Dogma 25th Anniversary: An Interview with Kevin Smith

Summary

Last Podcast on the Left Episode: Dogma 25th Anniversary: An Interview with Kevin Smith Release Date: June 27, 2025

---

Introduction

In this special 25th-anniversary episode of "Last Podcast on the Left," hosts Marcus Parks, Ben Kissel, and Henry Zabrowski sit down with legendary filmmaker Kevin Smith to celebrate and delve deep into his seminal work, "Dogma." The conversation navigates through Kevin Smith's influential career, the enduring legacy of "Dogma," and his ongoing creative endeavors.

---

Kevin Smith's Career and Influence

Ben Kissel opens the discussion by emphasizing Kevin Smith's pivotal role in the DIY filmmaking movement:

Ben Kissel [03:10]: "We have the massive honor of talking to somebody who was so incredibly influential to all of us growing up. To the founding of Last Podcast Network and to the entire DIY aesthetic that we approach our entire lives."

Kevin Smith reflects on his early inspirations:

Kevin Smith [03:35]: "It was something about watching just some fat guy from Jersey that went... and he just made it work. There was something as a high schooler, watching him and his buddies go and make a whole world of art and entertainment that was very inspirational."

---

Development and Re-release of "Dogma"

Celebrating the anniversary, Marcus Parks shares his excitement about "Dogma's" re-release:

Marcus Parks [04:17]: "It's in theaters around the country right now, so definitely go out and check it out."

Kevin Smith discusses the experience of watching his own film multiple times:

Kevin Smith [04:19]: "I got to see it in a theater, and it did kind of feel like you were reeling back the years a little bit, because it's deeply inappropriate and it's wonderful. They don't make them like that anymore."

---

Impact of "Dogma" on Audiences and Faith

Marcus Parks explores the diverse reactions "Dogma" has elicited from audiences over the years:

Marcus Parks [32:19]: "It's crazy how the movie affects people in both directions. For some, it reconnects them with their faith, while for others, it helps them step away from the church."

Kevin Smith shares personal insights on how faith influenced the creation of "Dogma":

Kevin Smith [36:36]: "I started writing Dogma when I was 22... It was shaped by my life experience, my childhood, my pop culture intake, my thoughts, feelings about faith."

A heartfelt moment occurs when Marcus Parks recounts his near-death experience and its impact on his faith:

Marcus Parks [36:59]: "I realized, like, if I start praying and there is a God, he's gonna be like, you made Dogma fuck. So I opted not to pray in that moment."

---

The Cast of "Dogma" and Jason Mewes

Ben Kissel praises the ensemble cast, highlighting Jason Mewes' standout performance:

Ben Kissel [52:12]: "We had an incredible cast, including George Carlin, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Jason Mewes."

Marcus Parks elaborates on Jason Mewes' chemistry with seasoned actors:

Marcus Parks [52:32]: "Every night that I watched the movie, Jason stole the show. He was at his strongest and absolutely magical in his performance."

A memorable interaction between Jason Mewes and Alan Rickman is recounted:

Marcus Parks [61:08]: "One of the weirdest things I saw on set was Alan Rickman and Jason Mewes deeply engaged in conversation on the steps of the church. It was surreal."

---

Future Projects: "Dogma" Sequel and "Moose Jaws"

Kevin Smith shares his excitement about the upcoming "Dogma" sequel, now infused with decades of life experience:

Kevin Smith [39:53]: "I've been writing a Dogma sequel, fed by a lifetime of experience, including almost dying and losing my mind."

Marcus Parks introduces the new project "Moose Jaws", a continuation of the "Dogma" universe with a horror twist:

Marcus Parks [90:07]: "Moose Jaws is coming. If you loved Tusk, the story continues in Moose Jaws."

The hosts express their enthusiasm for these upcoming films, anticipating their impact on the horror and indie film communities.

---

Reflections on Podcasting and the Modern Era

Kevin Smith and the hosts discuss the evolution of podcasting, emphasizing its role in fostering community and creative expression:

Kevin Smith [11:26]: "Podcasting has become our modern-day congregation, where we can talk about the things we love and connect with our audience."

Marcus Parks highlights how the current DIY generation has mastered both creation and monetization:

Marcus Parks [12:56]: "The DIY generation now is much smarter about the business aspect. They understand how to monetize and build their own studio systems without relying on traditional studios."

---

Personal Anecdotes and Life Stories

Throughout the interview, Marcus Parks shares personal stories, including his experiences of nearly losing everything in a fire and how it led him to rediscover his passion for collecting memorabilia:

Marcus Parks [87:22]: "After the fire, I started collecting Rocky and Bullwinkle items obsessively, turning a traumatic experience into a creative outlet."

Kevi Smith adds humor and depth to the conversation, discussing his relationship with his family and creative processes.

---

Closing Remarks

As the interview wraps up, both hosts and Kevin Smith express gratitude and excitement for future collaborations and projects. They encourage listeners to engage with "Dogma's" re-release and upcoming film ventures, celebrating the enduring legacy of Kevin Smith's work.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Kevin Smith [03:35]: "Watching him just made it work. There was something inspirational about the way he created art without connections."

• Marcus Parks [36:59]: "If I start praying and there is a God, he's gonna be like, you made Dogma fuck. So I opted not to pray in that moment."

• Ben Kissel [52:12]: "We had an incredible cast... Jason Mewes stole the show."

---

This episode offers a profound look into Kevin Smith's journey, the significance of "Dogma," and the evolving landscape of independent filmmaking and podcasting. It's a must-listen for fans of horror, indie films, and those inspired by the DIY spirit.

Transcript

[Kevin Smith]

What if you could turn your curiosity for true crime into a degree at Southern New Hampshire University? You can. Southern New Hampshire University offers over 200 degrees you can earn completely online, including subjects like forensic psychology, criminology and crime analysis. And with low online tuition, Southern New Hampshire University makes earning your degree affordable, flexible, and achievable. Find your degree at snhu. Edu lastpodcast. That's Snhu. Edu lastpodcast. There's a new psychological thriller from Audible you've gotta check out. Sacrilege Curse of the Mabirwi. It stars Caleb McLaughlin from Stranger Things, was written and directed by Nyasha Hatendi, and it's presented in spectacular Dolby atmos. Here's the setup. The Wallace family's vacation at a luxury game reserve in Zimbabwe unravels when DeShawn Wallace, played by McLaughlin, unwittingly desecrates hollowed ground and unleashes the Mabirwi, a vengeful entity born from centuries of colonial oppression. Listen to Sacrilege Curse of the Mabirwi by going to audible.com sacrilege.

[Marcus Parks]

There's no place to escape to. This is the last podcast on the left.

[Kevin Smith]

That's when the cannibalism started.

[Marcus Parks]

What was that?

[Kevin Smith]

It's so nice to meet your hero. Yeah, like, you know, like. Because very rarely do you meet a hero that's like, awesome.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah, I'd rather eat a hero, obviously.

[Ben Kissel]

Welcome to the last podcast on the left. My name is Marcus Parks. I'm here with the satisfied Henry Zabrowski.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, no, I'm deeply unsatisfied Henry Zabrowski.

[Ben Kissel]

But you're satisfied with what this show is about.

[Marcus Parks]

1. This episode.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Okay.

[Kevin Smith]

But I'm satisfied with what we did in the conversation we had and who we had it with.

[Ben Kissel]

Indeed.

[Henry Zabrowski]

But in general, you'll never be satisfied.

[Kevin Smith]

Filled with rage.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Henry Zabrowski]

No matter how good things get.

[Marcus Parks]

Couldn't.

[Kevin Smith]

Honestly, the better things get, the more angry I get. It's wild. It's pretty amazing.

[Ben Kissel]

We have. Man, it's always got sandwiches on the brain. Ed Larson.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Oh, my God. I had Jersey Mike's for the first time in a couple months yesterday.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I swear to God, I went in there and they're like, ed, you know what?

[Kevin Smith]

The doctor gave you a release.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I had no. I. I shared a wheat turkey with Julie.

[Kevin Smith]

God, how far we have fallen.

[Marcus Parks]

Wow.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Here's the good point. I hadn't been there in so long. I didn't realize. Still had a ton of Jersey Mike's points. Got that for free.

[Marcus Parks]

Wow.

[Kevin Smith]

You're making money, dude.

[Marcus Parks]

Why do.

[Kevin Smith]

You should have told Kevin Smith that. That you had Jersey Mike's money sitting in your fucking.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I don't want him shaking me down.

[Ben Kissel]

And Henry, let the cat out of the bag. If you. And that's also if you haven't looked at the episode description today.

[Kevin Smith]

I always blindly click the episode today.

[Ben Kissel]

That we had the massive, massive honor of talking to somebody who was so incredibly influential to all of us growing up. So incredibly influential. To the founding of Last Podcast Network and to the entire DIY aesthetic that we approach our entire lives. We were able to sit down for an hour and a half with Kevin Smith.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah, man. This dude taught me how to be dirty.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, dude. It was something about watching just some fat guy from Jersey that went. And it was like he didn't have, like, the training that we like you want to have or the connections you want to have. And he just made it work. And there was. There was something as a high schooler, watching him and his buddies.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Kevin Smith]

Go and make a whole world of art and entertainment that obviously was very inspirational.

[Henry Zabrowski]

You know, he should not be successful. No, he really is.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah. Yeah. Against all odds. And that. That's the type of person we left here at Last Podcast. So let's just get into it, man. Like, without further ado, let's hear this wonderful conversation with Kevin. Of course, in honor of Dogma's 25th anniversary, Dogma is getting a re.

[Marcus Parks]

Release.

[Ben Kissel]

It got out of. Right Tell dude.

[Kevin Smith]

And I got to see it in a theater, and it was so nice to be. It did kind of feel like you were reeling back the years a little bit, because it's deeply inappropriate and it's wonderful. And they. They don't make them like that.

[Marcus Parks]

No more.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Certainly not.

[Ben Kissel]

No.

[Marcus Parks]

And.

[Ben Kissel]

And Dogma is. It's in theaters around the country right now, so definitely go out and check it out. But before you do that, listen to this interview with Kevin Smith.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Snoochy boochies from your grave.

[Ben Kissel]

All right, well, we are here today on this very special episode. We have an extraordinary guest with us. We have DIY legend filmmaker Kevin Smith with us today. How you doing today, Kevin?

[Marcus Parks]

So damn good, kids. Happy to talk horror. What I would have done in my life if I'd had any talent whatsoever. Artistic talent. You ask the Internet, they'll tell you I got none. But I'm talking about artistic talent and sculpting, because if I've been good in sculpting and stuff, I would have done prosthetics.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

And that's. That was my dream. Like, rubber monsters, rubber masks, fucking gashes, blood and shit. That was like how I spent my childhood. Not, like, dreaming of funny independent films and stuff like that, more dreaming of the movies that I love to watch, which were, like, rubber masked horror movies and stuff, and prosthetics. But if I'd ever got my hand on the Tom Savini book. What was it called? Oh, my God.

[Kevin Smith]

Because he has a whole makeup school in Pittsburgh.

[Marcus Parks]

He does. But the book that he did years ago, he f. He gave it to me years ago, and it's behind me in this library. And its title is. Oh, it'll come to me later on. But it was a book about how to do makeup effects. And we live in the age of the Internet now, where if you were looking for this book, you could Google it fast, find it, and then buy it someplace. But we're talking about, like, late 70s, early 80s New Jersey. If you couldn't find this book in a library or bookstore, you were never going to find it. And I always feel like if I had found that book, I would have shifted toward prosthetics because I had, like, a blood kit, I had a makeup kit, nose putty. And I was always mixing up, like, cornstarch with, like, red food.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah, that's. Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

So I wanted to be Savini. I wanted to be Rick Baker. But you need to be a sculptor. Need to have, like, visual arts talent to pull that off and stuff. And so I wound up, like, making Clerks instead, which worked out.

[Kevin Smith]

It worked out, dude. Instead you sculpted a generation of fat bodied men.

[Marcus Parks]

Look at this. You.

[Kevin Smith]

You're.

