Are the Transformers blasphemous?
Perhaps in a literal sense, but as the 19-year-old character Elias explains in the 2006 film “Clerks II,” characters such as Optimus Prime are truly more than meets the eye.
“Since God created man, and man created the Transformers, the Transformers are a gift from God!” Elias (played by Trevor Fehrman) excitedly explains to Randal (Jeff Anderson) of Clerks fame.
In the first Clerks, Randal gifted the world with “I’m a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class, especially since I rule” and in the film’s sequel, he doesn’t fail to up the ante when responding to Elias’ moral calculation of the Transformers.
“No sir, they are not a gift from God,” Randal replies. “They are an unholy curse from the beast we call The Desolate One.”
And so begins the best plot line in Clerks II — that of coming of age in a dead-end job — set in the fictional Mooby’s fast food restaurant that holds a special place in the film lexicon of writer, director and actor Kevin Smith. Mooby’s was where Rufus (Chris Rock) revealed that Jesus was actually black in Dogma (1999) and where Jay and Silent Bob (played by Jason Mewes and Smith) respond to trolls with a double-digested threat that sets the course for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001).
But its Clerks II that gives Mooby’s a deeper dimension, one that Smith, who also tours as a comedian and storyteller, has been taking on the road for the past year. Smith created a pop-up version of the fast food joint at the beginning of the pandemic with the help of artist Derek Barry, who built similar installations for fans of Saved by the Bell, Beverly Hills 90201 and Good Burger. After touring the Mooby’s pop-up around the country, Smith’s agent Seth Seigel from WME had an idea — expanding the pop-up concept to shuttered venues.
“These venues haven’t had any ticket sales or presales for a year — and now their first on-sale is a Kevin Smith pop-up,” Seigel tells Billboard, noting that the first venue they booked was First Avenue in Minneapolis. “And these venues that were closed can bring back their workers and can reopen their kitchens for their fans to come back and visit.”
So far Mooby’s has visited the Van Buren in Phoenix, the Up Down in Des Moines and House of Blues in Boston. Moobys is currently visiting St. Louis and will head to Austin next.
“We don’t make a lot of money from the restaurant part of it because the restaurants take the risk buying the food, paying their staff and keeping the lights on,” Smith tells Billboard. The director says he takes a small percentage of each food sale and moves a ton of surplus and new merchandise, including Moobys hats, uniforms and shirts at each location.
The menu for the pop-up was created by Chef Royce Burke from LA restaurants like Yarrow and Secret Lasagna.
“The food experience is going to be satisfying,” Smith said. “Derek (Barry) works in the restaurant business and reminds me that the most important part of this is the food. It can’t suck,” noting whenever possible they work with local providers for craft beer, cider and CBD water.
Smith said he and Mewes fly out to the opening of Mooby’s pop-ups across the country for a ribbon cutting ceremony and “interact with the fan base in a world where we couldn’t do live shows all year long.” The food is served to-go, typically priced $29 per person and includes a main item — the Cow Tipper burger (vegan available), the C*** Smoker friend chicken sandwich and the Cow Dong vegan brat (cows are female by the way).
“We just did our tenth one in Boston two weeks ago and the staff was very enthusiastic — not because of me and the movies, but because they hadn’t seen each other in months and this was like their opportunity to get back together,” Smith said. “And they kept telling me thank you for bringing this here. It’s not the money, which I’m sure people like, but the friendships that bring people together.”
“And they’re great tippers,” Seigel quickly followed up, noting the restaurant staff keeps 100% of gratuities. “We are constantly hearing how generous Kevin Smith’s fans are to the host venues.”
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