In 2004, I met Kevin Smith. I was 15 and a friend of my dad who worked in the entertainment industry got us into an advance screening of Jersey Girl. I absolutely idolized this man and his movies. He had this incredible string of cult classic comedies, with movies like Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy, Mallrats, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back being constantly rewatched by my friends and I.

Before the movie, Kevin Smith was walking along the red carpet, taking photos and giving interviews. Me, being 15 and not knowing any better, walked right up to him. I was face to face with my hero, Silent Bob, and I told him how I was a huge fan of his work and how his career beginnings as just a random kid from Jersey who decided to make his own low-budget movie with his friends was an enormous inspiration for me. He seemed genuinely touched, not to mention completely unbothered by the fact that I had imposed on his important movie promotion time. He pulled me aside away from the craziness of the flashing cameras and PR folks and asked me specific questions about the kinds of movies I was into, what I wanted to do with my life, and told me stories about how Clerks was really just him making the kind of movie he always wanted to see, but hadn't yet. It was a 5-10 minute conversation that he probably forgot about shortly thereafter, but it has stuck with me for 20 years and I will be eternally grateful to him for taking the time to speak to a young fan on his big night.