[Marcus Parks]

What, poetry?

[Henry Zabrowski]

Look at this.

[Kevin Smith]

You are responsible for this setup, sir.

[Marcus Parks]

No, you. Really. I. I'll. You know what? I will take credit for that. I enjoy that, man. I enjoy that. Most of my career has been spent. Spent showing folks. Like, it's kind of a reminder of one day we're all gonna die. And why spend your life doing something that you hate? That's my father did. Like, he worked at the post office his whole life and never liked it. Never once saw him come home. Be like, what a day, you know, like, he just hated the place. It was just a thing he did to pay for what he loved.

[Kevin Smith]

What a psychopath.

[Marcus Parks]

Never went postal, thank God.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Whenever he hit the trifecta, though, I'm sure he was happy.

[Marcus Parks]

It was. He. He was the dude that, like, just did a job in order to pay for the thing he loved his wife and kids and stuff like that. But all Growing up, watching that, watching that dude hate that job, it always felt like to me, like, there's no good way out of this world, right? Like, so why not die doing what you love? Why not prolong adolescence? It was fun when we were kids, running around, making pretend, watching movies, talking in, like, about movies as if they were important, obsessing over television shows and comic books. I just didn't see a need for that to necessarily end. And so I feel like, if anything, my whole career has been about, like, hey, this is another route like you. And I'm not saying, like, make Clerks. It worked for me, of course, but like, play, like, find a way to do that thing that you love for a living, man. And then you'll never work a day in your life. And now we live in this personality driven economy where, like, literally everybody has a podcast that thrills me, man, because that means the audience understands something now that I understood way back in the early 90s, which is like, it's fun to watch a thing, is more fun to make a thing, as you guys figured out as well, like, sitting around like, let's talk about what we fucking love, man. Number one, gives you a chance for comradery. Forced socialization in a world where they keep trying to silo us apart onto our phones so that we're not talking to one another for whatever reason, because there's more money in keeping us apart. Doing something like a podcast is congregation. It's our version, the modern day version of going to church, where the faithful come together and talk about stuff that has meaning to them. So there's the camaraderie, then there's the whole, like, what? I can make a living off of this. We can run ads on this. Like the commercials I grew up watching my whole life. So you do it because you love it, but then the love aggregates to a way to actually do it for a living. Then you get to the place where you're like, what? We can make T shirts of our podcasts? Like, what? We could do it live. There's so many stages to that. And I'm not saying. And I created that. Not by any stretch of the imagination, but like Johnny Appleseed, I went out for like fucking 10 years and kept telling people, start a podcast, start a podcast, start a podcast. Now we're living in a world where everybody does have a podcast, and I think that's absolutely delightful. There is no good way out of this world, kids. So if you can figure out how to take your passion, the things you love, the things that move You. The things that make you wake up in the morning, as they said in, you know, fucking Civil War. What makes you get out of that twin bed in the morning? It's. It's the things that you love, and you can aggregate them into a job. Like, that's been the amazing thing I've seen over the last quarter century, is taking passion and turning it into a way of life. And that doesn't mean, like, making a film, because not everyone's going to do that and shit, but it now means stuff like just sitting around talking about other people's films, and that's a way of life and a way of living. Think about how many happy people there are in the world because they're the ones speaking. They're not just being spoken to all the time, as you three are right now. While I'm rambling, everyone gets to speak and kind of put their opinion out there. And not just opinion on, like, the movies. I like just who they are. Share the human experience. I'm sure you guys been doing this long enough where, of course, people write into you or talk to you about the content you're talking about, but then they also talk to you about the pieces of your life that leak into the show as well. Like, it's just. It's a. It's a sad, weird time to be alive on one level, but it's a wonderful, ambitious time to be alive in other ways, man. Where, like, we're no longer just fed shows where we, the audience can also sometimes be the show.

[Kevin Smith]

Honestly, of course, I haven't been gaped for money in a really long time, so it's really been a big deal for me to be able to just.

[Marcus Parks]

Talk, but there's always that. We don't have to throw that out with the bath water. You know, it's. It's. It's basically always got to be ready to pivot. We need to have a side hustles that don't throw them. And those two things could be combined gaped live on a podcast.

[Kevin Smith]

And that brings us to our main event. No, I'm sorry.

[Ben Kissel]

No. I mean, you were in the way that you first made Clerks, the way that you, you know, just, like, diy, pull yourself up. Like, that was, for me, a massive, massive influence and a massive inspiration. Way back when, all of us, it was massive, like, to just see you, like, just. This is a guy that did it, but, you know, you first did it in 1994, and, you know, even when we. We've been doing this podcast for almost 15 years now. And you know, we've been doing.

[Marcus Parks]

How many episodes you got?

[Kevin Smith]

Thousand plus.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, some fucking astounding.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, we've been doing a long ass time.

[Ben Kissel]

Been doing a long time. And we were even doing podcasts before that. Just trying to, you know, stick and trying to see what worked and you know, and just doing shit with your friends. That's what it always was. But even then, you know, things have changed so much since we started. So like, do you see anything, do you see anything that, you know, as far as DIY in 1994 and DIY in 2025, like, what's changed and what's the same?

[Marcus Parks]

The DIY generation now is much smarter about the business aspect. So my DIY generation, I'll just take my case. My case was I want to make an independent film because I'm independent. Fuck them studios, man. I'm going to do it my way. I don't need no help, man. We're going to do it by hook or by crook. Look, my work is done. Will somebody buy it, please? Yeah, you know. And ultimately we wound up going hand in hand with corporate entities. At first there were many majors that weren't owned. Like Miramax was its own company. Then Disney bought Miramax. Warner Brothers bought Fine Line and New Line. Who was it? Universal had October films. Like every studio had its own kind of indie distribution system. And therefore how indie were we? How DIY were we? We were DIY to make the flick, but then we were helpless when it came to distributing the flick, selling the flick, and then we had to turn to our corporate betters. In this current DIY generation, these kids have figured it out, man. They, you know, they grew up on YouTube so they understand like how to monetize clicks and whatnot. So I've been seeing in my Instagram feed, like, I forget who I follow some like produce Hollywood producer thing where they're always giving you updates on what's going on in town. And the story that I've seen now in three different ways are, is the. Hey man, this disruptor culture has created their own studio system. And so they, they have these shows that they create with their own casts. Look like normal ass fucking shows that you would see on tv. They have no corporate connection whatsoever. And they build these out. They have direct contact with their audience and stuff. So they've monetized it and figured out how to do shit like on their own. They're not going, I mean, yes, they're using YouTube of course as a distribution platform, but they're not going to Like a Universal or a Disney to be like, can you distribute this for me? Can you help build this for me? By my second film, you know, I was in the world where studios like, here's a bunch of money, like, that doesn't happen so much anymore. So these kids, they're not waiting around, they're not sitting on the sideline going, going like, I hope my Cinderella story comes true. No, they're like, I'm going to go create a thing because I can, because I got these tools and I have this kind of access and I know about this and I know how to market this. So this, the DIY generation now of 2025, way better at this than my DIY generation. We only took it so far and then helplessly turned it over to people who knew how to do business. This current DIY generation knows how to do business as well. They know if they're going to build the thing, then it's up to them to sell the thing as well. So they don't count on others. And that's inspiring as fuck. I tell you, I saw that one clip about like these kids are building their own shows within a non studio system and I got so excited and I was like, oh my God, I want to do that. And then I was like, well, you did that, yeah, but it's done. You can't do it again. But like now it's their turn and stuff. Just like for years, like when the. Before we did Red State, before there was a Kickstarter or an Indiegogo, I was financing with my friend John Gordon, this platform called Red State Green. Because I had like a million followers on MySpace and I was like, if we got a buck from every one of them, man, we can go make fucking Red State. Nevermind. Waiting for somebody to write us the check. So we spent like 20k building this site that was essentially like Proto, Kickstarter and Indiegogo. And then I did an interview. I was in Canada doing an interview for Zack and Mary Make a Porno. And there was a little roundtable and there was. Somebody had asked, what are you doing next? I was like, oh, we're putting together this website where we're gonna try to raise the financing for this movie, Red State, like off the audience. The audience has been wanting to see it, so we'll see how badly they want to see it. And then somebody wrote an article the next day that was, ew, Kevin Smith's gonna beg for money to make his next movie. And it scared me, it turned me off and instantly I killed the project, we stopped developing the website and went and found traditional financing the way I always have.

[Kevin Smith]

You could have been like a billion. You literally could have been a billionaire.

[Marcus Parks]

And it's so weird because to me, the story, I don't even look at the story from like, oh my God, we could have then used the platform for everybody. It could have been Kickstarter. In my head, all I hear is like, somebody made fun of you and you dropped a really good idea and went a very traditional, safe, stayed route with a movie that didn't call for that at all. And what happened later on was, who was it? The Garden State kid, Zach Braff. Zach Braff went out and did that off of Kickstarter Indiegogo and financed the whole ass fucking movie. And it, you know, was the first movie finance of indy crowd financing funding and stuff. So I missed a shot at history. But then at the same time I'm like, you know what? Like, I count on the audience to buy tickets and T shirts and shit like that. I'm not saying this ain't right for everybody. Kids should do this. But like, as an established filmmaker, to then also be like, now I want the audience to pay for the movie to be made in the first place. Let it be done. Just didn't feel right. It didn't feel. Felt like I was looking gift horse in the mouth because I was in a rarefied position to find money elsewhere. Why would I be sitting in the small pond soaking up money that could go to other films, filmmakers and shit. So I, I, I, every time I see young indie or young diy still fucking calls to me in a real primal fashion where I'm like, I want to do that. And then I have to stop myself and check myself and be like, you have already done that. Like your time has done. Now you leave it for the next generation to do. Because I'll tell you right now, I ain't got anything all that important to say that demands like, give me your money and shit, because I'll make like yoga hosers too. So, you know, it's, I, I, I like my relationship with my audience, but personally, and this is no judgment on others that Kickstarter, Indiegogo, I don't want to presume upon them in the beginning stage as well, which is like, well, you pay for it and then you pay to go see it and then you pay to buy the dvd. You know, it's like you can only hit them so many fucking times. So I love today's DIY culture and I wish to Christ. That I could be deeply entrenched in it and enmeshed. You are.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I mean, I'm also film festival alumni.

[Kevin Smith]

You are.

[Marcus Parks]

Did you go?

[Henry Zabrowski]

No, I had a movie in there. I.

[Marcus Parks]

So wait, was it a horror film?

