Alanis turns hoser for ‘Degrassi’ spot

By ANN MARIE MCQUEEN — Ottawa Sun

Alanis Morissette has an outrageous cameo in an upcoming episode of CTV’s Degrassi: Next Generation where she spews Canadian stereotypes and makes out with Jay and Silent Bob actor Jason Mewes.

It’s all part of a three-story arc her pal, director Kevin Smith, stars in starting Monday. In the episodes, Smith and Mewes stumble on Degrassi while researching a sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back called Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?

Morissette did the Degrassi cameo as a favour for Smith after appearing in his films Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Morissette’s cameo, airing Feb. 7 at 8:30 p.m., ET begins with her playing a school principal in the Jay and Silent Bob movie-within-a-show.

Wearing a Maple Leafs jersey (boo!), plaid lumberjacket, full fur hat, fringed suede skirt and mukluk-style boots, the show opens with Morissette screaming at Mewes, who plays Jay, and Smith, who plays Silent Bob. Canadian stereotypes from poutine to the belief we say “aboot” instead of “about” fly.

“You want to get oot of Grade 12?” yells Morissette. “You’ve got to start learning what the metric system is all aboot!”

After the scene wraps, Morissette replies to a joke Prime Minister Paul Martin might revoke her citizenship.

“Where am I going to hide out for four more years of Bush in the States?” she says.

Smith got hooked on Degrassi Junior High after catching the show on duty at the store which inspired his breakthrough cult hit Clerks. He writes about his long-standing obsession in a Canada-friendly article in the new issue of TV Guide.

Smith said he loved the show because it featured kids with real problems, “not that 90210 kinda TV problem crap.”

“Yes, yours truly the guy who cast Alanis Morissette as God (more local pandering) was tear stained in the middle of a new Jersey convenience store, thanks to Degrassi,” he writes.

Smith went on to name a Clerks character after his favourite Degrassi leading lady, Caitlin Ryan. He spent $2,000 from his first Clerks cheque to buy up episodes from a scholastic video supply store.

He put Shannon Doherty in a Degrassi jacket in his film Mallrats and also had actor Jason Lee eating pizza and chatting with Ben Affleck in front of an episode of the show in Chasing Amy.