Netflix gets campy with even Jewier prequel to cult classic

In a much anticipated new super Jewie series, Netflix combines a screwball script with a cast of 30 and 40-something actors to bring viewers the joys of an awkward early 80s summer camp.

“Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” is a star-studded tribute to the 2001 bawdy summer comedy feature film and the product of the film’s creators, writers and executive producers David Wain and Michael Showalter. Wain also directs.

The new series is a prequel set two months before the film occurs. But what really makes these eight episodes of “First Day at Camp” a surprise are the ridonkulous plot twists, the never-ending celebrity cameos and the endless run of adolescent-flavored borscht belt.

The original film was also filled with Jewie moments: What else might one expect from Wain, who, on the Adult Swim internet series, “Children’s Hospital,” appears as Rabbi Jewy McJewJew.

The “Wet Hot Bus” is cruising fast and hard across the US, with the show’s aging actors buzzing all over the media to represent the Jew-ish summer camp with a killer 80s soundtrack.

Each episode takes place as Day One progresses, with a time stamp before the absurdity unfolds. And as the morning gains momentum at the fictional Camp Firewood, the Jewish references mount.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLlMTn_Jzok

The sultry camp counselor, Donna Berman (Lake Bell), shows up wearing a gold necklace with a Star of David, and gifts her boyfriend, fellow camp counselor Coop, portrayed by Showalter, a shofar from “Yeauh-shalayim” — or something like that. Coop can’t manage the name of the holy city, while she over-pronounces the foreign tongue.

Coop is bummed to learn that Donna presents other male counselors with shofars, too. It’s a rad souvenir from Shofar Warehouse — ”the more you spend, the more you save!” Coop at least knows it is a ritual item but some of the boys momentarily turn theirs into a perverted mock ram’s horn duel — at pelvis level.

Coop has competition when it comes to Donna. Yaron, whom Donna calls Yah-hah-rrrron with a rolling Hebrew letter resh, is the camp’s new Israeli soccer coach. Played by Wain, Yaron is one foxy maven at juggling, archery and making eyes for Donna; his interest peaks when she tells him she recently visited some incomprehensible Israeli coastal town south of Haifa.

Without revealing any spoilers, there are other Jewie references, tons of wrinkling and increasingly zaftig actors portraying hormonal teenagers and a constant parade of famous faces amidst the downright kooky elements, including a talking can of veggies transformed by toxic waste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11rnCnJsfqg

Besides Wain and Showalter, WHAS’ returning all-star cast of 16 includes Paul Rudd, recast as the hero, and Elizabeth Banks, as an undercover journalist, as well as H. Jon Benjamin, Michael Ian Black, Bradly Cooper, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, Ken Marino, Christopher Meloni, David Hyde Pierce, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Joe Lo Truglio and more. Other headliners include Kristin Wigg, Jon Hamm and two more “Mad Men” alums, Jason Schwartzman, Josh Charles and others.

Although the original movie took in less than $300,000 from its first release, and critics panned the film, the teen sex parody became a cult classic with packed midnight showings. In a Q&A with Wain and Showalter, Rollingstone called the series a rescue of the cult-comedy classic.

With Netflix’s WHAS all-you-can-stream smorgasbord, viewers can quickly decide for themselves if the show leaves them wanting even more camp.