[Henry Zabrowski]

It was a documentary about my mother, but it was very New Jersey. How America Killed My Mother. Yeah, yeah. Introduced it in your shorts. It was amazing. It was. No, but. Yeah, but. So you are putting your money where your mouth is. You are helping young diy you very much.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

You know, but not. But not in the way that I would like to be a part of it, which is like, my mindset, even after 31 years in the business is cheap is DIY. Because I came from a world where I didn't have funds and assets and shit. And even as I continued my career, I was never one of those guys that was like, get me 100 million. I always kept it low because it's like, these aren't important works. They're like Kevin Smith movies. We shouldn't spend that much money. So I'm used to, like, keeping the budget low, and that keeps me very much in the DIY mindset. So I always lean more toward that side of the fence and, you know, in ways where I could be helpful for others. That's nice, like Smod Castle. But I'm still in it for me kids. Like, I'm not rich enough where I'm like. And now I could just sit back and kind of give to others. I still gotta hustle to pay my bills, and there's still stories that I want to tell. So it's not completely altruistic. Something like Smog Castle Cinemas isn't me. Like, here's a showcase for other people. It's like, yeah, that works. Like, I love that. Ernie's done the film festival for what's coming up on the fourth year, and now we've got a Smod Castle Horror Film Festival coming up for the first time. That is beautiful. And that's legacy stuff, and it gives all these other cats a chance. But I'll be honest with you, I didn't buy that theater going like, this will help others. I bought it going, like, well, number one, they're going to close. If we don't buy it, it's fucked. But number two, ooh, I'll have my own stage for the rest of my life. Like, anytime I want to do a show. Like, I spend most of my time hustling ass around the country now. It's like, oh, my God, if I just want to fucking Show Mall Rats. I can upsell tickets to 50 or 60 bucks and shit like that. We'll have a good old time. So I started it selfishly, but then once you have the thing, like along the way the journey like kind of shows you what it's really about. What you think is about, what it's really about. Beginning of my career, selfishly, I was like, I want to make a movie. Now at this stage of my career, yes, there's still that. But I also know that based on all the people I've met over 30 years and all the feedback I've read and the people who've like cried in my face telling me that these dopey ass movies help them. They're their fucking buoys in a storm, man. They're their fucking life preserver when life is at their rockiest. They're just the thing that makes them fucking giggle and makes life a little bit fucking easier. And then you realize like, that's what you're here for. Nevermind fucking like masturbatory. Like I want to make a movie. It's like, oh my God, this bullshit that serves me and makes me happy also fucking does something to somebody else. Just like other people's work has done for me for years. So the older you get in the career, the more you start realizing this isn't just for me. You know, filmmaking is a very self centered art, directing particularly. But at the end of the day, because of the long tail of the career, because I've been around for so long and because I've had this experience over and over and over and I just come off the Dogma resurrection tour, so I saw two audiences a night, every night and I got to do Q A with them. So I got to hear that. And what they talked about was that they talked about where you are in their life. There's one guy in Chicago who was like, hey man, I, I, I've been watching you since 94. He's gone. I've been to 19 of your live shows. He's gone. And now I bring my adult children. And he had some 20 something sitting with him and stuff like that. He's like, I've been on the journey with you this whole time. I just got to know what's your end game. And I was like, I hadn't even thought about it until this moment. I didn't realize there was an end game because I didn't really have a game plan to begin with. I just wanted to make Clerks. And then it started a career I wasn't packed for a 31 year career. I've had to kind of figure it out as I went along. But I guess if I have an end game is to like inspire people to do this, which I feel like I've done, like based on all the interaction I feel I've done that now. The end game for me is to make people feel as good as I possibly can, just to use my mouth on them, to give them pleasure until the day that I drop dead. Whether that's in film, whether that's like on camera, whether that's in podcasts, it's like I'm just here to serve. I'm just here to make shit a little bit easier for people. While believe me, I'm making shit easier for myself because I don't have to have a real job because I do all this nonsense and stuff flies from your grave.

[Ben Kissel]

Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us.

[Marcus Parks]

Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in.

[Ben Kissel]

You don't need to trade in. When you switch to T Mobile, we'll give you a new iPhone 16 Pro.

[Kevin Smith]

Plus we'll help you pay off your.

[Ben Kissel]

Old Phone up to 800 bucks and.

[Marcus Parks]

You still get to keep it. There's always a trade in.

[Ben Kissel]

Not right now. @ T Mobile.

[Marcus Parks]

I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma.

[Ben Kissel]

That's okay.

[Marcus Parks]

I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender.

[Ben Kissel]

I'm good taste.

[Marcus Parks]

Seriously. Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints. Really, I'm fine. Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car. It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile. Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple intelligence on us, no trade in needed. We'll even pay off your Phone up to 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits. New line 100 plus a month on.

[Kevin Smith]

Experience beyond Finance Agreement 999.99 and qualify.

[Marcus Parks]

Imported for well qualified plus tax and $10 connection charge.

[Kevin Smith]

Payout via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days credits and amounts to. If you pay off earlier, cancel CT mobile.com this podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace gives you everything you need to offer services and get paid all in one place. Seems amazing, right? It's because it is. From consultations to events and experiences. Showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. Which is Good, because let's just say I need it. You know, as you may or may not know, I lost horse picks.com in a very, very public and embarrassing auction to a young man by the name of Charlie Bucket, who has decided to take my horse picks and drive it towards the right. Some of the incendiary horse picks that I've seen, including Steve Bannon on a Clydesdale, one of the worst I saw was Ivanka Trump inside of a mayor. And I know that like this is not the direction that I saw. Horsepix.com and, and that little boy, I didn't know that he'd become a full fledged Nazi and, and grow his hair into broccoli shapes and do all sorts of things I don't understand. Which is why I've started emu paintings.com thank you Squarespace, because emupaintings.com are these really, it's an exceptional way for me to get you paintings of emus in various positions that emus would normally be. And in a way, I find it both amusing and inspiring to see what emus can do using the painter's brush and imagination. And if it wasn't for Squarespace, I would be absolutely effed to the gills. That's the term for being absolutely s out of luck. Squarespace, thank you for streamlining your workflow with built in tools because I would not have been able to get this website up fast enough due to the legal fees I've received and the personal heartache and my own health deteriorating. I just want to say thank you Squarespace, for all your help and emu paintings.com is going to be just as good and just as funny and relevant. I promise. Had to squarespace.com left for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code left to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. This is an advertisement from BetterHelp. Men today face immense pressure to keep it all together. Bottling things up can lead to depression or unhealthy habits, or building an entirely semi ironic bulldozer that's been converted into an indestructible machine that you use to keep a small town in terror. It's okay to struggle. Real strength comes from opening up about what you're carrying so you could be at your best for yourself and everyone in your life. This is true. All right. You got to get in there. You got to get into your brain. You have to observe your brain yourself because if not, eventually they're going to be doing it with a lobotomist knife. Okay. It's what your family's gonna make you do. So you want to get into therapy plus switch therapists at any time. Better helps.

[Marcus Parks]

Great.

[Kevin Smith]

As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp, our listeners get 10% off their first [e-mail] LastPod that's better. H E L p.com SL Last Pot I know I want to talk about Dogma. I want to talk about. Because that's part of the reason the season that you're here. Love Dogma, love this movie. But I do want to ask you leading right after that question. I mean, humor me.

[Marcus Parks]

Take back your show.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Take back.

[Kevin Smith]

Humor me.

[Marcus Parks]

Would you.

[Kevin Smith]

Okay, let's say you're saying what's your end plan? Right. Would you be down? Because you are obviously I would view you as somebody who, who is very forward thinking. You're a sci fi guy. You understand kind of certain elements, obviously. Would you want an AI built avatar of yourself to continue on after you live? Would you want a curated you being around after the fact? Would you be down with that or is that still in your soul?

[Marcus Parks]

Could he be? You know, because there's nothing about me that's original, right. Everything I do I've seen in one form or fashion someplace else, and then I translate it as my version, I guess. So that being said, if I can be presented in a Max Headroom type fashion. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's whatever, this, but rubbery. And I'm just like, this is a Snoogan. I'm. I'd be down for that. It's coming. You know, it's. I'll take it, man. I. I was like, I was on Bert Kreischer's podcast last week and he said something that made me laugh where he was like, I was asking my wife that if I come up with like an AI generated avatar girlfriend and talk to her and masturbate to her, is that cheating? And I was like, I. I don't even know in that case.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah. Or like I talked about this with my wife. Are sex bots cheating?

[Henry Zabrowski]

You do it.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah. What do you mean? Especially the sex spot. But now, like, you online, you can feed it all your information and, and you could create an AI personality that like, fucking will tell you all the things you want to hear. This is the dangerous shit. This is where shit gets really down the rabbit hole. Because if we can all build our own congregations of unreal people, on our phones or our laptops, we cease having need for others, man.

[Kevin Smith]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

And when you're dealing just with an AI that's telling you everything you want to hear and shit, why would you want to start dealing with the real?

[Kevin Smith]

Would you kill yourself? If you put in everything in the. In the app, right? You put everything. Me, this is all the things I love. It's all things I want to have sex with. This is all the things I want to talk to.

[Henry Zabrowski]

He would kill himself.

[Kevin Smith]

And then all of a sudden, your perfect mate is just like your mother. Like, you can see. Like, an immediate.

[Marcus Parks]

Like, that would make sense to me. I'm like, well, the most intimate relationship of my life, like, that makes sense. I'm not gonna follow the advice of the AI but, you know, it would kind of quasi make sense, I guess.

[Kevin Smith]

Well, thank you.

[Ben Kissel]

Yes, thank you very much for humoring it. I mean, this just comes from, you know, Saturday we had a barbecue and just talked about AI for a good two hours. But the reason why we are here is, you know, Dogma, 25th anniversary re release. You know, Dogma was a very important movie to all three of us. You know, it all came out when we were teenagers. And, you know, and I know, speaking for myself, like, it made me rethink. I came from a very small Texas town where religion and Christianity was number one. Town of 300 people, five churches.

[Marcus Parks]

Whoa.

[Ben Kissel]

So it's good coverage.

[Marcus Parks]

That's. That's crazy. My town, Highlands, at one point, they always said, and I could never prove this, but we were always told this kids that we were in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most amount of bars in a one square mile radius.

[Henry Zabrowski]

That's because you drank everywhere.

[Marcus Parks]

Like, you guys, that many churches in a town of 300 that has. That feels. That feels like Guinness.

[Ben Kissel]

It's a lot of coverage.

[Marcus Parks]

But.

[Ben Kissel]

But Dogma was the movie that made me, like, rethink organized religion. I had never really thought to question it, but it was sort of the crack in the foundation, as it were. I mean, how does it feel when people tell you things like that the Dogma made them rethink everything. Was that the intention behind the movie?

[Marcus Parks]

It's weird because since I was on tour for the last month, and then I also. We took it to Cannes and I watched it when we were there for the second time with that movie at Cannes. Humble bragging. I've been. I've been, like, thinking about the movie a lot lately because I'm interacting with it a bunch. And to me, the movie plays like a child's prayer. It plays like if you know your Old Testament King David, like stripping down to a skivvies and dancing and acting the fool in front of the Ark of the Covenant through the streets of the holy city because he loved the Lord so much. That's what Dogma feels like to me. The kid who wrote it and directed it believed in all of that. Like, that was his cosmology, that was his faith structure and whatnot. That wasn't Christian mythology. These things happen. These are the stories that I was handed when I was born and never thought to even be like, wait, is any of this real? Or whatnot? So when I watch the movie, I see that kid at work and I'm like, wow, man. Like, you know, we'd done Clerks and that kicked off a career very nicely. And then Mallrats, which has aged incredibly well, got beat the shit out of by critics and at the box office and nearly ended the career. Then Chasing Amy was a Hail Mary that kind of put us back on top. And in the same year, we had Goodwill Hunting, which me and Scott Mosher co executive produced. So the 12 punch of chasing Amy and Goodwill hunting, including having Ben and Matt be like, we want to be in Kevin's next movie, meant that, like, there's never going to be a better time to get Dogma made. And in making Dogma, it was my idea of, like, let me express my faith. I go to church every Sunday. Nobody here celebrates their faith. They fucking mourn it. This will be my idea of a Sunday service, but with anal jokes in it and stuff. And the great irony is that in making that testimony, which I see play out night after night for the last month, the faith started to erode because, you know, I had George Carlin on set very hard to escape. How do you.

[Kevin Smith]

How does God live when he's there?

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, he was. I mean, George was like, absolutely lovely, but he is probably the most famous lapsed Catholic. And he loved the flick because he was like, oh, it gives it to the church. And I never felt that way. I was like, well, I mean, I guess it raises a hairy eyebrow at the church. I said, but the movie's like so crazily pro faith. So we were on set, like third act of the movie in front of the church. Ben and Matt show up, crack like a cop's neck and all hell breaks loose. So George is going, what's going on in the scene again? And I was like, well, the angels show up and then they're gonna kill Everybody and then cut their wings off, go into the church. When they come out, they're, they're gonna presumably killed by the cops because they're human at this point. And then they'll go straight to heaven. And he goes, why? And I was like, because of the plenary indulgence loophole. And he goes, and what is that? And I was like, and I was like, come on, man. I broke out the old catechism to be like George and started talking Catholicism, like talking shop with him Catholicism. And he's looking at me as I'm talking and explaining our shared one time shared faith. And he's got the face that an adult has when a child over explains Star Wars. And then finally he goes, you really believe in all this shit, don't you? And I said, yeah, my guys, you were raised Catholic, you don't. And he goes, no, I'm smarter than that. And so that was the kind of the beginning of the end. Then 12 years of smodcast will really disabuse anybody of their childhood faith. Oh yeah, just sitting opposite an agnostic. Like not even Scott Mosher wasn't even an atheist agnostic man, but one of the most practical people I ever met. And slowly over time, if you ever listen to that show, because we started in what, 1997, was it? 97? 2007. From 2007 till probably about 2017, you could slowly hear my faith like chip away and stuff like that.

