WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 518 - Mike Myers

Episode Date: July 27, 2014

Wayne's World. Austin Powers. Shrek. Mike Myers doesn't just make comedy. He makes worldwide sensations. Mike tells Marc how a working class kid from Toronto made his way through the improv ranks to land on SNL and how his phenomenal career set the table for a profoundly personal project, the documentary Supermensch. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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You know who you are. Welcome to WTF. I am Mark Maron. How is that for professional? Welcome to the show. I hope you're having a good day. Yeah. All right, look, it's morning. I'm doing this a little before I usually do it because I got to travel. And I couldn't be more thrilled that my guest today is Mike Myers. Now, Mike Myers, I don't know if you really remember, but Mike Myers was fucking huge. And fucking funny. And an amazingly unique and talented comedic performer. And everything was Mike Myers for a while.

I mean, at the time that Mike Myers was on SNL, I wasn't watching as regularly as I did when I was a kid. But it was certainly unavoidable to reckon with his comedic tour de force on all levels. Wayne's World and SNL and Austin Powers movies. But there's one thing you always, that is undeniable, that from the very first time you ever saw Mike Myers, it's like, holy shit, how'd this guy get so fucking funny? Where do they make people like him? How does it happen to be such a unique sort of transcendent comedic talent? And they make them in Canada. Apparently that's where they're made. I got the opportunity to speak to Mike. He doesn't talk much long form,

certainly at all. So I was sort of thrilled at the opportunity. I know his brother is on Twitter, and I go back and forth with his brother occasionally, Paul. And Paul had reached out to me and said his brother kind of wanted to talk, and he'd done a little brokering, I believe. But also Mike had this movie out called Super Men mensch it's a documentary about shep gordon now i i got this movie and i had no idea who shep gordon was and even when i started watching the movie i couldn't quite understand you know why mike would choose him as a subject he's a a music manager that had a profound impact

on mike for different reasons but this guy also had a profound impact on Mike for different reasons. But this guy also had a profound impact in the way that music management is done. He was Alice Cooper's manager and Anne Murray's manager. So if you can just see the disparity between those two things and try to wrap your brain around how that could happen in the times that it did happen in in the 70s this guy had a profound impact on mike's life and as you move through the film you realize that the impact was really sort of an emotional psychological and spiritual impact that this was sort of a an homage to a guy that had profound personal impact on mike and it was a very thoughtful movie and it was not necessarily a funny movie in the way that you expect Mike Myers

to do a funny movie. I think the movie's still out. It's called Super Mensch. I think it's still in theaters here in the States. And I guess it's going to be playing in the UK. You can go to supermenschthemovie.com to learn more about it. But what I realized when I was talking to Mike

is, look, we're both roughly the same age he's had a a monstrous career you know with some disappointments but all in all if you really think about um austin powers about waynesville about snl about shrek uh an amazingly huge career and he's consistently uh delivered the goods but he's a professional dude who is now 50 and thinking about life in a different way. And as am I. Now, it's a little different with Mike. He's had a couple of kids in the last few years.

And you hit this weird age where I'm at now where I don't know what the fuck to do with myself. And I'm getting tired of me. And it's tricky. So for me to talk to Mike and to see the sort of joy that he has about, you know, really realizing that it's not all about the work. That, you know, there is time for family. There is time for your own personal growth. There's time to sort of do things and take time away and enjoy

and enjoy your children and all that. I mean, it was very moving to me, but also it's a completely different life than mine. And I still am struggling with this idea that things are okay, I'm doing okay, I have a little money saved, I don't make any time to do anything and uh and it's very hard for me to figure out what the hell to do i don't think kids are in the picture anymore there was a period there where that was going to happen and i wanted it to happen but it couldn't happen in the situation was in so i've sort of let go of that situation because i become cynical

about relationships a bit trying to get over that. I know they're important. I want them to be important, but I'm trying to avoid the sadness element of where I'm at because I want to defend the idea that my life is valid and that I've done something with it. I think I have done something with it, but what do I do now? How much more time do I got? What am I going to sit around and just wonder what's wrong with me? Am I going to sit around and just dread the next thing because that's what I do now? How much more time do I got? What am I going to sit around and just, you know, wonder what's wrong with me? Am I going to sit around and just dread the next thing because that's what I do?

Am I going to have relationships that, you know, don't go as deep as they could because I'm afraid? Am I just going to treat my problems as my children for the rest of my life? And my cats are not my children. And believe me, as much as I love Monkey and LaFonda, they're not my children. They're just not um i i i like it's kind of endearing when people say that yeah you know your cats are like your children i'm like no they're not really they're they're my cats if they were like children they'd be

severely mentally challenged there is no an emotional or intellectual growth for a cat you know after a certain point which is very early on they kind of level off and they either become nicer or more ornery or slower but but there's no uh there's not there's no it's they're not children and when people say you know it's so nice that you have two cats you know that nice is so close to sad sometimes you know and i put some things together. It's very hard at certain moments where I'm laying in bed. I got Monkey on one side.

I got LaFonda on the other side. And I say, well, I guess it's just us. Yeah, that's cute. But it's hard for me to spin it into a positive thing sometimes. I got to be honest with you. You know, I think I need a little more. I actually said to Monkey, I looked at him, I said, you're getting old, buddy.

You're getting old. Didn't think anything of it. It's a cat. And then I think I put it together because like two days later, he shit on my shag carpet while maintaining eye contact with me. And I realized, all right, this is for that comment. I understand. I guess I deserve that.

But quite honestly, you know, if you're shitting on the carpet carpet that is a sign that perhaps you're aging i didn't rub it in didn't rub it in see the fact that i'm thinking this way and having these type of conversations even in my head and sometimes aloud with my cat is cute but not necessarily uh you know a celebration if you dig what i'm saying not necessarily a celebration i played some guitar the other night god damn it i like doing that brendan small who i love uh did a night over at the baked potato here i picked it up the last minute so i didn't tell you guys about it but it's basically sort of like uh you know the people tell stories and then they play and they're amazing musicians the guys he puts together are like top-notch noodlers.

Just great musicians. So he said, do you want to come play? And I'm like, fuck yeah, I want to play. So I went and rehearsed with him. We did a Peter Green Fleetwood Mac tune, Drifton. And I pulled out my old Strat. It's not that old. Look, I have no collectible guitars.

But it's an 86 American Strat, and it's what I play. I try not to get too attached to guitars because then, you know, something happens to them, you're sad. And I've already got enough invested in the cats and my anxiety. I had a fucking great time. I had a fucking, to the point where I'm like, why don't I do this always? Why am I not doing this always? So I like doing that. I know that. All right. It is my honor and pleasure. and I mean that sincerely because this is an honorable and pleasurable guy, to go now to talk with Mike Myers at his office in Massachusetts. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything.

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For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton.

The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com manhattan all right so okay so let's not lose this thought okay the difference or the similarities of comedy acting and regular acting this is my non-scientific opinion not looking for science okay so um it's about commitment so in both

comedy acting and in dramatic acting you commit to the reality right but just like gold is never 100 pure it's 99.0000 whatever yeah one or whatever right the quality of comedy acting from my money is how little of the necessary impurity there is in the comedic acting so someone like phil hartman right you see him completely bought into the reality yeah but every now and then the impurity if you will is is in how quickly he changes from one emotion to another right and strange emphasis hither and yon but but you need the impurity for it to work but gold cannot exist without impurity exactly so if you're too pure like there are moments like it's not funny anymore what like daryl hammond is very close

in terms of like it's almost a perfect imitation as opposed to an impression. Like the impurity when you're doing characters or I think impressions is that you have to find that one thing that becomes a quirk. Yeah. And you have to heighten and explore it. Right. But to a cap and to a floor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so someone like Phil or someone like Alec Guinness or Peter Sellers. Peter Sellers. Now, somebody like Peter Sellers for somebody like you, I imagine, was, and I'm sure you've probably talked about it before, a pretty big influence. Yeah, the biggest.

The biggest. Yeah. big influence yeah the biggest the biggest yeah and he was but he it seems to me that you uh strike me as a more uh uh controlled person than him he seemed to be somewhat uh balls to the wall out of his mind sometimes yeah i i don't know to what extent it's legend and lore right that it's i mean from i've read everything if it gets gets too horrible, I don't read it. You don't want the sordid details of your hero? Well, it's irrelevant to the experience. It's like you either enjoyed the experience or you didn't. Of the book or what he does?

Yeah, of what he does. Well, then don't read any books. But there are some facts and figures that are kind of interesting. He was in the royal air force my dad was in the royal air force you know i mean he plays drums i play drums you know yeah he started on a on a show uh called uh the goons yeah which was a weekly kind of saturday night live type show when i was on a saturday night live type show right the coincidences abound the things that I relate to of him abound. Yeah, right so your brother Paul is a musician. Yeah. Do you have other siblings?

Yeah, brother Peter. Yeah, there's three of you. Yeah, he works at Sears in Toronto but he's a fantastic poet and for a long time his name was Peter Lizard. You're all creative people, all three brothers. Yeah and I created mom she went to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. My parents met in amateur dramatics. So what was your father? What was he? He sold encyclopedias.

