Dana Carvey Explained His Complicated Relationship With Mike Myers

Recalling the fateful moment he met Myers, Carvey told Jimmy Fallon in 2021, “I was fortunate enough, freakishly fortunate, to get on Saturday Night Live, and I was there for a couple of seasons, I guess. Then our latest new cast member appeared, and it was Mike Myers. And I liked him right away.” It was the start of a beautiful partnership. Back then, there was no hint of the feud that would turn their bond sour.

“I think we just met around town in the maelstrom of SNL — just the most intense thing you could ever experience,” Carvey added. And it was on that career-defining show that he and Myers teamed up for the Wayne’s World sketches. They made their characters Wayne and Garth so popular that they ultimately got their own movie.

And that first Wayne’s World movie, released in 1992, was a big hit. Made for only $20 million, it brought in a colossal $180 million at the box office. For a time, you could barely escape a conversation without hearing a “Not!” “Schwing!” or “Excellent!” But then not long afterward, things started to get, well, rather less than excellent.

In February 1993 — so, less than a year after Wayne’s World’s release — Entertainment Weekly claimed, “Success may be spoiling the Dana Carvey-Mike Meyers partnership.” Why? Well, apparently “The Saturday Night Live duo seem unable to agree on a script or a director for the sequel to [Wayne’s World].” And that indecision threatened to delay the movie entirely.

Apparently, the two stars were bickering over the spotlight. As anonymous insiders claimed to the magazine, Myers had written a sequel script that “barely included” Carvey’s character. Carvey supposedly had a cut-throat streak, too, as he was called the sort of person who “wanted to be the only funny guy.” The folks around the two comedians denied this, though.

Paramount exec John Goldwyn claimed all was well behind the scenes, saying, “This is gossip and innuendo. Mike and Dana have been a collaborative team. This creative spirit is continuing.” And the comedians’ manager claimed that Myers’ script simply “left holes” for Carvey to write his own scenes. Nope, Garth hadn’t been left out completely.

But gossip does go a long way in Hollywood. And Entertainment Weekly also wrote, “Carvey recently vented his frustrations with Myers in a high-level meeting… He allegedly joked that when he recently phoned Myers at his home, an assistant coldly asked, ‘And what is this regarding?’” Had the two already fallen out? The studio execs probably hoped not, as a lot was on the line.

There was a lot of money involved in the Wayne’s World sequel — far more than had been put into the making of the original. Both Carvey and Myers had six-figure paychecks for the first movie, but they stood to make millions for the sequel. Yet if the rumors were to be believed, Myers was losing goodwill and throwing it all away.

One anonymous agent told Entertainment Weekly, “Doesn’t [Myers] realize that 20 years from now, he’ll be running around a state fair in a black wig, yelling, ‘Hey, I used to be Wayne!?’” Ouch. But Marc Gurvitz, Myers’ manager, claimed, “With Mike, it’s all about the work. He’s a perfectionist. He’s very detail-oriented and fights for what he believes in.”

Another person involved in this madness was the director of Wayne’s World, Penelope Spheeris. She told the magazine that she had no interest in coming back for a sequel because “making a movie doesn’t have to involve that much strife.” Apparently, Myers had rubbed her up the wrong way as well.

Spheeris let rip on Myers in a 2008 interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying that the star was “emotionally needy and got more difficult as the shoot went along.” Allegedly, he had once stomped off the Wayne’s World set because he had been given the wrong spread for his bagel.

But there was an explanation for this behavior: Myers’ dad was dying. Eric Myers actually passed away just before the first test screening of Wayne’s World. And according to the comedian’s friends, it took him a long time to get over the fact that his dad didn’t watch the movie.

Spheeris wasn’t forgiving, though. “I honestly root against him,” she said of Myers. “Maybe he could open, like, a children’s hospital to clean up his rep. He’s got to do something pretty quick.” No wonder Myers felt the need to bite back. He even mentioned how he felt about Carvey.

Myers’ statement was rather saccharine, but it did suggest the feud with his former buddy was over. “I’m incredibly grateful for Penelope Spheeris’ contributions on Wayne’s World,” he said via his publicist. “Some 17 years later, the movie is still a bright highlight in my professional career. I’m very proud of the work Dana Carvey and I did. It was wonderful to be able to work with Dana again on the MTV Movie Awards this year. He’s a hilarious, talented, and great guy. I’ve missed him.”

Comedy fans may have been missing Carvey, too. Although Wayne’s World had massively increased his profile, his career hadn’t exactly flourished in the years since. Part of that was down to health issues. Back in 1998, he’d had a double bypass surgery that had gone so wrong he’d taken his doctor to court.

