Jay and Silent Bob
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Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse. They are played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, and have appeared in all of Smith's films with the exception of Jersey Girl. The duo are marijuana dealers who spend most of their time standing outside store fronts in order to sell their product. The duo seem to have a large interest for John Hughes' films, Purple Rain and Morris Day and the Time.
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[edit] Origins
As depicted in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jay and Silent Bob were born in Leonardo, New Jersey, in the 1970s, and met when they were infants in front of the Quick Stop Groceries while their mothers shopped inside the store. Jay curses a lot, apparently due to his mother, who is shown using continuous profanity in front of him.
Of the duo, Jay usually takes the lead, due to the fact that Silent Bob, as his name suggests, seldom talks. Bob usually only talks to make a monologue, and otherwise relies on gestures. In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, he gets angry when Jay does not understand his gestures and yells at Jay, for perhaps one of the first times in character.
Silent Bob's distinguishing features are his heavy smoking, long coat, and baseball cap. Jay's distinguishing feature is his long blonde hair. In several of the later View Askewniverse films Jay wears a black beanie, which has also become a well-known feature.
[edit] Film
[edit] Clerks (1994)
Clerks is the first film to feature Jay and Silent Bob. In the View Askewniverse, its events take place the day after Mallrats. Jay and Silent Bob return to their primary business location in front of Quick Stop. Throughout the day, they are seen harassing passersby, dancing, and loitering. Silent Bob enters the store to buy a bag of sugar while Jay simply goes inside to steal. They also deal marijuana to various individuals (including Willam Black), much to the chagrin of Quick Stop clerk Dante Hicks.
[edit] Mallrats (1995)
One day prior to the events in Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob are busy loitering at the Eden Prairie Center Mall. There they are met by Brodie (Jason Lee) and T.S. (Jeremy London), who were both dumped by their girlfriends - Rene (Shannen Doherty) and Brandi (Claire Forlani), respectively - earlier that day. As fate would have it, a local game show called "Truth or Date," which is set to feature Brandi, is to be filmed at the mall that day. Brodie asks Jay and Silent Bob to make sure that the show doesn't happen, and Jay says they were going to destroy the stage anyway, for lack of having anything better to do.
They make several attempts to destroy the stage, thereby sabotaging the show, but ultimately fail. Later, however, they successfully help Brodie and T.S. win back their girlfriends. Jay incapacitates the male contestants on "Truth or Date" by getting them stoned, which allows Brodie and T.S. to take their places. Silent Bob overrides the production's video input, allowing him to play a video tape of Rene's new boyfriend, Shannon Hamilton (Ben Affleck), having sex with a minor. The movie concludes with Brodie and T.S. each reconciling their respective relationships, and Jay and Silent Bob walk off into the distance with an orangutan named Suzanne.
[edit] Chasing Amy (1997)
In the years since the events of Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob have sold the rights to their likenesses to comic book artists Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), who create a popular independent comic book series entitled Bluntman and Chronic based on the duo.
This film centers around Holden's romantic relationship with Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), a self-identified lesbian. Though their love is initially strong, the relationship begins to deteriorate due to Holden's discovery of Alyssa's past. Towards the end of the film, Jay and Silent Bob meet Holden to accept their likeness rights payment, and during this meeting Silent Bob relates with Holden's situation, and tells him the story of his former girlfriend, Amy.
Silent Bob explains that he once dated a girl named Amy, and much like in Holden's relationship with Alyssa, he became disturbed at the revelation of Amy's sexual past, specifically the fact that she engaged in a threesome. Upon discovering this, he broke up with her only to realize, much later, that he was wrong. He was not angry at her, he felt small and insecure - as if he would never be enough given his lack of experience. But by the time he realized this, it was too late, and she had moved on. He has since spent his life "Chasing Amy."
Inspired by Silent Bob's story, Holden devises a plan to fix his relationship with Alyssa, but it is too late. Holden thereafter creates the comic Chasing Amy based on the relationship.
