Kevin Smith Takes On Carnegie Hall

They say that getting to Carnegie Hall just takes “Practice, practice, practice”, and writer/director Kevin Smith certainly has had practice. Over the years in between making his films, writing comic books, and directing tv shows like Reaper, he’s toured to colleges around the country and has created three Evening with Kevin Smith DVDs. Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall may have seemed different to the naked eye–a sold out show in one of the most prestigious concert venues in the world–but it was just as laid back, hilariously dirty, and raunchy as anything Smith’s done before.

I was lucky enough to attend the performance, a three hour laugh fest that revealed some of Smith’s most embarrassing, but also most touching moments. If you’ve never seen Kevin Smith live, there’s a basic format: fans line up to ask questions, and Smith answers them as honestly and openly as you’d expect. Since this show was a bit bigger than usual (the show sold out all of its 2,000 tickets), fans submitted their questions beforehand and were drawn from a lottery. Sometimes these questions take a few minutes to answer, or a few hours.

A question about his role in Catch and Release turned into a thirty minute tirade on Jennifer Garner’s sense of humor and some on-set drama with actor Timothy Olyphant. Another question prompted Smith to honor his late friend and colleague George Carlin, another revealed an embarrassing story about a broken toilet. While some of the questions were not always interesting or creative (the first fan asked “How does it feel to be at Carnegie Hall?” after Smith had just talked about how terrified he felt for twenty minutes), the witty and quick Smith always had a story to tell to keep the evening going.

Kevin also got the chance to talk a little about A Couple of Dicks, his film currently in production. The film stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as two cops and the shenanigans they get into while on the job. This is his first opportunity to direct a film he hasn’t written, as the film is written by Robb and Mark Cullen, who had worked primarily in TV prior to the film. The film also stars Seann William Scott and Adam Brody.

A Couple of Dicks, currently filming in Battery Park, New York, is slated for a February 26, 2010 release.