[Kevin Smith]

I thought it was just dealing with the Internet.

[Marcus Parks]

Life, just life's the faith out of you sometimes for some people, makes their faith stronger for others. You know, I got to a place where I was like, this isn't working for me anymore now do I miss it? Absolutely.

[Kevin Smith]

When you almost died, did that also affect how you view all of this?

[Marcus Parks]

You would imagine that in the moment of, you know, my God, when I was told by the, the cardiologist you're having a widowmaker, I said, what's that? And he goes, seriously? And then he explained it. He's just like, in 80% of the cases where you have right now 100% blockage in your lad across the front of your heart, 80% of the cases, the patient always dies. He's like, but you're going to be in the 20% because I'm good at my job. And he disappeared into my crotch and made magic. So that's how they get to your heart, through your femoral artery and shit. So the whole time he's down there, I keep looking down and see this guy's Head bobbing up and down my crotch, I was like, go, Fig.

[Kevin Smith]

This is how I was gonna die. I knew it.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, nobody told me that. So I'm looking up at the ceiling and going like, wow, this might be the last room I'm ever in, man. This might be the last ceiling I ever see. And so it occurred to me at that point I was like, if you were ever gonna fucking call on your childhood faith, you're ever gonna pray, fuck, this would be the time. And then I realized, like, if I start praying and there is a God, he's gonna be like, you made Dogma fuck. So I opted not to pray in that moment. Instead started the movie of my life. You know, they tell you life flash for your eyes. So I was like, I'm gonna start the flick early and stuff. Mercifully, the dude saved me and whatnot. And so I got to stick around. So that will feed that like 22 years of life. Fed the script for Dogma. Like, I started writing it when I was 22. I started writing it before Clerks. It was called God back then. Then we made the movie in like 98. So from age 22 till about 27, dogma was shaped and formed by my life experience, my childhood, my pop culture intake, my thoughts, feelings about faith, everything. Anything I'd learn goes into that. If I made a sequel like one or two years later, then it's just like not being fed as well as the first one was. Then it's just like, they're back. Bartleby, Loki, J. So now I've been writing a Dogma sequel and I've literally had 25, 26 years since the first one. To live a whole ass other life, like another lifetime. And that lifetime was not just full of everything that happened to me, you know, previously and when I was a kid, all the way up to there. But it also includes, like getting married, having a kid, almost dying, losing my mind and shit like that, and everything I've experienced, like, losing my faith as well over the last 25, 26 years. So as I write the Dogma follow up sequel, whatever you want to call it, I'm happy because it's fed by a lifetime of experience. Just like the first one was fed previously by a lifetime of experience. And all those experiences like almost dying, that's gonna be in there as well, dude.

[Kevin Smith]

Because right after watching the movie, my first thought was, oh, rufus would be 25.

[Marcus Parks]

The whole, whole movie centers around Bethany's daughter who is named.

[Kevin Smith]

Yes, no, very.

[Marcus Parks]

You're absolutely right. She's like, you know, 25, 26 right now, by the time we're done with the movie, probably 26. And let me tell you something, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna spill any beans, but a Dogma sequel will. I hope everyone will dig it. But a horror crowd is absolutely gonna.

[Kevin Smith]

Fucking bring it back to where religion really begins.

[Ben Kissel]

Well, that's the thing. In the first Dogma, there are those horror elements in there. You've got the Golgotha, you got the shit demon, you know, you have heads exploding, you know, God exploding head. Like there's so much horror.

[Marcus Parks]

I stole that from Marvel. Like Black Boy, you know, Black Bolt, whenever he opens his mouth, he runs the risk of killing Medusa. And it was always so poignant and stuff. So when I was writing Dog Man, I was like, oh, I'm taking that part, man. Yeah. So that I owe that to Marvel. I owe so much to.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Hey, it's fine. Invented the Stan Lee cameo.

[Marcus Parks]

You're allowed. I will take that one. Thank you.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah, man. It's so interesting to hear that when you made that movie, you had faith because it was something that really helped me lose mine. Cuz it was. And it's so interesting because I went to Catholic school. I'm. I always kind of questioned it, but not really. And then when I saw that movie, I'm like, yeah, this is all a joke.

[Marcus Parks]

You know, it's crazy, like how the movie affects people in both directions. I wouldn't say like it's a binary equation, but for as many people. And I saw a lot of them on tour during the Q and A who were like, this is the movie that like to help me get back in touch with my faith. I was always like, oh, right on. But then there's also a bunch of people like, this is the movie that let me step away from the church.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

And I'm like, oh, thank you.

[Ben Kissel]

That was us.

[Marcus Parks]

It's crazy how but both journeys come from the same movie. How two audiences can see that movie and draw different conclusions. You know what I'm saying? But at least that's after they see the movie. Like we almost got killed in advance of the movie last time back in the 90s, because there was, you know, the Catholic League, not the Catholic Church. Catholic Church didn't give a fuck about this movie. Catholic League, the self appointed media watchdog group, drummed up a lot of controversy around the flick, you know, because nobody had seen it yet. And they were saying things about the movie that the movie really wasn't about once people could see the movie for themselves, all that shit went away. For example, you know, I know it's like 25, 26 years later, but having just been on tour with Dogma again, no fucking death threats. The only protests I saw were adorable. I saw a kid, an 18, 19 year old kid in Dallas standing at the head of the driveway of the mall where the movie theater was. And he had a signed poster board says AMC Blasphemes. And it had the poster, the new version of the Dogma poster in the center of it. And so I was in a car and I'm like, driver's seat, passenger seat's empty. And then he's just right there on the street holding this sign at the light. So I lay on the horn, like, give him support. And. And he's so happy. He looks around, he sees me, then he sees my face and he turns me. Just one kid there.

[Kevin Smith]

When you joined your own protest, that was my favorite, one of my favorite of your moments.

[Marcus Parks]

Incredible. I did, I did. I couldn't do that this time because there aren't enough people protesting. But yeah, back in, in 99, I joined the protest that was happening right around my local theater. I saw in our newspaper in the Asbury Park Press, they were like, the Knights Columbus says there's going to be a 5,000 person protest at the. The. It was a Sony Lowe's at that point, at the middle at the Monmouth Mall. So I was like five minutes from my house because I lived in Oceanport at the time, I said, we have to go, man. And Brian Johnson, my friend who's living with us at the time, he goes, you can't go, they'll see you. I said, no, but if there's 5,000 people, it's gonna be very hard to pick me out of a crowd. I was like, as long as we're holding protest signs, we should be fine. So we made protest signs. One said, to hell with Dogma. And the other said, dogma's dog shit. Colored them in and stuff. Blue sparklies, like real big. And then we drove over to the theater. It was me and Brian and my wife. And when we get there, there's not 5,000 people, there's 15 white hairs and blue hairs. Old people. Yeah, and they got a crucifix that they got with them and shit. And they're praying the rosary. So my wife was like, well, this is a bus. Do you want to go home? I was like, no, man, they need the numbers. We went out and joined them and held Our signs and prayed the ro. I prayed the rosary. Brian didn't know the rosary. So I was praying the whole time and stuff. And then the Channel 12 news van pulled up and lady gets out the clipboard and the guy gets out the camera and shit. And they. You could tell they're disappointed. Like there ain't 15, 5000 people. There's only 15 people here. So they're looking at all 15, trying to figure out who they could talk to for their news piece. And she's going down the line and she looks, you know, me right in the eyes, and I look back at her while I'm praying the Hail Mary and stuff. And then she keeps going. Then she comes back, looks at me, then she looks at her clipboard. Then she looks back up and she races over to me. She's like, are you him? And I was like, no, that's him. And I pointed to the crucifix. And she was like, well, can I interview you? And I said, yeah, because she had asked me again. She was like, no, you look like the guy. I said, no. And she goes, seriously? I said, I tell you, I'm not him, man. Like three times I denied it. I heard a cock cry. She was like, you want. Can I interview you? I said, absolutely. And she brings the guy over at the camera, and he looks at me like, isn't this the guy? And then they start rolling. And she's like, what are you doing here? And I was like, well, I'm here to protest. And she's like, why? And I was like, well, I've heard things about the movie, none of them good. What's your name? I was like, brian Johnson. And she, afterwards, after she interviewed me, she turned off the camera. She was just like, you are that guy. I know it. And I was like, I tell you, I'm not that guy at all. I don't even like black and white movies. She took off. And that night when we went back home, like 11:15 that night, 11:30, my mom called, man. I saw like a message from my mom, like her name come up on the phone. So I picked up the phone, I was like, you all right, ma? And she goes, yeah, tiger. I was just watching the news and there's a boy on TV who looks like you, but his name is Brian Johnson. Oh, yeah, nothing like that this time. And we're like, if I had gone out to join a protest, it would have been me and that fucking 18, 19 year old kid. And he didn't seem to want me there. There was one for the opening night of the tour in LA, we started on Easter Sunday, 420.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, Brad.

[Marcus Parks]

It was a good way to start. As I went in, there was. There were two people holding, like, a man and a woman. And they had a banner, you know, a stick with a banner in between, another stick that had Mary crying on it. Like, why? Or some such. And I went out and. Because I. That was the first night of the tour, man. As I was running in, I said, what's outside? And I said, don't worry about it. Take a picture on the red carpet. And I said, no. What. What is going on? They said, you're being protested. I was like, oh, someone out there.

[Kevin Smith]

Nice.

[Marcus Parks]

And I took a selfie with them. And they didn't like that at all. But, you know, it was my experience, too.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah, man. You know, I. When I wanted to prep for the interview and watch Dogma again, I. I wasn't able to make it to the movies, unfortunately, which I'm very disappointed about. But I did the next best thing in honor of you. I went to the local video store and I rented it from the DVD from them. And it was very cool. $3. Had a great time. Five days. It was wonderful. And because you can't.

[Marcus Parks]

Where's the video store? Give them props.

[Henry Zabrowski]

It is called.

[Kevin Smith]

Oh, yeah, hold on.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I got the Be Kind video in Burbank. So, yeah, they were. They have everything there. It was great. Only a dollar late for each day. Wonderful stuff. But they also gave me the special features dvd and.

[Marcus Parks]

Nice. You got the FAT edition.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah, I did.

[Marcus Parks]

I did.

[Henry Zabrowski]

And so I was watching all the deleted scenes. Horrible. Great job cutting them out.

[Marcus Parks]

And that' all omen.

[Henry Zabrowski]

But the coolest thing for me when I was watching all that was look. Is looking at you do the interviews beforehand. And you had Harley sitting on your knee during the interviews. And it was just like, I'm sitting there, I'm like, he makes movies with her now. And I think that's the coolest thing in the world. I love it so much. And, like, it's. Was that always your plan to, like, have her join the family business? Like, if you were a plumber. That's the plan, you know? And so, like, truly.

