Mike Myers successfully made the transition from Not Ready for Prime Time Player to movie star. His characters and catch-phrases were inescapable. Myers wasn’t just a comedian, he was shaping pop culture. And then, he stopped.

What the hell happened?

Mike Myers – Saturday Night Live – 1989-1995

Myers’ first acting job was on a TV commercial when he was 10 years old. The commercial co-starred Gilda Radner, who was about to become a star on Saturday Night Live. In 1989, Myers would follow in Radner’s footsteps as a cast member of SNL.

Mike Myers – King of Kensington – 1975

In 1975, a young Myers appeared on the Canadian sitcom, King of Kensington.

Many years later, Myers named the character played by Elizabeth Hurley in Austin Powers “Vanessa Kensington” in tribute to the TV show that gave him his start.

Mike Myers – Little Hobo – 1979

In 1979, Myers appeared on another Canadian TV show, The Littlest Hobo. The show is about a stray German shepherd named London who wanders from town to town helping people in need. Sort of Lassie meets The Incredible Hulk. In the episode Myers appeared on, London encourages a child in a wheelchair to participate in a Frisbee competition.

In 1982, Myers joined the Canadian touring company for Second City immediately out of high school. From there, he moved to the United Kingdom. In 1985, Myers was one of the founding members of The Comedy Store Players, an improvisational group based in London.

Myers also played a delivery boy in the TV movie, John and Yoko: a Love Story. Here’s a clip with both of his lines.

In 1986, Myers starred in the British children’s TV program Wide Awake Club. Myers satirized the show’s typical energy with his own bit, the “Sound Asleep Club”.

Mike Myers – The Wide Awake Club – 1986

Here’s a retrospective about The Wide Awake Club which includes some footage of Myers doing his bit on the show.

Mike Myers – City Limits – 1986

Myers continued popping up all over Canadian television. He appeared as Wayne Campbell on the alternative video show, City Limits. The show was hosted by Christopher Ward (pictured above with Myers). Myers also played Wayne in one of Ward’s music videos. Ward later joined the band Ming Tea in Myers’ first Austin Powers movie.

Myers went on to play Wayne in the 1987 series It’s Only Rock & Roll.

On the same show, Myers debuted his character Dieter in a sketch called Kurt and Dieter.

Mike Myeres – It’s Only Rock and Roll – 1987

The character would later become a regular on Saturday Night Live as part of the Sprockets sketch.

Mike Myers – Second City

Myers returned to Canada and Second City. This time, he joined the Toronto main stage show rather than the touring company.

In 1987, the future Shrek did his first voice work for an animated show. Myers provided his voice for the Canadian special, Meet Julie, about a magic doll that comes to life. Surprisingly, Julie doesn’t kill anybody.

Two years later, Myers moved from Toronto to the Second City in Chicago.

Mike Myers – Saturday Night Live – 1989 – 1995

Myers spent six seasons on Saturday Night Live . He quickly became a breakout star with characters like Wayne and Dieter. He also developed recurring characters like Linda Richman and Simon.

In 1989, Myers appeared in a short film called Elvis Stories. It was a series of sketches about Elvis Presley written and directed by Ben Stiller. The sketches included a lot of up-and-coming actors. The sketch Myers appeared in was called Elvis Patties. John Cusack played a mentally challenged grill cook he cooks up hamburgers which he believes Elvis speaks through. Jeremy Piven played a shyster who sells Corkey’s Elvis Patties. Myers played a Cockney customer who gets sick on an Elvis patty.

Mike Myers – Wayne’s World -1992

In 1992, Myers and Dana Carvey were tapped to bring the Wayne’s World sketch to the big screen. Trouble began immediately when Myers wanted to have Carvey’s character, Garth, written out of the movie. Myers had originally developed Wayne as a solo character while performing with Second City. The character of Garth was added for Saturday Night Live. When it came time to take the act to the big screen, Myers wasn’t interested in sharing the spotlight with Carvey. Carvey was arguably the bigger star at the time and there were rumors of a not-so-friendly rivalry.

Myers has developed a reputation for being, well, a demanding control freak. He started earning that reputation with his very first movie. Reportedly, Myers once stormed off the Wayne’s World set due to a lack of margarine for his bagel.

Director, Penelope Spheeris recounted to Entertainment Weekly:

”He (Myers) was emotionally needy and got more difficult as the shoot went along. ‘You should have heard him bitching when I was trying to do that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ scene: ‘I can’t move my neck like that! Why do we have to do this so many times? No one is going to laugh at that!”’

