Badass Digest Visits The Smodcastle

And so I finally entered the Smodcastle! Located in the heart of Hollywood’s little theater row (just down the street from the place that does Point Break Live), the Smodcastle can only be described as a shrine to Kevin Smith. The walls are covered with art - much of it fanmade, almost all of it depicting Kevin Smith. There are some other pieces - some Wayne Gretzky stuff, a schematic of Bruce the Shark from Jaws - but mostly it’s Kevin Smith.

The carpet is the New Jersey Devils logo, over and over again. The green room has a couple of bongs in it, and the whole place smells like cigarettes. In a lot of ways it’s exactly what you would expect Kevin Smith’s theater to be. But most of all it’s a monument to Smith; at least the pharaohs waited until they died to enshrine themselves.

All that aside it’s a great space, and the idea behind the Smodcastle is brilliant - even if Smith no longer uses it. He’s taken his Smodcast to the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at the dismal Universal Citywalk tourist trap (12 dollar parking!) because it has more seats and thus he can sell more tickets. But in his absence the Smodcastle has branched out, which I think is the key to its survival. If Smith manages to actually see this Smodcastle through to the end I think it could become a central place for many creative types. The fact that it’s a one-stop performance space/podcast studio is perfect.

The other guest on Dominic’s show was Aubrey Plaza; she gave me a high five when I came backstage after my segment. I don’t really know how I did - I’m not sure that the crowd was very into me, and I’m also pretty sure 90% of the people had no idea who I was or why I was on stage. Still, it was a whole lot of fun, and I’m eternally grateful to Dominic for inviting me.

You can download the show from iTunes by clicking here. There’s a pretty crazy segment before I come on, where Dominic interviews a random audience member. The guy ends up being a hardcore Kevin Smith fan who is also a chronic masturbator (I am not making that up). Then I come on to talk about blogger feuds and why I never thought I’d be in the Smodcastle; after that is Aubrey Plaza, bringing the professional comedian business and being very funny.

Here are some pictures I took in the Smodcastle.

[caption id=“attachment_10095” align=“aligncenter” width=“568” caption=“The view from the stage, before the audience arrives. The back railing is made up of hockey sticks. There's a Gretzky jersey back there.”]

[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_10094” align=“aligncenter” width=“568” caption=“One of the many paintings and images of Kevin Smith dotting the walls of the Smodcastle. This one has Kevin Smith fucking some guy while the cast of LOST (and Wilson, the volleyball from CAST AWAY) looks on. Also, there's a Nazi dog painting. There were a couple of Nazi-themed artworks.”]

[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_10093” align=“aligncenter” width=“568” caption=“The view from the audience. On the right side of the stage, under a cloth, is a cross that was a prop in RED STATE. You can see the carpet pretty well in this shot.”]

[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_10092” align=“aligncenter” width=“568” caption=“More Smith art. This is Smith and Wayne Gretzky in love.”]

[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_10091” align=“aligncenter” width=“568” caption=“I don't even know. This was near the 'Smerch' area, where you could buy other things with Kevin Smith's face on them.”]

[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_10090” align=“aligncenter” width=“568” caption=“Backstage! Seemingly random items on a dresser in a green room… seemingly random until you realize that, in keeping with the theater's "Kevin Smith" motif, this is a Kevin Smith-penned issue of GREEN HORNET.”]

[/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_10089” align=“aligncenter” width=“568” caption=“Weird Jason Mewes related graffiti/algebra/calendar in the green room.”]

[/caption]