Really? He originally was a tire technician in Liverpool. Thought he had a job in Buffalo. Got to Buffalo with my mom. So they're from Britain? Liverpool. Yeah. Talk like that, I'm like, yo.

So you ended up in Canada. They ended up in Canada. But they're both from Britain. Yes, from Liverpool. I was born in Toronto, yeah. They moved in 56. I was born in 63. So they both had aspirations to be actors.

Yeah, and it was highly, highly valued in my house. In fact, I've always loved architecture. That's been sort of architecture and french new wave film were my passions like 400 blows la combe lucien uh breathless words that started hitting you in high school yeah in toronto but toronto we have more cinemas per capita than any other city except for bombay or mumbai now so you were exposed to that stuff as a teenager we had this thing called the Bloor Cinema Group yeah it was all these different second run theaters then you could see everything and so I just saw all the classics and there's another thing called Cineform or Chiniform there's a place called The Funnel where I saw experimental stuff. So for me, it was like I'd go see Scorpio Rising.

The Kenneth Anger movie. Then Bruce Connors Report. Then I'd go see Nook of the North. Yeah. And then. Full history. The full arc from Nook of the North to Kenneth Anger. You could see everything.

And how old were you when you were doing this though? 11 and 12. Come on. You were watching 400 Blows when you were 11? Yes. And who was taking you? Was it your older brother i mean it was paul paul and i would go um is he older too yeah i'm the youngest of three so paul was like 15 yeah okay so he was then then i'm i was 14 when i was 13 when punk rock happened okay because we got you know we got records from from england in 1976 yeah and i went to england in 1977 by myself because i did tv commercials so i could afford

to go on vacation family there yeah yeah i have family in st albans and in liverpool and manchester eccles rhymes bottom yeah so you had to you could just go and stay with family. Yes. The year after Punk Rock. Yeah, yeah. So I'm there, and all of a sudden it's God Save the Queen and The Clash and Suzy Sue. I think we're exactly the same age. I'm 51. I'm 25th.

50. 51, September 27th. Yeah. You're lucky to have an older brother, because knowing Paul, the little bit that I do, he's such a music head. He's an everything head. He has... So he pulled you through. I do, he's such a music head. He's an everything head. So he pulled you through. I mean, he was your gateway. Dude, I've said it many times.

No one should underestimate the absolute leg up having a brother who's cool, an older brother. Yeah, I had to go find guys to show me things. People used to come to our house. My best friend would be my best friend for 42 years. Wow. We played on the same soccer team. Yeah.

Same, you know, hockey and whatnot. He used to come to our house and just hang out. Hang out. Listen to Paul's record. Listen to see what Paul bought from the record peddler downtown in Toronto. So he'd go home. Japanese imports. Oh, my God.

Green vinyl. Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic. I Yeah. Yeah, fantastic. I think you're so fortunate because, I mean, in some ways that sort of like set the standard in your head. It created your whole aesthetic understanding of what was good. Well, and that it was important to offer value to people, that pop music does matter, you know. And film matters and art matters. Our house was like parliament, you know know when you see C-Span

It's like answer the question resign shame just constantly talking I didn't even realize the performing was above the table And because we used to just sit around the table and just crack wise and but your parents were very sophisticated with arts as well Yeah, well my you know Examples my dad was very when 2001 came out my dad loved kubrick and when 2001 came out he wanted to take each of us alone yeah because he says this is the first time that movies have turned into art this is an artistic experience not just a cinematic experience uh-huh i was like wow fantastic so he took you all separately?

Yeah, he didn't take me, strangely enough. But he took Peter and Paul separately. He didn't want them to be together? No, he wanted each of them to have. My dad's big thing was he didn't want any of us to feel that somebody was special. He wanted us all to be treated the same, you know what I mean? Yeah. But he left you out.

Well, that often happened. I never went to a hockey game with him either. So where was the equanimity with you? How did you get left behind? I don't know. I was, as my brothers would say, oh, Michael's revolting. Oh, really?

You were the angry kid? No, just, I was a punk rocker at 14, so, you know. Oh, so you bought the whole thing. Yeah, that sad Canadian punk rocker at 14. So you bought the whole thing. Yeah, that sad Canadian punk rocker. But you came back from England and you bought the boots and you had everything. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Doc Martens, drain pipes.

I wore suits all the time. Cut my hair like the guy in the jam, like Paul Weller. And got a sliding accent, you know, even though I'm from Toronto. But you were entitled to it. It sounded a bit like Paul now, Paul McCartney. But you were entitled to it. Your parents were British. That's what I thought.

That's what I claimed it. I am a citizen by dint of my parents. I have three citizenships. You do? Canada by birth, England by heritage, and America by choice and grace. So you were acting in television commercials at 11? Eight. Eight.

Gilda Radner played my mom in a TV commercial. Really? Before she was, obviously before. She was at Second City and she'd been in a show, Godspell, with Catherine O'Hara? And Martin Short and Eugene Levy. Uh-huh. And so she did this commercial

and she played my mom and I fell in love with her. It was a four-day shoot and at the end of it I cried and my brothers called me Sucky Baby. So it'd be like, hey, Sucky Baby,

your girlfriend's on this stupid show on Saturday. It doesn't even have a name. So you had a crush on her that last year? Oh, yeah. God, I loved her so much. She was so funny

and just beautiful. What was the commercial for again? British Columbia Hydro Electricity. I ended up getting cut out of it. Oh, but you met Gilda. I met Gilda. It was fantastic. What other commercials did you do?

Kit Kat, Applejack, Sunlight, BC Hydro, Datsun, Kmart Shoes, Wrigley Spearmint Gum. Big ones. Yeah. So you made some money as a kid. I did, yeah. And did your parents stash that away? It's complicated. What does that mean?

One time we went to England with the whole family, and I was like, wow, this is great. With my dad's job and my mom's job, it's great. The whole family can afford it. And then on the last day, my relative says, all right, we want to thank Eric for coming over. We've had a great time, and we want to thank Eric for coming over. We've had a great time. And we want to thank Michael for paying for it.

And I was like, what? I didn't pay for it. And my dad says, you did now. And you're bloody happy about it. I'm not happy about it. Can I talk to you outside with that Liverpool scary face? And you're like, no, I'm good. I'm good with it.

I'm good with it. Liverpool scary face. He's going to give me a Liverpool kiss. Yeah. So they used it well. Yeah, I think so. They connected you with your family. No, I was good. I'm good with it. I'm good with it. No Liverpool's carrying it. He's going to give me a Liverpool kiss. Yeah. So they used it well. Yeah, I think so. Connected you with your family. No, I was happy.

What had you done in high school outside of commercials? I did the workshops at Second City, and I did commercials. And then I would do the character Wayne Campbell in front of punk bands. I would do little comedy things in front of punk bands. So you had sort of a stand-up act. I did, but I just was looking for a stage. You know, they always say theater is two planks and a passion.

I just gave a commencement speech to Canadian performers and I said, then go to Canadian Tire and buy yourself a couple of planks. Don't wait to be discovered, discover yourself. Don't wait to be hired, hire yourself. So I started doing character. Don't wait to be hired. Right. Hire yourself. Right.

So I started the Comedy Store Players in London that became the Whose Line Is It Anyways cast. It's now the longest running play with the same cast in the history of theater. You started that when you were 18? When I was 19. I'd just gone over to England, and I didn't have any prospects. But what was the evolution of it?

So you're opening for punk bands in Canada with one character? Two characters. I did Dieter and I did Wayne. So you had those that long? Yeah. And Dieter comes directly from the... Klaus Nomi. Who is who?

Klaus Nomi was a German performance artist. If you YouTube, is it TVC15? Yeah. The David Bowie song? Yeah, yeah. When he was on Saturday Night Live, he had two backup singers. And one of them was? One of them was Klaus Nomi.

And I went, what? Is that? That's fantastic. That is the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my life. And so I had never seen German TV, but I thought, I bet it's like that, the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my life and so I had never seen German TV but I thought I bet it's like that you know right but it's it's also rooted in all that stuff your brother showed you yeah yeah all the because you had to be sensitive to it enough to mimic it well you know one of the things of growing up in Canada it's a country without

an indigenous you know instrument, without a cuisine. So we don't, you know, No Damn Banjo is the name of the book I would write about Canada. We don't have a Seventh Fleet. Right. Like, we're super happy when, you know, the launch boat works, you know, and the plane works. It's like, come on.

No, seriously, yeah. You know, my joke is a Canadian space shuttle is an ice fishing hut. Yeah. But we're a very peaceful people. It's a very sane place to grow up. All right, so you're doing these characters. Yeah. And how were they going over?

I mean, did they were immediately identified? Like, the people at the punk rock show sort of got the Dieter thing? Yeah, well, they got the Dieter thing. They got the Wayne guy more, because I'm from a suburb of Toronto called Scarborough. It's very flat. It's a lot of plazas and factory carpet outlets. So it's suburban enough for that character to could be American or Canadian. But it's a little Soviet.

In fact, they call it Scarberia. Oh, really? And now they call it Scarlem. Scarberia. Oh, really? And now they call it Scarlem. And a lot of government housing was sent out to this suburb. It's in a perfect grid. And so my production company is called No Money Fun Films

because I never had any money growing up. But I always wanted to do and make stuff. So I made Super 8 films. I wrote songs on a close and play you know stuff and you know peter paul and i used to write comedy sketches all the time um we had a com a music group called my three sons and and uh we just did stuff uh-huh we just put on shows you know it's a hyper creative environment all you. Yeah. There was no careerists necessarily in the bunch. No.

