Sucks Less with Kevin Smith
Encyclopedia
Sucks Less with Kevin Smith is a show done in partnership with MTVu
, an MTV
channel aimed at college students. The show airs weekly on MTVu, on Amp'd Mobile phones, and on MTVu.com. It is "the show for people who have way better things to do with their weekend than get laid." Every week, the show features (at least) three UCLA students who are enrolled in a class about cinematography in which Kevin Smith
is the teacher. Each episode is about seven and a half minutes in length and the basic premise of each show is to inform college students of things that can help their weekends suck less.
then got into the episode.
instead.
He travels to The Nest in Queen Creek, Arizona
. We learn that it has over US$250,000 in special effects. They first get a tour through during the day, then go through at night. They speak to Glenn Rea, the co-owner of The Nest, who said, "just have fun, don't expect anything, because [even] though I walked you through it and you saw everything, don't think you know where everything is."
They then proceed to go through at night. After they go through, Jeyan is quoted as saying, "it didn't suck, but I did pee
a little."
Kevin grades it as a B+ after coming on to Ethan.
in the Little Tokyo Shopping Mall in Los Angeles. "It means girls, skates, mini-skirts and hardcore women."
They show the team of the Los Angeles Derby Dolls
. They give the basic premise of the game and the rules. The two positions are Jammer
s and Blocker
s.
her.
Cat goes to the Roxy and sees mc chris in concert. He is a nerdcore rapper
, which means he raps about subjects such as Star Wars, video games, and unrequited love. mc chris says, "my music is like... if Salt-n-Pepa
had like a little brother that swore too much, and always got in trouble for it, and was always getting slapped in the face by his mom, like that would be the kind of records that I'm putting out."
, and the Cut and Paste Digital Design Showdown.
It begins by Nate teaching us about Slappers. The rules of this game are the same as poker
, except the person with the winning hand gets to slap the losers.
where they race turtles every Thursday evening. They have been racing turtles at the pub for thirty years. Rocky Whatule, one of the promoters, says that the best race he's ever seen involved four turtles and lasted eight minutes, thirty-five seconds.
DK decides to enter the races, but checks first with Dr. Ken Nagy, a professor in the UCLA Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, as to the best way to help his turtle win. His first turtle is disqualified, but his second turtle wins the race.
, where the "apparent local custom is clothing-optional."
at a leg of the Cut and Paste Digital Design Showdown. During the intro, Phil says to Kevin, who is awaiting a slap at any moment, that Slappers is childish and he prefers "Watch me wee-wee" instead. When Kevin asks how to play, Phil proceeds to urinate on the floor.
Cut and Paste is an elimination tournament. Contestants have fifteen minutes to design something with everyone watching them work and have no idea what they are going to design until the rounds begin.
about voting to the three people watching, and promptly gets slapped by Kevin. He then says he's going to sue
Kevin for $50,000 and walks off with the other students offering to be witnesses and berating Kevin for Jersey Girl.
on Wikipedia
. (None of the facts in the intro skits are actually on his Wikipedia page, however.)
Bodie's and Jeyun's report is on Samba
Night at Cafe Danssa in Los Angeles
.
Bodie speaks to Luis Ferreira and Riane Gracie of the M.I.L.A. Samba School who give some advice for Samba dancing: relax and enjoy. He mentions an hour of dancing lessons is only $10. Karla Blume, one of the co-owners of Cafe Danssa says that their patrons "love this place because it is packed, the music's great, it's live, it's wild, but it's really calm and laid-back."
He sees Matt Allen, The Ice Cream Man outside of the Space Land concert venue. Matt travels to concert venues around the country and gives away free ice cream. He has given ice cream to such famous names as Elvis Costello, Ben Gibberd, Jeff Tweedy, and Wayne from the Flaming Lips.
Ethan then goes out to give away free ice cream and Matt mentions that he is good at it.
Xtreme Ironing
is, as Jonathan puts it, "the act of going out into nature to iron." He is standing in the middle of a dirt trail, with an ironing board, a shirt, and an iron (unplugged), ironing the shirt. "They have X Games, and they have other... extreme games, I've never really been that...extreme of a guy. But I... I can iron. Oh yes, I can iron."
He then goes to iron in locations such as outside the Capitol Records Building, Mann's Chinese Theatre, Sunset Boulevard, and Venice Beach.
