Jay and Silent Bob
|
|
Jay and Silent Bob are two fictional characters created by actor/writer/director Kevin Smith which figure prominently in most of his films. Jay is portrayed by Jason Mewes as an oversexed, overdrugged, hyper, long-haired stoner/drug dealer. Silent Bob, played by Smith, is his chubby, bearded best friend who rarely says anything, but when he does, often delivers it eloquently at a pivotal point in the narrative.
Appearances
The two characters have appeared in the following movies:
- Clerks.
- Mallrats
- Chasing Amy
- Dogma
- Scream 3 (cameo appearance)
- Lucy You Love It
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
- Clerks II: Passion of the Clerks (currently in pre-production)
In addition, they were featured in the animated television series of Clerks, as well as several episodes of the Canadian teen drama, Degrassi: The Next Generation broadcast in 2005. They also appeared on VH1's retro documentary show "I Love the 90's".
The characters also make an appearance in the music video for Afroman's single "Because I Got High," which was featured on the soundtrack of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. They also appear in the music video for The Goops' cover of "Build Me Up Buttercup" from the Mallrats soundtrack.
Backstory
Born in Leonardo, New Jersey, Jay met Silent Bob when both their mothers were inside the Quik Stop from Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Jay's excessive use of profanity was likely inherited from his mother, his first word being 'fuck'. His usage of the word was later omitted for the broadcast television series Clerks. Jay and Silent Bob also abandoned their drug dealing for the cartoon in favor of mischievously peddling fireworks.
The Kevin Smith movies (particularly Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) play on the question of Jay's sexuality.
Etymology of Jay's Vocabulary
Jay's mannerisms and phrases have always been a bit of a mystery. He says things like "snoochie- boochies," and "nugga-nooch." These evolved from things he said when he was around the 13-16 age group. In An Evening with Kevin Smith the origin and development of Jay's original colloquialisms are revealed as being something like this:
- He started with "neh," such as "I'm gonna fuck your mom, neh."
- He then progressed to "nooch," making his suffix a little longer.
- Then, "snooch," adding a letter.
- He added to that to create "snoochie-boochies," adding a lot of length.
- Then he went crazy with things such as "snigi-nigi-nooch," being a lot longer than "neh," by the way.
- He ended up shortening it to "snoogans," in order to encompass all previous forms of the word.
Originally, the phrase conveyed a passive/apologetic air of "just kidding, don't kick my ass" (eg. "Neh"), but it is now most commonly used as a celebratory exclamation (eg. "Snootch to the Nootch!").