Skit will relive famous McDonald’s coffee incident of 1992.
Renowned film director Kevin Smith, famous for his highly-succcess but low-budget film “Clerks” and his highly controversial new comedy, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” will make a guest appearance on Comedy Central’s most popular comedy show, “The Sarah Silverman Show,” it was announced today.
Following in the famous footsteps of John Travolta, Harvey Fierstein and now George Wendt -– all of whom have taken a turn playing housewife Edna Turnblad in “Hairspray” -- Smith will be cross-dressing as a 79-year-old burn victim in a hilarious skit that replays a 1992 lawsuit against the McDonald’s fast-food chain over some coffee that was "too hot."
The legendary McDonald’s coffee case began when a 79-year-old woman went with her son to a McDonald’s drive-thru and ordered a cup of hot coffee – apparently not realizing that coffee is frequently hot.
The woman, Stella Liebeck of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a passenger in the vehicle, put the coffee between her legs and was attempting to remove the lid when the spill occurred and she was burned. Although McDonald’s claimed Liebeck “should have known that coffee by its very nature is hot," Liebeck sued the fast-food chain and won $3 million.
“We’re not sure of the title of the skit yet,” said the Emmy-nominated Silverman. “Eventually, we’ll probably end up calling it the ‘I didn’t know this coffee would be hot’ skit. But right now we’re just informally calling it ‘The Coffee Idiot Skit.’”
Kevin Smith will play the burn victim, Mrs. Liebeck; Sarah Silverman will play the drive-through clerk who handed the allegedly “hot coffee” to Liebeck; and 82-year-old Cloris Leachman will play Liebeck’s feisty but determined attorney who persuades the jury to hand Liebeck $3 million for her coffee burn.
“All of which is, like, totally ironic, because it’s Kevin Smith who is famous for being a clerk, and not myself – and yet I’m the one playing the clerk in this sketch,” laughed the Emmy-winning Silverman, whose show has skyrocketed to success and continues to gain viewer after viewer. “But Kevin really brings a kind of nice ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ quality to the role.” Silverman says the skit could air as early as Yom Kippur.
Separately, Silverman said comedian Jordan Carlos would also be featured in a skit in her show this fall, one in which he impersonates Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. “Or he may be in the sketch where the little Jewish girl and her mom meet their first black Santa Claus ever,” says Silverman with a smile. “I forget.”
Kevin Smith is an American screenwriter, writer, film director, actor and comic book writer. He is also the founder of View Askew Productions along with Scott Mosier. Smith's films are often set in his home state of New Jersey, and while not strictly sequential, do feature crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon: the View Askewniverse.
His first film, “Clerks,” was shot for the sum total of $27,575 in the same convenience store where Smith worked. It went to the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it won the Filmmaker's Trophy and was picked up by Miramax before the festival's end. In May 1994, it went to the Cannes International Film Festival where it won both the Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critics' Week Prize. Released in November 1994 in two cities, the film went on to play in fifty markets, never playing on more than fifty screens at any given time. Despite the limited release, it was a critical and financial success, earning $3.1 million.
Smith's film “Dogma” had an all-star cast and found itself mired in controversy. The religious-themed comedy, which starred a post-“Good Will Hunting” Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, Linda Fiorentino, and Smith regulars Jason Lee and Jason Mewes, raised the ire of the Catholic League due largely to a reference about the Virgin Mary having post-Jesus intercourse with her husband, Joseph. Smith received over ten thousand pieces of protest/hate mail (some of which were showcased on the film's official website) and three death threats. The film debuted at the 1999 Cannes International Film Festival, out of competition. Released on 800 screens in November 1999, the $10 million film earned $30 million.
“Jersey Girl” was meant to mark a new direction in Smith's career. However, the film took a critical beating as it was seen as a post-“Gigli” Bennifer movie (also starring George Carlin and Liv Tyler) . Budgeted at $35 million, it earned only $25 million. “Clerks II” marked one more trip into the Askewniverse, Smith resurrected the Dante and Randal characters from his first film and looked in on them ten years later. Roundly criticized before its release, the film went on to win favorable reviews as well as two awards (the Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Orbit Dirtiest Mouth Award at the MTV Movie Awards). It marked Smith's third trip to the Cannes International Film Festival, where Clerks II received an eight minute standing ovation. The $5 million dollar film, starring Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach and Smith himself - reprising his role as Silent Bob - earned $25 million.
In March 2006, Smith announced he was working on a new, non-Askewniverse comedy. “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, started shooting on January 18, 2008 in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, and wrapped on March 15, 2008. According to Wikipedia, the film is scheduled for release on October 31, 2008.
Kevin Smith's films often feature the same actors (who are also some of his closest friends), including Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams (for whom he wrote the lead role in Chasing Amy), Jason Mewes, and Matt Damon. Other well-known performers featured in more than one Smith film include Chris Rock, Shannen Doherty, George Carlin, Ethan Suplee, Joe Quesada, Jason Biggs, Casey Affleck, and Alanis Morissette. Some lesser known regulars in Smith's films include Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Scott Mosier, Ernest O'Donnell, John Willyung, Carmen Lee, Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Dwight Ewell, Kimberly Loughran, and Vincent Pereira. He has also cast himself in many of his movies.
Smith announced at the Wizard World Chicago 2006 convention that his next project would move in a different direction, and would be a horror film.
Sarah Silverman –- who shares a Dec. 1 birthday with Woody Allen, Bette Midler and Congresswoman Sherri Davis, R-CA -- is an Emmy-winning American comedian, writer, singer, guitarist, and actress. Although usually credited as Sarah Silverman, she is sometimes credited by her nickname, Big S. Her satirical comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion.
She often performs her act as a caricature of a Jewish-American princess, mocking bigotry and stereotypes of ethnic groups and religious denominations, by endorsing them in an ironic fashion. Silverman was first noticed as a writer and occasional performer on Saturday Night Live. She now stars in and produces The Sarah Silverman Program, which debuted February 1, 2007, on Comedy Central.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Silverman parodied sketches from Chappelle's Show, replaying Dave Chappelle's characterizations of Rick James and "Tyrone," as well as a Donnell Rawlings character based on the classic miniseries Roots. The parody addressed a popular rumor that Silverman was the planned replacement for Chappelle after he left his popular television show.
In 2006 Silverman placed #50 on Maxim Hot 100 List. In 2007 she placed #29 and appeared on the cover. She made the cover of the The Observer in Britain, with an article naming her "the world's hottest, most controversial comedian".
On January 31, 2008, Silverman appeared as a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in order to show Jimmy Kimmel, her boyfriend, a special video. The video turned out to be a song called "I'm F**king Matt Damon", in which she and Damon sang a duet about having an affair behind Kimmel's back. The video created an "instant YouTube sensation". Kimmel exacted his video "revenge" on February 24, 2008 by airing a video directed at Silverman which enlisted a panoply of stars to record Kimmel's song "I'm F**king Ben Affleck." On September 13, 2008, Silverman won an Emmy for writing the song "I'm F**king Matt Damon".
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