They’re not even sure if they were supposed to be there today.
This one is a bit left of field. Back in 1994, ultimate comic book, movie nerd and pop culture favourite Kevin Smith had a huge black and white hit film on his hands by the name of Clerks. An independent film based on two guys who hate to love and love to hate their jobs. Dante (Brian O’Halloran), works as a clerk at the Quick Stop Grocery store. Randall (Jeff Anderson), the store neighbour, works in a video store. With a lot of life-surprising shit that happens to them in one day, with characters Jay & Silent Bob hanging out in front of the stores while rocking out to 80s rock… meh.. if you’re reading this, you know the whole View Askewniverse with the potty mouth humour and degrading stories that we all know and love.
So, due to the popularity of Clerks, Smith’s career was taking off and began filming Mallrats in 1995. During this time, some TV executives decided to cash in on his underground popularity and make a TV series based on Dante and Randall. But this isn’t the animated series. It’s toooootally different. Smith apparently wasn’t even consulted on this (and you’ll see why in a minute).
To make the concept more ‘family friendly’, the characters were re-cast and the show was watered down so much, it’s like the Barney version of Clerks.
The result…
Brace yourself… best enjoyed while eating a chocolate coated pretzel.
If you happened to recognise anyone in it – you’ll notice a young Keri Russell (Felicity). But that’s as exciting as it gets. There are various rumours of a copy auctioned off by Smith for charity and being used for a bonus feature on the Clerks 10 year anniversary DVD release, but nothing eventuated – only this bootleg.
The vid posted above is from YouTube, but if it disappears – the original upload is from vid.me in January 2015. More info on the video here.
Snoochie boochies!