[Marcus Parks]

And so, like, as long as she was interested in it. Yeah. It was never anything that I was like, hey, man, you gotta be doing this shit. Like, I was pushing writing, you know, she would sit around, watch icarly when she was a kid, the first version of icarly. And I would be like, well, this is fun. I said, but, you know, it's more fun than watching icarly. You should write one of these. Like, just go write one, man. It's a good time when you're in charge and stuff. So I was always pushing writing. I was like, you're gonna write. You're the kid of two writers, Matt, man. Your mom's a writer, I'm a writer. You're meant to write. And then she wound up falling in love with acting. And so I was like, oh, well, I know a fucking thing or two about that as well. So it was kind of a delight. And, you know, Jennifer naturally was like, well, I know you do it. But, like, that's a tough business, you know, she generally had the same kind of outlook that most parents have when you're like, I want to be an actor in the movies. They're always like, well, maybe get a, you know, a fucking degree in something else so you have something to back you up and stuff. But I couldn't be that guy. Like, I could never be the guy that's like, you should do something practical. Like, I made Clerks, so I have to be like, oh, my God, chase your fucking dreams and shit. So I loved it when she went into acting, because, I'll be honest with you. Like, I had a lot more time with my kid than most people get with their kid, because I didn't have a traditional job, right? So I didn't have a 9 to 5 that took me out of the house all the time. When we did have to go to a place to shoot a movie, whole family would go, and the kid. I'd put the little kid in the movie and stuff, so she was always around. But, you know, because I had the life that I had, it all went so fucking quick. Like, I remember, you know, when there was this one day, we were in the bedroom upstairs, like, the Me and Jen's room, and the kid wanted to play hide and seek. And I was like, all right. And so we play hide and seek for a fucking hour, man. And, like, any fun that existed in the first 10 minutes was gone. Like, the room's big, but it ain't that fucking big.

[Kevin Smith]

You're right there.

[Marcus Parks]

And so I remember her, I said, all right, kiddo, that's it. And I remember her going, one more, one more. And I was like, no, kiddo, we already did it for an hour. And the look of disappointment, like, on her face, momentary, because we did something else. But the look of disappointment, like, on her face just stuck with me. And then, before I knew it, that was it. She was, you know, never playing like hide and seek again because she was like a teenager and, and in her 20s and stuff. And so you realize like, you're not in that, you know, cats in the cradle kind of way, but like you realize that's it, man. I ain't ever gonna have a chance to play with the kid again because now she's growing up by being in the movies and stuff. That's kind of like a second bite at the apple. Like, hey, we get to fucking pretend. We get to play like, like we did when you were little. And like I, you know, would get bored of doing from time to time. Like, you know, now I've learned to cherish it. So it's, it's like a do over of sorts. Even though the first time wasn't so bad at all. But it's like, oh my God, I could still in this way play with the kid. Like, and it reminds me of like her being little and stuff. So. Yeah. And also I think she's a great performer. You know, she looks like me and sounds like me and I'm a big Kevin Smith fan. I like her work as well. Yeah.

[Ben Kissel]

Well, speaking of acting, like, like Dogma has like one of the things about it just has an incredible cast. Like, like you mentioned.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, we got very lucky.

[Ben Kissel]

You mentioned. Yeah. George Carlin earlier. Earlier. You know, you have Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, you know, Matt Damon, Ben Aff. Affleck. And then. But we were talking before the show, our favorite actor in the movie is Jason Muse.

[Kevin Smith]

In that room. I went to go see it. And it's been, to be honest, because we're all comedians, it's been a, it's, you know, it's, it's a weird time to be a comedian, but it's also one of those things where it was so nice to be in a room where we all could laugh at Jason Muse. And he. It popped.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was. Honestly, every night that I watched the movie I was like, just steals the show. Like that was him at his strongest. And I realized like, what happened to my career? Because like, if you look at the beginning of my career, it was like, my God, he could be a thing. But then after Dogma, I made like 28 Jay and silent Bob movies because I fell in love with Jason Mewes performance. By the time we got to Dogma, he had perfected that character.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

And like I was like, oh my God, I could do so much with him now. Now he's a real Actor clerk, Small Rats Chasing Amy. He was my friend that I put in movies. We get to dog mom like, oh my God, he's fucking stealing the movie out from fucking Alan Rickman, from George Carlin, for Ben and Matt, for Christ's sakes. Like, I remember being at the New York Film Festival and we had everybody with us afterwards on stage. So it was me, Alan, Ben, Matt, Chris, Salma. Let me see.

[Kevin Smith]

Everybody always talks about George Carlin and Alan Rickman, but you had Salma fucking Hayek in that movie.

[Marcus Parks]

We were all on stage together except Jason Mewes, who had been there for the opening of the show, but then went to a hotel with his girlfriend and never came back for the Q and A. And so while we're there, like, somebody asks a question and Matt's answer right off the bat is like, I just want to point out that like, he's not here, but Jason Mewes stole the show out from seasoned professionals and shit. And the whole audience applauded. Every night I sat there watching the show. The, like, we got a casting call, credits where everybody gets their own shot and they break character and stuff. And so there's art and applause and whatnot. But then when you hit Jason Lee, the applause take a jump. Then you hit Alan Rickman and the applause take another jump. And then right at or hit Muse, the applause take a huge fucking jump. Then you hit Rickman and the applause take another jump. So I told Jason, I was like, bro, every night they love you. They love you so much. But when it comes to the casting call, they love Alan just a little bit more. And Jay's like, yeah, well, wait till I die. So he's so magical in that movie. Opening night of the tour, when we were in Los Angeles, like, I intro the movie and he was there and we were leaning on the wall watching the movie in the back, you know, for the first 20 minutes of the flick. And as I'm watching it, I'm falling in love with his performance all over again. Going, look at this, man. I'm looking up at this baby face Jason Muse stealing the show. And I was like, I'm going to tell him that he's a goddamn champ. And I look from the baby face Jason Mewes, to the withered Crypt Keeper to my right, the old fucking 50 year old man. And I was like, you were great when you were a kid, Captain. But yeah, he is. He steals the fucking show, man. And hopefully he'll steal it again in Dogma 2.

[Ben Kissel]

Well, going into it, like, you know, because you Said that he was just, you know, your friend that you put in movies. Like, how did you prepare him for acting alongside, you know, Shakespearean actor Alan Rickman?

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah. Are they, like. Do they get, like, butt hurt about how good everybody, like. Like, are they, like, fancy actors? Are they kind of like, what the.

[Marcus Parks]

Everyone loved Muse, so they were happy to see Mew shot. And some of them worked with them before. Right. Like, so Ben and Matt knew Jay.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

But, like, for Sama, for Chris, for Alan, like, he was all new to them. They fell in love with him and stuff. And they, you know, also, you look at that cast, you know, like, one of these things is not like the other, and he's the least famous person up there. But so they're. They all kind of held him in their hearts to begin with, and then you add to it. He just absolutely kills. He slays in the role. Going into the movie, like, before the movie even, I got him, like, nervous about it. I tried to scare him because I was like, hey, man, we. I said, you can't do what you did on the other three movies. You got to come prepared. You got to know your script and stuff. Gotta memorize your lines this time around, because we got real actors in the movie this time. He goes, who? Like Ben Affleck? I was like, no, I'm talking about real actors in the movie this time, man. We got Alan. Rick Rickman. He's like, who's that? I was like, that's the guy from Die Hard. He goes, yippee ki yay. I was like, that's the other guy. I was like, the bad guy. And he goes, so what? And I was like, so what, man? That's Alan Rickman, man. That's that dude. He's British, and the Brits invented acting, so ain't gonna stand for your snoochy boochie's nonsense, man. You got come prepared and shit like that. And if he smells inauthenticity, he's gonna leap on you, man, like that, dude. They'll give you a cold, hard stare. They destroy you, the Brits, man. So you gotta come prepared. And so our first rehearsal, he came normally, I rehearsed with everybody, but I rehearsed with him separately before we incorporated him into the normies. And so it's just me and him. And I was like, where's your script? He goes, I don't need it. And I was like, he's like, try me. And I start reading all the lines, and he knows all his lines, man. I jump all over the script. He knows his lines in every scene. I was like, you memorized all your lines? And he goes, I memorized the whole script. I was like, what do you mean? He goes, I know everybody's lines. I was like, bullshit. He goes, try me. So I start reading Ben's lines. He's doing Matt's lines. I start reading Chris Rock's lines, he's doing with the Fiorentino's lines back. I was like, you memorize the whole fucking script? Who are you, Rain Man? Like, why'd you do that? And he goes, I don't want to piss off that Rickman dude. When he finally met Alan at the first rehearsal and talked to Alan and worked with Alan afterwards, he came back to the room because we shared. We had a suite. Like, he had a room. I had a room. We shared the living room because I had to keep my eye on him. And so he comes back to the room, and he goes, that Rickman dude's a pussy. I could totally kick his ass. I said, why would you want to? And he goes, you said that I should be scared of him. I said, as a performer, Like, I meant fear. Like, respect and stuff. And they became such good friends. Like, Alan absolutely loved Jason. Jason, I've told the story a zillion times, but it's always worth telling. One of the weirdest things I ever saw on a movie set stay with me forever, is I was set up that we're in the third act. We're setting up a shot like, where all hell is breaking loose in front of the church. And so I go to the snack canyon table, get some free M and Ms. And shit. And as I'm walking past, I see the weirdest fucking thing I ever saw. Alan Rickman, Jason Mewes on the steps of the church, deeply engaged in conversation. And I remember thinking, what the fuck could these two possibly have to say to one another? So I went over to Alan later on when he was by himself, and I was like, hey, man, if Jason Mewes is bothering you, you just tell me. And he goes, jason Mewes could never bother me because Jason Mewes is the best that America can be. And I was like, what? And he goes, jason. He goes, jason Mewes is an American icon. So forever since then, because I told Muse that night, and he was like, what's an icon? And I told him, he was like, that's good. So forever, whenever, like, I correct Jason on something, I was like, you fucking did this wrong. He's like, which one of us is the American icon? But he became friends, man. It was lovely having that dude. He put on no airs whatsoever. He really dug the script and whatnot. And he, like, did the money, the movie for no money. When we did our screenings at Smod Castle for Dogma during the tour, we have the archives there at the comic book store. So we went through and pulled some cool shit to hang up on the walls. And. And we found the original deal memos that we sent to, like, Alan Rickman's agent, Ben and Matt's agent and shit. So it's like, dear Patrick Weitzel, we'd like to offer your client Alan Rickman, the role of Metatron. The offer is scale plus 10, which is like, movie minimum wage and shit.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

So he gave us that brilliant performance for minimum wage for the, like, essentially 15 bucks an hour. You know, nowadays it was. Back then, it was like five an hour. And so. What a lovely man. I was always a fucking huge fan. Never thought about putting him in the movie because I loved him so much. I was like, why would you put Alan Rickman in a Kevin Smith movie? But he reached out to us, man. He. John Gordon, who worked at Miramax, called me one day, and he goes, you'll never guess who came in here today. I said, who? He goes, alan Rickman. I was like, hans fucking Gruber was in the building. Did he blow it up or what? He goes, no, man. He was here to talk about this Merchant Ivory movie we want to put him in. But all he wanted do to. To talk about was whoever made Chasing Amy. And I was like, I made Chasing Amy. He's like, yeah, man. And he likes that movie. You might. We should send the script for For Dogma. I was like, yeah, he could be Metatron. And the fastest yes I ever got my career from an actor shy of Jason Muse, who says yes before you finish the title, was Alan Rickman. Wow.

[Kevin Smith]

How was getting Atlantis Morrison?

[Marcus Parks]

Awesome. Easy. I'd reached out to. Well, Alanis reached out to me. Like, one day my agent called me. It was 1996. And he goes, hey, man, you know that singer who sings about blowing dudes in movie theaters?

[Kevin Smith]

Dave Cooley?

