Joel Siegel has taken a lot of heat for standing up in the middle of a Clerks II screening and shouting, "Time to go! First movie I've walked out of in 30 fucking years!" Much of the heat has come from director Kevin Smith himself, who, on Silent Bob Speaks, calls Siegel a "rude-ass prick" for his actions. The two later squared off on live radio (click here for sound) on the Opie and Anthony show (though, oddly, it took Siegel several minutes to figure out that Smith was also on the show). While some of the show focused on whether Siegel had committed some sort of breach of professionalism, the sections Gelf found most interesting involved Siegel's punny nature.

In both his blog post and on air, Smith derides Siegel for making lame puns like, " 'X-Men' Fails to X-cite" and " 'Shark Tale' is a Halibut Good Time."

But once Siegel comes on air, he claims he's not behind the cloying word play. "Hey, I don't understand what's going on," he says. "I don't understand who Kevin Smith is quoting. I never said—I don't do those puns. What does he have me saying about Shark Tales and the halibut or wheelies on cars—I never said those things."

Smith counters, "It's all on the page. It's on your Joel Siegel page at ABC," but Siegel mumbles something about how Smith is wrong and they change the subject.

Later in the interview, though, Siegel again asks, "Where did all of those puns come from?"

To which Smith again states, "If you object to those puns, you've got to go to the Joel Siegel website at ABC, your own page, that's where they all came from."

After Siegel denies writing crap like " 'Hitch' up with Smith's comic valentine" and "Jamie Foxx delivers a 'Ray' of sunshine," Smith asks, "Where are these coming from? Joel, do you write any of your reviews?"

Siegel again says, "I have no idea where they're coming from" and later adds "I don't have a website."

Smith says, "They're on the Joel Siegel page at ABC."

Siegel says, "If that's where they came from I did not write them. They were rewritten." And finally ends with "I am not responsible for any of the puns Kevin Smith quoted."

Certainly, as Smith acknowledges, Siegel may not have written the headlines to some of his reviews (including the aforementioned "Halibut Good Time"), but either a) he has written this drivel and is lying; or b) he's taking credit for work he hasn't done.

Here's how he starts his review of Shark Tale: "I've had it up to the gills with fish puns. But let's talk about 'Shark Tale' just for the halibut."

And here's a line from his Cars review (titled "Wheelie Good Time for 'Cars' "): "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get a ticket for doing 70 in a 45-mile-an-hour zone."

Or a line from his Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest review (titled "Depp Captains another See-Worthy Pirate Ship"): "And, of course, you know it's rated 'Aargh!'"

Check out more punny punditry at Siegel's official (but unacknowledged) website.

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