107-571: Clerks III is a 2022 American black comedy-drama film written, directed, and edited by Kevin Smith and starring Brian O'Halloran , Jeff Anderson , Trevor Fehrman , Austin Zajur , Jason Mewes , Rosario Dawson and Smith. It serves as a sequel to the 1994 and 2006 Clerks films, and is the ninth overall feature film set in the View Askewniverse . In the film, Randal Graves , after surviving
214-611: A Gumtree ad for a man who rents out a room in his house for free on the condition that the respondent dresses as a walrus for two hours per day. The project began pre-production in September 2013, and was shot in November of that year. Released September 19, 2014, it received mixed reviews. Before Tusk 's release, Smith wrote the script for a spin-off of the film, which he titled Yoga Hosers . The film began filming in August 2014, and
321-589: A Harvey Award , for Best New Talent in comic books. In 1999, Smith wrote " Guardian Devil ", an eight-issue story arc of Daredevil for Marvel Comics illustrated by Joe Quesada . He produced a 15-issue tenure on Green Arrow for DC Comics that saw the return of Oliver Queen from the dead and the introduction of Mia Dearden , a teenage girl who would become Speedy after Smith's run had ended. Smith returned to Marvel for two miniseries, Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do and Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target , both of which debuted in 2002. The former
428-413: A Mallrats TV series. The initial plans to film Clerks III came to a halt in 2017, when Smith announced that one of the four leads, whom he later revealed to be Anderson, opted out of reprising his role despite a completed script. At the time, Smith doubted the film would ever be made. In 2018, Smith suffered a near-fatal heart attack after one of his comedy shows. This experience inspired him to rewrite
535-484: A buddy-cop comedy written by the Cullen Brothers and starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan . Due to controversy surrounding the original title, it was changed to A Couple of Cops , then reverted to its original title due to negative reaction, before finally settling on the title Cop Out . The film, shot from June to August 2009, involves a pair of veteran cops tracking down a stolen vintage baseball card, and
642-661: A color reprinting of the story from Oni Double Feature No. 12, purported to be an early appearance by McNeil and Edwards. These stories have been collected in Tales From the Clerks (Graphitti Designs, ISBN 0-936211-78-4 ), which includes a new Clerks story tying into the Clerks 2 material, and the story from Oni Double Feature #1. They were previously collected by Image Comics in three separate volumes, one each for Clerks , Chasing Dogma and Bluntman and Chronic . In 1999, Smith won
749-539: A comic book than a movie." In 2014, Smith and Ralph Garman released a six-issue Batman '66 crossover featuring Batman and Green Hornet, Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet . On March 7, 2022, it was announced that Dark Horse and Smith would be teaming up to publish the books of Secret Stash Press , a new publishing line by Smith. The first two books of the line include Maskerade , written by Smith and Andy Mcelfresh and Quick Stops , written by Smith and set within
856-421: A domestic distribution deal for VOD. Smith had said before Red State that he would soon retire from directing, and announced that his last movie would be Clerks III . In December 2013, he said he would continue to make films, but only ones that were uniquely his, as opposed to generic ones "anybody could make". In 2013, Smith directed Tusk , a horror film inspired by a story Smith and Mosier read about
963-482: A drunk driver years prior. One day, while Elias and his friend Blockchain are trying to sell their new NFT kites, which contain an image of the Buddy Christ , Randal suffers a severe heart attack . Elias disavows Christianity and decides to become a Satanist after blaming his faith for Randal's heart attack. After the surgery, Randal's doctor urges Dante to keep Randal happy while he recovers and warns him that he
1070-552: A far ridere su un argomento talmente drammatico di cui si ride perché non c'è altra soluzione possibile, si ha quella che nei cabaret di Berlino degli Anni '20 veniva chiamata la "risata verde". È opportuno distinguere una satira ironica, che lavora per sottrazione, da una satira grottesca, che lavora per addizione. Questo secondo tipo di satira genera più spesso la risata verde. Ne erano maestri Kraus e Valentin. Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970)
1177-494: A leading man, did not fare as well as expected. It received a critical drubbing and earned only $ 2.2 million at the box office despite playing on more than 500 screens. Mallrats was more successful in the home video market. Widely hailed as Smith's best film, 1997's Chasing Amy marked what Quentin Tarantino called "a quantum leap forward" for Smith. Starring Mallrats alumni Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck ,
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#17330926033941284-484: A literal instance of gallows humour before going on to write: "The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure." Some other sociologists elaborated this concept further. At the same time, Paul Lewis warns that this "relieving" aspect of gallows jokes depends on
1391-616: A man who grasped things by reason and never by feeling, and who enclosed himself in skepticism; [...] Swift can rightfully be considered the inventor of "savage" or "gallows" humor. Des termes parents du Galgenhumor sont: : comédie noire, plaisanterie macabre, rire jaune. (J'en offre un autre: gibêtises). humour macabre, humeur de désespéré, (action de) rire jaune Galgenhumor propos guilleret etwas freie, gewagte Äußerung Walter Redfern, discussing puns about death, remarks: 'Related terms to gallows humour are: black comedy, sick humour, rire jaune. In all, pain and pleasure are mixed, perhaps
1498-540: A massive heart attack , enlists his friends and fellow clerks Dante Hicks , Elias Grover , and Jay and Silent Bob to make a movie about their lives at the Quick Stop Convenience store that started it all. The film had its world premiere on September 4, 2022, in Red Bank, New Jersey , before its release on September 13, by Lionsgate . With a production cost of $ 7 million, not including additional marketing costs,