[edit] Dogma (1999)
After their disappointing adventure to the fictional Shermer, Illinois (the events of which are chronicled in Chasing Dogma), Jay and Silent Bob decide to go back home to New Jersey. Before they leave, they meet Bethany Sloane (Linda Fiorentino), an abortion clinic worker.
Bethany is the last living relative of Jesus (a distant niece) and she has been charged with the holy quest of stopping two fallen angels, Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), from entering a church in New Jersey. If the two were to succeed, they would be allowed back into heaven, reversing a direct command of God, and precipitating the end of existence. The Metatron tells her in a dream that she is to follow two people who refer to themselves as "prophets;" later Jay and Silent Bob meet her, and when Jay mentions that he wants to "make myself a profit," Bethany comes to the conclusion she needs to follow them back to New Jersey. Though initially only interested in sex, Jay and Silent Bob agree to let her come with them. The three begin their journey encountering an apostle, a former muse, a shit monster, and a host of demons, on the way.
Jay and Silent Bob fill out their roles as prophets, predicting the arrival of Rufus (Chris Rock), the thirteenth apostle, who was left out of the Bible because he was black; leading them to Serendipity (Salma Hayek) the former muse; coming up with an idea of how to stop the angels; and ultimately, though inadvertently, providing Bethany the solution to preventing Armageddon.
Once at the church, Jay and Silent Bob, along with the others try to stop the angels from entering. Though unsuccessful (in fact, Jay accidentally helps them out by shooting Bartleby's wings off with a MAC-10, turning him to a mortal), God (Alanis Morissette) arrives, due to the efforts of Bethany and Silent Bob, and proceeds to set things in order. The movie ends with Jay suggesting that he and Silent Bob take Bethany to the Quick Stop.
[edit] Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
Due to their excessive noise-making and drug dealing, Randal Graves gets a restraining order against Jay and Silent Bob that prohibits them from coming within one hundred feet of Quick Stop or RST Video. Having no place to go, they pay a visit to Brodie. There they learn that Miramax Films is making a Bluntman and Chronic movie. Brodie tells them they should go see Holden McNeil, co-creator of the characters, and ask for the money that belongs to them for using their likenesses in the film.
They visit Holden, only to find out that he has sold his half of the rights to Bluntman and Chronic to the other co-creator, Banky Edwards. Holden introduces them to the internet, where they discover that a number of people have bashed the upcoming movie and insulted Jay and Silent Bob numerous times. No longer concerned with the money, Jay and Silent Bob decide that they must defend their honor, and embark on a trip to Hollywood to stop the movie from being made.
After being kicked off of a bus for not having tickets, they decide to hitchhike there. Unable to hitch a ride, they learn from another hitchhiker (George Carlin) that, according to the Unwritten Book of the Road, they are expected to give oral sex in exchange for a ride. After being picked up by a nun (Carrie Fisher), Jay confuses her adherence to the Bible (or "the Book" as she calls it) as a request for oral sex. This miscommunication results in them being kicked out of the vehicle, left to hitchhike once again.
After a ride in the Mystery Machine, Jay and Silent Bob meet Justice (Shannon Elizabeth), an international jewel thief posing as an animal rights activist, at a local Mooby's restaurant. Upon meeting Justice, Jay falls victim to love at first sight. Justice offers them a ride under the pretense that they are traveling cross country to release animals from an animal testing facility, much to the chagrin of her partners Chrissy, Missy, and Sissy.
Also with them is a genuine animal rights activist (Sean William Scott), who becomes the target of Jay's aggression, as he sees him as a barrier to getting with Justice. After tricking him into saying he that he would have sex with a sheep, Jay ejects the naive tag-along from the vehicle. Having lost their patsy, the jewel thieves are forced to use Jay and Silent Bob instead, convincing them to steal an ape from an animal testing facility as a diversion for when they break into the Colorado Diamond Exchange.