[Marcus Parks]

I was like. I said, her name is Alanis Morris. He goes, she wants to meet you. I said, hopefully in a movie theater. And he goes, no, it's at a restaurant. And so I met her at this restaurant in 1996 called Montana's in Santa Monica. And she was like, I'm a big fan. We just got done with the tour. It was Jagged Little Pill Tour. She's like, and we watched Clerks every night on the bus to go to sleep and shit. And I was like, oh, that rocks. I said, well, I said, I got in my bag that I have with me because I'd just gotten off the plane from Jersey. VHS dailies of everything on Chasing Amy, because we just finished the movie. I said, well, I got the new movie right here in the bag. She goes, can I see it? I was like, well, it's not cut together, but I can show you scenes. And so we went back to her place and I showed her the rain scene and stuff. And she was like, ooh, this is like Clerks, but classy. And I was like, yeah, man. I said, you should see the next movie. We're doing this movie called Dogma. It's about, like, angels and devils and stuff. I said, you know what? You would be amazing. Like, in the movie. You should play the lead. And she was like, me, I've never acted before in my life. I said, bullshit. You act in those music videos. And you, you were on. You can't do that on television, man. You acted like you didn't know the green slime was coming. That's acting. And she was like, no, I don't think I could carry a whole movie, man. Thank you, but no thank you. Then I didn't hear from her for a long time. And later on we found Lyndon Fiorentino was. She became our Bethany and stuff. So I'm driving out to Pittsburgh to start shooting the movie from Jersey. It's like a six hour drive. And I had one of the earliest cell phones, like a Nokia or something like that. And it rang, which is weird because it was really just for emergencies. I answer, I said, hello. And she goes, kevin, it's Lance Morissette. I said, how'd you get this number? She goes, I called Information411 and I was looking for your home, but they gave me your childhood home number. And so I spoke to your dad. And your dad, your dad gave me this number. He goes, oh, he's got a phone in the car to big shot. Call him there. She's like. I said, that does sound like dad. She goes. So I said, what's up? And she said, you know, I just got back from India and I feel rested and I'm writing my new album. And as that song thank youk came from that trip. And she goes, but I remembered that before I left, you had asked me to play the lead in your movie. And. And I said no, because I was scared. And nothing good ever comes from fear. Like, you know, I tend to head towards the things that challenge me, and I didn't, and I regret it. She's going, so this is me calling to say if there's anything left in the movie, I would love to come play with you. And I said, well, there's one small but crucial role that's left. And she said, what is it? I said, you could play God. And she goes, me? Why me as God? I said, because I always thought God would be Canadian. And she loved that.

[Kevin Smith]

Last. Podcast on the left is proudly sponsored by Amica Insurance. At Amica, you'll receive coverage with compassion. When you choose Amica, they'll take the time to explain your options for auto, home and life insurance. You can feel confident knowing that they'll protect what matters most to you. Amica will provide you with peace of mind. Go to amica.com and get a quote today.

[Ben Kissel]

Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us.

[Marcus Parks]

Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in.

[Ben Kissel]

You don't need to trade in. When you switch to T Mobile, we'll give you a new iPhone 16 Pro.

[Kevin Smith]

Plus we'll help you pay off your.

[Ben Kissel]

Old Phone up to 800 bucks and.

[Marcus Parks]

You still get to keep it. There's always a trade in.

[Ben Kissel]

Not right now. @ T Mobile.

[Marcus Parks]

I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma.

[Ben Kissel]

That's okay.

[Marcus Parks]

I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender.

[Ben Kissel]

I'm good.

[Marcus Parks]

Seriously. Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints. Really, I'm fine. Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car. It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile. Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple intelligence on us. No trade in needed. We'll even pay off your Phone up to 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits. New line 100 plus a month on.

[Kevin Smith]

Experience beyond finance agreement. $999.99 and qualify. Imported for well qualified plus tax and $10 connection charge. Payout via virtual prepaid card above 15 days. Credits and imbalance due if you pay off early or cancel CT mobile.com.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Youm'Re traveling. It's summer. Let's face it. You're going to do something. Maybe you're a teacher. You got a bunch of free time. You're still getting paid. What are you going to do? You're going to go somewhere weird. That you've never been before, and leaving the country, it's already stressful. It's good to just know a little bit more about where you're going, whether it's Mexico or France. It's good to know a little bit more about how to communicate with the people where you're going. And plus, you know, you got to know what you're ordering off the menu. What are we even talking about here? At least for the waiters and waitresses across the world. Learn a couple things. Start speaking a new language with confidence, thanks to Babbel's conversation based technique that quickly teaches you useful words and phrases about the things you actually talk about in the real world. Languages available on Babel are English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Brazilian, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Indonesian, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and Russian. So go to one of those places and talk to the people. One thing that I love, and you obviously know that I love this, it's talking. And I want to talk to everyone no matter where I am. And so traveling the world is amazing. You learn so much about everyone everywhere, especially if you can actually talk to them. So let Babel help you out with that. Learn another language. Babel is gifting our listeners 55% off [e-mail] left get up to 55% [e-mail] left spelled B A B-B E L.com left babel.com left rules and restrictions may apply. I got a Chasing Amy question.

[Marcus Parks]

Fire away.

[Henry Zabrowski]

So our worst friend, his name is Holden McNeely.

[Marcus Parks]

Oh, seriously? Wait, spell it, spell it.

[Henry Zabrowski]

MC N, E, E, L, Y. His name. Yeah, his name is Holden McNeely and he married a lesbian. Do you have any advice for him?

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, she was a star too, and for some reason, I have no idea why she chose him.

[Marcus Parks]

My advice for him is lawyer up feeling the plot of Chasing Amy and I won't have it. I don't have much in my life holding McNeely. Don't take that from how wild. Man, that'd be like meeting Kevin Smithy. You know, in movies, if you take your name off a movie, used to be you'd replace it with Alan Smith. And I was always waiting to make a movie so bad that it could be a Kevin Smithy film. I know, I know. Some people are like, you made it, buddy. But for my money, I haven't made it yet. One day, though, I will.

[Kevin Smith]

You were also the first man in pop culture to make fun of podcast hosts.

[Marcus Parks]

Yes.

[Kevin Smith]

Which I do want to say again, that's a part of what made it legit. I feel like in many ways I.

[Marcus Parks]

I, I, I honestly take great pride in Tusk being the first movie that features podcast. Yeah. Like, it is so new to the mainstream that Justin's character has to explain what a podcast is to the guy, like, at the tsa, to the TSA agent, or not the tsa, the customs agent in Canada. I mean, it was a great, like, way to, to do it. But nowadays you wouldn't even have to. You'd just be like, oh, I'm a podcast. Oh, dude.

[Kevin Smith]

I travel with the microphone a lot of places and I still have to do the same exact. Oh yeah, because they all look at the microphone like it's an old, like it's an old timey tick tock.

[Henry Zabrowski]

It's the wires.

[Kevin Smith]

And you're like, buddy, it's a microphone.

[Marcus Parks]

It's like, right? I'm glad I remember somebody back in the day being like, explain it. And you know, it was like, back in the day I used to explain it like, have you ever listened to a commentary track on a movie? It's like a commentary track if there was no movie.

[Ben Kissel]

No, it was incredible to watch it at the time because, you know, we were, it's still kind of in the infancy of podcasting, but at that point we've been doing it for like five or six years. And I was constantly explaining to people what a podcast was all the time. But it was so cool to finally, like, see it on the screen. Like, I went and saw it in the theater to see, like, oh, we're there.

[Marcus Parks]

It means the fucking world for, for you to shout that out. Because I remember how important that was to me. Like, I love and still love it. But when we started, like, I loved podcasting. The idea of having like, my own fucking radio show.

[Kevin Smith]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

Like, you know, where I came from in J, there was a local radio station called wrat, the Rat. And I always dreamed, like, maybe one day I get enough money that I could buy the Rat, play any music I wanted and just sit around, talk whenever I wanted to. And then one day, Scott Moser comes into the office. He's like, have you heard the Ricky Gervais podcast yet? And I was like, what's the podcast? And he was just like, people sit around, man, they just talk. And Moser was the one. He was like, it's kind of like a commentary track for a movie, but there's no movie there and shit. And I was like, well, we can probably do one of these podcasts. And I never listened to anyone. We just sat down and started doing one and shit. And, you know, it was this thing of like, my God, nobody's telling us what to do. Nobody's telling us to stop. We could talk about anything we want. I enjoy talking to this motherfucker. One thing it did spoil in my life, though, was I stopped talking to people until there was a microphone on it, because I'd be like, so many times across. I'm sure it's happened to you. Like, wait, wait, wait. Save that for the show. Like, I do it with my kid. To this day, my kid and I will be talking about something cool, and I'm like, wait, wait, wait. Save that for our show and stuff. So I noticed that early on, like, as much as I love talking to Scott Moser, it became reserved for when there was a microphone there, because I was like, well, if we just talk to each other, it's wasted, man. But if we have a mic, it captures it, and I love that aspect. When I first started podcasting, like, you know, people had cell phones with cameras in them. That shit was on the rise, the smartphone and shit. So everyone started taking pictures. Everyone became a fucking photographer. So nobody's ever gonna forget what anybody fucking looks like. But when a motherfucker dies, the first thing you lose is the sound of their voice. That's what I loved about podcasting back in the day, is, like, capturing voices of people I love. I sat down with my mom, recorded a podcast, sat down with people who aren't with us anymore, like Stan Lee and so forth, and record it, and their voices are there. I'll never forget what they sound like. And so I love that. And I would encourage people all the time, like, sit down, record podcasts with your parents, with your grandparents, and stuff like that, because you're gonna be. You're gonna need those voices one day.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

You know, pictures, you're always gonna remember what they look like, but the sound of their voice, the inflection, the tone, all that slips away. But now everybody knows what everybody sounds like till the end of time. So much so that an AI can duplicate you if it needs.

[Kevin Smith]

Oh, yeah, dude, you're. It's gonna be. We're all gonna end up in gay porn in Europe.

[Marcus Parks]

I'm here for it, man. As long as they give me a cut. I just want to wet my beak a little.

[Kevin Smith]

That's a laugh.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah, no, I. I honestly value. We had my mom on the show a bunch of times, and I value it so much.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah.

[Henry Zabrowski]

And it means living life, right?

[Marcus Parks]

Extremely.

[Kevin Smith]

Problematic woman, but love if she was canceled.

[Henry Zabrowski]

But I get to have that, so it's very nice. All right, who'd win in an arm wrestling match, Ben Affleck or Matt Damon?

[Marcus Parks]

Ben Affleck. Wow.

[Ben Kissel]

Quick.

[Marcus Parks]

Ben's got the style. I don't know if you've ever seen him, but Ben's a giant. He's huge. And I wouldn't say Matt's short, but he's more my height. So Ben just has the over the top advantage. Soon as Affleck turns his hat backwards, you're over the top.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Over top.

[Kevin Smith]

Do you ever miss being fat?

[Marcus Parks]

I still consider myself fat, so I don't miss it. In fact, I rue it. I know I'm thinner now than I had been most of my life or most of my career, but when I take off these clothes, I don't see a thin person. I'm not cut by any stretch of the imagination, and I've been fat for so long that I've drapey fucking skin. So I always refer to it as like. Remember in the Shining when Nicholson goes into the bathroom, sexy chick gets out of the tub and shit. And then he's holding her Megan out. And then all of a sudden, he fucking looks at her, steps away, and she's like, that's what my body looks like.

[Henry Zabrowski]

It's also what Jack Nicholson looks like now.

[Marcus Parks]

He's earned it, for heaven's sake.

[Kevin Smith]

If you shave me, I look like I have the body of an abuelita, like, of a Mexican granddad.

[Marcus Parks]

I mean, that's the thing. It's like, I don't take my shirt off, like, in public. I don't take my shirt off at home. Me and my wife been fucking 27 years. I've never taken my shirt off to have sex. Wow.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

Honestly.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah. So, Catman, what is the best bagel in Monmouth County?

[Marcus Parks]

Best bagel in Monmouth County. Let me see. Oh, Bagel station bagels as big as your head. They're huge. But made with that east coast water so they have the consistency they need.

[Henry Zabrowski]

New Jersey has the best.

[Marcus Parks]

This bagel could feed a family of five for a day.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

[Ben Kissel]

Who is your number one underrated director that you think deserves more love?

[Marcus Parks]

Martha Coolidge. Martha Coolidge directed one of my favorite films of all time, Valley Girl. She directed real genius. And she directed Rambling Rose. Three in a row. Bang, bang, bang. You get a trifecta like that today, they would call you the fucking future of cinema for the rest of your life. They would call you cinema itself. But Martha, you know, worked at a time when directors didn't get the spotlight put on them as much. Yes, there have always been directors and yes, there have always been well known directors like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, but not everybody was ever that, you know, well known and stuff. So I thought she's still believe her to be an incredible storyteller. Valley Girl not only set the tone for me for rom coms and meet cutes, but like it fed mine. I don't get to Clerks. Mallrats are Chasing Amy without Valley Girl. Real genius introduces us to the brilliant Val Kilmer for the first time in a really fucking funny, clever film that still holds up today. And Ramblin Rose, if I remember correctly, that was the movie. I don't think Laura Dern got a counted me award nominated, but she was getting all the awards circuit talk that year and stuff like that. So three wonderful movies in a row. And she's had made many things since then, of course, but I never felt like she got the prop she was due. So in the 4:30 movie, the movie I made last year, one of my characters like talks about wanting to go to film school, wanting to go to risd, the Rhode Island School of Design. Just like her hero, Martha Coolidge, man.