1605-557: A mock sequel to Good Will Hunting . The $ 20 million film earned $ 30 million at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics. Jersey Girl , with Affleck, Liv Tyler , George Carlin, and Raquel Castro , Smith's first film outside the View Askewniverse, marked a new direction in Smith's career. The film took a critical beating as it was seen as, in Smith's own words, " Gigli 2 ", because it co-starred Affleck and his then girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez . Smith heavily reedited
1712-413: A mutual interest in comic books. On his 21st birthday, Smith saw Richard Linklater 's comedy Slacker . Impressed that Linklater set and shot the film in his hometown of Austin, Texas , rather than on a soundstage in a major city, Smith was inspired to become a filmmaker, and to set films where he lived. He has said: "It was the movie that got me off my ass; it was the movie that lit a fire under me,
1819-467: A pro- LGBT filmmaker, believing that sexuality is more fluid, with social taboos, not sexual desire, preventing more people from expressing bisexuality . Smith's fourth film, Dogma (1999), featured an all-star cast and was mired in controversy. A religious-themed comedy that starred a post- Good Will Hunting Ben Affleck and Matt Damon , as well as Chris Rock , Salma Hayek , George Carlin , Alan Rickman , Linda Fiorentino , and Lee and Mewes, it
1926-533: A retooling of their Anti-Claus film, which was initially canceled after the release of Krampus , due to the two stories' similarity. The film crew was mostly made up of students of the Ringling College of Art and Design , with shooting continuing over every semester break. In 2017, due to obstacles getting Clerks 3 or Mallrats 2 produced, Smith decided to write and direct a Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back sequel instead, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot . It
2033-852: A roadshow tour that began September 4, 2022, in Red Bank, New Jersey. It was released on September 13, 2022, by Lionsgate and Fathom Events . The film was previously scheduled for release in July 2022. The film had a limited release on September 16 in the United Kingdom. The film released digitally on October 14, 2022, and was released on 4K Ultra HD , Blu-ray and DVD on December 6, 2022. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , Clerks III has an approval rating of 63% based on 126 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: " Clerks III isn't even supposed to be here today – but this surprisingly emotional return to
2140-432: A separate series, Batman: Bellicosity , scheduled for 2016, but it remains unreleased. Also in 2010, Smith published a Green Hornet story for Dynamite Entertainment based on an unused script he wrote for a Green Hornet film that never came to fruition. In August 2011, Dynamite Entertainment debuted Smith's The Bionic Man , which was based on a 1998 script he wrote that Universal rejected for being "more like
2247-471: A series of Clerks comics . The first was Clerks: The Comic Book , which told of Randal's attempts to corner the market on Star Wars toys. The second was Clerks: Holiday Special , where Dante and Randal discover that Santa Claus lives in an apartment between the Quick Stop and RST Video. Third was Clerks: The Lost Scene , showing what happened inside Poston's Funeral Parlor. This story was later animated in
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#17330926033942354-406: A six-issue Batman miniseries, The Widening Gyre , for DC, drawn by Walt Flanagan. The series was initially planned as 12 issues, with a long break planned between issues six and seven. After issue six was published, Smith and Flanagan's work on their reality show, Comic Book Men , extended this planned break longer than expected. It was decided in the interim to release the remaining issues as
2461-475: A special Hollywood Babble-On episode, Hollywood Babble-On #000: GIANT SIZED ANNUAL # 1: CLERKS III, AUDIENCE 0 , in which he revealed greater details on his plans for Clerks III . Smith stated that an ongoing audit over residuals from Clerks II with The Weinstein Company (TWC) was causing a delay in several key Clerks III cast and crew members, including Anderson and Scott Mosier , from coming on board until
2568-1304: A spese di chi è più ricco e potente di te. Io sono specialista nella risata verde, quella dei cabaret di Berlino degli anni Venti e Trenta. Nasce dalla disperazione. Esempio: l'Italia è un paese dove la commissione di vigilanza parlamentare Rai si comporta come la commissione stragi e viceversa. Oppure: il mistero di Ustica è irrisolto? Sono contento: il sistema funziona. racconto di satira grottesca [...] L'obiettivo del grottesco è far percepire l'orrore di una vicenda. Non è la satira cui siamo abituati in Italia: la si ritrova nel cabaret degli anni '20 e '30, poi è stata cancellata dal carico di sofferenze della guerra. Aggiungo che io avevo spiegato in apertura di serata che ci sarebbero stati momenti di satira molto diversi. Satira ironica, che fa ridere, e satira grottesca, che può far male. Perché porta alla risata della disperazione, dell'impotenza. La risata verde. Era forte, perché coinvolgeva in un colpo solo tutti i cardini satirici: politica, religione, sesso e morte. Quello che ho fatto è stato accentuare l'interazione tra gli elementi. Non era di buon gusto? Rabelais e Swift, che hanno esplorato questi lati oscuri della nostra personalità, non si sono mai posti il problema del buon gusto. Quando la satira poi riesce
2675-421: A supporting role. Rather than cast actors, they decide to cast their friends and actual customers to play themselves. This includes Jay, Silent Bob, and Veronica, who agrees after a sexual encounter with Dante. Dante takes on the producer role and convinces his ex-fiancée Emma to loan the production $ 30,000, with Dante's half of the Quick Stop as collateral. Silent Bob is made the cinematographer, deciding to shoot
2782-672: A trailer was slated to debut in May. On May 28, 2022, Smith stated he viewed the first cut of the trailer and was set to release it during San Diego Comic-Con 2022, which would run from July 21–24. On June 29, 2022, Smith announced the trailer would instead drop online on July 6. The film is dedicated to Lisa Spoonauer , who played Caitlin Bree in the original Clerks and Clerks: The Animated Series . Spoonauer died in 2017. Clerks III had its world premiere on August 24, 2022, in Los Angeles , followed by
2889-427: Is also at risk. Randal decides he has wasted his life and needs a new purpose, declaring he will make a movie about his and Dante's lives at the Quick Stop. Becky's spirit appears to Dante, encouraging him to move on, and Dante briefly reconnects with his ex-girlfriend, Veronica. After a harrowing audition process, Randal decides he will not only write and direct but also star in the film as himself, alongside Dante in
