It’s no secret that indie filmmaker Kevin Smith loves to talk. Despite playing a character named Silent Bob for many years, the writer and director behind cult classic movies such as ‘Clerks’, ‘Mallrats’, and ‘Chasing Amy’ hosts numerous podcasts on Smodcast Internet Radio like ‘Fat Man On Batman’ and ‘Talk Salad And Scrambled Eggs’. He can also be found talking about pretty much anything remotely related to pop culture at conventions, screenings, and speaking engagements all over the world. But now Smith will be taking his beloved banter to late night television.
According to Deadline, AMC has ordered a new late night talk show from the team of Kevin Smith and actor Greg Grunberg tentatively titled ‘Geeking Out’. Set to “take a timely look at pop culture through a fanboy lens”, the 30-minute program will see Smith taking the sidekick role to Grunberg and will feature a number of correspondents such as Marc Bernardin, Ralph Garman, and some currently undisclosed female talents in talk, clips, celebrity interviews, and out-of-the-studio segments. It’s expected to kick off with an episode dedicated to San Diego Comic Con in July, followed by eight more weekly episodes throughout the summer. Naturally, Smith is super excited. But in addition to being glad to re-team with AMC, he also looks forward to working with The Weinstein Company again since they basically launched his career:
“AMC has been my TV family for five seasons of ‘Comic Book Men’ now, so I know that ‘Geeking Out’ is in the perfect, fan-friendly network hands. And to make it even more of a family affair, ‘Geeking Out’ lets me work with the Weinsteins again – the two guys who started my career 22 years ago! I’m lucky to be working at all, let alone working with friends and family on a dream show where all we do is talk about all the media that makes us moist!”
Grunberg also shared his excitement for what is being called the “all-genre version of Entertainment Tonight”. And considering his work in various sci-fi/superhero films and TV shows like ‘Star Trek’, ‘The Super Hero Squad’, ‘Heroes’, and ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, it sounds like he’ll be bringing some of his former collaborators in on the action as well:
“I get all my work from my friends. Now it’s time for me to take advantage of those relationships even more. I am going to get every single genre-based writer, director and actor I know to come on our show and geek out with us. And they’re going to thank me for it. I love how Kevin Smith smells and we fit together like two hibernating fan-bears.”
Due to Smith’s loquacious nature, it’s probably for the best that he isn’t the actual host of ‘Geeking Out’. But either way, hopefully it doesn’t end up like the short-lived SyFy series ‘The Will Wheaton Project’. That’s not to say that the geeky version of ‘The Soup’ wasn’t good. It just didn’t bring in the viewers that the network was looking for. But since AMC has major properties like ‘The Walking Dead’ and the upcoming ‘Preacher’ to draw in the right audience, maybe Smith and Grunberg will have better luck.
Are you excited about Kevin Smith and Greg Grunberg’s ‘Geeking Out’ on AMC? Will you be tuning in this summer to see the nerdy equivalent to ‘The Tonight Show’ (presumably with more fart jokes)? Sound off in the comments.