He says to send photos of the most extreme places you can iron at the MTVu website.
.
Over the credits, they remind him that lying about a job in a state university is a federal offense punishable by up to one year in prison. Kevin then gets on his phone and calls his wife Jen to cancel dinner with the Afflecks
because she has to sleep with three of his students. In reply to a question, he says "Yeah, they're kind of sexy."
This is pretty much a way to play with and feed wild squirrel
s, either by pushing bait out on a line, or the freehand method. If using a line, it is fun to lift the squirrel off the ground, but then lower it safely, allowing it to go away.
Dagmar comes off with a warning: "No squirrels were harmed in the making of this Sucks Less episode, but many were fed."
in Austin, Texas
. She speaks with a few volunteers, who say that it's cool. They've met celebrities such as Will Ferrell
and Michael Ian Black
. One of the people interviewed was a former volunteer who now works for the film festival. Another stated that the worst part was the pay, which was nothing more than a T-shirt. Some of the better things though are that you get to go to the films for free, and there is free food. One person asks how Kevin is as a teacher, and then it cuts out to the info page.
Street Wars is a three week long squirt gun assassination tournament. If you sign up, you receive an envelope containing your ID card and your target and their preferred weapon of choice.
She meets up with Agent Tuna for some training with Street Wars. Training included push-ups, rolling on the ground, and running up the stairs like in Rocky
.
We then see her stalking her enemy, ultimately getting "killed" by him.
MtvU
mtvU is a division of Viacom's MTV Networks which produces a 24-hour television channel that is available on more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States, as well as several digital cable packages...
, an MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
channel aimed at college students. The show airs weekly on MTVu, on Amp'd Mobile phones, and on MTVu.com. It is "the show for people who have way better things to do with their weekend than get laid." Every week, the show features (at least) three UCLA students who are enrolled in a class about cinematography in which Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
is the teacher. Each episode is about seven and a half minutes in length and the basic premise of each show is to inform college students of things that can help their weekends suck less.
Students in the class
- Ben
- Bodie
- Cat
- Clint
- Dagmar
- DK
- Ethan
- Jeyun
- Jonathan
- Nate
- Phil
- McFleff
Intro: Kevin
Episode One gives the basic premise of the show, had a few gay jokes, a knock on Jersey GirlJersey Girl (2004 film)
Jersey Girl is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It stars Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Raquel Castro, George Carlin, Jason Biggs, Jennifer Lopez and Will Smith...
then got into the episode.
Haunted House: Ethan and Jeyun
Kevin tells Ethan to go to Disneyland to check out Mickey Mouse's annual Halloween fest. Ethan (reading a Bluntman comic) tells Kevin he didn't do that because he's not nine years old. He and Jeyun went to a haunted houseHaunted attraction
A haunted attraction is a form of entertainment that simulates the experience of entering a haunted location that might be inhabited by ghosts, monsters, criminals, humorous characters, and other such creatures...
instead.
He travels to The Nest in Queen Creek, Arizona
Queen Creek, Arizona
Queen Creek is a town in Maricopa and Pinal counties in the U.S. state of Arizona. The population was 26,361 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Queen Creek is located at ....
. We learn that it has over US$250,000 in special effects. They first get a tour through during the day, then go through at night. They speak to Glenn Rea, the co-owner of The Nest, who said, "just have fun, don't expect anything, because [even] though I walked you through it and you saw everything, don't think you know where everything is."
They then proceed to go through at night. After they go through, Jeyan is quoted as saying, "it didn't suck, but I did pee
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
a little."
Kevin grades it as a B+ after coming on to Ethan.
Roller Derby: Ben
Ben tells us about part two and thinks that Kevin is coming onto him. Ben goes to the Roller DerbyRoller derby
Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team...
in the Little Tokyo Shopping Mall in Los Angeles. "It means girls, skates, mini-skirts and hardcore women."
They show the team of the Los Angeles Derby Dolls
Los Angeles Derby Dolls
The L. A. Derby Dolls is Los Angeles' original women's quad-skate banked track roller derby league. It was founded in October 2003 by Rebecca Ninburg and Wendy Templeton . The league is composed of more than 120 women divided into five teams who skate on a banked track.LADD plays real, unscripted...