2996-584: Is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob , characters who also appeared in Smith's later films Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Clerks II (2006), Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), and Clerks III (2022) which are set primarily in his home state of New Jersey . While not strictly sequential,
3103-620: Is an acknowledged coping mechanism. It has been encouraged within these professions to make note of the context in which these jokes are told, as outsiders may not react the way that those with mutual knowledge do. A 2017 study published in the journal Cognitive Processing concludes that people who appreciate dark humor "may have higher IQs, show lower aggression, and resist negative feelings more effectively than people who turn up their noses at it." Examples of black comedy in film include: Examples of black comedy in television include: Examples of gallows speeches include: Military life
3210-503: Is filming his upcoming movie The 4:30 , focused on a group of teenagers in the 1980s who spent a day "theatre-hopping", in Monmouth County , New Jersey. With the exception of Mallrats , all of Smith's films until 2008 were financed and/or distributed by Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob , via their companies Miramax , Dimension Films , and The Weinstein Company . In 2008 Smith's relationship with Harvey Weinstein soured due to
3317-450: Is fine, with people gouging their eyes out and shit like that, but you can't show two people having sex—that's too much. Smith took the film through the MPAA's appeals process and received an R rating without having to make any edits. Zack and Miri Make a Porno was considered a box-office "flop". It was hurt by "tepid media advertising for a movie with the title PORNO". In the aftermath of
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3424-429: Is full of gallows humor, as those in the services continuously live in the danger of being killed, especially in wartime. For example: Workers in the emergency services are also known for using black comedy: There are several titles such as It Only Hurts When I Laugh and Only When I Laugh , which allude to the punch line of a joke which exists in numerous versions since at least the 19th century. A typical setup
3531-414: Is generally considered taboo , particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. Thus, in fiction , for example, the term black comedy can also refer to a genre in which dark humor is a core component. Cartoonist Charles Addams
3638-439: Is that someone badly hurt is asked "Does it hurt?" – "I am fine; it only hurts when I laugh." The term was part of the language before Freud wrote an essay on it—'gallows humor.' This is middle European humor, a response to hopeless situations. It's what a man says faced with a perfectly hopeless situation and he still manages to say something funny. Freud gives examples: A man being led out to be hanged at dawn says, 'Well,
3745-414: Is the fucking grand news. Tusk was the absolute bridge to Clerks III . Because of Tusk , I got my financing for Clerks III . A year and change ago, I was trying to fucking desperately get Clerks III made for the 20th anniversary. And that desperation, I must have reeked of it, because I couldn't fucking find money and shit. But it was Tusk , it was people going 'Holy fuck! What else do you have?' And I
3852-514: Is tied up with the man", adding: "No fucking movie is worth all this." He lamented that in addition to working with Weinstein, "I sat out there talking about this man like he was a hero, like he was my friend, like he was my father." He pledged to donate all his future residuals from his Weinstein-produced films to the nonprofit organization Women in Film , which advocates for the inclusion of more women in film production. Smith later announced that, due to
3959-562: The True North trilogy . He has served as a director-for-hire for material he did not write, including the buddy cop action comedy Cop Out (2010) and various television series episodes, creating Masters of the Universe: Revelation in 2021. Smith owns Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey , a comic book store which became the setting for the reality television show Comic Book Men (2012–2018). He hosted
4066-567: The Clerks II DVD, to which Jeff Anderson jokingly replied, "Oh, don't get me started", referring to Anderson's well known doubts about making Clerks II when first approached by Smith. On March 29, 2012, Smith expressed his interest in producing Clerks III as a Broadway play after seeing the Theresa Rebeck comedy Seminar starring Alan Rickman , with whom Smith had previously worked on Dogma . On December 10, 2012, Smith released
4173-467: The Clerks III script from scratch, doing away with the original planned storyline. Smith later reflected that the original script strayed too far from the original Clerks , noting it was written by "a guy who didn't know a thing about death" and he was ultimately glad it was never made. Smith later reused the original opening scene, featuring Jay and Silent Bob getting arrested (alongside Dante and Randal in
4280-498: The View Askewniverse . In 1998, Smith shot two TV commercials for Coca-Cola in New Jersey. In 2000, Smith and Mosier teamed up with television writer David Mandel to develop an animated television show based on Clerks called Clerks: The Animated Series . Only the first two episodes aired, on ABC in May 2000, before the series was canceled due to poor ratings. The six produced episodes were released on DVD in 2001. During
4387-509: The Westboro Baptist Church and its pastor, Fred Phelps . Weinstein and his brother Bob , who had been involved in the distribution of Smith's films except Mallrats and Cop Out , declined to support Red State . The film stars Michael Parks , John Goodman and Melissa Leo . Smith had said he would auction off rights to the $ 4 million film at a controversial event following its debut screening at Sundance but instead kept
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4494-655: The grotesque genre. Literary critics have associated black comedy and black humour with authors as early as the ancient Greeks with Aristophanes . The term black humour (from the French humour noir ) was coined by the Surrealist theorist André Breton in 1935 while interpreting the writings of Jonathan Swift . Breton's preference was to identify some of Swift's writings as a subgenre of comedy and satire in which laughter arises from cynicism and skepticism , often relying on topics such as death. Breton coined
