voices for Courtney Wheeler and Grover Fischoeder on Bob's Burgers since 2012.

He began his career as a member of the sketch comedy troupe The State. The group had their own TV show on MTV from 1993 to 1995, The State , for which Wain directed many of the sketches. He is also a member of the comedy trio Stella, along with two other members of The State who were also involved in Wet Hot American Summer, Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter. The three wrote and starred in short films or skits called the Stella shorts, as well as the 2005 TV series Stella .

Early life

Wain was born to a Jewish family^[1]^[2] in Shaker Heights, Ohio, the son of Nina (née Saul) and Norman Wain.^[3] As a young man, Wain went to a summer camp in Canaan, Maine, on which Wet Hot American Summer was loosely based.

Career

In 1988 while attending NYU film school, Wain became a founding member of the sketch comedy group The New Group. This group later came to be known as The State, and in 1993 he and his fellow members created and starred in The State , a sketch show that lasted 26 episodes on MTV. Wain and Michael Patrick Jann directed most of the show's sketches.

In 1997, Wain, Michael Ian Black, and Michael Showalter formed the comedy trio Stella.

Wain's first feature film, Wet Hot American Summer (2001), was an absurdist summer camp comedy starring Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Ken Marino and Elizabeth Banks. Wain directed the film, and co-wrote and co-produced it with Showalter, who also plays a lead role.

His second feature film The Ten , starring Winona Ryder and Paul Rudd (and a large ensemble cast of well-known actors), had a short theatrical run and was released on DVD on January 15, 2008.

Wain's third feature, Role Models , starring Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jane Lynch and Elizabeth Banks, was his first widely released film. Released in theaters on November 7, 2008, the film received positive reviews from critics and fans alike, as well as earning $19 million on its opening weekend.^[4]

Wain starred in a web series titled Wainy Days on the website My Damn Channel, which ran for five seasons and ended in January 2012. The series follows a fictionalized version of Wain through his everyday life as he tries to romance numerous women and discusses his problems with his friends at the sweatshop where he works. Elizabeth Banks, Jonah Hill, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Corddry, Thomas Lennon, Josh Charles, Paul Rudd, and Michael Ian Black, and various other Stella, The State and Wet Hot American Summer alumni have all guest-starred in various episodes. The recurring cast included A.D. Miles, Matt Ballard and Zandy Hartig, who was instrumental in the creation of the series.

As one third of the comedy troupe Stella, Wain has co-hosted the long running nightclub show in New York City, toured the United States and made a series of shorts with the group, and eventually help create a 2005 series on Comedy Central based on their routines.

Wain is featured as the voice of The Warden in the animated series Superjail! . He was a featured commentator in the I Love the 70s series, I Love the 90s Part Deux series, and the weekly VH1 show Best Week Ever .. With The State, Wain co-wrote the book State by State with The State. He has appeared in such movies as The Baxter , Keeping the Faith and Role Models . Wain's fourth feature film, Wanderlust , was released on February 24, 2012. It stars Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Malin Akerman and Alan Alda. Wain directed the film, from a screenplay he wrote with Ken Marino, and has a cameo in the film as a TV weatherman.

His fifth feature, the romantic parody They Came Together , was released in June 2014. The cast includes Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Ed Helms, Cobie Smulders, Max Greenfield, and Christopher Meloni. Wain and Showalter co-wrote the eight-episode Netflix prequel Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp based on the 2001 film with almost the entire cast of the original film returning. The series premiered on July 31, 2015, and was more well received by critics. He returned to co-write and direct another Netflix sequel Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later , which premiered in 2017.^[5]

In 2018 Wain directed A Futile and Stupid Gesture , a feature film biography of National Lampoon founder Doug Kenney, starring Will Forte, Domhnall Gleeson and Joel McHale.

In the COVID-19 pandemic, Wain founded the Middle Aged Dad Jam Band, in which he plays drums alongside fellow State alumnus Ken Marino.^[6]

Personal life

Wain lives in Los Angeles. He has two sons and is divorced from Zandy Hartig, an actress and producer.^[7]^[8]

Filmography

Key
†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1992	Aisle Six	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film; also editor
2001	Wet Hot American Summer	Yes	Yes	Co-producer
2007	The Ten	Yes	Yes	Yes
2008	Role Models	Yes	Yes
2012	Wanderlust	Yes	Yes	Yes
2014	They Came Together	Yes	Yes	Executive
2018	A Futile and Stupid Gesture	Yes		Executive

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Keeping the Faith	Steve Posner
2000	Bamboozled	Bunning
2001	Wet Hot American Summer	Paco
2003	The Third Date	Ralph	Short film
2004	Along Came Polly	Wedding Videographer	Uncredited
2005	The Baxter	Louis Lewis
2006	Delirious	Byron
2007	The Ten	Abe Grossman / Cartoon Voices
	Reno 911!: Miami	Breen the Plumber
	Puberty: The Movie	Principal Kirkpatrick
2008	The Guitar	Phone Man
2008	Role Models	Chevron Baine
2009	I Love You, Man	Wedding Photographer
2012	Sleepwalk with Me	Pete
2012	Thanks for Sharing	Addict #2
2013	Hell Baby	Dr. Marsden
2013	She Said, She Said	Mediator	Short film
2014	They Came Together	Keith
2016	Brother Nature	Uncle Mel
2017	Fun Mom Dinner	Wayne
2018	My Dead Dad's Porno Tapes	Narrator	Documentary short
	A Futile and Stupid Gesture	Interviewer
	Under the Eiffel Tower	Frank
	Dog Days	Wacky Wayne
2022	Kimi	Angela's Dentist
2022	The Bob's Burgers Movie	Grover Fischoeder (voice)	Voice role

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1992–1993	You Wrote It, You Watch It	Yes	Yes
1993–1995	The State	Yes	Yes
1995	The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special	Yes	Yes		TV special
1997	Apartment 2F	Yes	Yes
1999	Random Play		Yes
2000	Strangers with Candy		Yes		Episode: "The Blank Page"
2000–2001	Mad TV		Yes
2000–2002	Sheep in the Big City		Yes		3 episodes
2005	Stella	Yes	Yes	Executive
2007–2011	Wainy Days	Yes	Yes	Yes	Directed 20 episodes
2008–2016	Childrens Hospital	Yes	Yes	Executive	Also developer; Directed 12 episodes
2010	Party Down	Yes			Episode: "Not on Your Wife Opening Night"
2013–2015	Newsreaders	Yes		Executive	Also creator; Directed segment "Sitcom Family"
2014	A to Z	Yes			Episode: "F Is for Fight, Fight, Fight!"
2015	Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp	Yes	Yes	Executive	Also creator
2017	Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later	Yes	Yes	Executive	Also creator
2020	Medical Police	Yes	Yes	Executive	Also creator; Directed 5 episodes
2023	Miracle Workers	Yes			Directed 2 episodes
2024	Mr. Throwback	Yes		Executive	Directed 6 episodes