As part of the festivities at this year’s LA Comic Con, Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith appeared on the Main Stage on October 12, 2019, to promote their upcoming movie, the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
A huge crowd of fans gathered around the standing room only Main Stage at the Los Angeles Convention Center to see “Jay” (Jason Mewes) and “Silent Bob” (Kevin Smith) talk for about 30 minutes. Kevin Smith admitted that in real life, their roles are typically switched: he’s the one that talks a lot, while Jason Mewes is the one who is quiet and makes faces! Because of that, Kevin wanted to give Jason a chance to talk first.
Jason mentioned that he liked going to comic conventions, especially this one, since it’s so close to his house. He also spoke about how he and Kevin had been doing press interviews for the movie for the past 10 days, then after the movie premiered on Monday, they would be going on a 60+ city tour!
Jason was very proud of the latest Funko POP! figure made in his image, since they had only made Kevin Smith ones for awhile, but finally came back to him. He made sure to show off the Bluntman and Chronic set.
Jason was also proud of having received a Gemini award in Canada, which Kevin explained was the Canadian equivalent of an Emmy, for Todd and the Book of Pure Evil. However, at first, Jason thought it was the equivalent of a Grammy, so they joked about Jason being a star in the Canadian music industry.
Kevin made an exciting announcement: that the two would be putting their hands in the cement outside of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood that Monday! Apparently, their handprints would be next to Stan Lee’s handprints. He then pointed out that when you put both your hands down, there is a bit of a space in between them, so he had suggested that Jason have his 4-year old daughter, Logan, place her hand in the space. However, “the boss” (Jason’s wife) said no, because she thought Logan would be too overwhelmed.
Kevin reminisced about how when he was 9 years old, he and his family took a train to Southern California because they were poor and could not afford to fly. At that time, they visited the Chinese Theater, and he has a photo of himself kneeling next to R2-D2 and 3-CPO’s footprints, which had been done not long before their trip.
Kevin talked about how great of a father Jason is, the best dad he’s ever seen, in fact, including himself and his own father. Kevin said that he wished that Jason had been a father first before he himself had become a father, because then he would have known how to do it right. He praised Jason’s ability to relate to his daughter and mused, “Could you imagine having a one man dedicated Jay Mewes show 24/7? That’s what she’s got!”
Kevin also recalled how when his own daughter, Harley, who is now 20, used to favor her mother when she was younger. He warned his wife, Jennifer, that she better enjoy it while she could, because once Harley got older and realized what her father did for a living, she would love him more. Sure enough, that is what happened!
Additionally, Kevin told the story of how he and Jason met. He had been working at a Rec Center with Bryan and Walter from Comic Book Men. There was an after-school program where they would do activities with the kids. Jason was one of the kids. Bryan and Walter began telling Kevin stories about Jason and how funny he was. Kevin was surprised, asking in disbelief, “That dirty boy??” This also made Kevin insecure because at the time, he was Bryan and Walter’s new funny friend, but now Jason was replacing him as their new funny friend.
One day, Kevin, Bryan, and Walter were going to go to Manhattan for a comic book show, and Kevin was going to drive them. But then it turned out that Jason was going with them! Kevin refused to transport a minor across state lines, so someone else drove instead. He was annoyed the whole trip, resentfully thinking to himself that the kid wasn’t that funny.
Not long after, Jason showed up at Kevin’s house, asking what they were going to do that day. Kevin clarified that the two of them were not friends, they were merely both friends with Bryan and Walter. Jason said okay, then asked again what they were doing that day. So basically, Kevin ended up “inheriting” Jason from Bryan and Walter.
Soon, Kevin realized just how funny Jason was, and kept saying for years that he should be in a movie. Eventually, Kevin decided to put him in his own movie, and the rest is history.
We also got to watch a short clip from the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, in which Jason Lee’s character is telling Jay and Silent Bob that Hollywood no longer makes sequels — or even “squeakquels” — anymore, revealing that they just keep remaking the same movie with slightly different details, his main example being The Force Awakens. Then they saturate the market with movies from each popular franchise. But don’t criticize his Marvel movies!
Due to the short 30 minute time frame for the panel, they were only able to take a few audience questions.
One audience question was what the two of them thought of the new Joker movie. However, neither had seen it yet. Jason pointed out that since he has a young daughter, he doesn’t get out to the movies much, but that he and his wife recently had a date night, during which they went to see Downton Abbey. He defended his decision to see Downtown Abbey over Joker, saying that it was a movie to see with his wife, while Joker is a movie he could catch with Kevin while they’re on the road.
Another question was what they thought of Martin Scorsese’s comments that Marvel movies were not cinema. Kevin responded that it didn’t bother him, pointing out that Scorsese had made similar comments about mainstream blockbuster movies in general, so it seemed very “on brand” for him, and that he was entitled to his own opinion. However, Kevin also pointed out that Scorsese had made a film about “the biggest superhero that ever lived – Jesus!” in The Last Temptation of Christ and said that the film was technically Scorsese’s Endgame.
Following up to that question, someone asked if Kevin thought that the Academy thinks the same way as Scorsese. Kevin answered only inasmuch as they like quality movies, yes, but he didn’t think that it echoed down the line what Scorsese thinks about comic book movies. He went on to say that it looked like a comic book movie might actually end up sweeping the Oscars this year.
The final question was what their favorite Jay and Silent Bob cameos were. One of Kevin’s favorites was Fanboys, though it was more of appearing as themselves. Kevin also picked their Degrassi cameo, since they got to make a fake movie: Jay and Silent Bob go Canadian, Eh! He teased that maybe they would make that movie for real, but first they’re busy making Clerks 3 and Mallrats 2.
They wrapped up the short panel with Kevin inviting all Jay and Silent Bob cosplayers over to the Quick Stop backdrop over at the Legion M booth to take a photo, where he and Jason would also be wearing their Jay and Silent Bob costumes!
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot will be showing as a Fathom Event on October 15 and 17.
You can view more of our photos from Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith on the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot panel at LA Comic Con 2019 below.
In case you missed it, you can click here for a general recap of our experience at LA Comic Con 2019.