4601-465: The $ 250,000 film earned $ 12 million at the box office, wound up on a number of critics' year-end best lists, and won two Independent Spirit Awards (for Screenplay and Supporting Actor for Lee). The film received some criticism from members of the lesbian community, who felt that it reinforced the perception that lesbians merely need to find the right man. Smith, whose brother Donald is gay , found this accusation frustrating, as he has endeavored to be
4708-506: The $ 30,000 she loaned Dante, lest she assume his half of ownership of the store. Blockchain arrives and excitedly reveals that the NFT kites sold out immediately, yielding a profit of a million dollars. Elias, who has become Randal's best friend in Dante's place, pays Emma back. As Blockchain, Jay, and Silent Bob go outside to fly one of the NFT kites, Randal is unknowingly joined by Dante's spirit. During
4815-519: The MPAA. At an appeals screening, a jury of members of the National Association of Theatre Owners reversed the MPAA's decision, and the film was given an R rating. The movie had a profound effect on the independent film community. According to producer and author John Pierson , it is considered one of the two most influential film debuts in the 1990s, along with The Brothers McMullen . Smith's second film, Mallrats , Jason Lee 's debut as
4922-929: The Orbit Dirtiest Mouth Award at the MTV Movie Awards ). It marked Smith's third trip to the Cannes International Film Festival, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation. The $ 5 million film, starring Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Rosario Dawson , Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach and Smith reprising his role as Silent Bob, earned $ 25 million. Zack and Miri Make a Porno was originally announced in March 2006 as Smith's second non-Askewniverse film. The film began shooting on January 18, 2008, in Monroeville, Pennsylvania , and wrapped on March 15, 2008. It stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as
5029-637: The Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critics' Week Prize. Released in October 1994 in two cities, the film went on to play in 50 markets, never playing on more than 50 screens at any given time. Despite the limited release, it was a critical and financial success, earning $ 3.1 million. Initially, the film received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA for sexually graphic language. Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz to sue
5136-408: The Quick Stop wraps up the trilogy in fan-pleasing fashion." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Black comedy Black comedy , also known as black humor , bleak comedy , dark comedy , dark humor , gallows humor or morbid humor , is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that
5243-576: The SModcast , on September 29, 2009. A lifelong comic book fan, Smith's early forays into comic books dealt with previously established View Askew characters, and were published by Oni Press . He wrote a short Jay and Silent Bob story about Walt Flanagan's dog in Oni Double Feature No. 1, and followed it with a Bluntman and Chronic story in Oni Double Feature #12. He followed these with
5350-495: The TV series style and included as an extra on the 10th Anniversary Clerks DVD. Smith wrote the miniseries Chasing Dogma , which tells the story of Jay and Silent Bob between the films Chasing Amy and Dogma . He has written the trade paperback Bluntman and Chronic , published by Image , which purports to be a collection of the three issues of the series done by Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards (of Chasing Amy ). It includes
5457-475: The audit was resolved. Smith also revealed that he would like to crowdfund Clerks III , either through Kickstarter or Indiegogo , with contributors receiving anything from DVDs, posters, and even roles as extras in the film. On June 5, 2013, he changed his mind on crowdsourcing, stating "I've got access to money. And worst-case scenario, I can put up my house." Smith worked on a script for Clerks III from March to May 2013, stating when he completed it that it
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#17330926033945564-485: The beginning—a return to the cradle of civilization in the great state of #newjersey. It'll be a movie that stars Jeff and @briancohalloran, with me and Jay in supporting roles. And it'll be a movie called CLERKS III! The new script follows Randal, after surviving a heart attack, and Dante making a movie about their lives at the store, a plot initially conceived as a film adaptation of Clerks: The Animated Series titled Clerks: Sell Out . In January 2021, Smith announced
5671-454: The context of the joke: whether the joke is being told by the threatened person themselves or by someone else. Black comedy has the social effect of strengthening the morale of the oppressed and undermines the morale of the oppressors. According to Wylie Sypher , "to be able to laugh at evil and error means we have surmounted them." Black comedy is a natural human instinct and examples of it can be found in stories from antiquity. Its use
5778-615: The course, figuring he knew enough to proceed and wanting to save money for his first film. Smith moved back to New Jersey and got his old job back at a convenience store in Leonardo . He decided to set his film, Clerks , at the store, borrowing the a-day-in-the-life structure from the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing . Smith maxed out more than a dozen credit cards, and sold his much-treasured comic book collection, to raise $ 27,575 to make
5885-607: The credits, director Kevin Smith thanks the audience for watching the movie before reading some narration he cut from the final scene, where it is revealed that Randal continued to make movies until the age of 90, while still working at the Quick Stop. Additionally, Fred Armisen , Sarah Michelle Gellar , Freddie Prinze Jr. , Bobby Moynihan , Melissa Benoist , Chris Wood , Anthony Michael Hall , Danny Trejo , Ralph Garman , and Impractical Jokers ' Brian Quinn , Sal Vulcano , James Murray , and Joe Gatto all appear as actors auditioning for Inconvenience . Various customers from
5992-499: The day is certainly starting well.' It's generally called Jewish humor in this country. Actually it's humor from the peasants' revolt, the forty years' war, and from the Napoleonic wars. It's small people being pushed this way and that way, enormous armies and plagues and so forth, and still hanging on in the face of hopelessness. Jewish jokes are middle European jokes and the black humorists are gallows humorists, as they try to be funny in