Eventually, the director assigned her daughter to “babysit Myers” and “fetch his snacks”.

”To this day, I have this image of her sitting on this little cooler, looking at me, like, ‘Mom, I f—ing hate you,” said Spheeris.

Wayne’s World – 1992

Myers used his feature film debut as an opportunity to settle an old score with a girlfriend who dumped him. The girl in question broke up with Myers due to his preoccupation with his comedy. She later changed her mind. In an attempt to reconcile, the girl bought Myers a gun rack as a bit of absurdist humor which she thought Myers would appreciate. Myers recreated the scene in the movie with the character of Stacy played by Lara Flynn Boyle. Stacy is depicted in an unflattering light and referred to as ‘psycho hose-beast’. When the girl who inspired the character saw the movie, she was mortified. Eventually, Myers reached out to apologize for including the incident in the movie.

Movies based on Saturday Night Live sketches have historically had a bad track record. But Wayne’s World was the exception to the rule. Reviews were positive and the movie was a big hit at the box office.

Mike Myers – So I Married an Axe Murderer – 1993

Myers followed up Wayne’s World with the romantic comedy, So I Married an Axe Murderer in 1993.

Myers played a commitment-phobe who meets a girl played by Nancy Travis who may or may not be a serial killer. Myers also played his own father with a Scottish brogue.

Other actors who had been considered for Axe Murderer included Woody Allen, Chevy Chase, Albert Brooks, and Martin Short. Sharon Stone was originally attached to the Travis role. But like Myers, she wanted to play a dual role. When the studio refused her request, she lost interest.

When Myers agreed to star, he insisted on re-writing the script to better suit his sensibilities. This resulted in a law suit with the original screen writer, Robbie Fox which eventually resulted in Fox getting sole writing credit.

Myers also clashed with director, Thomas Schlamme. When Myers was unhappy, he locked himself in his trailer and refused to work. As a result, the film went over budget. Schlamme puts a positive spin on the tension:

“Mike was taking a stretch beyond his usual self and was playing outside himself. Personality clashes were bound to happen. We struggled.”

Schlamme denied that Myers was a “control freak” and praised the “total commitment to his work. But yes, it was difficult”.

So I Married an Axe Murderer opened to mixed reviews and flopped at the box office. But it has accrued a cult following over the years.

Mike Myers – Wayne’s World 2 – 1993

Later that year, Myers and Carvey returned for a Wayne’s World sequel.

The sequel saw Wayne and Garth attempting to stage a concert dubbed Waynestock. Wayne gets the idea from a dream of Jim Morrison.

Wayne’s World 2 couldn’t duplicate the success of the original. It got mixed reviews and disappointed at the box office.

The director of the original WW, Penelope Spheeris, has said she believes Myers prevented Paramount from hiring her for the sequel because they fought while making the first film.

After the disappointment of Wayne’s World 2 and So I Married an Axe Murderer, Myers retreated from Hollywood. He has said he was waiting for inspiration to hit. And eventually, it did.

Mike Myers and Elizabeth Hurley – Austin Powers – 1997

In 1997, Myers returned to the big screen with the James Bond spoof, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Myers played Austin Powers, a swinging English super spy in the 1960’s. Myers also played his arch nemesis, Dr. Evil. When Dr. Evil escapes, Austin is cryogenically frozen so that he can capture Dr. Evil whenever he reappears. When Dr. Evil resurfaces 30 years later in the PC 90’s, Austin is thawed out. Elizabeth Hurley played a British agent tasked with helping Austin adapt to the changing times. She also happens to be the daughter of Austin’s 60’s love interest played by Mimi Rogers.

When most people think of Austin Powers, they think of the catch phrases that dominated pop culture in the late 90’s. They assume that the first Austin Powers movie was a smash hit. But in reality, it opened at #2 at the box office and only grossed about 50 million dollars in the US.

That was enough to make International Man of Mystery a hit. But in spite of mostly positive reviews, it wasn’t the box office smash most people remember. Audiences didn’t really find the first Austin Powers until it was released on video.

Myer’s Wayne’s World director, Penelope Spheeris, recalls the healing experience of watching Austin Powers for the first time:

”I hated that bastard for years. But when I saw Austin Powers, I went, ‘I forgive you, Mike. You can be moody, you can be a jerk, you can be things that others of us can’t be — because you are profoundly talented. And I forgive you.”’