No. I never, I'm shocked at how kind of mainstream things, shocked and pleased and grateful and all of those things, but it wasn't predicted. There's no career planning. Right. There's. And you're tending, leaning towards something a little more esoteric, it seems. Yeah. Yeah. I thought I was going to be John Cassavetes. Right. And you were tending, leaning towards something a little more esoteric, it seems.

Yeah, yeah. I thought I was going to be John Cassavetes. Right. And I thought I was going to create a cinematic movement called Canadian Neorealism.

Oh, really? You had it planned? Oh, yeah. That was the agenda? Well, there was already a couple movies. One called Going Down the Road

about two newfies who go to Toronto to try and make it big. And The Rowdy Man. There's been some films. But the fact that, you know, down the road about two new fees who go to toronto to try and make it big and um the rowdy man there's been some films uh but the fact that you know you grew up in this suburb you thought made um wayne campbell more accessible to to the audiences that it was more understandable to punk rock audiences initially because they were they were the people who were tormenting the punk rockers. Okay, even in Canada.

Yeah, they were called sasks for Sasquatch. So townies here, in a way. Just, you know, rock townies. So they were the old guard. You know, music sucks, you guys are pussies. You suck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Grow your hair, punker.

Right, right. Okay, I get it now. So when did you start at the Second City? Second City was my last day of high school in Toronto. My last exam was Concepts and Literature at 9 o'clock. I auditioned for Second City at 12, and I was hired at 3. In the pool of people to audition and to be hired, because Alan Gutman let me stay in the program even though i didn't pay because you're

so good i don't just say it you say it you were so good they were like we can't deny this kid oh i don't know about that we can't this guy's a genius we got to have him in here well he was very very supportive which i never forget people who are yeah believers you know yeah sure um is he still around uh i i'm not sure but i I think he's teaching at Humber College in Toronto. But if he's hearing this, I just want to say thank you once again. And so when do you go? So you joined Second City, and that's before you moved to England. Correct, and I did that for a year and a half.

The main stage. No, I was in the touring company. Oh, wow. So we'd go all around Canada. Oh, so you did that? Yeah, yeah. I was in buses. Oh, you did that?

The only person listening to The Clash. But you had to turn that shit off. I've talked to dudes. This is the only band that matters. I mean, I talked to guys who did that in the States. Yeah. It can get pretty gnarly. So you're doing shows.

Yeah, but in cold. Yeah. That's another thing, too. Like Newfoundland, you go up there to do shows? Went to Newfoundland. Winnipeg. scotia the peg the peg yeah current speedy creek uh-huh um medicine hat lethbridge and you just did and you did improv vancouver montreal quebec yeah all improv with characters uh it was a set show it was and then at the end was the improv okay and i was easily by far the average age was 32 and i was 19 and were you which so how many characters

did you have them you had deeter he had wayne i probably had about 14 characters oh really yeah how many of them stayed the whole course in some version or another throughout SNL? Probably about seven of them. It's wild, right? Yeah. It's so wild when I hear that, that these characters have existed. They pre-exist SNL, and then they come to life, and they just stay with you. Yeah. I mean, I'd always done an impression of Lorne Michaels.

Before you even worked there? Yeah, because he was on a show called the Hart and Lorne Tea for Terrific Hour. You remember that, or you watched footage of it? No, I used to watch it. It was really funny. Lorne was really funny. He was in a comedy team, basically.

Yeah, yeah. Heart and Lorne. And you remember that? Of course, yeah. But you were like... We were culture vultures, dude. But you were eight! By the way,

there was tons of teacher strikes growing up. So, you know... And your brothers were watching that stuff, too. Yeah. When did you have your first Lauren

impression at 10 10 yeah working you're working your whole life I have been yeah well I make stuff so all right so you go to England before you go to England though you meet the kids in the hall because I talked to Kevin recently and he said that you were very close to working with them yes yeah one of the that's one of the my thing I'm most proud of I used close To working with them Yes Yeah One of the That's one of the My thing I'm most proud of I I used to improvise with them I was at Second City

Yeah And I would go backstage With my Second City friends This is when I was in the Main stage company Uh huh So I I went to England

So I got hired For the touring company I went to England I moved back to Canada What'd you do in England? I was in a comedy double act With a guy named Neil Malarkey And that's where I started

The Comedy Store Players Okay The Comedy Store is a place in England? It's a place in Leicester Square Yeah, I've been in there But there's a comedy store I didn't start the comedy store I was this other dude

But I said You guys don't have an improv night And so me and these other actors Formed this troupe. And the thing that I made money doing was teaching improv. Because you come from a Second City background and you knew it all. Yeah, I knew all the games. I was a real devotee of improv.

I remember Foley one time, after I was on Saturday Night Live, we went to see an improv troupe. And they were going to invite us up. And Dave said, yeah, I'm not going to do it. I was on Saturday Night Live we went to see an improv troupe and they were going to invite us up and Dave said yeah I'm not going to do it I was like what? it's a chance to play it's a chance to do improv he goes

I think most of improv could do with a rewrite and I said you can't say that and I was like he's right so you do that and you taught improv you started that show there

and that became Whose Line Is It Anyways? Is that what you said? I didn't start Whose Line Is It Anyways, but that group of people became Whose Line Is It Anyways. That's amazing. You're part of this weird history, unknown comedy history. It's very weird. And then when it came to New York, I had just gotten on the cast of Saturday Night Live, and I was with Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart and I both auditioned for the American

Whose Line Is It Anyways. We didn't get it. Before SNL? After SNL. Really? I just thought I would do that as well. But you were a main guy. I never felt made. I always felt like I was going to get fired every week. So you come back to Toronto after England. Yeah. And you're... I find out my dad

is not well. Which was the big decision to move back to Canada. He had Alzheimer's, early Alzheimer's. And then I went to Chicago, Second City for a bit. And then I came back. Who was down there then when you went there? uh-huh um favreau was there he was on the door i actually knew him yeah i was good friends with favreau still am friends with favreau um it was it was an interesting time my dad was ill so i was very not happy right um and i knew he's not gonna really make it i was very sad to leave my comedy double act with neil malarkey uh he and i rewrote So I Married an Axe Murderer together, and he's in it. He's also in Austin Powers 1 and Austin Powers 3.

He's just a hilarious, great guy, and we just keep trying to work together. But now we both have kids. It's very hard to do anything, you know? Sure. So your dad was ill in 88 ill in 88 and how long did he hang out for uh till 91 so he got very ill then i came back to second city toronto for the 15th anniversary of second city toronto because second city toronto

was a franchise of second city chicago right and uh Pam Thomas, who was Dave Thomas' wife, who was also the producer of The Kids in the Hall. Right. And Martin Short saw me, and Dave Foley saw me at this anniversary show. And it was in two parts. So first act, intermission, second act. So after the first intermission,

it was all famous people like Martin Short and blah, blah, blah i just thought what am i doing here you know yeah yeah i feel like an idiot i just happened to on a technicality be an alumni because i was at the chicago second city just transferred down yeah and so i was downstairs in the bathrooms you know where the cast bathrooms are yeah and i was like this and i was, I had that kind of, I'm going to cry feel because I just felt like an idiot and fully went, what's going on, dude? I said, I have to do this sketch, this Wayne Campbell sketch. And they don't know who I am. I just feel like an idiot up there. He goes, he grabbed me. He said, dude, it's going to kill. I went, why? He goes, no, it's going to kill. you're gonna totally steal the show so I went out and I stole the show I

went out it was like I started in the house you know yeah heckling this gal who's playing my girlfriend yeah sketch and it's this and the sketch just exploded and cheer stomps whistles Wow standing ovation And everything I was in was a standing ovation. So you do this thing where you're killed, but you already knew the kids by the time you... Yes, that's right. Because you were at Second City and you'd go watch them and you were like, this is the art. I would come back to Second City and I'd go, I've seen the future and it's the kids in the hall. When I saw their pilot, Dave said, you want to come over to my house and see the pilot?

I got nervous because I thought, what if it's really good? That's weird because most of the time you get nervous because it's bad and you're going to be in the position to compliment somebody. I know, but I just thought the kids in the hall were so great. They couldn't fuck up. No, I looked up to them. I was like, you're doing the work I want to do, guys. And still are. I have mad, mad respect for for the for the kids yeah and i would

improvise with them all the time and i really loved it because the one of the things that i love is comedy where comedy hadn't existed before right subjects that were not typically comedic subjects one of the things about python that i love that's why i'm going over to see python on friday i'm going to see that Python show in London. Yeah. Is to pay respects to, you know, they're the Beatles of comedy as far as I'm concerned.

Right. And, you know, they're definitely on the periodic table of elements. Yeah. Pythonium. Yeah. Is definitely there. Sure. And they would find comedy where comedy traditionally had not existed. Right. So you had a lot of respect for the kids.

And you go over there and you're sitting with Dave. And you see the pilot. Yeah. And I go into a plummetation and I go, that's it. Close the patent office. Stick a fork in it. It's done. You guys, you bastards, you've done it.