. They give the basic premise of the game and the rules. The two positions are Jammer
Jammer
Jammer may refer to:* Jammer keyboard* Jammer, a device used in radar jamming and deception, a technique in electronic warfare to inhibit or halt the transmission of signals* Swim jammer, a type of male competitive swimwear...
s and Blocker
Blocker
Blocker can mean any of the following:*Blocker *The nickname of Steve Roach, Australian rugby league footballer*Blocker , slang for a defensive-minded batsman in cricket*The inverse of a filter...
s.
mc chris in concert: Cat
Heading into part three, Kevin is embracing Cat and assures her he's not coming ontoFlirting
Flirting is a playful, romantic, or sexual overture by one person to another subtly indicating an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, and can involve verbal communication as well as body language...
her.
Cat goes to the Roxy and sees mc chris in concert. He is a nerdcore rapper
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
, which means he raps about subjects such as Star Wars, video games, and unrequited love. mc chris says, "my music is like... if Salt-n-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
had like a little brother that swore too much, and always got in trouble for it, and was always getting slapped in the face by his mom, like that would be the kind of records that I'm putting out."
Behind The Scenes
After the show is over, they have a behind the scenes clip that has a mini-interview with someone who is the production assistant.Intro: Nate and Kevin
Episode two goes to turtle races, a clothing-optional hot springsHot Springs
Hot Springs may refer to:* Hot Springs, Arkansas** Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas*Hot Springs, California**Hot Springs, Lassen County, California**Hot Springs, Modoc County, California**Hot Springs, Placer County, California...
, and the Cut and Paste Digital Design Showdown.
It begins by Nate teaching us about Slappers. The rules of this game are the same as poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
, except the person with the winning hand gets to slap the losers.
Turtle racing: DK
DK takes us to Brennan's Pub in Marina Del Rey, CaliforniaMarina del Rey, California
-Demographics:-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Marina del Rey had a population of 8,866. The population density was 6,094.6 people per square mile...
where they race turtles every Thursday evening. They have been racing turtles at the pub for thirty years. Rocky Whatule, one of the promoters, says that the best race he's ever seen involved four turtles and lasted eight minutes, thirty-five seconds.
DK decides to enter the races, but checks first with Dr. Ken Nagy, a professor in the UCLA Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, as to the best way to help his turtle win. His first turtle is disqualified, but his second turtle wins the race.
Clothing-optional hot springs: Cat and Clint
Cat and Clint travel to the Little Caliente Hot Springs outside of Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, where the "apparent local custom is clothing-optional."
Digital design: Phil
In the first foray into an event in the Eastern Time Zone, Phil travels to BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
at a leg of the Cut and Paste Digital Design Showdown. During the intro, Phil says to Kevin, who is awaiting a slap at any moment, that Slappers is childish and he prefers "Watch me wee-wee" instead. When Kevin asks how to play, Phil proceeds to urinate on the floor.
Cut and Paste is an elimination tournament. Contestants have fifteen minutes to design something with everyone watching them work and have no idea what they are going to design until the rounds begin.
Bodie et al.: show closing
The show closes with Bodie putting out a public service announcementPublic service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
about voting to the three people watching, and promptly gets slapped by Kevin. He then says he's going to sue
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
Kevin for $50,000 and walks off with the other students offering to be witnesses and berating Kevin for Jersey Girl.
Intro: Kevin and Cat
Episode 3 begins with Cat berating Kevin for being a two-time college dropout, and refuses to call him "el Professorio", all this from his pageKevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
on Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
. (None of the facts in the intro skits are actually on his Wikipedia page, however.)
Samba Dancing: Bodie and Jeyun
Bodie and Kevin get on each other for their baldness and obesity, respectively, and Bodie mentions he has more college credits than Kevin. He bribes Kevin into giving him an A.Bodie's and Jeyun's report is on Samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
Night at Cafe Danssa in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Bodie speaks to Luis Ferreira and Riane Gracie of the M.I.L.A. Samba School who give some advice for Samba dancing: relax and enjoy. He mentions an hour of dancing lessons is only $10. Karla Blume, one of the co-owners of Cafe Danssa says that their patrons "love this place because it is packed, the music's great, it's live, it's wild, but it's really calm and laid-back."