Mike Myers – 54 – 1998

In 1998, Myers made a dramatic turn in the disco drama, 54, loosely based on the 70’s nightclub, Studio 54.

Studio 54 became the hardest club in the world to get into when disco became a sensation in the 70′s. It was a haven for drug use and homosexuality. But the party came to an end in the 80′s with the death of disco and the incarceration of the club’s founders for tax evasion.

Myers played Steven Rubell, one of the two co-founders of Studio 54. How historically accurate was 54? The other partner was never mentioned. The story is mostly fictionalized.

The trailer focuses primarily on Myers. But Ryan Phillippee was the lead. Myers’ Rubell is a background character in what amounts to a soap opera. Neve Campbell and Salma Hayek co-starred.

When test audiences reacted badly to certain plot threads, the studio demanded changes. Audiences objected to a gay kiss between male leads as well as a happy endings for several of the characters they did not feel deserved them. The changes resulted in 45 minutes being cut from the film replaced by 25 minutes of new scenes and voice overs. Not surprisingly, the end result was a bit of a mess.

Reviews were negative and 54 bombed at the box office. A director’s cut was eventually released on video to better reviews.

Mike Myers and Heather Graham – Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me – 1999

The next year, Myers returned to Austin Powers for the sequel, The Spy Who Shagged Me. The sequel traded in co-star Elizabeth Hurley for 90’s it-girl, Heather Graham.

The sequel focused on Powers going back in time once again to recapture his lost mojo. While back in the 60’s, he meets a free-spirited secret agent played by Graham.

The Spy Who Shagged Me repeated a lot of the same jokes as the first film. Like a recurring character on a Saturday Night Live sketch, the repetition of popular catch phrases was a big part of the movie’s appeal. The sequel also introduced new characters like Mini-Me played by Verne Troyer and Fat Bastard played by Myers.

Whereas the first Austin Powers was a modest hit with a devoted cult following, the sequel was a box office smash. The reviews were still mostly positive, but noted that Spy was basically a retread. Audiences who saw the first film on video came out to the theaters for the sequel.

Mike Myers – Sprockets

In 2000, Myers made an announcement that he was halting production on his next movie.

The movie in question was to have been another adaptation of one of his popular SNL sketches. This time featuring the German impressionist, Dieter. Just weeks before shooting was scheduled to start, Myers announced that he could not ”cheat moviegoers who pay their hard-earned money for my work by making a movie with an unacceptable script.”

The script which was so unacceptable to Myers was written by a scribe named… Mike Myers.

Confused? Just to clarify, Myers claimed he could not in good conscience make the Sprockets film he was contractually obligated to make because the script he had written wasn’t good enough.

Instead of earning a $20 million pay-day, Myers got slapped with a $30 million dollar law suit for breach of contract. Imagine Entertainment, which was founded by well-known Hollywood hot-head Ron Howard (aka OpieTaylor aka Richie Cunningham) called Myers ”egomaniacal,” ”irresponsible,” and ”selfish.”

Myers counter sued for his $20 million for “fraud and defamation of character”. Myers claimed he had been ”emotionally traumatized” by the studio’s ”thug-like, outrageous, and reckless conduct.”

The two parties settled out of court. The terms of the agreement specified that Myers would make another film for Universal and Imagine at a later date. But by then, the public battle had cemented Myers’ reputation for being “difficult”.

Mike Myers – Shrek – 2001

In 2001, Myers voiced the title character in Dreamwork’s Animation’s Shrek. Eddie Murphy played the animated sidekick, Donkey. And Cameron Diaz played the lovely princess.

Usually, I don’t say a lot about voice work. It rarely has a tremendous impact on an actor’s career one way or another. But Shrek is a special case.

Originally, Chris Farley was cast in the role. Unfortunately, he died before the film was completed. Dreamworks turned to Myers who insisted on a complete re-write to remove any trace of Farley’s take on the character. After Myers had completed his voice work, the animators went to work.

Well into the animation process, Myers changed his mind about his performance. He decided Shrek should speak with a Scottish accent. Dreamworks chair Jeffrey Katzenberg agreed to spend an additional $4 million dollars to reanimate sequences which were already synched with Myers’ original voice work.

As it turns out, the gamble paid off. Shrek was a huge hit with critics and audiences. I’m still not sure the accent was worth $4 million though. Would the movie have been as big a hit with Myers’ original recordings? The world will never know.

Mike Myers – Austin Powers in Goldmember – 2002

In 2002, Myers starred in the third Austin Powers film, Goldmember.