You've done it, you bastards. Yeah. And I went into a existential funk you did yeah and dave said i'm so happy that you're depressed he said no really i can't tell you because i thought you were gonna be like oh that's pretty good but wow i guess it must be good you you look suicidal i'm getting sharp objects out of your hand i said dude it's just you did it like every it's got a punk rock feel to it you know i mean the interstitial music is ridiculously cool and super eight interstitials

are fantastic they nailed it oh it's fantastic and so then i thought oh well i had my chance to be in the kids in the hall so i go back for the 15th anniversary of Second City. Right. And that's when he saw me and said, go out there. And I thought I got nothing to lose. Because I've never thought that I was going to be discovered. I just didn't think that. I just thought I would be somebody who's a hard worker. And for me, things started to happen once I completely gave up the concept of being discovered. Absolutely.

And I, in essence, discovered what I wanted to do right and and that's that would be my advice to young performers is don't want to be famous want to be legendary right but in many ways fame is the industrial disease of creativity it's a it's a sludgy byproduct of making things right and it feels great right for a while for a while and it but it didn't bring my dad back from the dead and didn't was your dad already gone by the time you did that yeah no not the my dad died in november 1991 but his personality had left his body from Alzheimer's. So it was tough. I mean, as things were taking off, I would head up to Toronto. He burned himself in a bath, which was horrific.

He just didn't know. He just didn't know. It was very, very tough. And it really, I mean, I had a real what's it all about Alfie moment after Wayne's World came out. Because he died November 22, 1991. The movie came out February 14, 1992. I spread his ashes on the Mersey in Liverpool, as per his requests, in June, June, I think. June of 1992.

And then I just put on weight. I put on like 30 pounds. I never had a weight problem. And then I just was like, I'm just not here. I just put on weight. I put on like 30 pounds. I never had a weight problem. And then I just was like, I'm just not here. I just wasn't here. That's the grief. You're just eating the feelings.

Yeah, because I didn't have a philosophy of terms for it. Right. And it's been, it still hurts. I mean, the birth, the one that got me recently is the birth of my second daughter. April 11th, Sunday. And it was tough, dude. I mean, I was in the hospital room and that one got me more even than Spike. Yeah. Which is named after my dad.

My dad's name was Spike, you know. That he's not here to see you? Yeah. Yeah. It was sort of like, I know he would have wanted me to have two kids. He loved kids. He was a great dad. Yeah.

Like, I know he would have wanted me to have two kids. He loved kids. He was a great dad. He liked little girls, like the, because he had three boys. Right, right. So it was always. A treat. It was always a treat to see, you know, cousins and stuff. Right, right.

And he was alive when you had the big break. Yeah, but he didn't really. He was vacant. He did see me on stage at Second City, which was fantastic. And he saw me in London. Oh, okay. On stage. But he was heckling. Oh, was was fantastic. And he saw me in London on stage. But he was heckling. Yeah, he was saying things like, oh, the rest of you, get off the stage.

Michael's the only fully one. Really? Yeah, so it's one thing to have Alzheimer's, which is rough. But he was such a shameless homer, like such a shameless believer in me. So the truth that came out was, look, he's got a spark. The rest of you are just going through the motions. Super specific heckles. You don't even know what you're doing,

do you, mate? That's great. Let Michael speak. He takes the scene forward. Really? Yeah, such hilariously specific. I told the cast, my dad has Alzheimer's, he's going to say something, and unfortunately he also is eloquent. Yeah. And it might hurt a little bit because part of it's going to be a little true.

That's beautiful. That's beautiful. So that night, though, that was it. So you didn't audition. You got discovered. I got recommended. To Lauren. To Lauren, yeah.

I did the show, and I did the last improv of this show with Martin Short. We did this whole thing. Because Martin Short, they give a hard time because he's... I see that the tongue is in the cheek, but name drops. I think it's fantastic. So he did this thing called freeze tag at the end of the show. He did this thing called freeze tag at the end of the show. And I had steadily started to win over the crowd,

like because of the Wayne sketch and this other thing. And so we were in this scene together, this improv scene. And I'd go, Marty, do you remember that time where Liza Minnelli's house and drinking white Puerto Rican rum and Warren came over, Warren Beatty. And it was this whole thing. And Dusty was there, Dustin Hoffman. Then he did hisity and it was this whole thing and dusty was there dustin hoffman then he did his riff and we did this for like 15 minutes and it was like the crowd went crazy yeah and it was just one of those things somebody else did another improv now del close had started the improv talking about reagan had just been assassinated that's how long ago it was

right and didn't get killed and his theory was that he couldn't be killed by conventional weapons. Right. To kill Reagan, you would need a silver bullet. Right. And so in the freeze text, somebody had their hand pointed out like this. And I went freeze. And I said, all right, Mr. Reagan, this time I got the silver bullet. Bang.

Lights went out. Place went shithouse. Good callback. Yeah, but I was just in a flow state. I wasn't like, how do I get the callback? No, right, right, right. Yeah but i was just in a flow state i wasn't like how do i get the call no right right right yeah i was just yeah loving it right having a great time i go upstairs and i don't know anybody right because they're all the famous people right like michael keaton and blah blah oh really yeah yeah yeah and all these famous people come to the show and all the

sctv cast and i'm in the lineup being congratulated by everybody now at halftime i thought i was out but foley was so gracious to go out what are you kidding it's just starting they haven't seen wayne's world yeah which is so lovely yeah and then there's like five flights of stairs to where you eat dinner and at the bottom i hear kid kid kid and it's michael keaton he runs up all the way up these five flights of stairs and says, you were great, man. You were fantastic. Big things are happening for you. I was like, what the hell happened?

It's just like bang. Yeah, yeah. And everybody in the lineup was like, hey, Mike, do you know who that is? I said, yeah, it's Michael Keaton. He's like, that's pretty good, Mike. Then I went and sat by myself far away from everybody because I didn't know anybody. And all of the cast came and joined my table. Wow.

And then two days later, I got a call from Lorne Michaels. And what was that call? I got a call and somebody says, is this Mike Myers? And I thought, oh. I was in Chicago. Yeah. And I said, yeah. And I thought it was like immigration or something.

Even though my papers are always fine. Right. And they said, will you hold for Lorne Michaels? And I thought, oh, this is Paul. Fantastic. Paul Mike. And he's like, is this Mike? Yeah.

Lorne. Listen, I'm hearing things about you that are good. And I'm like, what the hell? I'm like, what? I was by myself and nobody knew. Like, what? Yeah. Would you be interested in being on Saturday Night Live?

I was like, yes. Now, I had not seen the show because I had a top-loading VCR, and I would tape the Leaf game. Yeah. And you only got two hours, right? So the Leaf game was from 8 to 10. Yeah. And Saturday Night Live goes from 11.30 to 1 o'clock.

But you saw it when you were a kid. You knew the show. I did, but then I lived in England for three years. So you don't know what's going on. I hadn't seen the show in seven years. Because I couldn't afford. Since like the second cast? Yeah, second cast.

Running around Bill Murray. I was like, oh, man. What's going on so i look i mean i come back yeah and i get on the show and somebody i'm walking with dana and people are looking at dana on the street like oh my god there's dana carvey and i'm going i felt like you know you know rip van winkle right right yeah people going isn't that special yeah and i said to dana i said dude why are they saying isn't that special to you and he's like come on and you really don't know i had no idea i hadn't seen it so you come down to new york how long after the phone call so after the phone call three weeks later i go down to new york city i'd never been in new york city

i go over the bridge and it makes me cry the the 59th Street Bridge, because I love New York. I love London. Yeah. I've always loved New York, but I had said to myself, I'm not going to go to New York unless I'm invited for something. So this was it. Yeah. I got invited for something. Right, right, right.

Go over that bridge. It was magical. You just can't believe it. Yeah. The only other place that I've approached that's made me cry is Venice. I still can't believe it. It's so beautiful. I got to see that.

It's fantastic. So I got to see that. It's fantastic. So you go to 30 Rock. And I was supposed to have a meeting with him at 1 o'clock. I don't actually get in to see him until 1 o'clock in the morning. So I'm there. You waited? I had three full meals. And, you know, and I just waited.

And I just go, am I going to see him today? Oh, yeah, yeah, am i gonna see him today oh yeah yeah you definitely see him and i come in and uh lauren is sitting at his desk and the window behind him is of the empire state building which i've never seen at night at night and he's talking it's lauren michaels you know i did a project on him in grade eight of famous canadians yeah and i'm just i'm just not believing so i walk in and there's two chairs and he said have a seat and i said which one and he goes which one do you think and i said which is the one that's going to get me hired and he laughed and the other producer was like oh god he likes me he don't like me yeah yeah i just

felt the the who was the other guy? Jim Downey. Okay. Who I'm now fantastically in love with. Was he the head writer then? Yeah. He was the head writer. Yeah. I think he wanted Ben Stiller, who was hired at the same time I was.

