Tonight, Malc’s in Columbus, with the show starting at 7 PM. The Thursday show, in Lima, is FREE. So hey, all Ohio area residents, get out there, support Malc and the flick. Tell him News Askew sent ya.

“Clerks” (1994)


Writer-director Kevin Smith didn’t know how to end his low-budget comedy, so he had a gunman enter the convenience store and shoot the main character, Dante (Brian O’Halloran), during a robbery. Then, a man (played by Smith) enters the store and steals cigarettes. The ending made it through only one public screening before Smith was persuaded to give the film a more upbeat ending, which no doubt helped it become a smash hit but prevented “Clerks II” from being a zombie movie.

“There’s a subplot with Janeane Garafalo that I would love to restore in a longer version, with her character and with Kevin Smith. If you read the graphic novels, it’s the stuff about the science of the machine and the wave generator, and the ocean tides having an effect on human behavior — and more about the doomsday game that is being played, and the brother-and-sister type of relationship between Janeane Garafalo and Kevin Smith’s characters.”

What’s left? We’ll find out on November 9th with the rest of ya, we suppose.

“…I’d been shunned by TV’s voice in print — that which helped me navigate the crowded waters of prime time with its half-hour segmented grid for many a decade. With the crimson judgment of the mighty Jeer, TV Guide had cast me out from the Garden of TV-den, shaming that porky youth for daring to blight home screens nationwide by fulfilling his long-held whimsies of seeing himself on that box that’d meant so much to him. I was a broken man with little to live for.


Then, some two years later, despite TV Guide’s best efforts to see me off into that good night, TV came calling again, this time to direct the Reaper pilot. Here was a show so thoroughly in my wheelhouse, I had to double-check the front cover to make sure I hadn’t actually written it myself: Slacker Sam, on his 21st birthday, learns that his parents sold his soul to the Devil before he was even born and that he is now an indentured servant to Hell. It was one part Clerks, one part Dogma and one part Ghostbusters, with healthy dashes of Twin Peaks and X-Files mixed in. In many ways, it was the sum total of everything TV had taught me over the years: Make ’em laugh, make ’em love the characters and always… always keep ’em entertained.”

For more online commentary, you can also peep out FilmBuff Newsreel. And of course, don’t miss your chance to check out the full trailer at Yahoo Movies in all flavors of Quicktime, including that beautiful 1080p HD!

The master of the funny commentary track, though, is director Kevin Smith. Smith knows no boundaries and will often reveal candid stories about the making of his films. His tracks go into information such as which crew members Jason Mewes slept with on the set of Clerks II, what actors from Mallrats Smith will never work with again and the innermost details of Smith’s sex life. Smith has even made a few commentary tracks for films that he has nothing to do with, such as Donnie Darko and Road House. Fans of Smith’s raunchy and gossipy style should also check out the Evening with Kevin Smith DVD series. These two DVDs each feature several hours of Smith’s famously hilarious Q&A sessions.

“But in the age of iPods, there’s really no reason why audio commentary has to be relegated to DVD. That’s why Ryan Reynolds and I recorded one last week for The Nines which is now yours to download. (47MB, right-click to save to disk)


This isn’t an original idea, by the way. Kevin Smith recorded an in-theater commentary for Clerks II, though I can’t find confirmation he released it into the wild. (Someone in the comments section will know.)”