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Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was a spoof of James Bond-style spy movies, but for three movies Mike Myers’ inept secret agent became just as iconic a character as those he was poking fun at. The same could be said for Dr. Evil, Austin Powers‘ bitter rival, also played by Myers. But while Austin owes his existence to classic British spies, Dr. Evil owes his existence to a much more real source: Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels.
Visually, Dr. Evil is clearly an homage to the character of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the villain of several James Bond movies. However, it’s long been said that the personality of Dr. Evil is actually based on Lorne Michaels, who Mike Myers worked with on SNL in the ‘90s. It turns out the story actually goes deeper, because apparently Myers stole the impression from fellow SNL star, and Wayne’s World co-star Dana Carvey.
Dr. Evil Is A Lorne Michaels Impression
In a profile of Lorne Michaels in The New Yorker, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, the fact that Dr. Evil’s origins come from Michaels is mentioned. It turns out Dr. Evil’s famous raising of his pinky finger to his mouth was a reference to Lorne Michaels’ tendency to bite his nails while looking over SNL sketches.
I had certainly heard that Dr. Evil had been inspired by Lorne Michaels before. However, a new piece of information that did surprise me is that I had always assumed that the impression was something that Mike Myers himself had come up with. Apparently, that’s not the case.
Mike Myers Apparently Stole The Impression From Dana Carvey
The New Yorker calls the impression “caricature theft” as apparently the original impression was done not by Myers but by Dana Carvey, and even Dr. Evil’s baldness, was apparently part of the impression, as Carvey would only do it while wearing bald wigs. The New Yorker explains…
Myers has often denied that the performance was entirely based on Michaels, but in fact it’s a rare act of caricature theft—a beat-for-beat imitation of an impersonation of Michaels by Dana Carvey, which Carvey performed only while sitting in the makeup chair, in a bald wig, at SNL.
Of course, now I need to know how Dana Carvey feels about all this. Carvey and Myers have had a tumultuous relationship, with the former nearly quitting Wayne’s World at one point. It wouldn’t be a shock if Carvey was upset by this unless he’d been asked ahead of time. Although they have seemingly put all that in the past, appearing together in a Wayne’s World Super Bowl Ad a few years ago.
But now I also wish Dana Carvey had just played Dr. Evil. While Myers playing both roles is part of the joke, and there’s no argument that he’s great in both, seeing Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World play opposite sides in a spy movie also sounds like an amazing movie that I wish I could see.