• Yes, the Thursday night move of “My Name Is Earl” will go down in infamy: The brilliant, hilarious show returned to NBC on its new night this week with a joke

Poopie Trim!

that was SO inside, ONLY fans of the Askewniverse could possibly understand it’s significance. Yes, Ethan Suplee (as Randy) muttered those hilarious words made so famous in Mallrats (and then revisited in Dogma) in a scene where he’s woken by Earl.

We’ve got the clippage for you here, if for some crazy reason you’re not watching one of the funniest shows on TV. Click the pic to enjoy it! It’s a joy to see such an obscure reference to our little culture here show up in NBC prime time television.

To learn more about the origins of this famous phrase, you can watch a recent entry from the Clerks 2 Video Diaries. Thanks to Ethan and Jason for an obvious and deliberate shout-out to all of us! Anyone know how closed-captioning handled it?

“Earthquake”

• Comedians Earthquake and Wanda Sykes have a hilarious cameo scene in Clerks 2, and this new video focuses on the former. Watch this hilarious guy pontificate on his first movie scene EVER, on and off set. The dude’s really funny — We’re sure you’ll be seeing him in other films soon. Be sure and catch his stand-up act if you can, as well. Thanks again to Zak and Joey for continually pumping out the vids we love and crave. Enjoy, via the usual Quicktime popups and iTunes availability, courtesy of Clerks2.com.

• Buena Vista has announced the 10 titles they expect to mark their entry into the Blu-ray market. While there was a question mark over Miramax titles being involved at first, the announced list actually included several of them. Most important: Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, which will be the first View Askew disc to debut on the high density, high definition format!
• Clerks 2 star Rosario Dawson will produce her own comic book series titled “Occult Crimes Taskforce”, Newsarama reports:

• The region 2 version of Clerks X is being spotted at UK HMV stores for the low price of £9.99 as part of their January sale. A good deal.

Freddy vs Jay & Silent Bob

• And finally today, here’s a strange one for ya — A fan-made video called “Freddy vs. Jay & Silent Bob”. It’s fan-made, though we don’t know the original source (it was tracked down on the very anonymous torrent network on the web), there’s certainly been some work put into it — Though we’re not quite sure what to make of it ourselves. This 90 meg MPEG download will take you some time to get, so be patient, and decide if you think it’s worth your download time. Talk Back with your own thoughts — We’re not…uh…really sure what else to say. As a warning, the clip does contain a bit of language and brief nudity. Got it? Alright then, see you next time!

• Yes, it seems surreal, but it’s indeed a true statement. For two years running, View Askew veterans will host the biggest awards show of the year: The Oscars. Last year, we had Chris Rock, of “Dogma” and J&SBSB, this year, we’ve got the hilarious Jon Stewart taking on the duty, a J&SBSB vet in his own right. Oscarbeat broke the story late last night, though here’s the official blurb:

For more on the story, see MSN TV. Let us be the first to say…Jason Lee for Oscar host in ‘07!!!

• The Weinstein Company announced their full support for the new HD DVD format today. Among the list of films that will support the format, “PASSION OF THE CLERKS” is listed! Breaking new ground again — We can’t wait ’til that day comes that we can own a copy of the film on HD DVD.
• If you check out the entry for “37” in online encyclopedia Wikipedia, you’ll see the many places the number has shown up (aside from its notoriety in our world).
• More kudos for the great Jason Lee today — The Screen Actors Guild has nominated him for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series”. The entire cast of “Earl” is also is up for “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series”. Next stop, Emmys!
• And just because we always run them — Looks like a little girl with a toy on the escalator got injured up in Canada. When will they start showing Mallrats in elementary schools to promote child escalator safety? Another interesting thought to ponder — In all these years, why hasn’t escalator technology changed to become safer? Those things haven’t changed since we were kids. Odd…

“Mewes Cam”

• Ah, we love the New Year because it’s already bringing us a steady steam of new Clerks 2 vids from Zak and Joey. Good on ya, boys. Jason Mewes runs the show in this latest edition, “Mewes Cam”, where the obvious happens – Mewes runs the cam and terrorizes the cast and crew. You’ll quickly discover his favorite gender of the species when you see who gets more camera time. In this clip you’ll spot new appearances from the likes of Kevin, Scott, Brian, Jeff, Rosario, and of course, the hard working crew members at the Mooby’s set. Jay conducts on camera interviews like no other, and it’s always amusing, so kick back and enjoy the man in action.

• Here’s a fun couple pics today — A member of our News Askew Forums, known affectionately as the “NAF” amongst our members, sent in these snaps. XHippie, from New Hampshire, was so excited about his visit to the Leonardo Quick Stop that he talked the clerk inside into letting him hang that banner. Nope, it’s NOT a Photoshop job, that’s real! Well played.
• You can now visit the OFFICIAL SITE for “Catch and Release”, Kevin’s first starring role in a non-View Askew production. Nothing there but a splash page and his scene-stealing preview, though we expect more will come as April 28th closes in.
• The very brief Clerks 2 teaser that appeared at the Clerks 2 site made #87 on the list of the top 100 trailers this year at JoBLo.
• The lovely Eliza Dushku, more affectionately known to some from her J&SBSB days as “Duckshoot” is going to Broadway. New York Magazine reports she’ll appear in the play “Dog Sees GOD”, which is a parody of Charles Schultz’s “Peanuts”, with Dushku playing a character based on Lucy:

You can catch the play at The Century Center for the Performing Arts.

• And finally today, the Clerks cartoon this week yet again proved just how ahead of the curve it was with the funny. Arrested Development, one of the funniest shows on TV right now, totally stole our “Judge Reinhold” as a judge gig for this week’s episode. Here’s hoping the show can find new life on another network. It’s just too clever to go out like this.

• With some of the post-production activities of Clerks 2 winding down, we’re pleased to report that Kevin’s online blog, “My Boring-Ass Life”, has resurfaced, with some graphic details on a new, unwelcome medical condition that Kevin met up with recently. We won’t go into those details though, we’ll let the man who does it best tell his tale. Instead of the painful details, here’s a safe clip from the two new entries, dated January 1st and 2nd:

Read the full story at the back to life “My Boring-Ass Life”, over at www.silentbobspeaks.com!

“Behind The Curtain”

• Our own Smalls introduces and films our heros Zak and Joey with a new Clerks 2 video, taking us “Behind The Curtain” to see all the work these dudes are doing to bring you these regular behind-the-scenes “Train Wreck” vids. You’ll get an excellent tour of the production offices out in Los Angeles, the process of putting together the vids, and lots lots more. These guys rock. We’ve been telling you that. And now you can just see how all these magical bits make it from video and onto your very own desktop. Take a look, and enjoy a taste of what’s to come on future episodes of this amazing web-based series. Get over there!

• A weekend program on the UK’s Channel 4 cited Clerks as the 19th funniest film of all time, coming in ahead of the likes of Young Frankenstein, Animal House, and other classics! We’ve got the full video of the clip as it aired for you, as well as a link to the full list over at the channel 4 website. Here’s the Clerks writeup:

19. Clerks, 1994

Kevin Smith’s directorial debut is as hilarious as it is filthy, cutting to the bone of gritty American service subculture like a chainsaw. The script buzzes with intelligence mired in laziness, and observations born of the meniality of working in a grocer’s. With icons for those whose aspirations stretch to a day on the couch drinking beer, Smith has clearly defined a branch of cinema which he can confidently call his own.

As we expected, Kevin did appear throughout the program to comment on many of the other flicks that made the list. Here’s hoping we can somehow catch a full viewing of the program stateside at some point.