Another reason was simply that Carvey wanted to be a good dad to his kids. He had two sons with his wife, Paula Zwagerman, and they ultimately took priority over his comedy career. Carvey actually refused roles in Madagascar and Ratatouille because he just didn’t have the time to work.

Then, in 2013, there was a Wayne’s World reunion panel, and The Hollywood Reporter claimed that the movie’s stars and director were setting out to “bury the hatchet after 20 years.” That certainly seemed to be the case for Spheeris, who told the publication, “We’re all getting too old to be pissed. Wayne’s World has such a beautiful, uplifting spirit about it. Why should there be a dark cloud?”

The panel, which also included SNL’s Lorne Michaels, did pass without any drama. And Myers even opened up about the difficulties he’d experienced during the shoot. “My dad was dying during the making of [Wayne’s World],” he said. “The calls were either horrible news or the best news in the world. To be honest with you, I don’t remember that year at all.” But what did Carvey have to say?

Well, it was only years later, in 2019, that Carvey fully told his side of the story. He spoke to Howard Stern about the ins and outs of his relationship with his former comedy buddy. And, oddly enough, one sticking point may have been Myers’ Austin Powers character Dr. Evil.

Stern said to Carvey, “I heard, maybe you don’t want to get into this, that Mike’s impression of Lorne [Michaels] was based on your impression of Lorne. And he took it and used it as Dr. Evil, and it bugged you a little bit, right?” Carvey was perfectly happy to get into it, though.

Carvey said, “We never really talked about it. I talked about it to [my] therapist, and I basically let it go.” Stern pressed further, saying that it had been Carvey who had “[come] up with the pinky thing” Dr. Evil does with his fingers. Carvey confirmed, “The pinky thing I did do, yes.”

And Myers doesn’t deny the origin of the Dr. Evil character. In 2017 he told The Hollywood Reporter, “The Dr. Evil voice is a little bit Lorne Michaels, there are no two ways about it, but there is a lot more Donald Pleasence in there than Lorne. Lorne has a pinky thing, but he doesn’t do it anymore.” Still, Stern tried to stir up the hornet’s nest yet again.

The shock jock said to Carvey, “I know you see things musically, so, if a guy writes a song, that’s his baby, yeah? When you come up with an impression, it’s kind of your baby, right? And so when you go to the premiere of a movie and you’re rooting for Mike because he’s your buddy and you’ve known him all these years, and you see Dr. Evil, it’s like, ‘Wait a minute! That’s the song I wrote.’”

Carvey answered, “But you know what, I did it backstage. I just thought, well, I can’t do this publicly because I’m gonna be biting Lorne Michaels — the hand that fed me. But at the end of the day, I have to say that Mike… the construct of Austin Powers was brilliant.”

Carvey also revealed that he was so annoyed about losing scenes in Wayne’s World that he just upped and left. He told Stern, “Mike was writing it, and I was putting stuff in, you know, but then I would see that the stuff wasn’t in anymore… I actually quit the movie.”

As soon as the producers started getting involved, Carvey told them there really wasn’t any way he was coming back without a bigger role in the film. And in the end, he got it. Carvey remembered to Stern, “I was respectful. I was still being the sidekick and, respectfully, just wove a part for me in the movie.”

All in all, though, Carvey seemed to have forgiven his former co-star. “I was very lucky to intersect with Mike Myers,” he told Stern. To this, the host replied, “So did you pick up the phone and call him and say, ‘Hey, you know I’ve been harboring a resentment, and I am now kind of over it. I just want you to know that?’” And Carvey answered, “I’d like to do it on, you know, national radio.”

If Carvey had any doubts about opening up, then the positive response to the interview should have given him peace of mind. After the video was posted on YouTube, fans praised the star, with one commenter writing, “Amazing humility from Dana Carvey. I always knew Dr. Evil was Lorne Michaels but didn’t know this story behind it.” Another said, “Dana is just pure class. All the way.”

Folks mused on what could have been, though. “If Mike Myers would have simply called Dana and asked if he could use his impression for Dr. Evil, it probably wouldn’t have been an issue,” one commenter pondered. Someone even suggested that Carvey should have played Dr. Evil instead.

And the news that Carvey and Myers are no longer feuding raises one big question: will there be a Wayne’s World 3? Well, Myers is up for a return to the franchise, and he has been for a while. That’s what he told GQ back in 2014.