Once inside the facility, Jay and Silent Bob find a tranquilizer gun and the ape, an orangutan named Suzanne. After springing her from her cage, Silent Bob becomes sympathetic for the other animals, so they let them loose as well. In the mean time, Missy, Chrissy, Sissy, and Justice escape with the diamonds and place a bomb on the van. Jay and Silent Bob witness the van explode, and assume that Justice is dead. They manage to escape just as the authorities arrive.
Federal Wildlife Marshall Willenholly (Will Ferrell) arrives to take over the case, as it involves the release of animals. He tracks Jay, Silent Bob and Suzanne to a small diner. However, Jay, Silent Bob, and Suzanne are able to escape, as they convince Willenholly that they are actually a homosexual couple, and that Suzanne is their son. Willenholly eventually discovers the ruse, and gives chase, but they escape.
Suzanne is subsequently taken by the occupants of a car labeled “Critters of Hollywood.” Jay laments that they will never see Suzanne again, only to have Silent Bob explain that the sign on the car indicated that they will probably meet up with her in Hollywood.
They are eventually able to hitch a ride and make it to Hollywood. There they evade a security guard (Diedrich Bader) and make their way through multiple movie sets, including Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season. They are reunited with Suzanne on the set of Scream 4, where Suzanne played the part of a masked killer. Pursued by a group of security guards, they are able to escape by riding a bicycle over a ramp, propelling them through the window of a nearby building.
By sheer luck, they land in the dressing room of James Van Der Beek (of Dawson's Creek) and Jason Biggs (of American Pie), who happen to be playing Jay and Silent Bob in The Bluntman and Chronic Movie.
After learning this, Jay and Bob form a huddle in the corner and decide to beat up Biggs and Van Der Beek, but while their backs are turned Suzanne does this for them. Jay and Silent Bob then give the monkey the tranquilizer gun and set her loose in the ventilation ducts. They put on the Bluntman and Chronic outfits, so they won't be noticed, but are mistaken for Biggs and Van Der Beek, and are escorted to the set of the Bluntman and Chronic movie. Despite the fact that they do not know what they are doing, once on set, filming begins. Jay and Silent Bob battle with Bluntman and Chronic's arch nemesis, Cockknocker (Mark Hamill), eventually cutting off his hand (in reference to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back).
At this point, Justice enters the set to confess her love for Jay and admits her profession as a professional jewel thief. A nonchalant Jay forgives her and they kiss. Willenholly reappears with a shotgun, soon followed by Missy, Chrissy and Sissy. Justice and Sissy fight hand to hand, while Missy and Chrissy get into a gun battle with Willenholly. During the commotion, Jay and Silent Bob locate Banky Edwards and demand their money. After Banky refuses, Silent Bob breaks his silence and explains why Banky can be sued if he doesn't acquiesce to their demands. Banky finally agrees to give them half of whatever he makes from the movie.
After the fighting is over, Willenholly stands up, believing he killed Missy and Chrissy. Suzanne takes this opportunity to shoot him in the buttocks with a tranquilizer dart, incapacitating him. Justice uses the situation to her advantage and offers Willeholly an opportunity to get into the FBI by turning herself in along with Missy, Sissy, and Chrissy as long as she gets a reduced sentence and the charges against Jay and Silent Bob are dropped. He agrees and Justice tells Jay to wait for her.
Banky approaches Jay and Silent Bob and tells them that they are now rich. Jay expresses his displeasure at the fact that, despite all of their efforts, they were still unable to stop the internet based insults. Realizing that there is nothing they can do, short of beating everyone up, to stop the insults, they decided to do just that: they purchase plane tickets with the money and beat up anyone who has previously insulted them on the internet.
After their revenge was complete, The Bluntman and Chronic Movie premiered. It was a huge flop, and none of the viewers, except for Willenholly, enjoyed it. After the premier, Jay and Silent Bob put on a huge after party with Morris Day and the Time providing entertainment.
