"The Flying Car" is a lukewarm redux of the infamous "Uncle Walter" scene from Smith's debut film "Clerks" (1994)--the one that takes place as Dante and Randall, a pair of 20-something convenience store employees, drive to the wake of Julie Dwyer, one of Dante's old flames, and get into some...unique...conversation en route. When introducing the short on The Tonight Show in 2002, Smith, in jest of using existing characters, told host Jay Leno he was "going back to the well." How right he was! Not only the characters, but the entire dynamic of the short and its dialog are derivative of the "Clerks" scene. Both involve the two in a car where Randall, the more wickedly sardonic of the pair, engages nebbish Dante in an absurd argument (his ability to suck his own penis in "Clerks," and weather or not he would allow a mad scientist to remove his foot in exchange for a levitating automobile in "The Flying Car.") Both pieces are anecdotes--a setup by Randall against Dante. And, in both cases, Dante falls for it hook, line and sinker.
Review of The Flying Car
