Jay and Silent Bob

Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Smith, which began in Clerks.

Jay and Silent Bob have appeared in most of Smith's films with the exceptions being Jersey Girl, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Cop Out. In Smith's universe the characters are shown spending most of their time selling marijuana in front of the convenience store in the Clerks movies. An exception to their drug trafficking occurred in Clerks: The Animated Series, in which they were selling illegal fireworks instead of drugs.

The duo express a great interest in John Hughes' films such as Sixteen Candles, the movie Purple Rain, the heavy metal musician King Diamond, shown in Clerks II, when Silent Bob is asked to put on music and plays the song "Welcome Home" from King Diamond's 1988 album, "Them", the funk and dance-pop ensemble Morris Day and the Time, Canadian "melo-drama" television shows such as Degrassi High, and Buffalo Bill's infamous creepy nude dancing scene (to the song "Goodbye Horses") from The Silence of the Lambs.

Clerks, released in 1994, is the first film to feature Jay and Silent Bob. In the View Askewniverse continuity, its events take place the day after Mallrats. Jay and Silent Bob return to their primary business location in front of Quick Stop. Throughout the day, they are seen dancing, loitering, and harassing passersby. Silent Bob enters the store to buy powdered sugar while Jay goes inside to steal food. They also deal marijuana to various pedestrians (including Willam Black), much to the chagrin of Quick Stop clerk Dante Hicks. A scene shows Silent Bob's Russian cousin, who is a singer in a band.