And I don't blame him because Ben is fantastically talented and he was so fantastic on the show. But he left after five shows because I think he smartly recognized that he's complete. He didn't need to have been on Saturday Night Live. It was a very interesting thing to watch somebody who had a lot of confidence, and rightly so, and I who had no confidence,

except my only confidence is that you have to focus on the material. You better make it good. So Dennis Miller sort of hazes us he comes over goes Ben are you my man Ben right and you go see Dennis why are you saying that why'd you stop it are you my man Ben and and you go no Dennis I'm not your man Mikey to me are you my man yep I'm your man Dennis I'm totally your man in fact I even went further I'm your bitch I'm your bitch he goes yeah Mikey gets it Ben doesn't and that was it because I just was like I'm stupid new guy yeah you're ready let's go you're right I'm stupid

new guy who was so who was the cast when you got there it was first of all i hadn't seen any of them right and so when i got on the show i was i went to my next existential funk because i was like phil hartman is the greatest character comedian i'd ever seen in my life i put him up there with sellers yeah his instrument and take on stuff he became my hero he became my mentor so even as i got more successful in the show at the read-through table you move closer to the host as you get more successful and every season i got called into the room by the this one producer uh audrey audrey dickman for dickman and she would say um spoken to loan and he's decided to move you up the table and I said no thanks she'd go no I don't think you understand New York is all about real estate you've been asked to move up the table

and I said no I want to stay near Phil Phil doesn't move yes we don't understand why Phil doesn't move I said I don't either but I want to sit beside Phil. Yeah, yeah. So I sat beside Phil and just watched him. And whatever he did, I did. If he prepared, I prepared, you know. And really hard worker, but made it look easy. Yeah. Anything that he was given, he would knock out of the park. And you know when people go, like, somebody's name is Lou, and they go, Lou, Lou the crowd.

Yeah. And then there's always the guy that goes, they're not saying boo. They're saying Lou. Right? Yeah, yeah. His nickname was Glue. Phil. So Phil would knock a sketch out of the park that was nothing on paper. Right.

He made it better than written by a thousand times. I put him in everything I could. Yeah. And then the whole, you know, during the read-through, all 400 people would go, Glue. Glue. And it was my job to go they're not saying boo they're saying glue thank you ladies and gentlemen yeah another phil hartman extravaganza so you were hired as a writer and performer uh feature performer and writer yeah so when i got here i had no idea is that why dennis was on you he was looking for material no he's just he's just busting balls

just busting balls. He's just busting balls. He's the new guy. I got it. I've been the new guy so many times that you just go, yeah, I'm the new guy. Yeah, yeah. You're an idiot.

You're right. I'm the biggest idiot there ever was. As Lauren says, it's the court of the Borgias. If somebody offers you a drink, check their hands to see if they have a poison ring. Oh, my God.

It's true. Be wary of the first person that comes up to you that wants to be your friend they're ultimately going to be your enemy really yeah he said that yeah so he knows what's going on oh god he knows everything but he didn't when i first got hired i didn't get an office so my office was i was cross-legged on my coat by the elevator bank. And he would come in and he'd say, can I help you? I'd say, yeah, I'm on the show. Don't have an office? No.

Should get one. I'd like one. Should ask. Who would I ask? Someone. Someone will get you an office. Just don't hang out by the elevator back. It's weird. So I'd go, okay, and I'd say, Lauren says I should get an office, and he goes, no, no, there's no offices.

And so he kept running into me, he goes, do you have a security badge? So you should keep it out. I guess it was a bit, but I thought he knew I knew who I was. Until the third show, and I did Wayne's World. I did You Mock Me, which is now FrankenSketch.

Then I wasn't on the show for the second show, and I thought I was going to get fired. Then I wrote Wayne's World. When I wrote Wayne's World, it was a sketch I had done on Canadian TV on a show called It's Only Rock and Roll. And it was kind of my big character, you know? So I wrote it on a yellow pad, and I wrote it till about 4 o'clock in the morning, and I put it on the big pile of submissions.

And that the next morning, the secretaries type them up, and they make the packs of scripts that you read at the read-through table you have to hand it in by noon so i was there at four o'clock in the morning i just handed it in one of the senior writers came in and went to the pile and started looking at people's scripts which as a canadian i was like you can't look at the pile yeah right yeah the pile he's looking at the big board so he looks through the scripts and then he picks out mine because mine was the only one

that was on yellow pad and written like a serial killer and terrible handwriting. And he went, is this yours? And he read it, read it, read it,

and he took it off the pile and put it on the read-through table some 15 feet away. And I thought, what just happened? I was only being there for three days i didn't even know where to eat my lunch yeah it's one of those things right like hey fellas do you eat your lunch at home yeah does the wife make your lunch you go out to lunch together yeah what's

the deal yeah what would those prices down in the cafeteria but i guess they got you in over guys where you going guys wait up i had, right? Another writer comes in, who had obviously spoken to the first writer, goes to the table, reads it, and says, oh, man, you're not going to hand this in, are you? It sucks. It sucks. And he throws it on the floor.

It's 4.30 in the morning. And I'm like, this is my big sketch. I'm dead. And I had that kind of like going to cry, going to maybe crap my pants. I want my dad to come pick me up you know that horrible thing yeah and something just reached back to the scruff of my neck lifted me up pulled me over to my sketch I put the staple back in and put it on the pile and walked

home and it was like cold it was like april so it hadn't quite locked into warm yet and a light rain was falling and i was just like well all i can do is try like i you know maybe it didn't work out and whatever and i'm sure ben will be fine he's really funny and you know right and i was just like these guys are so awesome dana carvey's a fantastic comedian yeah i mean the power when you're working with him you feel this jet engine of of talent coming off of him it's so raises your game yeah so everything's real estate the next morning i i got two hours sleep i walk in i want to die and i look to see where my sketch is and it's the second to last sketch which means by then lauren is eating food as he

does the stage directions so to be like ah wayne's world and so it kills your sketch everybody wants to go home because it's 40 sketches everybody has know, when you're like a guy on the show, you're sketched four. And when you're a stupid new guy from Nowheresville, sketch 39. So I just went, you know what, Myers, just don't give up. Just go down swinging, dude. Go down swinging. Just do it up. So we got the sketch.

It goes, Wayne's World. Lauren looks around. He goes, do we really want to read it and i went in my hand i went hell yeah like this as a joke yeah and then he looked up at me and sort of like be ready you know this table will kill you all right he said that he looked at me like okay and i went like that and i read it and it killed yeah it killed it killed and Lauren got this delighted look on his face writers back there like oh no it killed yeah and then it got in the show I had no idea what to do third show yeah it killed killed and that was the birth of the

the Mike Myers career I was on, my office was my sketch being on at five to one, the last sketch. So all of my sketches started at five to one and moved earlier in the show because the ratings by five to one are absolutely nothing. But I thought it played really well in the house. But on Monday,

because the crew is fantastic on Saturday Night Live. They're the nicest people in the world. They've seen everything. They're the least jaded people in the world. And they were like, wow, that sketch is great, that Wayne's World. Are you going to do another one? I said, I don't know. Should I?

He went, yeah. You didn't hear people doing the Wayne's World song? He goes, I was on the train, and all these kids were doing the Wayne's World song. I was like, what? Are you kidding me? And so then I was walking, and Lauren said, are you going to do another world?

Already it was world yeah yeah yeah yeah uh wayne's world yeah world you're gonna do another world uh should i yeah i said okay and i got in so he got higher and higher in the show so he saw it as a hit he knew it i guess but you know his cards are close to his chest did you just always always and so in the second third second or third season it was wayne's world with um aerosmith and tom hanks and uh it had played well in read through and uh it it killed address but for some reason i didn't think it killed and i went into a plummetation and dennis miller i just started crying i thought i said i blew it this is my big chance i blew it it sucked i didn't and i heard it since and i was like what are you a

lunatic it played great i just couldn't hear it for some reason i just didn't think the audience was buying it and the sketch was nine minutes long it's the longest sketch ever there's never been a nine minute sketch on the show right but lauren wasn't making me cut it you know usually they go you know uh your sketch is in it's a five page sketch if you can take three pages out it's like uh what there's no sketch but you do it yeah you have to do it it's a five page sketch if you can take three pages out it's like uh what there's no sketch but you do it yeah you have to do it it's broadcast news right and the lady sits there with a stop watch and you go through and you do all this stuff so i'm in there and i started to cry and i they have a dresser who dresses you because there's no time between commercials and this is your third

season already i mean my third season i just thought i was getting fired it's just one of those crazy things. People always say being a successful public person is ego. It's mostly ego death. You mostly feel like you're waiting for the other shoe to drop. There's that too.

That's certainly how I've grown up. It's a little bit like putting your penis on the table and someone saying that looks like a penis only smaller. The scrutiny isn't ego boosting. But also it seems that there, there was a self scrutiny. There was some sort of inner thing that made you like, that's how you must drive yourself to that perfectionism or that moment where you can't, you can no longer can tell if something is really working.

You just want it to be good. Right. You go, it's a lot to ask. But at that moment, you couldn't trust yourself. I think that the monitor foldback wasn't switched on, and I couldn't hear it. That's what I think happened. Oh, so it was a technical problem. I think ultimately in the end.

It wasn't in your head. Well, it was to the extent that I was seeing laughs. I just wasn't feeling them. And one of the joys of Saturday Night Live is just that feeling dude being shot out of a cannon and it's live

and you know I had like my best friend had came to see the show once from Toronto and I said hey did you get in alright and it's like

ten seconds to the show live show and he went shut up don't talk to me asshole shut up

five seconds I said I know but there's a key that was left for you. Two seconds. He goes, shut up. Wayne's World.

