If you happened to catch Kevin Smith on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last week, not only did Smith tell a hilarious story about getting caught in a bathroom with his pants down while battling an unconventional toilet but he also shed light on the controversy surrounding the title of his latest movie, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. Prior to the film’s release on Halloween when Zack and Miri was being marketed, some people around the country took issue with Smith’s use of the word "porno" in the title. In fact, the "City of Brotherly Love" wouldn’t give any love to Zack and Miri when billboards of the poster weren’t allowed to be shown in Philadelphia. So what’s the deeper story underneath the "porno" title controversy, and how does Kevin Smith feel about now that Zack and Miri Make a Porno is hitting theatres?

We were on hand at the film’s press conference in L.A. where Kevin Smith kicked back with journalists to set the record straight and explain how people are getting too worked about the word "porno" when the movie’s not about making porn at all.

Funny how "Zack and Miri Make a Baby" would be okay, but the act of making a baby strikes fear in the hearts of others.

So what’s going on with having to drop "porno" from the title?

KEVIN SMITH: Up in Toronto they got away with the poster. We really wanted to do it with their actual faces on the poster. The MPAA kicked that one back to us but Alliance in Canada had no problem with it. I think it was kind of interesting because we were kind of forced into a corner in terms of what to use on the poster, because we had made many submissions and they all got kicked back for being too salacious or too suggestive. Necessity being the mother of invention, we finally came up with what is now the poster. Fucking stick figures! You know, we didn’t know any other way to go about it. We were like, this is so innocuous nobody could ever accuse it of being salacious - these stick figures on the poster.

We forgot about the word "porno," which apparently people object to even more than a salacious image, which I was kind of dumbfounded by. I knew when I titled the movie what I titled it; it was going to keep a bunch of people away from the movie because people don’t find that funny. But I always felt like the people that wouldn’t go to this movie based on the title, they were never going to this movie anyway, even if we called it Room with a View. So I felt like for as many people as were going to be pushed away, the title was a real lightning rod for people who were like, "That’s funny, I’m going to check that movie out."

I had no fucking clue, though, that it was going to result in Philadelphia going, "You can’t put a billboard up because it says ‘porno’ on it. And I’m like, "Why?" And even though The Weinstein company offered to just remove the title and just put Zack and Miri .com in place of the title, they had a version of the billboard that said: "This movie is so outrageous we can’t even show you the title" and still Philadelphia said no. Like it’s going to be recognizable from other cities, they’re going to know that it’s that "porno" movie. And I’m like, "Does anyone really think it’s a porno movie? When was the last time you watched a porno have the word ‘porno’ in the title?" Like, CLEARLY, it’s not a porno movie. It’s got an R rating on it. It can’t be a porno.

I find it kind of strange. I guess in Boston the child studies expert who raised an issue about the bus stop ads, her point was like, "It’s got drawings, kid-like drawings, and it’s going to draw a child’s attention. Then the next question they’re going to ask is ‘What’s a porno?’" Answer the question. Why is that so hard? If my kid asked me what’s a porno, I’d be like, "Something you shouldn’t do until you really need money in your twenties." You know, like, just be honest with your kid. My kid, I didn’t even have to explain what porno was because my kid knew.

Like the other day, we were in the house and talking to the wife about having to go do Leno. I’m going to do Leno for Zack and Miri and the kid was doing her homework off to the side, and off quietly from the side I heard her go "make a porno". And I was like, "What?" - "That’s the title, right? Zack and Miri Make a Porno.’ - and I was like, "It is!" We never really referred to it as such around her because we’d just call it Zack and Miri. Not because we’re trying to protect her from anything, just because it’s much easier to say Zack and Miri than Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I found the opening to be like, "Do you know what a porno is, Harley?" And she’s like, "Yeah, it’s what you do for a living". So I was like, "Wow, my kid’s really clever but really stupid at the same time," you know? Obviously not very in tune with what her dad does.

But I just don’t think it’s a problem. What responsible parent can’t answer a question like that from their kid? Kid actually wants a porno? Just tell them it’s a grown up movie. It’s not for you. I would just tell my kid, if she didn’t already know, I would say, "Guess what a porno is? It’s a movie that doesn’t have Hannah Montana or Zack and Cody in it, so you aren’t going to give a shit. And that’s it, end of discussion. But if people are so, like, "We must protect the children!" Children are much smarter than that. And porno holds no interest for a child. Particularly the children they’re trying to protect. Teenagers? That’s a different story.

But guess what? Teenagers know what porno is. They’re all watching it online, man. Now it’s free. Porno is in your house. You can open up your computer and watch 15 second MPEGs of men fucking women, women fucking women, men fucking men, men and women fucking animals. There are so many different variations to watch at this point. I didn’t create it! I’m just borrowing the term. You’ve seen the movie, movie’s not about porno. There’s some porn in it. We do earn the title because Zack and Miri do in fact make a porno. But at the same time the movie is not really about porno. It’s kind of about a couple who didn’t know they were a couple yet or it’s a movie about a bunch of knuckleheads who get together and make a movie for the first time and that movie just happens to have boobs in it. Aren’t there First Amendment issues? I mean, they can’t object to the word "porno".