6099-449: The declining appeal of his earlier films, the residuals from Weinstein-funded films may be lower than expected; he decided that he would instead donate $ 2,000 a month to Women in Film. Smith regularly casts the same actors in his film projects. Jason Mewes has been in nine of his films, his wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith in eight and Ben Affleck in seven. In 1997, New Line Cinema hired Smith to rewrite Overnight Delivery , which
6206-890: The definitive recipe for all punning' (Puns, p. 127). En français on dit « rire jaune », en flamand « groen lachen » Les termes jaune, vert, bleu évoquent en français un certain nombre d'idées qui sont différentes de celles que suscitent les mots holandais correspondants geel, groen, blauw. Nous disons : rire jaune, le Hollandais dit : rire vert ( groen lachen ); ce que le Néerlandais appelle un vert (een groentje), c'est ce qu'en français on désigne du nom de bleu (un jeune soldat inexpéribenté)... On voit que des confrontations de ce genre permettent de concevoir une étude de la psychologie des peuples fondée sur les associations d'idées que révèlent les variations de sens (sémantique), les expressions figurées, les proverbes et les dictions. Q: Critiche feroci, interrogazioni parlamentari: momenti duri per la satira. A: Satira è far ridere
6313-399: The face of situations which they see as just horrible. At least, Swift's text is preserved, and so is a prefatory note by the French writer André Breton, which emphasizes Swift's importance as the originator of black humor, of laughter that arises from cynicism and scepticism. When it comes to black humor, everything designates him as the true initiator. In fact, it is impossible to coordinate
6420-462: The film bombed, making a total of $ 4.7 million at the box office. Fifteen years after Dante and Randal bought the Quick Stop convenience store , the pair's lives continue much as before, including hockey games on the roof and hanging out with Jay and Silent Bob, who have taken over the former RST Video and turned it into a legal marijuana dispensary . Dante is still grieving over the deaths of Becky and their unborn daughter Grace after they were hit by
6527-526: The film business, and Smith's personal life. His second book, My Boring-Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith , published by Titan Books , was another collection of previously published essays (this time blogs from Smith's website silentbobspeaks.com) and reached No. 32 on The New York Times Best Sellers List. Titan released Smith's third book, Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith: The Best of
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#17330926033946634-489: The film review TV show Spoilers . As a podcaster, Smith cohosts several shows on his SModcast Podcast Network , including SModcast , Fatman Beyond , and the live show Hollywood Babble-On . He is known for participating in long, humorous Q&A sessions that are often filmed for DVD release, beginning with An Evening with Kevin Smith . Kevin Patrick Smith was born on August 2, 1970, in Red Bank, New Jersey ,
6741-521: The film to reduce Lopez's role to just a few scenes, but the film did poorly at the box office. Budgeted at $ 35 million, it earned $ 36 million. In the 2006 sequel Clerks II , Smith revisited the Dante and Randal characters from his first film. Roundly criticized before its release, the film won favorable reviews as well as two awards (the Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival and
6848-629: The film's performance, Smith's and Weinstein's business relationship became "frayed". Zack and Miri opened #2 behind High School Musical 3: Senior Year with $ 10,682,000 from 2,735 theaters, an average of $ 3,906. The "bankable" Rogen experienced his "worst box-office opening ever". In an interview with Katla McGlynn of the Huffington Post , Smith said: I was depressed, man. I wanted that movie to do so much better. I'm sitting there thinking 'That's it, that's it, I'm gone, I'm out. The movie didn't do well and I killed Seth Rogen's career! This dude
6955-611: The film, while saving money by casting friends and acquaintances in most roles. Clerks was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it won the Filmmaker's Trophy. At a restaurant following the screening, Miramax executive Harvey Weinstein invited Smith to join him at his table, where he offered to buy the film. In May 1994, it went to the Cannes International Film Festival , where it won both
7062-408: The film. On October 1, 2019, Smith confirmed on Instagram that Clerks III was happening and that Jeff Anderson agreed to reprise his role as Randal. It'll be a movie that concludes a saga. It'll be a movie about how you're never too old to completely change your life. It'll be a movie about how a decades-spanning friendship finally confronts the future. It'll be a movie that brings us back to
7169-491: The films have crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon known as the " View Askewniverse ", named after Smith's production company View Askew Productions , which he co-founded with Scott Mosier . Since 2011, Smith has mostly made horror films, including Red State (2011) and the comedy horror films Tusk (2014) and Yoga Hosers (2016), two in a planned series of three such films set in Canada dubbed
7276-467: The financial failure of Zack and Miri Make a Porno , which Smith blamed on a lack of marketing. Nonetheless, they continued to discuss potential funding for other Smith projects, and The Weinstein Company co-produced Smith's 2016 talk show Geeking Out . Smith named the independent production company he created for the 2011 film Red State "The Harvey Boys" in Weinstein's honor. Smith is considered one of
7383-408: The first American writers who employed black comedy in their works were Nathanael West and Vladimir Nabokov . The concept of black humor first came to nationwide attention after the publication of a 1965 mass-market paperback titled Black Humor , edited by Bruce Jay Friedman . The paperback was one of the first American anthologies devoted to the concept of black humor as a literary genre. With
7490-540: The fugitive traces of this kind of humor before him, not even in Heraclitus and the Cynics or in the works of Elizabethan dramatic poets. [...] historically justify his being presented as the first black humorist. Contrary to what Voltaire might have said, Swift was in no sense a "perfected Rabelais." He shared to the smallest possible degree Rabelais's taste for innocent, heavy-handed jokes and his constant drunken good humor. [...]
