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Continuing my San Diego Comic-Con memories...

So, going into the project with Morgan, I ultimately got assigned to the celeb cyc (short for cyclorama) to get releases signed, talk to people while they waited to be interviewed, and jump in and interview people when needed. The most amazing job ever? Pretty dang close.

In any case, lots of folks came through our doors at the Hard Rock Hotel to be interviewed. Comic book creators, artists, writers, critics, Hollywood insider-types, actors, comedians, etc. Looking through the list of scheduled and possible interviewees....I spotted THE name.

Kevin Smith.

So, check it out: I saw Clerks in the movie theater back when it was first released. I own every Kevin Smith film on DVD and/or Blu-ray. I have seen Kevin Smith live several times -- including moderating a Battlestar Galactica panel at NY Comic-Con (nerdgasm). I have been to Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, NJ. I own books, comics, posters, action figures from the Askewneverse. In short, I love me some Kevin Smith. He's one of my heroes.

But I had never met him.

He was the one celeb on the project that I HAD to meet. And Morgan, being the super cool dude that he is, made that happen. Scheduling-wise, I was there when KS arrived (through the secret back corridor!) and got to say hi to him, his daughter Harley, and his wife Jennifer. Amazing.

And if you look to your right, you'll see how happy I look. Finally, I got to tell the man how much his films and comic books had meant to me. The hours of laughs (and a few tears--come on! The dude is so much more than dick and fart jokes.) and just pure enjoyment -- I got to say thank you in person.

I knew without a doubt that Kevin would absolutely KILL it with the interview. I was all set to go and watch the magic happen, when things started going awry. With his interview running well over the allotted time and a schedule that was already packed, we were asking celebs to wait around. Um....

Pretty tough to do since everyone had just insane schedules to manage. But everyone that came in was completely cool and hung out. They had some drinks and snacks and talked to the crew (whispered, since filming was going on). Legendary sci-fi icon, Richard Hatch (from BSG) had to wait for a bit. Sci-fi hottie and IT-girl, Olivia Wilde had to chill for a bit longer. And they were awesome and loads of fun.

Though one person got bumped so Kevin could be interviewed. The guy was pissed. He started cracking fat jokes and talking smack. The crew got worried. The guy who was in a bad mood was Max Brooks, author of the modern classic World War Z -- I was a HUGE fan of his zombie apocalypse. And apparently, the only person in the green room who knew who he was.

I was asked to hang out with Max (at any other time, it would have been a thrill) and placate him while Kevin did his interview. We chatted about the book, the movie plans, how his fans were nuts and asked him to sign body parts (unattached), and general small talk. He made more jokes about Kevin Smith and the crew got more nervous. But after talking to him for a bit...I remembered one key detail. Max Brooks' father is MEL frakkin' BROOKS! 

Max was kidding the whole time -- definitely his father's son. He was just messing around and was a HUGE Kevin Smith fan. So when the crew needed to break, we went in and watched the rest of Kevin's interview. (Max's phone went off at one point. Which was kind of funny.)

Afterwards, I said hi to Kevin and Morgan. I asked the photographer (the amazing and gracious Alba Tull) if she would be so kind to take a picture of Kevin and me. She made my dream come true and took some awesome pics. (She thought it went so well, that we took some more pics of me and celebs. More to come next time.)

That first day working on the project was purely adrenaline-fueled and went by in a blur of awesomeness. I had such an amazing time and got to meet Kevin Smith.  Wow.

Stay tuned for more San Diego stories....*sigh* only at Comic-Con.