After being asked, “Are you prepared to go back to, say, Wayne’s World or Austin Powers if you decide you want to?” Myers left fans with no doubts as to where he stood. “That’s an interesting question. The quick answer is yes. I’m prepared to do anything, you know, if it’s good — if it feels like it’s going to be thrilling.”

As it turned out, Wayne and Garth did actually get back together! But it wasn’t actually for Wayne’s World 3. In February 2021 Myers and Carvey appeared as their characters for a Super Bowl advert to promote Uber Eats. It was a real blast from the past.

The ad had the same SNL humor everyone loved Myers and Carvey for. The pair announced, “And we’re back! 2020 was a great year… NOT!” And because the term “Super Bowl” is actually a trademark, Wayne added, “We just wanted to say that we’ll see you soon for the game, which for legal reasons cannot be named.”

Just before the Super Bowl, though, Myers and Carvey went on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote their new reunion. And they mentioned something only diehard SNL fans would ever have worked out. Basically, Wayne’s World should never have become popular. It was all to do with the staging.

The pair remembered that their Wayne’s World sketches were filmed at the rear of the studio — traditionally bad luck for SNL performers. Myers remembered it as “the dead corner that doesn’t have an audience looking at you at all. They have to watch it on the monitor, and you’re just like, ‘Is anybody watching?’ You feel like you’re sending it out into space or something.”

If that wasn’t bad enough, Wayne’s World originally had a terrible slot in the show. Carvey said, “The first very time we went on, we were the last sketch.” That, Fallon recollected, was “where sketches go to die.” So, Carvey added, he and Myers spent all their time “trying to be defiant,” and eventually “it caught on.”

Best of all, though? During the interview, there seemed to be absolutely no animosity between Myers and Carvey. Myers said of the Super Bowl ad, “It was fun to do. I had a blast doing it with Dana, and we just, they had to sort of get a blowtorch and a crowbar to get us to go. ‘Okay, it’s done now. Go home.’”

Carvey joined in by saying, “Mike and I would riff. We’re not always around comedians — especially during the pandemic. And it’s so much fun to be around someone who sparks to whatever you’re doing.” You can tell just by looking at the ad that the comedy chemistry is still there.

So things are looking, dare we say it, excellent for Wayne’s World fans. The two stars have buried the hatchet and even seem to be friends again. Could we finally get that third movie?! Well, Myers is approaching 60, and Carvey is already well on his way to 70. Perhaps they’re just too old for it these days… NOT! But seriously, if another movie isn’t on the horizon, then surely the pair will at least give fans another SNL appearance sometime soon. They kind of owe their success to the show — as do many of these other stars, for that matter. Warning: what these celebrities looked like on their first SNL sketch may make you feel old.

Adam Sandler’s barely even noticeable in his very first SNL sketch. He popped up briefly in a non-speaking role alongside Kevin Bacon in one of Rob Schneider’s “Richmeister” sketches, and that was more or less that. But as we all know, he rose from there to become a big star of SNL and then huge Hollywood comedies.

Bill Hader became part of the SNL cast in 2005, but unfortunately, he found life on the show pretty difficult. The pressure of doing live comedy ended up giving him panic attacks and anxiety, which led him to at least partially quit in 2013. He did come back for several cameos after that, however.

Kenan Thompson holds the record for the longest-serving cast member of SNL, and chances are he won’t be passing it along to anyone else for a while. He started on the show in 2003 and basically just loved it so much he decided to stay for over 17 years. The remarkably unchanged comedian told Chance the Rapper in 2021, “It never gets old because it’s sketch comedy, and it changes every week.”

Yep, none other than Iron Man himself was on SNL once upon a time. When he was just 20 years old he joined the show for its 1985-’86 season but left right after that. His sketch is more or less forgotten about now, but it’s safe to say he found success with other things.

You might know Dan Akyroyd best for Ghostbusters, but before that, he was an SNL star. In fact, it was SNL that got him into a position where he could make hit movies. Though he left the show in 1979, he did multiple guest appearances throughout the ’90s and ’00s. Plus, he was the host for the season 28 finale in 2003. Ten years after that, he made a surprising but fan-pleasing cameo in a 2013 Justin Timberlake opening monolog.

Maya Rudolph always remembered her first time on SNL. She told the website BlackBook in 2009, “The first show I ever did, I played Ananda Lewis, who, at the time, was a VJ on MTV. I remember I was wearing a leather bikini and a trench coat — which was great when my grandma and I got to talk about it.”