7597-431: The limited series Batman: Cacophony , with art by friend Walt Flanagan , which ran from November 2008 to January 2009. The series featured the villains Onomatopoeia (a character created by Smith during his run at Green Arrow), The Joker , Maxie Zeus , and Victor Zsasz . The trade paperback of Batman: Cacophony became a New York Times Bestseller in their Hardcover Graphic Books section. In 2010, Smith wrote
7704-456: The mid-1990s, Smith directed and starred in a series of commercials for MTV, alongside Jason Mewes , in which they reprised their roles as Jay and Silent Bob . In 1998, he directed Mewes as "Gary Lamb – Ground Activist" in a series of Nike commercials. That same year, he shot commercials for Diet Coke. Two years later, he directed Star Wars toy commercials for Hasbro. He has directed and starred in commercials for Panasonic . In 2004, he shot
7811-480: The miniseries until the films were completed. He was announced as the writer of an ongoing Black Cat series and The Amazing Spider-Man in 2002, but because of the delays on Evil That Men Do and The Target , the plan was changed so that Smith would start a third Spider-Man title, launched in 2004 by Mark Millar instead. Spider-Man/Black Cat was completed in 2005, but Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target remains unfinished, with one issue published. Smith wrote
7918-400: The movie and sneaks back into the hospital with Jay and Silent Bob's help. He shows Dante the finished film, which he has re-edited so that Dante is the main character, declaring that the story was always about him. Dante watches the film with the spirit of Becky, touched by his friend's effort, before he peacefully dies. Sometime after Dante's funeral, Emma arrives at the Quick Stop to collect
8025-417: The movie in black-and-white, while Elias and Blockchain are hired as production assistants . As the shoot for the tentatively-titled Inconvenience continues, Dante grows exasperated with Randal's micromanagement, and is especially hurt by the fact that he is only a minor character in the script. After Randal tries to recreate the donkey show that took place at Mooby's, Dante has a panic attack and leaves
8132-418: The movie that made me think, 'Hey, I could be a filmmaker.' And I had never seen a movie like that before ever in my life." He assembled a library of independent filmmakers like Linklater, Jim Jarmusch , Spike Lee and Hal Hartley to draw from. Smith attended Vancouver Film School for four months, where he met longtime collaborators Scott Mosier and Dave Klein . Unlike them, Smith left halfway through
8239-464: The original Clerks reprise their roles for Inconvenience . Other View Askew alumni cameos include John Willyung reprising his role as Cohee Lundin from Chasing Amy , as well as Scott Mosier and Ethan Suplee each reprising their role of Willam Black from Clerks and Mallrats . Smith's mother Grace, who played the Milk Maid in previous Clerks films, appears as an auditioner who is offended by
8346-541: The original Clerks III script) for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot . In July 2019, Smith announced that he would do a live reading of the original, now-aborted Clerks III script at the First Avenue Playhouse in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey . The reading was held on August 3, 2019. That same month, Smith revealed at San Diego Comic Con that he was writing a new script for Clerks III and promised to make
8453-522: The paperback, Friedman labeled as "black humorists" a variety of authors, such as J. P. Donleavy , Edward Albee , Joseph Heller , Thomas Pynchon , John Barth , Vladimir Nabokov, Bruce Jay Friedman himself, and Louis-Ferdinand Céline . Among the recent writers suggested as black humorists by journalists and literary critics are Roald Dahl , Kurt Vonnegut , Warren Zevon , Christopher Durang , Philip Roth , and Veikko Huovinen . Evelyn Waugh has been called "the first contemporary writer to produce
8560-691: The particular type of laughter that it arouses ( risata verde or groen lachen ), and said that grotesque satire , as opposed to ironic satire, is the one that most often arouses this kind of laughter. In the Weimar era Kabaretts , this genre was particularly common, and according to Luttazzi, Karl Valentin and Karl Kraus were the major masters of it. Black comedy is common in professions and environments where workers routinely have to deal with dark subject matter. This includes police officers , firefighters , ambulance crews, military personnel, journalists, lawyers, and funeral directors , where it
8667-413: The possibility of a Clerks III . Stating that "if there's ever gonna be a Clerks III , it would be somewhere down the road in my 40s or 50s, when it might be interesting to check back in on Dante and Randal. But I don't know about Jay and Bob so much, 'cause at 45, leaning on a wall in front of a convenience store might be a little sad." Smith repeated this sentiment on one of the audio commentary tracks on
8774-485: The rights to the film himself and self-distributed it under the SModcast Pictures banner. The January 2011 premiere drew protests from a half-dozen members of the church, along with many more who counter-protested Westboro members. Smith explained his decision as a way to return to an era when marketing a film did not cost four times as much as the film itself, a situation he called "decadent and deadening". Red State
8881-487: The screenplay and declares the screenwriter's mother should be ashamed of them. Marilyn Ghigliotti and Jennifer Schwalbach Smith reprise their roles as Dante's ex-girlfriends in Clerks and Clerks II , respectively. Jake Richardson and Ethan Suplee , each played an auditioner for Inconvenience , had formerly appeared in Clerks II as teenager drug customers. During press for Clerks II , Kevin Smith briefly discussed