[edit] Clerks II (2006)
This movie takes place ten years after the events of Clerks. Jay and Silent Bob had recently bought a car, but were pulled over for driving with a deployed airbag. During the search, the police found a stash of marijuana and are sentenced to six months of rehabilitation, where they become devout Christians.
Once out of rehab, they are clean, but still continue to deal. The Quick Stop that Dante worked at was burned down in a fire due to Randal leaving the coffee pot on, and he and Randal moved over to the Mooby's fast food restaurant. Jay and Silent Bob follow them there, and are up to their usual antics, such as dealing drugs and mooning people inside of the restaurant.
At one point during the movie, Jay, out of sheer boredom, dances to the song "Goodbye, Horses" by Q Lazzarus. He parodies the exact same dance done by Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, complete with the "tuck".
Near the end of the movie, they are jailed with Randal, Dante, and Elias. Jay and Silent Bob were arrested for possession of drugs, which violated their probation. Randal has the idea to reopen the Quick Stop with Dante, but neither of them have the money, so Jay and Silent Bob offered them the money needed to reopen the store. They lay down two conditions: they must be allowed to stand in front of the store whenever they want to, and Randal and Dante must perform oral sex and then go "ass to mouth". Regarding the latter condition, Silent Bob gives Jay a look of disgust, so Jay immediately rescinds it.
After the Quick Stop is reopened, Jay and Silent Bob return to right back where they started so many years ago. Jay is depicted at the end of the film wearing a sweater with "Justice" written on it in tape along with "TLF," the only reference to his erstwhile girlfriend at the end of the previous film. He again does the Buffalo Bill dance when "Goodbye, Horses" is played, but only the beginning part with the chapstick is shown.
During the film's credits, this small line of text appears:
"Jay and Silent Bob might return someday. Until then, they're taking it easy."
[edit] Television
[edit] Clerks: The Animated Series (2000)
Clerks: The Animated Series continues Jay and Silent Bob’s adventures in front of the Quick Stop with Dante and Randal. In one episode, Jay and Silent Bob sold illegal fireworks instead of drugs.
These events are not necessarily continuous with events depicted elsewhere in the View Askewniverse.
[edit] Clerks: Sell Out (2008)
The follow-up to the cancelled 2001 Clerks: The Animated Series, Clerks: Sell Out will be continuous with the show yet not necessarily with other events in the View Askewniverse.
The film will feature Dante, Randal, Leonardo Leonardo, and Jay and Silent Bob.
[edit] Comics
[edit] Clerks.
The two appear in many of the Clerks Comics in supporting roles.
In Clerks: The Comic Book, Jay and Silent Bob's drug dealing is compromised by the recent popularity of Star Wars action figures. In an attempt to strike up business, the two hijack a toy store delivery truck and drive it into a secret selling compound in the back of the store. The two sell the figures at extremely low prices, ruining their value
In Clerks The Holiday Special, the two are seen working for Santa Clause, who is working in the apartment in between the Quick Stop and RST Video. The duo work on the toy making machines.
In Clerks: The Lost Scene, the two are seen in the bookend segments of the comic, which parodied the Tales from the Crypt comic books.
[edit] Chasing Dogma (1998)
In between the events of Chasing Amy and Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob decide to go to be the "blunt connection" in Shermer, Illinois, (where most of John Hughes' movies are set) because they believe that all the guys there are jerks and that there would be girls crawling all over them. So they make it all the way to Chicago to find out that Shermer, Illinois, doesn’t exist.
Since many of the events were reused in the 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, not all the events depicted here are necessarily continuous with those depicted elsewhere in the View Askewniverse.
[edit] Sexuality
The Kevin Smith movies (particularly Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) play on the question of both characters' sexuality, mostly Jay's, even though Jay himself insists in Dogma that the two are "hetero life-mates." Both have had relationships with women at one time or another, such as Jay's relationship with Shannon Elizabeth's character Justice in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back and Bob's mention of a relationship with the never-seen Amy in Chasing Amy.
