Kevin Smith Interview

He seems larger than life. But it's not a big head he's worried about, it's his big gut.

The director-writer of Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Dogma, is coming to the Just For Laughs Festival for one of his legendary Q&A sessions. A Late Afternoon With Kevin Smith is slated for 3:00 pm on July 15, and will feature Smith doing what he's come to love best: talking with people.

Smith is fundamentally a storyteller, so these performances come naturally to him. “For me it's always been about the conversation, I love the communication.” It started with post-film talk-back sessions, and grew into a whole new medium all its own. “The place where I shine the most,” says the film maker, “the place that's most polished is me on stage.”

Smith has grown considerably since Silent Bob's first appearance on film in Clerks. While size isn't an issue for Silent Bob, it certainly seems to be for Smith who, in the course of a 10-minute interview on my radio show on CJAD, mentioned his girth quite a few times. He reveals that his entire career has been about overcompensating for his size by having several irons in the fire. Silent Bob's backward ballcap is only one of the many hats Smith wears. He's a film maker, author, comic book writer, speaker/comedian, and now comic book store owner. “You've gotta spin a lot a plates,” he says, “to make yourself useful.”

As for his love affair with Degrassi Jr. High, Smith recalls working at the Quick Stop convenience store where Clerks was filmed, watching Degrassi on TV because there was nothing else on. “The Canadaphile in me was born watching Degrassi, I grew to love Canada through Degrassi.” He eventually found himself appearing on the show, and then at the helm after telling producer Linda Schuyler that he “would kill or die to write and direct” certain key episodes.

I suggest to him that he's become a pop-culture icon. He's just amazed “to be the dude who's nearly twenty years in doin' this and still around,” and assures his fans and detractors alike: “Dude, I am here until I die, or until I don't want to do it anymore.”

But he's not done, yet. Clerks 3 is definitely in the cards. Smith isn't sure about Silent Bob, though. At the age of 40 “The notion of spinnin' the baseball cap backwards, leaning on the wall, and sellin' weed to kids, I don't know if that's funny anymore or just depressing.”

As for his upcoming appearance at JFL, fans can expect what Smith has always tried to give them. “If I can't get 'em with the movie I can get 'em on the way out with jokes...give 'em something to remember.” All he hopes, all he's ever wanted, is for people to say “Wow, he's fat, but my god he's fun to have around.”

Dan Laxer is an announcer at Montreal's CJAD Radio, a budding stand-up comedian, and a writer. He is Citeeze's entertainment writer.

Photo Credit: imutto