8988-451: The script was complete. In July 2021, Lionsgate obtained the rights to produce and distribute the film, while also confirming Rosario Dawson and Trevor Fehrman would reprise their roles of Becky Scott and Elias Grover from Clerks II respectively. Principal photography began on August 2, 2021, in Red Bank, New Jersey . Filming wrapped on August 31, 2021. Post-production was completed on February 13, 2022, with Smith announcing
9095-493: The set because the location reminds him of Becky. Later, a drunk Dante finally confronts Randal for never respecting him or acknowledging his support over the years, and for forcing him to relive the loss of his wife and child. Suddenly, he collapses, suffering a heart attack as well. When Randal decides to leave Dante at the hospital to continue work on the movie, Elias lambastes him for his selfishness and reveals Dante's deal with Emma. Consumed with guilt, Randal finishes editing
9202-633: The son of Grace (née Schultz), a homemaker, and Donald E. Smith (1936–2003), a postal worker . He has two siblings: an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Jr. He was raised in a Catholic household in the nearby clamming town of Highlands . Smith's childhood was scheduled around his father's late shifts at the post office. His father grew to despise his job, which greatly influenced Smith, who remembers his father finding it difficult on some days to get up and go to work. Smith vowed never to work at something that he did not enjoy. Smith attended Henry Hudson Regional High School , where he
9309-538: The sustained black comic novel." The motive for applying the label black humorist to the writers cited above is that they have written novels, poems, stories, plays, and songs in which profound or horrific events were portrayed in a comic manner. Comedians like Lenny Bruce , who since the late 1950s have been labeled as using " sick comedy " by mainstream journalists, have also been labeled with "black comedy". Sigmund Freud , in his 1927 essay Humour ( Der Humor ), although not mentioning 'black humour' specifically, cites
9416-439: The term for his 1940 book Anthology of Black Humor ( Anthologie de l'humour noir ), in which he credited Jonathan Swift as the originator of black humor and gallows humor (particularly in his pieces Directions to Servants (1731), A Modest Proposal (1729), Meditation Upon a Broomstick (1710), and in a few aphorisms ). In his book, Breton also included excerpts from 45 other writers, including both examples in which
9523-405: The theater. In July 2013, Jason Mewes stated that they were now just waiting to hear back from TWC about funding. On September 26, 2014, Smith stated on his Hollywood Babble-On podcast that he was glad that he made Tusk , so he could go on to make Clerks III : Everything in my life would suck right now if I hadn't made that movie. I'm back in movies now. I've got three lined up, and this
9630-452: The third film in his True North trilogy. Smith wrote and directed one segment, Halloween , of the 2016 horror anthology film Holidays , in which each segment takes place during a different holiday. In June 2017, Smith started shooting KillRoy Was Here , a horror film based on the graffiti phenomenon . Directed by Smith, the script was co-written with Andrew McElfresh, marking the first time he shared writing credit. It represents
9737-419: The title characters who decide to make a low-budget pornographic film to solve their money problems. It was released on October 31, 2008, and ran into many conflicts getting an "R" rating. Rogen said: It's a really filthy movie. I hear they are having some problems getting an R rating from an NC-17 rating, which is never good. They [fight against] sex stuff. Isn't that weird? It's really crazy to me that Hostel
9844-403: The wit arises from a victim with which the audience empathizes, as is more typical in the tradition of gallows humor, and examples in which the comedy is used to mock the victim. In the last cases, the victim's suffering is trivialized, which leads to sympathizing with the victimizer, as analogously found in the social commentary and social criticism of the writings of (for instance) Sade . Among
9951-473: The writer-directors whose career Weinstein nurtured, a group that also includes Quentin Tarantino and David O. Russell . Smith severed professional ties with Weinstein when he was informed of his assault on Rose McGowan. Soon after allegations of rape and sexual assault by Weinstein publicly surfaced in October 2017, Smith said on Twitter that he was "ashamed" of his relationship with Weinstein. On his Hollywood Babble-On podcast, he said: "My entire career
10058-402: Was " The Empire Strikes Back " of the series. This script featured a story about Randal having a nervous breakdown after the Quick Stop is destroyed during Hurricane Sandy , and trying to manage it by getting in line for a film called Ranger Danger a year before it opens. Randal would have gained a small cult following and set up his own miniature Quick Stop, only for there to be a shooting at
10165-459: Was a B and C student, videotaped basketball games, and produced Saturday Night Live -style sketch comedy . An overweight teen, he developed into a comedic observer of life to socialize with friends and girls. After high school, Smith attended The New School in New York City, but did not graduate. Smith met Jason Mewes while working at a youth center; they became friends after discovering