In Clerks, Jay appeared to be extremely homophobic, calling anyone he didn't like a "faggot". In Dogma, however, Rufus reveals that Jay masturbates more than any other man on the planet (which he nonchalantly acknowledges) and when doing so he is fantasizing about other men (which he responds to with "Dude, not all the time!"). In the dining car when Jay wakes up he inadvertantly says "I didn't come in you Pete!"
In issue #2 of the questionably canonical Chasing Dogma comic series, Jay launches into a lengthy and thoroughly impassioned impromptu speech on gay rights and tolerance before noticing Silent Bob's astonished expression and brushing the matter off. Moreover, in the prison scene in Clerks II, Jay wants Dante and Randal to blow each other in order to offer them money, but after Bob's disgusted look, he takes it back. In a cut version of the same scene, available among the deleted scenes on the Clerks II DVD, Bob tells Jay that he (Jay) is a deeply-repressed gay man.
As hinted at in one of the Q&A sessions on the An Evening with Kevin Smith DVD, some of Smith's fans are disappointed, upset and/or confused over the apparent contradiction that Jay appears to be proven conclusively to be a heterosexual in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, as he spends much of the film in love with Justice and ends up "getting the girl" in a way which suggests he feels no inner conflict despite his previously-indicated sexuality.
[edit] Love of animals
Jay and Silent Bob also seem to share a deep love of animals. In particular, Jay seems to have an affinity to circus seals, as he makes numerous references to them, such as:
"Silent Bob, you're a rude motherfucker, you know that? But you're cute as hell. I could go down on you, suck you, line up three other guys and make like a circus seal. Eww, you fucking faggot! I hate guys! I love women!" - Clerks.
"See man, he's linin' us up like fuckin' circus seals." - Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
"Sometimes I wish I had done more with my life than standing in front places sellin’ weed and shit. Maybe I could have been an animal doctor. I like seals and shit." - Clerks II
In addition, Jay and Silent Bob have scenes in Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Chasing Dogma, and Clerks: The Animated Series, which show affection towards animals. At their first appearance in Mallrats, the two are hanging out in front of a pet store, where they play with the kittens in the window. In Clerks: The Animated Series, the two are seen hanging out at a different pet store, where they befriend a monkey and attempt to teach it to smoke. In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Mallrats and Chasing Dogma, the two have scenes with Suzanne, the orangutan, and, in a rare show of compassion, free all the animals from an animal testing facility.
[edit] Other appearances
[edit] Film
- Scream 3 (cameo)
- Drawing Flies (Kevin Smith is credited as Silent Bob in the film. Jason Mewes also appears in the film, but as a different character. Smith's character wears the same leather outfit he wore in Mallrats)
[edit] Television
- MTV's Jay and Silent Bob Shorts
- VH1’s I Love the 90s ("Jay and Silent Bob Re-name Your Favorite TV Show" & "Guys We'd Go Gay For")
- Degrassi: The Next Generation
[edit] Music videos
- "Can't Even Tell" by Soul Asylum
- "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Goops
- "Because I Got High" by Afroman
- "Kick Some Ass" by Stroke 9
- ”Sunshine" by Rubber
[edit] References
[edit] External Links
- Radio Interview with Kevin Smith about his favourite characters from FBi 94.5 Sydney Australia
| Kevin Smith |
|---|
| Films |
| The View Askewniverse: Clerks | Mallrats | Chasing Amy | Dogma | Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back | Clerks II Upcoming: Untitled Horror Project | Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers | Clerks: Sell Out |
| Comics |
| Clerks | Chasing Dogma | Bluntman and Chronic | Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do | Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target |
| Notable characters |
| Jay and Silent Bob | Dante | Randal | Banky | Alyssa | Leonardo | Bluntman and Chronic | Mooby | Buddy Christ | Brodie | Willam | Minor characters |
| Miscellaneous |
| View Askew Productions | View Askewniverse motifs | The Flying Car | Clerks: The Animated Series | Clerks: The Lost Scene | Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash | Silent Bob Speaks | Trooper Clerks |
