Any chance to hear Kevin Smith talk is going to be entertaining. He’s certainly parlayed his success with Q&A speaking engagements into an empire of spoken word programming. He’s got a podcast a day pretty much, and if you run out of those, you can always read his twitter or pop in one of his Q&A DVDs, or listen to one of his nine movies with an audio commentary.
“Jay and Silent Bob Go Down Under” is one of the shortest Kevin Smith programs ever, fit into one of Epix’s one hour blocks. It gets the job done though. One of Smith’s podcasts is “Jay and Silent Bob Get Old,” with himself and Jason Mewes. They recorded one for an audience in Sydney, Australia, and this is a video of that performance.
I must admit, I do not keep up with every Kevin Smith podcast, so I did not know that “Get Old” really focuses on Mewes. At least it does in this broadcast. I’ve always known Mewes to be the surprisingly quiet one in interviews, who mainly turns it on when Smith points a camera at him. It’s surprising to people who only know his Jay and Silent Bob persona, but familiar to me.
Mewes is on fire in “Down Under.” Every anecdote he tells is sexual, but in an age where I thought I’d heard it all – “Californication,” “Girls,” shrim – Mewes had some stories so gross they made me laugh out loud. He’s as elaborate and descriptive a storyteller as Smith, so his memories of heroin addled intercourse or his romantic first day in Sydney with his wife all go to shocking places. He also makes funny sex faces.
Smith still chimes in, but much more of the reaction shots to keep things moving. He doesn’t try to dominate the show with his stories, at least not in the sections edited for the Epix show. You’ll get your dose of Kevin Smith humor, but more in the form of one liners than the longform stories this time.
Stage segments are intercut with footage of Mewes traveling around Sydney. He does some basic tourist stuff like learning to throw a boomerang. He keeps those bits light and funny too, but really they’re short enough to just provide a transition between stage segments.
The special ends with what I’ve learned is a regular game Mewes plays where volunteers help him create new sexual positions. That again highlights Mewes’ creativity when it comes to crude humor, and shows he’s game to make himself the butt of a joke and let audience members play along.
“Jay and Silent Bob Go Down Under” premieres November 30 on Epix. It’s a must see for any Kevin Smith/Jay and Silent Bob fans, and a wonderful vehicle for Mewes’ talents. Maybe I need to listen to more podcasts, and maybe this special will make you feel the same way.