This time, Powers is on a mission to save his father played by Michael Caine. His mission takes him back in time to the seventies where he meets Foxxy Cleopatra played by Beyoncé Knowles.

In addition to playing Austin Powers, Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard, Myers played a fourth role; the titular Goldmember. By the third movie, Myers was milking the last laughs out of the concept and it showed.

Once again, Myers decided to use a movie to settle a personal score. The character of Scott Evil (played by Seth Green) was depicted as losing his hair. He looked more and more like Ron Howard (with whom Myers had an axe to grind over the Sprockets law suit) as the film went on. At the end of the film, the Ron Howard look-alike is the new super villain of the series.

Ron Howard – Scott Evil comparison

Reviews were mixed. But the movie still managed to be a hit. Over a decade later, there are still rumors Myers may return for a fourth Austin Powers movie.

Mike Myers – View from the Top – 2003

In 2003, Myers took a supporting role in the Gweneth Paltrow stewardess comedy, View From the Top.

Paltrow played a small town girl who dreams of becoming an airline stewardess. She attends training with Kelly Preston and Christina Applegate. Myers plays a trainer who takes his job a little too seriously. He also has a lazy eye.

Myers’ role is essentially an extended cameo. He manages to be funny despite the lame running gag about his eye. His scenes are interesting to watch. It feels like Myers is trying out bits he discarded from other scripts.

View was originally scheduled to be released in 2001, but following in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, it was shelved. It was finally released to mostly negative reviews two years later. It bombed at the box office.

Mike Myers – Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat – 2003

Later that year, Myers starred in the big screen adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat.

Tim Allen was originally cast as the Cat. But when he had to drop out due to schedule conflicts with The Santa Clause 2, Myers stepped into the role as part of his settlement with Universal and Imagine.

Universal had just had a big hit with Ron Howard’s adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey. They were hopeful that the same mix of cartoon-inspired special effects and a big-name comedian would result in another big family hit.

But Cat in the Hat got terrible reviews and flopped at the box office. The movie was nominated for several Golden Raspberries that year. It won Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie. Myers was nominated for Worst Actor. He lost to Ben Affleck for the unholy trio of Daredevil, Gigli and Paycheck.

Shrek 2 – 2004

In 2004, Myers returned to the Shrek franchise for Shrek 2.

Having discovered true love, Shrek must now travel to the kingdom of Far Far Away to meet Finona’s disapproving parents. The sequel is basically Meet the Parents for kids.

The sequel repeated a lot of the same jokes as the original while introducing new characters like Puss in Boots voiced by Antonio Banderas. Puss proved popular enough to earn his own solo movie in 2011.

Like the Austin Powers movies, the second film was a bigger hit than the first despite a substantial drop in quality. Reviews were still mostly positive. And the movie set box office records for animated films.

Despite the success of the Shrek sequel, Myers was stinging from the failure of his live action movies. Once again, he retreated from Hollywood to look for inspiration. Myers took five years off from non-animated films between The Cat in the Hat in 2003 and his next live action film in 2008.

In between movies, Myers made a rare TV appearance on a special to raise money for victims of Hurrican Katrina. He appeared opposite rapper Kanye West who made the infamous statement that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

Myers, a native of Canada, could not look more uncomfortable with the politically charged comment.

Myers later explained his reaction to GQ:

I assume that George Bush does care about black people—I mean I don’t know him, I’m going to make that assumption—but I can definitively say that it appeared to me watching television that had that been white people, the government would have been there faster. And so to me that’s really the point—the look on my face is, to me, almost insulting to the true essence of what went down in New Orleans… To have the emphasis on the look on my face versus the fact that somebody spoke truth to power at a time when somebody needed to speak? I’m very proud to have been next to him.I’m, like, super proud to have been next to him. The look on my face is…to be honest with you, I thought I handled it well. I was like “This is what’s happening…” Because live TV is my milieu, and improv is my training, you know. It has been painful that the culture has at times meditated on my surprise, when it’s really the message, dude. The message, the message, the message, you know. There’s a world of fail culture, and it’s hardly a fail on my part to be next to the guy that spoke truth to power at a time when horrific injustices…

Shrek the Third – 2007

In 2007, Myers cashed another check from Dreamworks for voice work in the third Shrek film, Shrek the Third.

In this installment, Shrek is uneasy with the idea of being the heir to the throne of Far Far Away. So he recruits another heir to sit on the throne. Also, the film introduced Shrek and Fiona’s cute and marketable ogre babies.

