kevin smith (in the flesh)

You may know Kevin Smith, not by name or by face, but by reputation. He directed the "controversial" film Dogma several years ago (which I enjoyed, by the way). He also directed Clerks, Mallrats, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. He's just released his newest film Jersey Girl, and is doing a huge promotional tour. One of his stops was Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley Campus.

Kevin is kind of well-known for these college appearances. He even released a DVD a couple years ago called An Evening with Kevin Smith, highlighting some of the finer moments from his past tours. Very funny.

He is the kind of "celebrity" that you would enjoy sitting down for pizza and beer with. His movies are all about conversations between two or more people, and you can really see where that comes from. He loves to talk. He loves to tell stories. And he's good at both of them.

The way his show works is like this. People line up along either side of the stage, behind two microphones. One at a time, they ask him questions, either about his films, his creative process, his take on current events, etc. Kevin spends anywhere from five to forty-five minutes answering each question. He begins the night by saying, "I'll stay here as long as you guys have questions", and he seemed to mean it. The show started at about 7:20pm and we left a little after 11:00. He hadn't stopped once, and the lines of questioners were not even half-empty. (Or was it half-full?)

He also promised that he would be . . . um . . . "salty". And he didn't disappoint. Nothing, and I mean nothing was sacred, which is just the kind of humor that Corey and I like.

One highlight came when Corey and I were standing in line for the microphone (more about that below) and a young girl steps up and starts asking Kevin her question. She wants to know something about his Catholic-school upbringing. She comments that she goes to a Catholic High School. Hmmm, I thought. Wouldn't it be really funny if Kevin was talking about Catholicism all night and a girl gets from the crowd and talks about her Catholic high school, and it turns out to be the one at which I teach religion??

Turned out she does go to my school. Small world!

And Corey's question was the other highlight. Kevin tends to be a self-loathing kind of guy, and Corey told him that he shouldn't put himself down so often for being heavy, and that he is actually a really good-looking guy. The crowd cheered in agreement. Corey went on to speak very eloquently about the kind of damage people can receive during their lives, and that he should never ever believe that he's ugly or bad-looking. He was very well-spoken and deserved the thanks Kevin gave him. (I was very proud.)

All in all, a night of side-splitting, raunchy humor at its best. Not for everyone, but definitely a good time.

Posted: Thu - April 1, 2004 at 10:17 PM

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kevin smith (in the flesh)

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