Bob Moynihan told the Television Critics’ Association in 2017, “The day you get SNL you start worrying about your exit from SNL; it was always on my mind. It was 13 years of getting it, and then, one day you get it and then you start thinking ‘This is my life’s dream, what am I going to do after this?’” But he did indeed do plenty of things afterward.

Amy Poehler used her time on SNL to springboard herself into what turned out to be an extremely critically acclaimed sitcom: Parks and Recreation. After that, she and her frequent co-star Tina Fey went back on the show to play Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton — and both of them continue to this day to be massive SNL success stories.

When Tina Fey became head writer on SNL back in 1999, she was the first-ever woman to hold the job. After that, she began hosting the Weekend Update segments alongside Jimmy Fallon and then Amy Poehler. These days she’s considered one of the greatest cast members in Saturday Night Live history.

After five years on SNL, Nasim Pedrad left to do another Lorne Michaels show, Mulaney. It was all uphill from there. Since her departure in 2014, she’s been in multiple high-profile productions, including New Girl and — ironically considering her role in the “Real Housewives of Disney” SNL bit — the live-action version of Aladdin.

Tim Meadows was a cast member from 1991 to 2000, and it not only changed his career but also landed him some lifelong buddies. He told website The Daily Beast in 2019, “There was a camaraderie, and then once we all got to know each other after two or three seasons, we hung out with each other all the time outside of the shows and really did become best friends — and we’re still friends now.”

The multi-talented Fred Armisen did a whopping eleven seasons of SNL before leaving in 2013 to work on his show Portlandia. He couldn’t stay away from Saturday Night Live for all that long, though. He’s returned for multiple cameos since his exit, the most recent one being in October 2021.

Vanessa Bayer’s time on SNL massively increased her profile and even netted her an Emmy nomination in 2017 — just as she was just about to depart the show. She told The Hollywood Reporter that year, “I’m really looking forward to exploring new projects and hopefully getting some sleep?” Thankfully, it looks like she achieved both of those things pretty well!

Eddie Murphy is credited with saving SNL when it was starting to flop in the 1980s. Not only did he improve the fortunes of the show, but he also made himself a global megastar to boot. He came back to host the show in 2019 — an episode widely hailed as a comeback — and gained SNL its highest ratings in years.

The man who became Mr. Subliminal left Saturday Night Live under awkward circumstances, to say the least. He said on The Daily Beast’s The Last Laugh podcast in 2019, “I think the cast had gotten so big, and they were looking to clean house… I was essentially kind of forced out. I knew they probably wouldn’t bring me back if I wanted to.” His last cameo appearance was back in 2001.

Cecily Strong has actually been on Saturday Night Live since 2012, believe it or not. And in that time audiences have watched her evolve as a comedian. She performed her much-talked-about, incredibly personal “Goober the Clown” Weekend Update in November 2021, and she said later it was her first and only sketch to not be given any notes.

Seth Meyers was a head writer for SNL, before eventually becoming the third longest-running cast member in the history of the show. And after that, of course, he replaced Jimmy Fallon as the host of Late Night. Unsurprisingly, he’s returned several times to the show that made his name, and he hosted it in October 2018.

Sarah Silverman did one season of SNL before being let go — and by fax machine, no less. But she took the failure well and got to work honing her comedy skills, eventually becoming a huge star. In 2014, 20 years after her firing, she returned to SNL — this time as host.

After the show had been running for a good few decades, the media took SNL to task for not hiring more Black women. So, the producers got Leslie Jones on board, and she ended up doing five seasons in all — 2014 through to 2019. Now that she’s left the show she says she doesn’t miss it. But who knows, she might be back for a cameo one day?

Bridesmaids star Kristen Wiig left Saturday Night Live in 2012, but she found there were both upsides and downsides to leaving. She missed it, she told The Guardian newspaper in 2013, but she added, “Having been gone now for a while, I do have more time, I’m getting a little more sleep, and I see daylight more for sure!” She did come back to host in 2020, though — not once, but twice.

Chris Rock, one of SNL’s most well-known alumni from the ’90s, is now a bona fide movie star, but that hasn’t stopped him from returning to the show. He’s done a number of cameos since he left in 1993, the most recent one being in October 2021. And chances are Rock fans will see plenty more in the future.

Will Ferrell became an absolutely huge name in comedy thanks to SNL. He joined the show in 1995, left in 2002, and racked up a huge amount of hit sketches in between those times. His and Chris Kattan’s Doug and Steve Butabi characters even got their own movie. And Ferrell’s also in that legendary group of people who have hosted the show five times.