[Ben Kissel]

So you've mentioned rom coms and of course we're talking about Tusk. Like, so what, what is more fun for you, a rom com or a horror movie?

[Marcus Parks]

Oh, such an interesting question. Making. What it comes down to is how the audience is gonna react. And surprisingly, the button that you fucking try to find and push for making people laugh is shockingly close to the one that makes people go, you know, that plays on their fears. That, that unsettles them as well. So I, I feel like, you know, I've always been like, I don't think I can make a true horror movie. Like that's, that's for the likes of, you know, John Carpenter or somebody like that. I said, but I can unnerve people. I think I could do that. So the horror movies I've made are more unnerving. Films like Tusk and Red State and stuff like that, and I've noticed that. But the reactionary buttons to laughter and fear, similar and very fucking close in terms of which one's more fun. It's always more fun to make people laugh. Well, no, it's fun to make people scared, but it's better to make people laugh because if you make people scared, they'll remember you. One way for the rest of your life. You make people laugh, they'll welcome you all the time because you gave them something at one point that was valuable to them and stuff. I'm not saying if you make them scared, they'll be like, but if you make them laugh, you get to make them breakfast.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah. Clerks three made me cry. What the. That was the only.

[Marcus Parks]

I was tear hunting. I really wanted to go in there. And here's the thing. I felt Clerks was a total surprise, right? Like nobody saw it coming. The surprise of Clerks 2 was like, oh, there's some heart to it. Like there's definitely depth to it and, and it's in color and it doesn't take place where the first Clerks took place and blah, blah, by the time you get to the third one, you're like, how the. Can you surprise them anymore?

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

And I was like, oh, I know how to surprise them. Like, we'll make a comedy, but then we'll take it real at the end. And I, you know, there's some people like, who didn't like that. Some people felt like, oh God, he got too self serious. But for me, it's like, like I'm a middle aged man. These are things I think about. And my gift to the audience, if you could call it that, with Clerks three was a reminder. Like, hey man, remember all those dreams you had and all those things you wanted to do and all the plans you've got. Hurry the up. You know, it's just a gentle prodding of like, kids, we all die. And as I now live in a world where people I know and have known my whole life aren't with me anymore because they fucking passed. It fed what Clerks three became. So I personally, as the world's biggest Kevin Smith fan and somebody deeply invested in Clerks, I love how it stuck the landing. I love how it's an ouroboros. It's a snake that eats its own tail. And as much as they make clerks in Clerks 3, so I love the meta aspect of it. I love that we got to go home again, shoot in the store, and have them shoot their movie in the store as well. So I absolutely adore that flick. But there's so many people who like, hate me for it. I get on social media all the time. It was Friday night and I was looking forward to some laughs. So I rented clerks 3. Fuck you to death. Hashtag justicefordante. Recently I was in Jersey and I was at the. Where was it? It's the Wawa at the Top of the Hill and Highlands. And I went to get a Celsius and gym. And I walked in, nobody at the counter, just two machines. You scan yourself. I was like, well, this would be Clerks for two machines beeping at you. So I get my Celsius and, like, I go to scan it, and I can't scan it. And I'm trying to scan it repeated times. I try weighing it. That don't work and shit like that. I am totally stymied. And then a voice from behind me, a local, goes, I bet you're sorry you killed Dante now, motherfucker. But Dante, I'll tell you, man, Dante, There's a clerk 3.5 that's coming out next month. It's called Archie Meets Jay and Silent Bob. It's a comic book that I did for the Archie people. And it's set in the continuity of Clerks. So it takes place after the death of Dante. And Archie Andrews gets, like, an after school job at Quickstop. And Randall takes a shine to him because he reminds him of Dante, where he's like, oh, you've got two girls who are after you as well, and one of them's named Veronica, and you're a G shucks kind of guy. Jay and Silent Bob are in it as well. The whole thing ends at a Josie and the Pussycats concert in Riverdale. So. But it truly functions as Clerks 3.5. Because in it, everybody acknowledges the fact that Dante's dead. You see what happened to Quick Stop after, how it's changed in his absence. So I love it, man. Like, it's crazy. I. I'm a fan of Archie, but it's not like I'm the world's biggest Archie fan. But when the Archie folks reached out, I was like, you know, oddly enough, I'm kind of equipped to write this. And the book is crazy, wholesome while being, like, filthy. There's curses all throughout it. They're smoking pot. But the one thing is, when I told people, like, oh, I'm doing this crossover, man, with Archie and Jane Silent Bob. They're like, are Jay and Silent Bob gonna fuck Betty and Veronica?

[Kevin Smith]

And I'm like, no, no.

[Marcus Parks]

Jay and Silent Bob are 50, and Betty and Veronica are teenagers. But it's a. It's a wonderful book. It comes out, like, next month. But it. In all this Clerks talk, it just reminded me of it because I'm like. We continue the story, oddly enough, in the Archie pages.

[Ben Kissel]

And by the way, I loved those Clerks comics that you did with Jim Mafood back In the day for ONI Press, those were. So I actually have a tattoo of like that. Well, it's a Jim Mah food art. Like, I just love.

[Marcus Parks]

Fat black lines.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah, he's.

[Marcus Parks]

He did our cover for. I do a book for Dark Horse through my comic imprint, Secret Stash Press, and it's called Quick Stop. So it's all these like View Askew stories you would never make a movie for. But when they did the second hardcover, when they bind the four issues together, put it out as a trade. It's a hardcover trade. Mafu did our cover of. And it's Jay and Silent Bob almost like Big Ed style in a van, a VW van with a movie like spare tire cover and shit is absolutely beautiful. He's. He's an absolute genius, that guy.

[Ben Kissel]

Oh, yeah. And I also like the, the comic book stuff that you like. You know, the, the Green Arrow run, like bringing back Ollie Queen was so cool. And the dare.

[Marcus Parks]

A book that drops today, man. My first Marvel book in, oh, shit ages since I did Daredevil Target years ago. Yeah, it's called, well, it's giant size the Amazing Spider man. And I got a 15 page story in it. It's gorgeous, man. It just hit the stands today.

[Kevin Smith]

How do you have the time? How.

[Marcus Parks]

15 pages.

[Kevin Smith]

You just do so much.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah. And I'm like.

[Marcus Parks]

But the thing is, it's stuff that appeals to me. So like when they reached out and they're like, do you want to. It wasn't for a giant size annual. They were going to do this Earth616 book. So, like, would you like to do a story for it? And I was like, oh, yeah. So as soon as I got off the phone with. With Nick Lowe at Marvel, I started writing. Cause like, that appealed to me. I was like, oh, that's gonna be fun. Same thing with the Archie book. As soon as I got off the phone with Jesse, the guy who runs the place, and he was like, would you like to do a book here? I said, absolutely. I instantly started writing because I was like, oh, that's fun. And I got a bunch of ideas. So if you see me doing a bunch of things, number one comics you do like six to six months to a year ago, right? So like the Archie book I wrote, I want to say like at least six months ago or something like that. So now it's coming into fruition here. This Marvel story I wrote probably roughly around the same time, six to eight months ago. So seeing it in print today is dope. But I did the work Back then, you make time for the work when it's stuff that you love. And it's, you know, it can't always be about like, I'm getting paid to do a thing. Yes, you get paid to write, you know, 15 pages of Marvel comic, but not a lot.

[Ben Kissel]

No, we've written a cut. We've written stuff for DC and Darth.

[Marcus Parks]

You know, so it's like you're basically. If you're a person who writes three or four titles a month, you can really make a living. But if you're carpetbaggers like us, you're not there to collect the check. You're doing it for the passion. Just because you're like, what, you're going to let me do this shit? Done and done. So I still feel that way about comics. So when Nick Lowe at Marvel called up, when Jesse at Archie called up, you know, I was like, oh, shit. Yeah. And these are things that appeal to me. So it never feels like work. And there's another thing. I just. I guess I could say it, but I can't say what it is. But they're doing a Marvel DC crossover, and I saw my name floated in there, so I did my work for that as well. That'll happen later on. That's awesome. So you make space for the things that mean something to you. And, yes, they pay. I, you know, put poo poo in it. Like, you know, a thousand, two thousand bucks. Nothing to sneeze at and shit. But, like, I've had agents, you know, for my day job who are like, why are you wasting your time writing comics? I can get you paid, like 100 times the amount you got paid for that comic book to write a real script. And I was like, yeah, but I wouldn't have the passion, the enthusiasm, because that would be a job. This I did, like, with utter joy. It ain't about the money. It's like, you're gonna let me fucking play with Reed Richards. Done and done.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, because then you also don't have to go in front of a bunch of executives and pitch it and get noted to death and have to go through all of the things that you have to go through when you're working.

[Marcus Parks]

And you never once have to be like, who's gonna pay for this? This seems expensive because somebody's drawn it. Some artist is spending time, not dimes. So I. Comics, you know, I've. They've always been a big part of my world and stuff. Of course, I love now being a publisher. I love having secret stash press and now I'm starting because of secret stash Press. I feel it's like, all right, I should start doing more crossovers. The Archie thing happened very easily and, you know, was. Came to my front door. It was such a delight that now I'm gonna keep going. We're gonna cross over with some other imprints as well.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Looking at all the Rocky and Bullwinkle stuff behind you. Big fan of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[Marcus Parks]

Thank you.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Is Moose Jaws a crossover?

[Marcus Parks]

Moose Jaws is. I want. You think that's fucking. Look. Look at this. Bullwinkle. Oh, wow.

[Ben Kissel]

Wow.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Amazing.

[Marcus Parks]

See that giant Bullwinkle sitting right there? That came from the Dudley Do Ride Emporium back in the day, man. They just had an auction recently, and I bought that.

[Ben Kissel]

Did you set up to create a Rocky and Bullwinkle room or did it just happen on its own?

[Marcus Parks]

You know, honestly, this is so ironic. Like, this office didn't look like this six months ago. What had happened was, remember we had the fires here in town.

[Kevin Smith]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

So I live right next to Runyon Canyon. And so they've actually evacuated us because they're like, hey, man, the fire's hitting the. Then we left with nothing. Left everything in the house. Just grabbed the dogs and took, you know, my computers and. And she took her jewelry and we fled. And I looked back and I saw the flames coming up over the hill. And I was like, well, that's it. There goes everything I own and all my childhood and, like, the things I've held on to my whole life. Like, oddly enough, one of the only things I brought with two things I brought with me besides my laptop. I brought my Silent Bob outfit because I was like, well, I'll have to work eventually. And then I brought my father's ashes, which I was like, why? Because they're already pre burned and shit. So when we left, I thought that was it. And I kept watching from my phone. We got the security cameras on the phone waiting for the fire to get here. But they dropped water. They did those water bombers and shit, put out the Runyon fire. So I got to go back that night. And you would imagine it would. The effect would have been, you know, let go of all your earthly possessions. Because clearly I was ready to. Like, I did. I drove away and I was like, man, fucking, there goes my photo albums. All throughout my childhood scrapbooks. I kept the certificate that clerks got into fucking Cannes shit like that. My marriage certificate, which you noticed, came way less so. When I came back, you'd imagine I would have kind of gone monk like, and been like, hey, man, it's time to get rid of things. And instead, I went hard in the other direction and I started collecting Rocky and Bullwinkle, which has been a big thing for me. I used to collect it when I was a kid, like, up into my early 20s. Then clerks happened, and I started doing my own thing. So I don't know if it was, like, somebody told me, like, this is deeply psychological, Kevin. Like, you went. You know, obviously, that fire was traumatic for you, but it wasn't. We didn't lose anything. But maybe the threat of. I don't know. But it resulted in me buying a. A ton of Rocky and Bullwinkle on ebay for the next two months after the fire, like a junkie. Every day I'd be like, online, go. I don't have that. I don't have that. I started hitting strangers. Then I went to. I went to. I went to Facebook Marketplace, man, which was a whole new discovery for me. And I started buying and going to pick it up in the real world. And then people be like, it is you. I was like, yeah, yep.

