Who would have thought virtually everyone in the cast would become uber-famous?
Who would have thought that the sequels would be TV series on Netflix?
Wait… whats a Netflix?
Does this have something to do with Y2K.
My 2001 brain cant handle this.
The President is WHO?
Wet Hot American Summerhas defied many odds to become a comedy institution.
What better way to celebrate its staying power by incorporating it into our ongoing Jokes Per Minute studies?
The jokes inWet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Laterare particularly hard to define.
We didnt adopt that liberal of a definition for our JPM studies but it wasnt that far off.
Here is the JPM for each episode ofWet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later.
Reunion is essentially the first 1/8 of a movie whose jokes will pay off in later installments.
Still the pure novelty of seeing all the familiar characters and what theyre up to is great.
The 1991 jokes really hit the ground running too.
Claire
Softball gets started off HOT.
Its an immediate escalation and improvement from the episode that precedes it.
Thats what happens when you introduce George Bush as a character followed shortly by the reintroduction of Ronald Reagan.
Speaking of George Bush.
Softball has some unexpectedly great visual humor.
Wait, isnt George Bush in the White House?
Why can we see the White House from the window….
Oh.
Thats how you do visual humor.
Lets get out of here.
No need to wait another 30 seconds to see what happens.
It introduces the silly, baffling legend of Willy Shits-His-Pants and the perfectly round turd.
Its just a series of quick cuts among characters faces and I counted each one as a joke.
The scene is roughly 53 seconds and features 18 jokes.
Back in episode 2.
Lunch, however is the only episode to break the JPM mold.
Its the highest scoring episode of the season by a clear margin.
Why is the JPM so high and why is Lunch so lucky to get all the best jokes?
There are so many incredible moments.
Well in my book?
Nothing…at all.
Andy
Nobody can pull off the mangling of a line quite like Paul Rudd.
The first is Michael Showalters wild-eyed portrayal of Ronald Reagan demanding that George Bush shit on my shit.
Episode 7: Dance
Running Time:30:26
Jokes:197
JPM:6.51
Best Joke:Im happy for you, Ken.
Showalter as Reagan is again on fire with lines like Id like to make a toast.
To the successful nuking of a childrens sleepaway camp and My bowels are settled.
David Hyde Pierce
Man, that David Hyde Pierce joke is killer.
He deserves to win another Emmy just for appearing onscreen with his Emmys.
End Summer Nights Dream features two equally hilarious blocks of humor.
Each question the campers have about the implausibility of the Presidents schemes counts as a joke.
Then there are the multiple epilogues that feature a hilarious level of wish fullfillment.
The New York Times food critic review is in.
He says…very delicious.
