Kevin Smith Opens Up About His Friendship With Chris Jericho, Reveals New Project They're Working On
Many wrestling fans noticed that actor Kevin Smith appeared in the crowd at a Dynamite episode last year and it turns out Smith is friends with Chris Jericho. Smith opened up more about his relationship with Jericho when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.
"Chris was good enough to be in a Jay and Silent Bob reboot. I also worked with Jericho on Kilroy Was Here which isn't complete yet. I've been on his podcast and he was on my podcast and I fell in love with him. This sweet Canadian kid is such a nice guy. We came up similarly but his dad [Ted Irvine] was super famous," said Smith.
"I dug him and saw that he was a good dude so I wanted to put him in something. So when I put him in something, I kept casting him as a bad guy. In Kilroy he plays a real piece of sh*t and in the Jay and Silent Bob reboot, he was the klan leader. I hadn't seen Chris wrestle and didn't know his personality. So, I thought I was clever by casting this sweet kid as a bad guy as no one would ever think to do that."
Smith said after seeing Jericho perform at Dynamite, he realized that while he saw him as a nice person, the wrestling fans hated his heel character. The two would later team up on a Bubbly Bunch viral video on Dynamite and Smith discussed the origin of that.
"Chris texted me, 'Did you see the stunt man video that was online last week? We're gonna do that and can you provide me with a clip?' I said, 'Absolutely. Can I do it as Silent Bob?' He goes, 'Can you get Jay?' I said, 'I think I can,'" recalled Smith.
"I found the hat with the hair on it, went out on my deck and did a quick shot and sent it to Jay. I said, 'Do something like this' and he sent it and we were off and running. But I thought it was just folks from AEW as I didn't know Ted [Irvine] was gonna be in it. That was a big moment for me as I shared some space with a hockey legend for heaven's sake."
Not only has Jericho appeared in a couple of Smith's movies, but the pair are also teaming up for another project which Smith explained.
"We're still figuring out if its Grains and Greens or Greens and Grains. But the idea is that we sit there and do a commentary track for a movie that we didn't have anything to do with," Smith said while mentioning Omen II as one of those movies.
"There are a lot of movies that we share and deeply love as Bad News Bears is one of those as will be Omen II. Pulp Fiction, everyone knew and loved that one so that's the one we had the biggest interactivity with. He sits there and drinks and I sit there and smoke and slowly the analysis of the movie probably gets sillier and sillier.
"But I'll be honest, he was on it the whole time. Even when he drinks ? and you can see Chris when he gets the bubbly in him ? he can handle his liquor. So even though I'm getting very blazed, he's still on point with the commentary and brings you right back into the movie. He goes, 'Ok, and right now they're at Miguel's wall. What's important about this is at the beginning of the movie?' and I'm like, 'Motherf***** are you working from a script? [Laughs] I thought we were just free-birding this!'"
Smith praised Jericho for being a Renaissance Man and more than just an athlete as he can do many things from movies to music to podcasts.
Kevin Smith can be found on Twitter @ThatKevinSmith. Kevin's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of today's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.