Kevin Smith in Philly

I’m a huge Kevin Smith fan. I love his movies, his comics, his writing, his podcast, even that animated “Clerks” thing, but most of all I love his DVDs of his Q&As. He’s done three so far, surely more to come, but the other night I finally got to see the man in action live.

We had great seats, third row, which were a birthday present from the lovely Bride and the Merriam Theater is a terrific place to see anything – not huge, but small enough to have some intimacy. A little after eight the man came out, in gigantic clothes. We all know about his weight problems, but it’s darn hard to tell when he’s wearing clothes that appear to be several sizes too big for him. It was like a flashback to David Byrne in the big suit.

Kevin Smith began the festivities with a story about one of the previous times he’d been to Philadelphia - when not only did his father get to see him at a comic con and his whole family got together for a great dinner and discussion – but his father passed away later that night. Yeah, Kevin started the night on a down note, but he quickly recovered, telling a tale of his dad that had a much more pleasant ending.

The night quickly moved to the question and answer portion of the event there after with topics ranging from the Twilight phenomenon to Smith’s working with ‘the Bruce Willis persona’ on the upcoming film not-to-be-titled A Couple of Dicks to how and why he ended up on “DeGrassi High.” Further questions dealt with Smith’s ‘rivalry’ with Reese Witherspoon, the health of Jason Mewes and social networking.

Kevin ended the night with tales of former Film Threat writer and friend Malcolm Ingram and an exploration of bear society. I had a great time and have to say Kevin Smith live is better than Kevin Smith on DVD. I look forward to his next tour and, as always, his next films. Rock on, Kevin, and thanks to The Bride.