Yeah, yeah. Afterwards, after the show, I came up to him. I said, wasn't that amazing? Punched me in the face. If you ever do that to me again. He said, I shat my pants, you asshole. So what happens? Miller says what?

Miller comes and goes, Mikey, I've been on this show for eight years, babe. I haven't seen love like that. And he goes, you're crying? Oh, so you're one of those self-torturing weirdos. I get it, babe. Do yourself and all of us a favor and get over that quick. It killed. Don't be an asshole.

Got it together, and I did it for dress, and it was nine minutes and 22 seconds. Right before Dana and I were about to go out. Lauren came out with a glass of wine and we set up and by then just us showing up, got like cheers and stomps from the crowd, which is so unimaginable. Cause I, again,

I thought you would have to have grown up in my house to get almost everything I did. Yeah. And it was like, you know, and Lauren comes out and it's like 10 know and lauren comes out and it's like 10 seconds and lauren goes don't milk it from walks away i thought i was in trouble and dana just goes like this hits me on the arm just goes yeah and we did it and it went nine nine

minutes in dress nine minutes and 22 seconds dana started to milk it because he was told not to. Right. And that's why I love Dana Carvey. You guys still talk? Oh, yeah. It's fantastic. He's the most fun and most relaxed performer. Yeah.

I've been like 4,000, no, it was 20,000 people in Chicago for Wayne's World Rally. And we would do the joke. He'd do like, I think I'm going to hurl, right? It was one of those things where you just basically do the you know the joke or you know he'd do like i think i'm gonna hurl right it's one of those things where you just basically do the catchphrases and then we're like and under it dan's going should we eat at the hotel or find a whole conversation i'm doing this to him oh shut up shut up we're on stage he goes you know they have it they have a gym here dude they have a gym why they're just the laugh. It's like being under a wave. That's wild.

And then he could feel it coming, and then he'd be like, then the next line. And I'd have to look at him going, you're making me nervous. But he's so relaxed on stage. That's great. And he has that glint. Yeah. He does definitely. He has that fun glint in his eyes.

He does, yes. You never have to worry about Dana. Yeah. So was that really the first major franchise that came out of SNL? Well, one might argue the Blues Brothers. Dana. Yeah. So that, was that really the first major franchise that came out of SNL? Well, one might argue the Blues Brothers. Right.

Okay. Definitely, yeah. But yeah, I think it was. I don't know. You went on to write both movies. Mm-hmm.

And Lorne produced them? Yeah. And your relationship with Lorne, did it get more candid, more intimate? I mean,

as you started to earn... Well, I have such respect for Lorne, like truly, truly is a Canadian hero. This is a man who... I guess it's how I was brought up, but he's my boss. And that's how I feel about the audience, by the way. They're my boss.

They pay my bills, and they are kind enough to come see what I do. And, you know, if I'm out, and they want to come up and take a photograph, you have to be nice to your boss. Sure. And so, absolutely, of course. And you still have a relationship with Lorne?

Yeah, fantastic. I have dinner with him every two months. Really? He's so, When Lorne had kids He turned into everybody's grandfather And he was really on me to have kids It was his big thing He goes, you know, it's all good

You won't regret one moment of it It's all great And he had one when he was like 60, right? Yeah And I had a kid when I was 48 My first one And then I just had one in April That's amazing

It's fantastic dude so you did the Austin Powers movies which you also wrote so you're kind of a you know an industry I don't feel that way but I'm just saying when I look back now yeah

but I've always felt like an outsider like I've never felt like I was never on any power like I was on powerless but I was never felt like an outsider. I was never on any power. I was on powerless, but I was never like... You weren't playing the game. You were doing your own thing. But I didn't know that there was a game. That's not my... You know Paul Myers, my brother.

We're those people. No, I get it. I get it. But you're a hard worker. I'm thrilled by an Instagram and a garage band that we've made than anything. Right. Yeah. No, I get that.

Now, how do you assess the sort of rumors of you being difficult? Are you difficult? I am a quality control person of stuff that I've created. And one of the hardest things, I actually am really, really super glad you asked me that question because it's something that I've never been in a context, a safe context to talk to somebody who also makes things to understand the misperception. When you write and you create and you're the owner of something, the system is geared to have the actor acts and the director directs

and the producer produces. But when you're doing all of those things at once, they're really, you know, it's like Woody Allen, it's you know, Steve like Woody Allen it's you know Steve Martin Chaplin Keaton Sacha Baron Cohen you know Ben Stiller that's the world that you're in yeah and as Lauren says nobody's gonna care about your material as much as you are and

also no one's gonna care about your privacy or your money or your children right as much as you're going to is another thing that lauren always says and what i learned at saturday night live was you have to protect your material and i am i am i've never i never attack anybody but i will defend myself when they're going after the freshness of my material and i fight for the fresh now there are some people what do you mean by freshness exactly comedy where comedy hadn't existed before so to give an example of something that i fought very very hard for and it was my first movie was bohemian rhapsody in wayne's world they wanted

guns and roses and guns and roses were very very popular they're fantastic oh yeah they were trying to you talked about Where did I hear about that Was that in the Shep's documentary Did you talk about that No That was a different thing

They wanted I wanted 18 In schools out Okay right right right From Alice Cooper Right okay Because that's what I knew Like from my thing

So you had to fight For Bohemian Rhapsody Because the industry Wanted you to showcase Yeah because At that time Queen Had They were Someone not by me, of course, and by true, true hardcore music fans.

But the public had sort of forgotten about him a little bit. Freddie had gotten sick. The last time we had seen them was on Live Aid. And then there was a few albums afterwards where they were sort of straying away from their arena rock roots but I always loved Bohemian Rhapsody. I thought it was a masterpiece and so I fought really, really hard for it

and at one point I said to everybody, well, I'm out. I don't want to make this movie. It's not Bohemian Rhapsody and they were like, who the fuck are you? I said, I'm somebody that wants to do that movie.

That's the movie I want to do. Do you know what I mean? They're like, you've never done a movie somebody that that wants to do that movie that's the movie i want to do you know i mean they're like you've never done a movie you're gonna quit even though you've never done a movie i go but i don't want to do that other movie i want to do this movie it's bohemian rhapsody yeah you know and the song went to number one again yeah because of the movie yes yeah and i don't think it i don't think any song has done that, whether it goes to number one or exceeds its original sales. That's not me being Nostradamus. That's about me just going, what do I want to see? What movie would I want to see? I would want to see the movie where it's Bohemian Rhapsody.

Well, also because that beat, when you guys all start... Gang, gang, gang, gang, gang. Yeah, that beat comedically is profoundly memorable. And it was not going to work with any other song. It wasn't. And that was the beat. That's what I said to them. I said, I love Guns N' Roses.

I just don't happen to have a joke for them. Right. You know what I mean? Because that was the beat, right? It was like... And, you know, cut to like five years ago, I went to a casino in Europe and it was an escalator to get into the casino. Somebody put on Bohemian Rhapsody and it was 8000 people in this casino floor. And when it kicks into the gang, it was 8000 people in Europe doing the headbanging thing.

And I was like, look what you did. Jesus. I mean, that's crazy. And I was like, look what you did. Jesus. I mean, that's crazy. Now, do I regret really making a fuss and putting my foot down for something that I created from molecule one? I did an audition for Wayne's World. There was one day there wasn't Wayne's World. And then another day there was.

And I created it. You know what I mean? I wrote it. That was my vision. That was my childhood in Toronto, Scarborough, Ontario. My brother had a Toyota that had a vomit stain on the side of it. We were all given a Galileo. You know, Galileo, you didn't take somebody's Galileo.

Right. And that's what it was. That was what the no-money fun, a couple of idiots who were trying to be cool, and Garth thinks that Wayne is cool and Wayne is so obviously not cool And that's what this that's I wanted to maintain that sweetness and I thought that song I also wanted to take a page out of peewee's big adventure Which is you're not sure if it's the 50s or if it's the 80s, you know I mean because that's the designer childhood that character is very much like howdy doody and It's played by a fully grown man.

I was 30 at the time, playing an indeterminate aged teenager. And it was 1991 that we shot it with music and a car from 1974, the AMC Pacer. So you weren't quite sure what year this was. Yeah, timeless. I was trying to make an immaculate universe. It truly was Wayne's world, if you will. Right. And so I fought very, very hard for that. And that got you that reputation.

Yeah. I mean, and, you know, the other thing that got me a reputation was I was working on So I Married an Axe Murderer, and it went over. And I was shooting it in the hiatus. And then there was like, oh, he's too big to come back to the show. And I was like, I didn't make the movie go over. Like, that's the, you know.

It happens. I was telling you guys exactly when my movie's done, and it went three weeks over, and I missed, I think I missed five shows. And Lorne got very, very mad. Even after Wayne's World, he got mad. Especially after Wayne's World, he got mad.