Reviews for the third Shrek were mixed. Despite the less than enthusiastic reviews, the movie was a hit at the box office. It wasn’t quite as big a hit as Shrek 2, but it still grossed over $300 million dollars.

Shrek the Halls – 2007

Continuing the all-Shrek all the time stage of his career, Myers voiced Shrek for a Christmas special in 2007. The special was called Shrek the Halls. It’s actually a family favorite in the Lebeau household. In 2010, Myers and company returned for a Halloween special titled Scared Shrekless which was not nearly as good.

Mike Myers – The Love Guru – 2008

In 2008, Myers followed the same formula that led to the creation of Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. Only this time, instead of launching a comedy trilogy that would dominate pop culture for years, Myers released The Love Guru.

Myers played a Deepak Chopra-esque guru to help a star hockey player deal with the stress of his wife leaving him.

By this point, many in Hollywood were secretly hoping Myers would fail. Their hopes would be realized. Myers’ poured his heart into The Love Guru only to see it rejected by critics and audiences alike. Film critic Nathan Rabin wrote:

A smart, talented, accomplished writer-actor like Myers spending years meticulously creating, rehearsing, and refining an obnoxious one-note cartoon like Guru Pitka is a like a group of brilliant scientists working around the clock for a decade to build a malfunctioning fart machine: a surreal waste of time, energy and manpower. Yet Myers and his agent were so confident about the commercial prospects of his latest creation that they were discussing sequels with Paramount more than a year before filming began. The Love Guru was a potential bonanza from a $25 million dollar man accustomed to knocking it out of the park each at bat. Yet between the release of 2003’s underperforming The Cat In The Hat and The Love Guru,something curious happened: The public turned on Myers. The goodwill he engendered through Saturday Night Live, Wayne’s World, Austin Powers,and Shrek was squandered through a series of mercenary, money-grubbing sequels.

Mike Myers – Inglorious Basterds – 2009

Since The Love Guru, Myers has more or less retreated from Hollywood once again. He had a cameo appearance in Inglorious Basterds which is barely worth mentioning except for the fact that Inglorious Basterds is awesome! And in 2010, Myers cashed his final (for now) Shrek paycheck with Shrek 4.

Mike Myers and Dana Carvey – 2013

In 2013, Myers appeared at a screening of Wayne’s World to publicly bury the hatchet with his co-star Dana Carvey. Despite appearing together on SNL and the Wayne’s World films, Carvey and Myers had never been close. Of course Carvey couldn’t have been thrilled with Myers’ attempts to write his character out of the Wayne’s World movies. But mostly, Carvey was angry because Myers stole his impression of SNL creator Lorne Michaels and used it as the basis for Dr. Evil.

Penelope Spheeris and the rest of the Wayne’s World cast was also in attendance. At least publicly, everyone was all smiles. Neither Carvey nor Myers publicly acknowledged their feud.

Mike Myers – Saturday Night Live – 2014

In December 2014, Myers reprised his Dr. Evil character on a sketch on Saturday Night Live. The sketch satirized Korean leader Kim Jong-un for his role in the Sony Pictures hacking related to the movie The Interview which depicts a fictional assassination of Jong-un. It was Myers’ most public performance since his Inglorious Basterds cameo in 2009.

Mike Myers – SNL 40th Anniversary Special – 2015

In 2015, Myers returned to Saturday Night Live for the 40th Anniversary Special. Myers and Carvey brought back Wayne’s World for a top ten list. Norm Mac Donald later described the evening in a series of tweets. He spoke well of just about everybody including Myers:

Mike and Dana showed up. They were going to do Wayne’s World. I joined the writer’s room, which Mike helmed, and tried to help. Mike Myers has an incredible work ethic and no joke is ever good enough and must be beaten, must be beaten. This is what makes him so good. This is why he has created a half-dozen perfect comedies. Work ethic, remarkable taste, and never taking no for an answer.

Since then, Myers has signed a two-year contract to develop content exclusively for HBO. Details regarding what that might entail have yet to be announced.

So, what the hell happened?

This is an easy one. Myers pissed off a lot of people. Including some really powerful people. Some put up with him because he was a comic genius who made them rich. But even they admit the guy is “difficult”.

Then, when Myers stopped hitting home runs, his shit started to stink a lot worse.

Odds are good that Myers will eventually come back with another hit. A comeback isn’t just possible, it’s likely. But if it never happens, many in Hollywood will smile broadly that Myers reaped what he sowed.

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