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MSRP: $14.95
AUTHOR: Kevin Smith
PUBLISHER: Titan Books
PAGES: 384 pages
The Pitch
It’s like reading Nightline transcripts, but with more dick and fart jokes.
The Words in The Bound Text Square
Do you listen to Smodcast? If you do, then you’ve heard everything captured here. The carefully indexed subjects span the lengths of Smodcast 1 to 80. Basically, it’s the highlights of a podcast cut into text form to provide quotes for wannabe college freshman clowns. The same can be said for most of Smith’s material since 1997.
Shootin’ The Shit with Kevin Smith continues the easy cash-in mentality that has become Mr. Smith’s trademark. The usual gang of View Askew staffers from Scott Mosier to Walt Flanagan stop by. When that isn’t enough, Smith calls in his family for guest-spots. Kevin Smith’s wife Jennifer gets quite a few quips in, as she frequently pokes fun at her husband’s quirks. Then, there’s Scott Mosier. Frequently playing the straightman to Smith’s jokes, Mosier never gets the credit he deserves for making the Podcast work.
The
rest of the book is a quick romp through whatever funny bits have struck Smith’s fancy in the early 2009 season. Why they chose to release this book now instead of closer to the release of A Couple of Dicks is beyond me. But, it’ll make a great stocking stuffer for the lewd High Schooler in your life. Everyone else might do well to just skim it.
The Things I Learned
Kevin Smith is very natural and relaxed speaker. It’s a shame that we can’t see the control and pacing of his stories applied to his camerawork. The level of detail and craft shown in his story about Eliza Dushku and his dog was amazing. You don’t hear that in the average radio show host. That comes from years upon years of playing by ear and learning where natural flow comes from natural dialect.
There also seems to be this push to get Smith’s friends to open up on his level. He doesn’t expect the world from his guests, but he wants a certain level of give or take. When he doesn’t get it from participants such as Bryan Johnson, Smith seems to be willing to shame stories out of his guests. The Beach Bridge story comes to mind, as Flanagan and Smith team up to beat a story about mentally disabled related fuckery out of their friend.
The Section for People That Don’t Read So Good
Kevin Smith can squeeze blood from any stone.
The Last Word
I
typically
enjoy Smith’s non-film work. It’s just that you don’t get the same experience, as you do when listening to the Smodcast. But, there’s something to seeing some of the jokes on paper. You can re-read the same material and wonder what made it so funny. A lot of the Kevin and Harley Smith material falls apart here.
You don’t get the same sort of cute mockery that comes from listening to a father try to poke fun at his daughter. I also don’t understand the point of the book. Are there really that many people demanding for a print version of what’s available for free online? Hell, would this book pick up any potential new fans? Nope. But, it would garner a few chuckles.