'Strangers with Candy' finds funding with Explod-O-Pop plug

Need money? Plug Explod-O-Pop.

When secret investors pulled out from "Strangers with Candy," a comedy starring Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert, director Paul Dinello turned to late show host David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Inc.

"We needed to get money in a week. We called Worldwide Pants and they said, 'We'll pay for the whole thing and you guys can do what you want,'" Dinello said at the CineVegas film festival last week. "The only thing we had to do was we had to put in Explod-O-Pop."

The plug for the $5 microwavable popcorn that Letterman gives to guests and sells at the CBS online store was a nice gesture, not a condition for funding, Dinello said. Besides, Letterman adores Sedaris as a comedian, he said.

"He gives that money to charity," Dinello said. "I mean he didn't like say, 'Either you put this in or we're pulling our funding out.'"

The proceeds from the popcorn go to The American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming, a Worldwide Pants assistant said.

"Strangers with Candy" is the $3 million prequel to the Comedy Central cult hit show that ran from 1999 to 2001. It is about a 46-year-old ex-junkie, Jerri Blank, who leaves prison and re-enters high school to succeed and hopefully snap her father out of a coma.

The film is set for a limited distribution by Think Film Company Inc. at around 100 theaters in major U.S. cities starting June 28.