If you wanna see this show, we highly recommend you don’t delay, as we’re positive this will sell out. Right now is your big chance, as the show has not been announced to the general public. Whether you’ve seen Kevin do a Q&A before or not, this is not a show or venue you will want to miss. If you wanna buy them officially through the House of Blues you will have to wait a bit, though they DO offer their members some specials. If you’re in with the crew there, give them a call.

In another part of the US? Never fear. 2009 is shaping up to be the biggest tour year EVER for Kevin. We can’t tell you the cities JUST yet, but we can say there are FOUR of them — One very near and dear to us at News Askew, two of them in a really warm place, and one of them up north. You’re gonna love it, seriously. Great cities, some of which we have NEVER seen Kevin appear in before. What a cool year. We know we say this all the time, but we really mean it — If you have the means to see Kevin when he comes to your area, do NOT miss it. His shows are the best. Stay tuned for more info. And get booking those seats, Dallas!

In a recent tweet, Kevin reveals that he’ll record a long-awaited new SModcast with Mosier this weekend, in town to celebrate Kev’s birthday. Also, he’s shooting nights as “A Couple of Dicks” hits the home stretch, right on schedule. Don’t forget, the new SModocast-based book hits shelves this Fall.

And finally, our favorite tweet of the week:

Landed safe at Newark Airport. Shocking, considering I sat behind LOST’s Ben Linus. Plane did not go to The Island, but Jacob hogged toilet.

Would you NOT be freaked out to see Ben on the plane with ya? Great stuff.

As for the above quote, we can’t gloss over Jason Lee’s performance as lead singer Jeff Bebe, just the right mix of jealousy, overconfidence, sarcasm, stringy hair and mellowed-out, super-cool, ’70s onstage enthusiasm, as this deleted concert scene proves. Not an easy role. Lee pulled off three distinctly different characters over the years — Bebe, Earl Hickey and Banky from “Chasing Amy” — and remains severely underrated.

Speaking of Mr. Lee, he also joined the ranks of Kevin as a recent guest of the always enjoyable Kevin Pollak Chat Show.

See ya next time!

Kevin Smith in San Diego 2009

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6
PART 7
PART 8
PART 9
PART 10
PART 11

More San Diego stuff – Before he made the trip, Kevin took a few moments to talk to NPR about the Con, which is available for your listening pleasure.

Also, if you don’t have time to watch the videos above, Screencrave has a bottom-to top (read it reverse) twitterish feed from an attendee of the event. If you’ve got the time, watch the video. It’s very rare to see a full unedited Q&A show up like this.

Smith did, sadly, deliver the word that his film, currently titled A Couple of Dicks will probably have to be retitled, as was rumored earlier in the year because of advertising issues. Three networks(ABC, NBC and CBS) have refused to air ads for the film before 9pm killing, as Smith puts it, the sports audience that’s his core audience.

…Chasing Amy is a movie that totally fits its time. Released in 1997 it takes a honest look at relationships and how people define themselves not so much by being heterosexual or homosexual but by being honest and falling in love with the person rather than the gender of that person. Of course everybody has a preference, but you are not chained to that decision. That’s the moral at work here.

…

The glue that holds it all together though is Smith’s script which starts off more in a comedic vein and then reveals itself to be this honest romantic story. Friends, background and timing can all affect who we fall in love with but not everybody gets a happy ending, and that is the beauty of this script. Life does move on when a relationship ends and even while you are in it, it’s not all roses and romance. Smith manages to find that balance of honesty and comedy while keeping in his trademark in-jokes.

…On the other hand, my appearance on Kevin Smith’s list of the five coolest people I’ve met at the San Diego Comic-Con put me in mind of the time I encountered Kevin Smith. It was round the back of the San Diego Convention Centre, near the loading bay. I was on my way to a panel when a gentleman with a kerchief-mask covering his lower face, holding a brace of pistols and wearing a rakish tricorn hat leapt out and demanded my wallet, and to dance a measure with my female companions. Obviously, I was having none of it, and with a cry of “Never, miscreant!” I stumbled into the fray. During our struggle the kerchief-mask slipped and I was shocked to see that our attacker was in fact director, writer and raconteur Kevin Smith himself. He fled, dropping my wallet and also several of the original Graphitti Buddy Christ and Jay & Silent Bob toys.

I can only presume that Mr Smith’s description of me in EW as “a sweetheart” was due to the fact that I did not turn him in that day to the San Diego magistrates that day to be hanged and gibbeted as a common highwayman or footpad.

Dogma

When Kevin Smith’s Dogma script hit the net in ’98, the mix of profound and profanity sent the powerful Catholic League into overdrive, especially given that their favourite target Disney was distributing. The subsequent furore forced the Mouse House to dump the movie and even saw Smith receive death threats.