10272-430: Was a box office bomb, earning just $ 1,104,682, and opened to poor reviews; the critical consensus (according to Rotten Tomatoes ) was " Red State is an audacious and brash affair that ultimately fails to provide competent scares or thrills." In April 2011, Smith said that Red State had made its budget back by making $ 1 million on the first leg of the tour, $ 1.5 million from a handful of foreign sales and $ 3 million from
10379-545: Was criticized by the Catholic League . The film debuted at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival , out of competition. Released on 800 screens in November 1999, the $ 10 million film earned $ 30 million. Smith then focused the spotlight on the two characters who had appeared in supporting roles in his previous four films. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back featured an all-star cast, with many familiar faces returning from those four films. Affleck and Damon appear as themselves filming
10486-512: Was expected to be a blockbuster teen film. Smith's then-girlfriend Joey Lauren Adams almost took the role of Ivy in the movie, instead of the female lead in Chasing Amy . Eventually, she lost out to Reese Witherspoon , and Overnight Delivery was quietly released directly to video in April 1998. Smith was not credited for his contributions. He has said that the only scene that really used his dialogue
10593-611: Was famous for such humor, e.g. depicting a boy decorating his bedroom with stolen warning signs including "NO DIVING – POOL EMPTY", "STOP – BRIDGE OUT" and "SPRING CONDEMNED." Black comedy differs from both blue comedy —which focuses more on crude topics such as nudity , sex , and body fluids —and from straightforward obscenity . Whereas the term black comedy is a relatively broad term covering humour relating to many serious subjects, gallows humor tends to be used more specifically in relation to death, or situations that are reminiscent of dying. Black humour can occasionally be related to
10700-449: Was like, Clerks III , done. So, everybody that's like, 'He failed, he failed,' thank you - I failed into Clerks III . So, never trust anybody when they tell you how your story goes, man. You know your story. You write your own story. Filming was initially scheduled for in May 2015, but the production was put on hold to film another sequel, Mallrats 2 . However, by June 2016, the plans for a Mallrats sequel had been turned into plans for
10807-453: Was on a roll until he got in with the likes of me. I'm a career killer! Judd [Apatow]'s going to be pissed, the whole Internet's going to be pissed because they all like Seth, and the only reason they like me anymore is because I was involved with Seth! And now I fuckin' ruined that. It was like high school. I was like, 'I'm a dead man. I'll be the laughing stock.' It was announced in 2009 that Smith had signed on to direct A Couple of Dicks ,
10914-408: Was released in 2016. It stars Smith's daughter, Harley Quinn Smith , and Lily-Rose Depp , reprising their two minor characters from Tusk , with Johnny Depp playing his inspector character from the earlier film. Smith revealed at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con that he had written the script for a film called Moose Jaws , which he described as " Jaws with a moose", and which is planned to be
11021-480: Was released on February 26, 2010, to poor reviews; it was the first film Smith directed but did not write. Cop Out opened at number two at the box office and was mired in controversy, mostly over reported conflicts on the set between Smith and Willis. It was the last time Smith worked with a major studio, leading him to return to his independent film roots. In September 2010, Smith started work on Red State , an independently financed horror film loosely inspired by
11128-458: Was scheduled to be filmed in September 2017, but shooting was postponed to February and March 2019. The first trailer for the film was released on July 18, 2019. Smith announced a tour to accompany the film. On October 1, 2019, Smith announced on Instagram that Clerks III was happening and that Jeff Anderson , who had retired, had agreed to reprise his role as Randal. The film released on September 13, 2022. As of August 2023 , Smith
11235-457: Was six issues long, but problems arose when the third issue was published two months after the initially scheduled release date. As a result, the final issues were delayed for at least three years, prompting Marvel to release an "in case you missed it" reprinting of the first three issues as one book before the remaining issues were released. The delay in part was due to Smith's work on Jersey Girl and Clerks II , causing him to shelve completion of
11342-406: Was the opening scene, which includes a reference to longtime Smith friend Bryan Johnson . Smith was an uncredited screenwriter on the 2000 comedy-drama film Coyote Ugly . Smith has been a regular contributor to Arena magazine. In 2005, Miramax Books released Smith's first book, Silent Bob Speaks , a collection of previously published essays (most from Arena ) dissecting pop culture,
11449-648: Was widespread in middle Europe , from where it was imported to the United States. It is rendered with the German expression Galgenhumor (cynical last words before getting hanged ). The concept of gallows humor is comparable to the French expression rire jaune (lit. yellow laughing ), which also has a Germanic equivalent in the Belgian Dutch expression groen lachen (lit. green laughing ). Italian comedian Daniele Luttazzi discussed gallows humour focusing on
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