124: "Shall We Shag Now Or Shag Later?" - Mike Myers' 90s Comedies

When We Were Young - an 80s and 90s pop culture podcast

Many of the big screen’s most successful comedians got their start on the small screen, and no TV series has launched more comedy all-stars than Saturday Night Live. In 1995, the long-running weekend staple experienced a major shakeup with the exit of many of its most popular cast members, including Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, and Mike Myers – all of whom followed up their successful stints on SNL with feature comedies.

In the first of three episodes focusing on the film careers of these SNL funnymen, we set our sights on Mike Myers, who kicked off the sketch-to-film trend of the 90s by bringing Saturday Night Live’s Wayne Campbell from public access television in Aurora, Illinois to nation-wide box office smash in 1991’s WAYNE’S WORLD. The irreverent comedy co-stars SNL’s Dana Carvey as sidekick Garth and boasts more catchphrases than you could count in a lifetime, but do these wacky slackers have what it takes to party on into the 21st century, or… NOT?

Next up, we thaw out 1997’s AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY, the outrageous spy spoof starring Myers as a time-hopping 60s swinger who must fight off both his outmoded sexual politics and his maniacal hairless doppelganger, Dr. Evil. The Austin Powers franchise cemented Myers’ status as a major box office drawn and 90s comedy legend, and spawned even more inescapable catchphrases, but is it still groovy, shagadelic, and totally switched on? Or does it make us want to say, “No, baby?”

And in case that isn’t enough to get you all verklempt, our discussion also touches on some of Myers’ beloved SNL characters who didn’t make the transition to the big screen, including Simon, Dieter, and Linda Richman, as well as the Wayne’s World and Austin Powers sequels. Join us on Mike Myers’ epic journey from schwing! to swinger in Part One of our Saturday Night Leavers – Celluloid Man-Children Of 90s Cinema miniseries!

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