[Kevin Smith]

Give me the shit.

[Marcus Parks]

Give me my. I like the discount as much as the next guy. Then I just started buying Kevin Smith off Facebook Marketplace and then showing up just to watch their expressions change. They're like, why are you buying a Jay and Style Bob figure? I was like, why do you think.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Man?

[Kevin Smith]

That is the ultimate lesson as an artist. I really appreciate. Yeah, man, you're reinvesting in yourself.

[Marcus Parks]

Get to that point in your career, kids, where you could buy yourself from strangers just to watch them smile or be puzzled. But, yes, Moose Jaws is coming, man. I was just on the aforementioned Bird Kreischer podcast last week, and I was like, hey, man, be in Moose Jaws. And he was like, I would love to. That's a funny idea. So that might give us some wind under our wings, man. I sent him the script, but I haven't heard back from me yet. But I know he's a busy.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I don't think you can read it.

[Marcus Parks]

We also had our budget to break down our effect shots. How many of the shots will be cg? That is a moose running through the brush and stuff. And how much will be practical? Rubber moose, you know, with animatronics, biting kids heads off.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

So we're getting closer. It will happen. And. And the inside dope about that is Moose Jaws is if you loved Tusk, the story continues in Moose Jaws.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Kevin Smith]

I love how you bring it all back, dude. I really do love the world of your stuff, but this has been so special. Yeah.

[Ben Kissel]

I mean, really. One thing that I. That. That I. I have to ask you, that I want to ask you is like, I know back in the day, you know, you worked a little bit on a Superman movie, or there was like, you know, possibility of a Superman movie. And, you know, you're in comic books, you've done a lot of work for Marvel. Is there any possibility of you doing something in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

[Marcus Parks]

Nah, nah. I mean, I like, number one, I'm not talented enough to do that. And I'm not being shy or whatever the fuck, or modest. I know I've got some degree of talent when it comes to doing Kevin Smith type things, but those movies like that, that takes a degree of talent that I don't have, A visual panache that I don't have. And when you're in comics, like, all these comics that I've been writing and all the comics I've ever written, I have the ability to write. Dr. Strange waves his hand and a wall opens up, up. Somebody, some amazing, talented artist brings that to life. They're visually oriented. I'm a wordsmith. So at the end of the day, like, I never feel a call to make one of those movies. Those movies are my religion, though. That's what I love to watch. My grandmother used to watch Young and the Restless, and she'd be like, don't talk to me. My stories are on superhero movies. Those are my stories, man. Like, I'm religious about them. I treat them overly seriously. I look up to the people that make them, but I don't have it in me to make them myself. I don't think I could do it. I don't think I'm talented enough to do that kind of storytelling. Believe me, nobody's. Kevin Feige ain't calling, so there's no threat or worry there whatsoever. Back in the day, I directed some CW shows. Like, I did Supergirl and Flash 3 flashes, I think four Supergirls. And I enjoyed it. Those were like a good time, man. But they shot for nine days as opposed to, like, you know, those features shoot for sometimes a year. And by day six or seven, I was always like, are we still shooting this shit? We're not done yet. Like, I kind of get restless easy. And shooting a dialogue movie, you're shooting tons of pages, like seven pages a day. Shooting superhero movies, you're lucky if you shoot a quarter page of a day because, you know, you're shooting spectacle. So I love Those movies so much, but making one is anathema to me. You might as well be like, did you ever want to be an astronaut, Kev? I was like, well, it sounds fun, but, like, not really, you know? Like, I mean, but I've. I've done that to some degree as well, and. But, you know, I'd rather. Honestly, if I was gonna write. I know, don't pay as much, but I'd rather write a comic book because it's, as you said before, total control. I didn't have to do any fucking notes. I didn't have to sit in front of anybody and pitch it. I didn't have to educate them on who these fucking characters were and shit like that and show them the box office. Gross. I was just like, oh, I'm gonna tell this story. And they're like, oh, my God. Go, yeah. So that's when it comes to spectacle, visual spectacle. You gotta pair me up with an artist, and then I could give you something. Like, even on Dogma, years ago, before I went off to make Dogma, a month before I left Jersey, go to Pittsburgh, I call up Robert Rodriguez. Because I had met Robert, because, I mean, I knew him through indie film a little bit, but we became more friendly. He called me up one day and he goes, warner Brothers wants me to direct your Superman. So script. I was like, you should do that. That's a great combo, dude. I said, that would be amazing. I said, oh, my God. I said, the script's fun, but you would make it something special. So for, like, a couple days, we talked about it and stuff. And then ultimately, he decided to go make the Faculty for Dimension because he felt he owed Dimension. So I. We became friendly because of that. Right before I go shoot Dogma, I called up Robert one night, and he was like, what's up? I was like, hey, man. So I'm supposed to make Dogma next month. This is me calling to be like, would you direct Dogma for me? He goes, what are you talking about? I was like, I like this script so much, man. I was like, it could be a cool movie, but I'm telling you right now, like, I'm not the guy for it. Like, I can't pull it off and stuff. Like, this is. We got a bigger budget this time around. I said, I think you would be the right person to do it. And he talked me off a ledge. He goes, kevin, you can direct this. He's going, my only piece of advice to you is that instead of having a wall behind two characters who are talking to each other. Put a window. Put a. Put some depth. He's going, the only problem with your storytelling in film is that you stand two people against a wall and shoot that. He's going, you can't. You need depth in a film. And I was like, all right. And so mercifully, I got to go make the flick with Bob Yeoman. Like, Wes Anderson let his DP out of the box for, like, one minute and stuff like that. But that. That Bob made it beautiful for what it was and stuff. I'm not your comic book movie guy. Hold on one second. Your Jaws pinball machine is here. Kids, you're gonna. You just bought a pinball machine, and she never, never comes down to my office. So I'm like, oh, my God.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

But she came in to tell me, and this will be relevant to our discussion. I just received a Jaws pinball. So they're delivering it now, and I need to go take pictures.

[Henry Zabrowski]

The greatest excuse ever, dude, I gotta say it is.

[Marcus Parks]

I hate. I really hate to be 1% or first world, but I must go ball game, dude.

[Kevin Smith]

Thank you for your years of work and thank you for talking to us. We're really very, so happy that we.

[Marcus Parks]

Got to the world, man. When they told me that you guys wanted me on, I knew. I knew the show. And right away I was just like, oh, I can't wait to talk horror with these cats. So thank you. Hell, yeah.

[Ben Kissel]

Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Go see Dogma. Check it out.

[Kevin Smith]

It's a little old flick.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Oh, it's so much fun to see in the theater. I love seeing old movies in the theater. It. Nothing makes me happier. I'm so glad it's back. I'm so glad you're still amazing and relevant. And check out the Smod Castle Film Festival. It was so much fun. And submit to that as well, man.

[Kevin Smith]

Thank you, sir.

[Marcus Parks]

It means the world. Means the world. Thank you. See you later.

[Kevin Smith]

See you, man.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Get support from your grave pinball machine.

[Kevin Smith]

That's so cool. What a cool life.

[Ben Kissel]

What a cool life. What a dream.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah, Especially like a Jaws pinball machine. I don't even like pinball, but I want four of those.

[Kevin Smith]

Seeing the amount of Bullwinkle stuff that he got in one go, it truly was. I was like, that's. You see, that's what nerds do. That's what nerd. That's what Nerd Lord is supposed to do.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah. Yeah. You get obsessed about that one thing, and you just decide, I'm going to devote a room to this weird Thing.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I just realized he's able to write off the Jaws pinball machine because he's writing Moose Jaws.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, dude.

[Henry Zabrowski]

So he just gets to write off a pinball machine.

[Kevin Smith]

He does research. That's account is.

[Henry Zabrowski]

That is unbelievable. It is a legitimate research for him to sit there and be like.

[Kevin Smith]

But, hey, but. And then everybody gets on my ass about having a whole closet dedicated to Selena Gomez. And like, everyone says, oh, why you? Oh, you said all these disparaging words about her, but actually, you might be secretly sort of obsessed with her. And then I did sort of become like that.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah. Well, the closet's better than it being in the living room.

[Kevin Smith]

Natalie nixed that in the book. It was just covered in my stuff.

[Ben Kissel]

Is the lock still holding on the closet?

[Kevin Smith]

I just keep pulling it. Pulling and pulling and pulling.

[Henry Zabrowski]

It's shut sealed with semen.

[Kevin Smith]

I'm taking it. I have to hide it for myself. God, I want to be her. I want to be here. I want to be that little girl.

[Marcus Parks]

Henry is so nice to have you here.

[Henry Zabrowski]

That's my selena Gomez.

[Marcus Parks]

Hello, Mrs. Gomez.

[Kevin Smith]

Or is it Mr. Gomez? Henry you're attracted to? To me is scary, scary good.

[Ben Kissel]

Well, thank you so much for listening, everybody. As always, if you're in the Atlanta area, we're going to be playing the Coca Cola Roxy tomorrow night.

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah.

[Ben Kissel]

So there may be tickets. There may not be, but check them out and see if you can come on out. We got a. We got some new surprises for this live show.

[Kevin Smith]

We do.

[Ben Kissel]

We're very excited.

[Kevin Smith]

Things had to change due to what God did. Did.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah. And then July 12th will be in Salt Lake City.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Come check that show out as well.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Ben Kissel]

Can't wait for Salt Lake. Salt Lake is always such a good time. It's such a good crowd. I always say it. Salt Lake goes hard. They go hard every time. And I. I can't wait for it. It's gonna be such a good time.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Hell, yeah. I hope you come hard.

[Ben Kissel]

Yeah.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Kevin Smith]

And then leave quietly.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

Yes.

[Kevin Smith]

Fulfilled.

[Ben Kissel]

And if you want to see the actual video footage from this interview, go to patreon.com lastpodcast on the left and pay a minimal fee for both video episodes. And to see last stream on the left every Tuesday at 6pm PST, 9pm EST. And you can chat with us as we do the show.

[Kevin Smith]

Yes. And go to our YouTube page, LPN TV. It's @LPN TV.

[Ben Kissel]

We got it.

[Kevin Smith]

We got that. When you go and you subscribe, you could see all of our new content all of our comedy based content and go subscribe to all the other new Last podcast network associated YouTube channels. Someplace underneath LPN Romantasy, the Foreign Report. No dogs in space. You go and check it out.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I think we need more.

[Kevin Smith]

Oh, and who's the bee?

[Henry Zabrowski]

Yeah, can we do. Can we get like seven more?

[Kevin Smith]

I'm doing my best.

[Henry Zabrowski]

I'm doing my best.

[Marcus Parks]

Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers, creator and host.

[Henry Zabrowski]

Of the number one true crime podcast, Crime Junkie.

[Marcus Parks]

Every Monday, me and my best friend Britt break down a new case, but not in the way you've heard before.

[Kevin Smith]

And not the cases you've heard before. You'll hear stories on Crime Junkie that.

[Marcus Parks]

Haven'T been told anywhere else. I'll tell you what you can do to help victims and their families get justice.

[Kevin Smith]

Join us for new episodes of Crime Junkie every Monday. Already waiting for you by searching for.

[Marcus Parks]

Crime Junkie wherever you listen to podcasts. Lowes knows July 4th savings are worth celebrating right now. Get up to 40% off. Select major appliances and get an additional 10% off two or more select major appliances plus get three Scott's Naturescapes 1.5 cubic foot mulch bags for just $10. These deals are coming in hot. Lowes we help you Save. Valid through 7 9. Selection varies by location while supplies last. See lowe's.com for more details. Excludes Alaska and Hawaii.