He got very mad. Yeah. And I didn't blame him, but there was nothing I could do about it. And how did that reconcile? he's lauren michaels you know he's a canadian hero and and i just we just kept talking kept seeing each other and stuff you know eventually it just sorted itself well i stayed on the show for another four seasons yeah you know what i mean yeah he must have respected it somehow he's very respectful to me yeah yeah and he and and you know i've always challenged him you know like he'll say

stuff and and if i think it's like something like well you know the maginot line did its job or something like that and i'll say what are you talking about it's's a symbol of false complacency. This was an actual conversation. The conversations we have are all things like that. Talking about empire. But you would challenge him? If I thought something was wrong. But not about the show, necessarily.

I challenged him a couple times. I was very, very upset when Nancy Kerrigan hosted. I really got in his face about it. I didn't think she should be a host. This is after the Tonya Hardy thing. I think getting back to the difficult thing, what people don't know is I actually write and create and produce and own the things that I do.

And so when I call up the marketing department, they go, that's not in the movie star handbook. You're not supposed to call up the marketing department. And I go, what should I do? I don't know what to do because I'm the producer and I'm the creator and owner of this thing that I wrote. And that's kind of what happens. And I have not one regret. I'm glad I fought for Bohemian Rhapsody. I'm glad I did Austin Powers

because I did Austin Powers. The first screening of Austin Powers, they had 100 respondees. Hands up. Who knows James Bond? Only two hands went up. And then they said, oh, well, we're going to have to do massive rewrites

and do this, that, and the other. I said, no, don't release the film. That's the film. That's the film. And it worked, right? That's what I hear. This thing I'm doing with Jimmy Fallon lately, this false modesty guy.

You tell me. That's the catchphrase. I don't know, maybe. You tell me. But that's interesting because that sort of plays into the idea that even seeing yourself as an outsider or seeing yourself as a humble guy just doing his work is that by committing to your work, within the industry itself, you become that. And that's going to be resented. And that's fine. It's my job as an artist to be misunderstood.

And I would rather fight for the audience to have a good experience. And there are some people, I've met thousands of people in the industry who are fantastic. Here's an example. Molly Thompson at A&E with the Superman movie. Fantastic. Fantastic executive who supported me and backed this movie 110% But it's interesting because what you've succeeded

In doing is And Tom Quinn at Radius supports as well What you've done that I think is unique Is that like you said just a minute ago I don't think people really understand That to have the type of control you did And the commitment to the work that you do Is an artist's job.

And very few people get that freedom to do that. And when you have such a powerful mainstream appeal... Which nobody was more surprised than me. I truly, truly thought... But that's a reality. And so when you're in that money game, the people that run that money game think they know things, and they don't.

They're usually frightened. And who else doesn't know things is me right but i do know what i want to see right and i do know that you can't rip the audience off you must it's a lot to ask of people to sit in the dark with strangers plus the price of the ticket plus popcorn plus diet coke and what parking well no i think that explains it do you feel you feel good about that explanation i do well good thank you all right so the shrek thing that was originally farley's thing yeah it's weird and and he died and i guessed it right they weren't going to tell me oh really what do you mean well i i was working on it and then i looked at the moquette of of shrek you know the little model that they make the clay model. Yeah. Yeah.

And I said, was this offered to Farley? They were like agent and manager and the executives were like, no, I don't know. What are you talking about? Chris Farley? Yeah. The guy that just died. Yeah. How so? I said, well, it looks like Chris Farley. They're like, no, I don't. First of all, it's going to change. Yeah. First of like no i don't first of all it's gonna change yeah first i was gonna change because it's you yeah you know were you upset about that uh i i was upset to the fact that i wasn't told that before right up front because you'd actually laid down tracks for it right like that's what i hear now yeah i didn't know that till about

two years ago huh that's wild isn't that wild and when you when you is it true that when you did the first movie that you you went back and redid the whole movie yes here's one of the fascinating that sort of Paul Bunyan esque lore that is attached to you yeah I mean you've we've hung out now yeah Yeah. You know, the Paul Bunyan-ness that comes my way is hilarious. Yeah. Right. Well, what was the Paul Bunyan-ness around that?

Well, that it cost millions to redo. But how is that possible? It didn't. It didn't. No. What it meant is instead of me going in for 10 sessions, I went in for 20 sessions. I got paid the same. going in for 10 sessions i went in for 20 sessions i got paid the same and it by the time i when i i tried it as uh lothar the hill people uh-huh then i tried it with a thick canadian accent and then i

realized that it's a eurocentric art form eddie is inverting it by having an african-american voice doing a fantastic job um john lithgow is is english well mid-atlantic but englishy englishy king and if it is eurocentric what shape on the horizon can i do and i thought well scottish people are fantastic at being super happy and then getting super mad so it's like oh i love you thank you for coming over but if you ever come in here with those shoes i'll kill you you. And I thought, that's an ogre. And they're also working people. It was all about class, Shrek, you know. The fairy tale heroes

are upper class and the ogres are lower class. You know? And I thought Scottish is a very working class accent. And because my mom used to read books to me when we'd go to the bookmobile she's british right she would read in all the different dialects okay one of them was scottish

and that's the energy i wanted to tap into was to just make it that same yummy i read my kids books now which is fantastic and so i just wanted to tap into that energy oh that's great now uh jeffrey was like scottish i'm not so sure about it steven spielberg sent me a letter that i have framed saying dear mike thank you so much for taking the time to redo it you're absolutely right the scottish ogre is fantastic thank you so much for caring. Wow. And I'm like, fantastic. He's a fantastic guy. And he's such an artist. He just so loves artists.

He loves making things. Yeah, and the historic element, the mathematics of why you went that way is pretty astounding. Well, I just thought, I can do angry and vulnerable at the same time with scottish which is what an ogre is you know they're they're in a lot of pain ogres you know it's great and it's been an amazing uh it's got a triumphant

on the walk of fame and now when people go to that world they have scottish accents like how to train your dragon but there was a lot of resistance to it and i just went that's how i see it like and it worked it worked it paid off beautifully yeah it's a yeah it's a great thing thank you i'm very happy with how it turned out all right so now let's get up to speed with yes like um because when we were emailing uh aside from the pictures of your new daughter which was very exciting to me even though we knew each other one email exchange. I got the pictures. That's what happens when you're dead. I know, yeah.

It's great. Is he your third kid? Second. Second. So you have Spike and the daughter. Spike and Sunday, yeah. When we started talking about Supermensch in this documentary about Chef Gordon, which I watched, I had no idea who that guy was. Right.

And he's a very interesting character.'s an interesting he's a character that is both light and dark yes and it's quite a journey he's an ethical hedonist and a progressive capitalist uh-huh and uh but i had no idea who he was but like the tone of your commitment to this project was like this is what i always wanted to do it is yeah i've wanted to do so a documentary about a music manager i i met him on the set of wayne's world in 1991 with alice with alice cooper he's alice cooper's manager i'd never been in a movie let alone written and created a movie playing the eponymous character and uh i'd never even been on a movie studio. And so it's my first time on a movie studio. I walked through New York town and I walked through past the Jaws tank and all that stuff.

And then I go and I meet this rock and roll manager. He's got a toilet bowl haircut with a ponytail, gray ponytail and a satin tour jacket. And I was like, and I was a punk rocker. It's sort of like, did I create this character? Well, Lauren turns to me, again, in that way, you're talking about owning the material, and no one's going to fight for your material. Lauren says, you have a problem

with your movie. Alice doesn't want to do 18 and School's Out, and you're going to talk to his manager. I'm like, his manager? And so, like I said, I go across the street a lot, and I meet Shep Gordon. Yeah.

And he comes in, and he's got a New York accent. He talks like this. Yeah. Very, very deep. Yeah. Very, very calm. And so I'm talking to him, and he's nice and stuff, and he goes, I know you want 18 and School's Out in the movie, but how about something from the new album?

And I said, how about no, right? Because I thought, no, I don't want something from the new album. He goes, I would hate for you to say no when you've never heard the song. And he played the song, and I liked the song. But I wanted 18 in Schools Out again. And I said, well, I'm sorry. I have a real strong vision, and that's what it is. And he goes, listen, Alice is only going to be on stage performing for eight seconds.

If you put 18 and Schools Out in the end credits, people are going to think that's the song that they were playing. They're not going to remember. And I was like, he's right. He was so nice about it i said oh yeah i still want 18 this goes out and he says i also happen to know you start shooting in two weeks and you don't have a choice i said that is also true i said all right he goes you're not gonna regret it we're gonna promote the crap out of it it's gonna be a beginning it was actually a little bit of a hit and it it was great. 18 is in credits. And I just got a nice vibe from the dude.

Just being with him, I just thought, this guy's actually loving his client. He's a bit of a rock and roll cliche, but so what? And he's sweet. An honest broker, too. Honest. He made a good deal that was well kept. So Alice comes and Alice Cooper does the movie and it's the part where they're like, we're not worthy, we're not worthy. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And one of the things I had fought for was the Alice Cooper thing of saying, Millie okay, Milwaukee is actually, you know, actually they had the first communist mayor, that whole thing. Yeah. They were like, it's a teen movie. And I go, yeah, but they'll get the joke. Yeah, yeah. You know, they had the first communist mayor that whole thing yeah they were like it's a teen movie and i go yeah but they'll get the joke yeah yeah you know they'll get the joke fought hard for that alice knocked it out of the park so protected that joke so i was really really grateful because he really knocked it out of the park he's a really funny comedy actor yeah alice he's really well that's what he does exactly it is yeah it's burlesque. Yeah. And so I go to Hawaii after the movies. My dad died, but the movie's a giant hit. My life has changed.