In response, Smith anonymously joined the small group protesting his movie outside his local cinema, even doing an ‘in character’ interview with a news team. This is an act arguably funnier than anything in to the worthy-if-hit-and-miss loveletter to his Catholic faith. Still, any movie that has people explode upon hearing the voice of Alanis Morissette must have its heart in the right place.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s a look at what Kevin’s contributed to EW. First and foremost, one of our favorite pieces of ALL TIME. This article, titled “A Guided Tour of my Geeky Career”, spans 21 photo and text pages on the website, and features quotes direct from the man himself on all of these milestones. Directors talking about their films and lives is always fascinating to us, and this article has to be among the best of the year. We’ve taken a few snippets to share here, but surfing over to EW to peep the entire article is required reading, or you’re going to bed without dessert:

ON CHASING AMY: “”When I watch that flick now, I feel like Holden is such a f–ing child. Then I remember that I was that guy, and that’s why I wrote the flick in the first place: to stop being that guy. Still…I’m so disconnected from that jealous boyfriend/male sexual-insecurity thing now that it’s baffling to watch. Love the flick, though. Very pure. [It was made by] a bunch of people who either had to redeem themselves (me and Mosier, post-Rats) or were waiting for their breakout role (Ben and Joey) or a guy who’d let the world know he could do more than skateboard.””

ON THE CLERKS CARTOON: “”If you love the Clerks cartoon, and I do too, you owe a big thanks to [executive producer] Dave Mandel. Rather than do a real-world, straightforward adaptation of the flick, Mandel’s the guy who — thankfully — made it surreal. The process, though — six months per episode, from script to screen — killed us. I wish we’d done it more like South Park and let the animation slip a bit in favor of getting more episodes in the can, or being more current. We pitched it to ABC when they were in third place and were willing to try anything to find a hit. By the time we turned in our six episodes, they’d already found said hit in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and suddenly our show seemed like a waste of time. Only two ever aired. The Clerks cartoon left a bad taste in my mouth, in terms of working in TV.””

ON CLERKS II: “”Even though it was high time (maybe past due, according to some folks), it was kinda sad. But at the same time, you couldn’t ask for a better end-to-end experience: from the writing all the way up to the DVD release. I loved that movie with every iota of my being, man. Even when people were pooh-poohing on the Web during preproduction, I didn’t care: I knew it was the best thing I could do for myself. That flick completely recharged my batteries, man. I have zero regrets about any aspect of that flick. Jeff Anderson…that guy gave such a great performance. He owns that film, because it’s all about Randal — the guy who’s completely out of step with the world around him. And that’s how I felt when I wrote it.””

Not only did Kevin contribute all that great stuff, but also submitted a two-part article summarizing the coolest folks he’s met at the San Diego Con. Let’s first get some select snippets here from both, and then we’ll let you know how to get to full versions:

Robert Downey Jr. – Comic-Con 2007: The Con the Iron Man trailer debuted (the July before its May 2008 opening). RDJ was in town, big pimpin’ his Starkness. He and the Iron Man entourage emerged from a freight elevator onto a loading dock at the back of the venue, where I was smoking a cigarette, waiting for a ride. We made brief eye contact, but I’m the guy who never says “hi” to anybody for fear they’ll be like “I hate your stuff.” Proving he’s the bigger man, Downey stepped over, extended his hand, and introduced himself. Class act. We exchanged pleasantries and moved on, but that was always the classiest Con move I’ve ever seen.

Joe Quesada & Jimmy Palmiotti – Comic-Con ’95. Then, the rock stars of the comics world, with their Event Comics label, I met Jimmy and Joe at an early Mallrats sneak screening. Afterward, they offered to do artwork for the opening credits, and our friendship began.

Neil Gaiman (author of the Sandman comic series and the novella Coraline, among others) – At last year’s Comic-Con, backstage. I’ve always loved Neil’s writing, so what a delight and relief it was to discover him a sweetheart.

Leslie Mann – After the EW panel last year, I was backstage talking to Zack Snyder about an early peep at Watchmen when Leslie Mann (the actress and Judd Apatow’s wife) was passing by, stopped, and said, “Oh my God…you are so funny.” I just about passed out.

Bob Chapman – Maybe he’s not a celeb to anybody else, but Chapman was like a rock star to me. Because before Chappy, people simply read comics.

Those are just snips of each of the 5, so you’ll of course want to surf over to the EW website for the whole thing. Here’s the way:

“The five coolest people I’ve met at the San Diego Comic-Con” Part One

“The five coolest people I’ve met at the San Diego Comic-Con” Part Two

Note: Kevin’s latest tweets cite October as the arrival of these books, though publisher Titan lists September 22nd. Once we get the date clarified, we’ll let ya know.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four