“Saturday Night Live” legend Mike Myers wasn’t always the totally excellent leading man he is today.
On a recent episode of Vulture’s “Good One” podcast (via EW), Myers explained that when he first joined the prolific late-night sketch show, he was “scared shitless” after seeing the talent of his fellow cast members.
“When I got to ‘Saturday Night Live’ and saw how fucking good these guys were, I was scared shitless. I had an anxiety attack,” Myers said.
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Myers went on to name which castmates he admired most: “Phil Hartman. I mean, Dana Carvey. [Kevin] Nealon, Jan Hooks, who I also worship. You know, it was unbelievable.”
While soaring to international fame on the “SNL” stage, Myers’ iconic Wayne Campbell character first rose to prominence with the renowned Chicago improv troupe Second City.
Recalling one of his debut performances as Wayne Campbell at Second City, Myers said he “came from the audience and it fucking killed, which was unbelievable because I had only been in the show for like two seconds. I mean, it was cheer stomps and whistles. It was a jet taking off. I don’t know what happened, but the audience just went for it and loved it.”
Just two weeks later, Myers remembered being in Chicago and getting “a call from Lorne Michaels. And he said, ‘I understand you do a Wayne character.’”
Despite eventually rising to “Saturday Night Live” stardom, Myers was living in England before joining “SNL” in 1989 and “never watched” the show due to the technical limitations of his “top-loading VCR.”
“‘Saturday Night Live’ was on, but I never watched it because I had one of those top-loading VCRs,” Myers said. “And it was on at exactly the same time as the Toronto Maple Leaf game, so I could only tape one thing. And of course, I watched the Toronto Maple Leafs. So I didn’t watch it for those years.”