I went to Hawaii. I could never go to Hawaii when my dad was alive because he was angry with the Hawaiians for killing Captain Cook in 1780. Seriously? They bloody murdered him. The Hawaiians. Poi-eating. Oh, really?

Grass skirt wearing. He held that? Yeah, he held a grudge. Because they bloody murdered him in his sleep. Bloody Hawaiians. I thought about that. I felt like a traitor the whole time I was there. It's like, they did murder Captain Cook.

Wait a minute. I don't care. I was born in Canada. What the hell? So I go, and I had an assumed name, you know. captain cook in a minute i don't care i was born in canada what the hell so i go and i and i i hadn't assumed name you know i i was under pierre trudeau was my name so i um i thought it was paul meyers calling through because he got right through because he knew i gave him my fake name the hotel name and it's like hi uh is this uh is this mike i thought okay paul what's up right he goes no it's

shep i thought it was shep shep shep gordon alice cooper's manager because you want to go to a luau with uh whoopi goldberg and arnold and sly like names like yeah i was like yeah hell yeah he goes i said uh how do i get to your house he goes i'm in the lobby come on i'll drive you so i went over there and arnold schwarzenegger whoopie goldberg it was fantastic it was like madame tussauds i couldn't believe it but it was a luau yeah so there's like at chef's house at chef's house yeah it was like there's palms and all this stuff uh- I ate like a pig out of the ground. And he was just nice to everybody, including like the people that were working it.

He was nice too, which meant a lot to me that he was nice to working people. And it wasn't just that he was nice to celebrities. He was nice to everybody. Like saw them, looked them in the eye, thanked them. He just had this lovely way.

And he said, just always stay at my house. So I went another time. And then he was like, stay at my house. And I thought, well, people say that. And then I got hit with a second wave of sadness of my father's. How many years later? That's a good question, dude. I can't quite remember.

It was a few years back. Oh, okay. so then you decided you're gonna go to hawaii i went to uh hawaii and stayed at his house and i said you know this is a real offer he said yeah of course my door is always open you can stay anytime i said i'm gonna stay for a week he goes okay is everything good and then i said yeah but he didn't ask me about it anymore he just said i said aren't you curious and he goes no no i figured you'd tell me if something was going on i'm here to listen if you want to but also you know because he eaten he well and then he made me meals like he made me nutritious meals with with greens you know hula greens and he said you're not exercising I'm concerned you should swim in the ocean I'm gonna get you a yoga gal yoga person came over and

I he I was like a baby chick that had fallen out of the nest and he raised me and I was there for two months really and every night I would ask him about a different celebrity he had another story so I'd say but what about Charlie Chaplin he goes met him at the Savoy I had lunch with him I'm like you did because yeah crazy story connected to Michael Jackson Michael Jackson every time he saw Chaplin he would faint and I was like what because yeah so I'm backstage with Alice Michael Jackson comes and I'm playing at a theater in London that Charlie Chaplin used to play Michael Jackson comes backstage loved loved Alice's show,

because they're really in the same business. Sees the picture of Charlie Chaplin, bam, hits the floor, passes out. He felt that he was Charlie Chaplin in another life. And if you look at the moonwalk and the way the tramp walks, there's a real similarity. It's like this crazy, like,

so I'm sitting there, I'm riveted. I'm keeping him up like this dude goes to bed early yeah and he's an ethical hedonist but he goes to bed early gets up with the sun he just loves maui like that's him plugging in and i said to him on the first time i went over to luau i said i want to do a movie about you because i truly truly thought i was going to be cassavetes i thought i I was going to make documentaries and do improvised movies. You know what I mean? And if I was lucky to have parts in movies, that money would go towards improvised movies.

You know what I mean? Which I still might do. Yeah, you can. I can. I just haven't got around to it. My latest thing has been this documentary. It's taken me two years. And then I had two kids in two years.

So that's what I've been doing mostly. And writing other things. I'm always writing something. I think that the interesting thing about the movie, one of the interesting things is that that business is so sort of like, even the best of them are usually called scumbags. Right.

And you found this guy who is one of the best of them are usually called scumbags. Right. And you found this guy who is one of the best of them and is a real straight shooter and a decent human being. And loves artists. Yeah. And he wants the quirk. Yeah. So my career has been about protecting the quirk. You know what I mean?

And having to steadfastly protect the quirk of what I do. That is one of the greatest things that Jerry Seinfeld ever said about my stuff. And that is, you managed to break all rules of American parody. You parodied something that nobody knew. In both Dieter and in Austin Powers. And high praise indeed. And Steve Martin had said comedy where comedy hadn't existed before, which is also high praise.

Two very, very generous, fantastic comedians. And to meet somebody that is so protective of a quirky artist like Alice Cooper, who doesn't say, hey, tone it down. He says, heighten and explore. He turns to Luther Vandross and protects what it is he does. And Teddy Pendergrass, he finds the essence of the attraction between the artist and the audience and protects it like a mama bear

and creates a playground for these people to thrive and grow. And he monetizes in ways that traditional show business won't monetize such quirkiness. That's the movie I wanted to make. That's the man I wanted to support. And that's the man I want young people who are starting out now who think they have to go on talent shows to know that you don't have to go on talent shows you don't need to be discovered but should you run into a Lamaze birth coach who is an artist about protecting artists, but his canvases are Christo-sized. If you meet those people,

like David Geffen, you know what I mean? Cling them to your breast and protect them and give them the love that they're giving you. And that's what I wanted to do for Shep. I've seen him be so lovely.

I couldn't even put the amount of lovely things he's done for people. He did something for the band Squeeze that's so fantastic. He just completely helped them out. No, didn't make it into the movie. What was that? He got them a whole new deal for their catalog, and he didn't charge them. He just did it because he went, you know that band Squeeze?

I think they're so fantastic. Do you know they got such a crappy deal and somebody called him and said can you do me a i'm calling in a coupon a favor he has these things called coupons yeah he does stuff for people occasionally he'll call in a coupon mostly he you know people call a coupon to each other yeah i mean in a fair way yeah and he said this coupon was called and said listen i i'm working with squeeze and i want them to get a better deal on their catalog of music which is fantastic i'm a huge squeeze yeah it's great stuff and he said yeah i think they're great i'll do it and he set them up got the thing and then turned to them and said uh listen you don't want me as your manager.

I'm not going to really help you, but I did do this. And they said, that's great. So what are you charging? He says, nothing. You guys are great. There should be a squeeze in the world. That's sweet. He wouldn't let me put it in the movie.

But I'm telling you now, people, because that's the kind of guy. He loves artists. He wants to protect the quirk. He doesn't try and make people palatable. What I wanted to talk about in the film as a cautionary tale to young artists starting out, which is that being in the public eye, you want it to be celebrated for doing things, not just for the sake of

being a celebrity. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that it is a funhouse mirror distortion of the world. And I just, there's, Shep himself has had such such an amazingly external experience in the world that there wasn't much time left for an intimate experience and that was

the most controversial thing I put into the movie because I said Shep I want to do a movie about you I didn't really know until the movie was starting that that's the cautionary tale that's the be careful for what you wish for when it comes to a public life because you can miss an intimate private life and that spoke to you that spoke to me a man who had babies at 48

exactly yeah so you know the beatle says all law songs are all about a graphical even if they didn't happen to us. That's kind of the thing that spoke to me. That's been the imperative for 20 years for me hounding him to say yes. And then he finally said yes, which is fantastic. It's been the most fantastic, satisfying journey the last two years. Because I just made it for me. Then A&E said, yeah, we'll buy it.

And then I took it to the Toronto Film Festival and Radio said, said yeah we'll buy it and then i took it to toronto film festival and radio says sure we'll distribute it and here we are so it's been fantastic and sitting in the house with people just you know laughing crying being quiet well it's a fantastic experience so you're basically saying that that that finally you've been able to engage in life in terms of uh the things that are supposed to bring human beings joy and a pace that is sort of embracing and interactive and human and not

letting it relax yeah hopefully I also the quest for both Shep and I and my brother Paul has been sanctuary and somebody very wise The quest for both Shep and I and my brother Paul has been sanctuary. And somebody very wise once said to me, don't chase the high, follow the heart.

And that we think that we want to have an external experience, but what we want is sanctuary within our own skull. And that's kind of what this movie is about. I mean, it's, it's, you, you have to have a happy hearth and home, but you can also change the world, you know?

Yeah. I gotta, I gotta work on that. It was great talking to you, man. Great talking to you. Thank you. How fucking cool is that?

What a smart, sweet dude, man. And incredibly talented and just really sophisticated in the way he thinks about comedy and life in general. It was great. I was impressed and humbled, to be honest with you, to hang out with him for a couple hours. All right, you guys. All right. I think if I practice, I could be a professional musician. But not like a studio musician, but just a guy who can play.

I'm going to put some guys together. I know I say this a lot, but I'm going to do it. See, that's the other thing about me, is this thing about not knowing what to do with myself, is that I talk myself out of everything. So, fuck, man. Just um fuck man just do it just do it stop thinking it and talking yourself out of shit right right yeah right who are you boomer lives you can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats.

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