Motherfucking Kevin Smith, who comes to the House of Blues next Thursday, can tell a story as if it were his motherfucking job. Which it basically is. Although Cop Out (which, unlike his other films, he didn't write and I didn't see) didn't help cement his legacy as an all-time great indie director the way Chasing Amy and Dogma did, his live Q&A sessions have established the pride of Highlands, New Jersey, as one of the great anecdotalists. Having just wrapped his inaugural foray into horror, Red State, Smith hopes to expand the voluminous catalogue of podcasts on his smodcast.com as far as possible before his adoration of Corn Pops leads to an early death. The celebrity press — and Smith himself — went batshit early this year when he was ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight for being too fat. Let's face it, we've all been kicked out of somewhere for being too something.
How are you doing?
Excellent, man. What can I do for you?
Well, I’ve got a bunch of questions.
Fire away. I’m well skilled at this question answering thing. It’s all I’ve been doing for the past 20 years, nearly. Actually, I’ve been doing it since I could speak. But I’ve gotten well practiced at it in nearly the last 20 years.
You’re at home in Los Angeles?
I am, sir. See? I’m off to the races. There’s answer number one.
Do you think Red State will be perceived as more of a political movie or a straight-up horror movie? Or…..?
I thought we were talking about me going to speak there?
Oh. Um, I do have a bunch of questions about that, if you’d rather start with those.
Let’s do that first before we head into the movie stuff. I try to keep those things separate, but I also know that’s kind of interesting.
What are you planning on talking about at the House of Blues?
Ah, basically, they’re like all the other gigs, man. I don’t come with anything prepared. I just talk about what the audience wants to talk about. Naturally, I’m asked similar things everywhere I go. Chances are I’m going to tell a few stories I’ve told a bunch of times before. But I kind of like to go wherever the audience wants to go. That’s a nice aspect of doing it. The show tends to be funny, but it’s certainly not stand-up comedy by any stretch of the imagination. I rely so heavily on the audience to decide what we’re going to talk about. True stand-up comics rely on the audience just for the laughs, and if their truly great at their craft, they probably don’t need the audience for anything beyond that. I need the audience. Without them, I really have nothing to say. I’m incredibly uninteresting. So at least they can trigger me, like, ‘Oh, I can tell a story about that!’
