Theaters all across North America are jam packed with clusters of their patrons wearing t-shirts that say “Mooby’s Funployee” or “I’m not even supposed to be here today”. There are equal numbers of people wearing nearly identical trench coats. The house lights go down, the curtains draw back and onto the big screen walks Silent Bob himself, Kevin Smith.
Thus opened Smith’s first ever live streaming podcast and Q&A session Kevin Smith: Live From Behind; Smith himself was in the heart of Toronto live in the ScotiaBank Theater but his performance was being streamed to various theaters across North America.
Silent Bob, who is never in fact very silent when placed in front of a crowd of ravenous fans, starving for more of Smith’s side-splitting anecdotes, broke down the format of the show for the hoard of onlookers; a one hour podcast followed by two hours of Q&A time. The crowd went wild.
The Smodcast
Kevin Smith and his partner in crime Jason Mewes, who play Silent Bob and Jay respectively in many of Smith’s films, have long been hosting various podcasts on Smodcast Internet Radio, an enterprise owned and operated by Smith. Jason Mewes takes center mic in the podcast entitled Jay and Silent Bob Get Old, which was on the docket for Live From Behind.
During his hour on the stage Mewes waxed poetic about a wide variety of aspects of his life; from silly stories to grossly detailed accounts of his sexcapades (both with his wife and before she was in the picture) to the heavy matters of his long running battle with substance abuse and semi recent relapse.
Mewes did prove that he can hold his own and entertain a crowd without leaning on Smith, yet it is when these two charismatic men interact that the laughs truly get rolling. The story which proved second to none during the podcast was one about Smith’s daughter’s pet tortoises and their X-rated pastimes.
The Q&A
Though the podcast portion of the evening had it’s fair share of laugh inducing moments what the fans were really there to see was the live Q&A session with Kevin Smith, and event for which he has become infamous.
Smith began the Q&A by promising the audience that he would keep his answers short, though any fan in attendance who had previously seen Too Fat for 40 scarcely believed him. True to his word however, Smith made it through more than a dozen questions, both from fans who were with him in the ScotiaBank Theater as well as those who had Tweeted from all over the world.
Some questions were well thought out such as one young man asking how Smith felt about the recent SOPA/PIPA issue. Others were awkward, none more so than the fan who requested Smith emcee her wedding this summer. One questions stands far above the rest though; the original inquiry was about who or what would Smith most like to see Batman fight? Though seemingly mundane when the original query was clarified to mean things like what if Batman had to fight childhood obesity the crowds couldn’t contain their laughter. Smith, and the young man who posed the question together came to the conclusion that they would enjoy seeing Batman fight apathy, indifference and Steven Hawking in a robot body.
Over the course of the three hour show Smith along with Mewes proved that while they may be getting on in years their ability to entertain has not diminished, but instead has ripened with age.
Rating 5/5
Alison McGee - College graduate with a diploma in Film Studies, published film critic, cinephile and lover of literature.
