An Evening with Kevin Smith

My previous post got me thinking about the celebrity phenomenon. I don't know what it is about celebrity sightings that make them so fun for me. Normally, I am pretty anti-establishment and get irked at most mob mentality that celebrity stalkers display, but I have to admit that seeing a famous person is a cool thing to me.

Part of my job is helping student's entertain themselves. That is a very simplistic view, and I won't bore you with my thoughts and theories on how putting on events teaches students more about themselves than most classroom activities. I just bring it up because I get to meet all sorts of performers and every once and a while one of them falls into the "celebrity" column.

My biggest job related high at this point has been meeting film director Kevin Smith. In the spring of 2000, my students at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) decided to invite Mr. Smith to speak at the college. I have to admit that I was psyched about meeting him. As advisor, I would be able to not just meet but pretty much hang out with the guy, and in my book, there are few movies that I enjoy more than his Jersey films (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).

I have to admit I was pretty nervous meeting him, but he was so laid back. He spent a lot of time with the students working on the event and was happy to pose for photos and sign autographs. He then went on stage and immediately opened the floor for questions. No prepared speech, just "Ask me anything" and the audience did, for 3 and a half hours. The only break in the questioning was a glimpse at his soon to be released (at the time) animated series Clerks.

By the third hour, I kind of wondered what other questions could be out there. My sister, who traveled down from Connecticut for the event, must have been thinking the same thing, because she whispered to me "What fries do you like better: McDonald's or Burger King". That killed me.

He then graciously stayed at the venue until 2:00 am, signing an autograph for any student who wanted one.

Pretty cool, if you ask me.

I took a ton of pictures at the event . Here are the two best. The one on the bottom is hanging in my office framed with an autographed photo that reads "Ian, Thanks for making sure I knew where I needed to be, Kevin Smith"



Kevin Smith signing autographs
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Kevin Smith and me (on the right). The guy on the left is my former student, the soon to be famous Richard White.
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