Aidy Bryant has been on Saturday Night Live since 2012, and over the years audiences have seen her get more and more acclaim for her work. In 2021 she received two nominations for her comedy work, one for SNL and one for her show Shrill. That definitely highlighted her as a name on the rise.

Will Forte isn’t one of the most famous SNL cast members when compared to, say, a Will Ferrell or a Jimmy Fallon. But he’s arguably one of the most beloved ones. Although he left the show in 2010 he’s shown up for cameos alongside his fellow cast members. He also hosted come January 2022.

Tracy Morgan is another person who’ll forever be associated with Saturday Night Live, even though he stopped being a cast member long ago. He’s cameoed and hosted frequently since leaving the show in 2003, despite having a serious road accident in 2014 which he was lucky to survive. You’ll have seen him back on the show in November 2021.

The smash-hit show Ted Lasso may never have happened if Jason Sudeikis hadn’t shot to fame with Saturday Night Live first. And hey, he had a mustache right back in his first episodes as well! He did, however, appear clean-shaven when he hosted the show for the first-ever time in October 2021.

Ben Stiller started on SNL in 1989, but after a mere six episodes, he was gone. He went on to be a superstar of course, but why’d he leave? He explained to Howard Stern in 2018 that he simply wasn’t good at performing live and so decided to quit. That same year, though, Lorne Michaels asked him back to play Michael Cohen.

Andy Samberg’s changed a lot since the early days. When he first auditioned for Saturday Night Live, he told Howard Stern in 2016, he was so nervous he actually full-on vomited as soon as he got backstage. But he got the job anyway, and now he’s a confident, highly-acclaimed comedian.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus doesn’t necessarily have good memories of her time on Saturday Night Live, which was back in the ’80s. She told Stephen Colbert in 2019 that while she was there, “I was unbelievably naive, and I didn’t really understand how the dynamics of the place worked. It was very sexist, very sexist.”

Before he got the Late Night gig, Jimmy Fallon was a cast member on Saturday Night Live. It was a dream job for him because he’d been obsessed with the show for years, and he ended up staying from 1998 to 2004. If you’ve been watching TV for long enough, you pretty much saw Fallon grow up before your eyes.

Bill Murray is a legend of Saturday Night Live now, but the early days weren’t always easy. He famously feuded with Chevy Chase as the show and its performers rose from height to height in the ’70s. At one point, the two even got into a physical fight backstage. But they’re apparently friends these days.

Kate McKinnon is the longest-serving woman performer on Saturday Night Live to date, having been there since 2012. In that time, she’s picked up award after award for her work on the show. And don’t expect her to leave anytime soon because she clearly loves it. Plus, she’s said she finds the live comedy good for her mental health.

Norm MacDonald was a hit on SNL throughout the ’90s, but in 1998 he was suddenly and unexpectedly fired. It’s never been confirmed why, but plenty think it might have been because of his barrage of O.J. Simpson jokes. Whatever happened, he did return for cameos and for SNL’s 40th-anniversary episode.

Pete Davidson’s time on SNL has been a wild ride. He’s been there since 2014, but in 2020 he told Charlamagne Tha God in an interview, “I personally think I should be done with that show because they make fun of me on it… I have a weird feeling in that building where I don’t know whose team they’re playing for really. If I’m the joke or I’m in on the joke.” But for now, he’s still a cast member.

Molly Shannon’s most famous SNL character, Mary Katherine Gallagher, came from a place of deep tragedy. When Shannon was only four years old, three members of her family were killed in the same car crash, and she turned to comedy to cope. Now, years after her time as a Saturday Night Live star, she considers that she’s finally found peace.

David Spade made his name with SNL, performing on the show from 1990 to 1996. And even now it’s a big part of his life and career. He became good friends with a lot of his castmates, including Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. And in 2022 there came an announcement that Spade and Dana Carvey were starting a Saturday Night Live podcast together.

Short only ever did one season of SNL, because it caused him so much anxiety. He told Seth Meyers — another SNL alum — in 2020, “It was so stressful for me every week. I treated it like final exams. I think if I had known I was going to be there for five weeks I would have taken it easy.” Hosting seemed to more his game, because he did it three times.

Chevy Chase’s tenure on SNL went down in television history for all the wrong reasons. His behavior was so extraordinarily bad, the story goes, that Lorne Michael not only fired him but forbade him from ever coming back. That doesn’t seem to have stuck though, since he’s made guest appearances in more recent episodes. Water seems to be under the bridge! It’s a shame the same can’t be said for some of the show’s other awkward moments. Just thinking about these makes us cringe.