The Ice Cream Man: Ethan
Ethan continues getting on him about not graduating and tricks Kevin out of his car.He sees Matt Allen, The Ice Cream Man outside of the Space Land concert venue. Matt travels to concert venues around the country and gives away free ice cream. He has given ice cream to such famous names as Elvis Costello, Ben Gibberd, Jeff Tweedy, and Wayne from the Flaming Lips.
Ethan then goes out to give away free ice cream and Matt mentions that he is good at it.
Xtreme Ironing: Jonathan
Jonathan says he does not mind that Kevin is not qualified to teach, but then asks him as a teacher to help him with a scholastic problem, which is to bury a dead prostitute. Kevin asks how that is a scholastic problem and Jonathan says it is because the body is in his dormitory room.Xtreme Ironing
Ironing
Ironing is the use of a heated tool to remove wrinkles from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180-220 °Celsius, depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the long-chain polymer molecules in the fibers of the material...
is, as Jonathan puts it, "the act of going out into nature to iron." He is standing in the middle of a dirt trail, with an ironing board, a shirt, and an iron (unplugged), ironing the shirt. "They have X Games, and they have other... extreme games, I've never really been that...extreme of a guy. But I... I can iron. Oh yes, I can iron."
He then goes to iron in locations such as outside the Capitol Records Building, Mann's Chinese Theatre, Sunset Boulevard, and Venice Beach.
He says to send photos of the most extreme places you can iron at the MTVu website.
Outro: Ethan, Bodie, Jonathan, and Kevin
Kevin thanks the three for not ratting him out, and Ethan says it's ok. He continues the blackmail though by mentioning they all want parts in his next movie. Kevin says he doesn't know what his next movie's going to be. Jonathan says it's going to be "Jonathan, Ethan, and Bodie sleep with Kevin Smith's wife." Kevin starts yelling and defending his wife. Bodie says it will be a short film because they don't believe in foreplayForeplay
In human sexual behavior, foreplay is a set of intimate psychological and physically intimate acts between two or more people meant to create desire for sexual activity and sexual arousal. Either or any of the sexual partners may initiate the foreplay, and they may not be the active partner during...
.
Over the credits, they remind him that lying about a job in a state university is a federal offense punishable by up to one year in prison. Kevin then gets on his phone and calls his wife Jen to cancel dinner with the Afflecks
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
because she has to sleep with three of his students. In reply to a question, he says "Yeah, they're kind of sexy."
Intro
In the intro to Episode 4, Kevin writes a letter to the students saying he quit because he sucks as both filmmaker and a teacher after reading the reviews of the show on the Internet. Because peer acceptance means jack if someone on the Internet doesn't like your stuff. It closes by a student asking, "does anyone else think it's weird that the man shot a montage to accompany his letter?"Dagmar and Jonathan: squirrel fishing
Since they need "a fat guy on such short notice", they dress Jonathan up to look like Kevin.This is pretty much a way to play with and feed wild squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s, either by pushing bait out on a line, or the freehand method. If using a line, it is fun to lift the squirrel off the ground, but then lower it safely, allowing it to go away.
Dagmar comes off with a warning: "No squirrels were harmed in the making of this Sucks Less episode, but many were fed."
Amy: volunteering at the Austin Film Festival
Amy visits the Austin Film FestivalAustin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. She speaks with a few volunteers, who say that it's cool. They've met celebrities such as Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
and Michael Ian Black
Michael Ian Black
Michael Ian Black is an American comedian, actor, writer and director. He has starred in several TV comedy series, including The State, Ed, Viva Variety, Stella and Michael & Michael Have Issues. He is also a prominent poker player, appearing on Celebrity Poker Showdown several times...
. One of the people interviewed was a former volunteer who now works for the film festival. Another stated that the worst part was the pay, which was nothing more than a T-shirt. Some of the better things though are that you get to go to the films for free, and there is free food. One person asks how Kevin is as a teacher, and then it cuts out to the info page.
Jeyun: Street Wars
Jonathan says he's tired of being Kevin and wants to be Jeyun; the class agrees.Street Wars is a three week long squirt gun assassination tournament. If you sign up, you receive an envelope containing your ID card and your target and their preferred weapon of choice.
She meets up with Agent Tuna for some training with Street Wars. Training included push-ups, rolling on the ground, and running up the stairs like in Rocky
Rocky
Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
.
We then see her stalking her enemy, ultimately getting "killed" by him.