“…I like the pilot, it’s shooting in Vancouver, I love Kevin Smith…just let me meet with him.” So I went there, we sat down, and we chain-smoked his bad menthol cigarettes, and he was, like, “I love you for it, man, as long as you don’t want to do a Jack Black impression.” And I was, like, “Dude, if I hear one more person say that to me in this town…” I said, “Look, me and you, we’re both fat and have beards. Does that mean we’re both Jack Black?” And he said, “I like you. Okay, let’s go.”"

“…Kevin was such an open, collaborative guy that he would just sit behind the monitors and yell stuff for you to say, and you’d be, like, “Screw you, I’m gonna try this!” And then you could just say whatever, and it was almost like…as long as you could get a laugh and people were digging it, it could fly. And I love a set environment like that, where we can collaborate and the writers aren’t getting their backs up about their words or whatever.”

BE: Your Wikipedia entry mentions that you’re in “Zack and Miri Make A Porno.” I presume the “Reaper”/Kevin Smith connection is what got you into that.

TL: Yeah, he just e-mailed me and was, like, “Would you like to come out and play, sir?” And I was, like, “Could you be a little more specific, sir?” (laughs) He said, “Come out to Pittsburgh, shoot a couple days on my new movie.” And I’m, like, “Yeah! I’ll fucking be there, man!” So I went out there and shot a really great cameo scene that he put together for me, and he told me it was because I play the best drunk he’d ever seen.

The entire review is quite candid and good, so be sure to surf over to Bullz-Eye and check out the whole thing.

“He’s our generation’s J.D. Salinger,” says Smith, whose film “Dogma” shows its heroes, Jay and Silent Bob, on a pilgrimage to Shermer, Ill., a mythical town that only exists in Hughes’ films. “He touched a generation and then the dude checked out. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be doing what I do. Basically my stuff is just John Hughes films with four-letter words.”

Josh recommends making reservations, especially for the Pittsburgh club, as the place is small and they’ll sell out. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the upcoming shows:

WED 3/26 10:00 PM - New York, NY - Under St. Marks Theatre - $10 plus free booze!
FRI 3/28 10:00 PM - Meadville, PA - Allegheny College, FREE SHOW!
SAT 3/29 8:00 PM - Pittsburgh, PA - Slapsticks Comedy Loft - $10/$12/$25
SUN 3/30 7:15 PM - Belle Vernon, PA - Rostraver Ice Garden - $10/$20
SAT 4/5 7:00 PM - Philadelphia, PA - The Urban Saloon - $15 plus free drink & food!

Stop up, say hi to Josh, wish him luck with “Zack & Miri” and tell him that News Askew sent ya!

“Perhaps the most playful and stylish version of the Almighty we’ve ever seen, pop-rocker Alanis Morissette’s God, decked out in a flouncy white skirt and silver jacket, stops to smell the flowers and kick up into a handstand in a church garden. This after her mostly mute character lets out a destructive roar that blows the head off of vengeful angel Bartleby (Ben Affleck).”

* 2.40:1 Widescreen Transfer (1080p)
* Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French Dolby TrueHD 5.1
* Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
* Cast and Crew Commentary
* Technical Commentary
* Deleted Scenes
* Cast and Crew Outtakes
* Jay and Bob’s Secret Stash Commercial
* Storyboards from Three Major Scenes

“Mikey gets in the game and heads up OCC’s latest creation — a Wolverine bike for the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital. The cast from NBC’s “My Name is Earl” bursts onto the scene and gets the OCC team to build a My Name is Earl bike.”

My fellow New Jerseyan Kevin Smith appears to see the comic surrealism as well. In Smith’s facetious 1999 film “Dogma,” a misguided effort to modernize the Catholic Church’s image unfolds through a campaign entitled, “Catholicism Wow!” Complete with a revamped, “less depressing” and utterly absurd Jesus figure bearing the name “Buddy Christ,” the attempt at Catholic modernization is portrayed by Smith as both silly and hopeless.

“It’s very strange because I normally don’t direct television,” Kevin tells Cw.com. “Nobody ever asked me to do it before. I’ve had offers to come in on sitcoms which have already been up and running. But this was interesting because my agent called and said there’s a pilot of this show and they want you to direct it. I was like, why would anyone, based on my body of work, want me to direct a TV pilot?

“Generally my stuff seems to be very chatty, frank and obscene. I was so puzzled, I said I would like to read it and see who’s stupid enough to want to hire me. I read the script and I just dug it so much.”

Kevin was attracted to the Reaper pilot script as it reminded him of hit Simon Pegg film Shaun Of The Dead.

“I’m a big Shaun Of The Dead fan,” he says. “The sensibilities of the characters in Reaper are similar to my characters. The only difference between the characters I write and the characters in Reaper is none of these characters use four letter words because we’re on TV.”

“Reaper” returns Stateside to the CW with a new episode on March 4th.

Adam notes: “No, I’m not wearing his pants. That would just be weird. Shirts and coats, on the other hand, are perfectly normal. I own some movie props and memorabilia, but nothing quite as cool as this. Big thanks to Kevin for letting his fans own a piece of his great movies. And your readers should just be happy I got outbid on Rosario Dawson’s camisole.”

Enjoy, Adam, and thanks for giving the stuff a good home.

“As we first reported in December, Sony announced it would bow the controversial religious satire ‘Dogma’ on March 11, though initial specs were sparce. Now the full details are in, and typical of a Smith disc release, the Blu-ray will come loaded with making-of material and deleted footage.

Porting over many (but not all) of the features from Sony’s previous two-disc DVD edition, the Blu-ray version of ‘Dogma’ will contain two audio commentaries (the first with Smith and cast members, the second a technical track), 100 minutes of deleted scenes (with intros), and a “Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash” mock commercial.

Tech specs boast 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video and uncompressed PCM 5.1 Surround audio in English and French.

Suggested retail for the Blu-ray has been set at $28.99.”

3. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Release Date: 2008
Talent: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith (Director)

Synopsis: Lifelong platonic friends Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks) look to solve their respective cashflow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

The Buzz: You didn’t think that this list would be all summer blockbusters did you? Zack and Miri will combine two of the most beloved comedic minds in all of Hollywood, director Kevin Smith and actor Seth Rogen, to make a movie about two people who want to start a porn company. And it stars the always gorgeous Elizabeth Banks. If you need to read that again to allow it to really sink in, we can wait.

This scene has so much going for it that I’m surprised it was never seen as an award-nominated clip. First, to satisfy Kevin’s critics, the camera isn’t in one place for too long. The actors are moving around the garage, as is the camera, so visually the scene doesn’t get stale in any way. Secondly, the script is so strong because it toes the line between being dialogue that keeps the action moving and Ben Affleck speaking Kevin’s problems with Christianity, and yet somehow keeps itself from falling over to the soapbox side.

And of course, you have Ben and Matt themselves, two old friends that are obviously very comfortable acting with each other. Here their chemistry takes center stage. Nobody else is in this scene with them, and as their voices get louder, they echo through the cold and empty garage.

Read it all over at 411.