Thanks to their iconic “Saturday Night Live” duo, Wayne and Garth, fans can’t help but think that comedians Mike Myers and Dana Carvey have always been great buds.
But, as Carvey discussed in a recent interview, the two had actually been estranged for years after Carvey accused Myers of stealing the Dr. Evil character featured in the "Austin Powers" movies from him.
Carvey, and friend David Spade – cohosts of the hilariously dishy podcast, “Fly on the Wall” – recently gave an update on the story of Carvey and Myers’ checkered friendship.
Not only is such an accusation of joke stealing the highest crime a comedian could commit, but Dr. Evil went on to become nearly as iconic as Wayne and Garth. The hilarious supervillain just popped up again in a recent Super Bowl commercial.
As Yahoo Entertainment reported, Carvey first dug up the dirt when talking with Howard Stern in 2016. He claimed that he originated Dr. Evil as an impression of “Saturday Night Live” executive producer Lorne Michaels, way back when Carvey and Myers were stars on the legendary late night show in the late ‘80s into the early ‘90s.
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Then in 2019, with a little time passed, the wound still seemed a raw when Carvey admitted to the shock jock that, “we never really talked about it.”
For Carvey, the impersonation seemed like a backstage inside joke that he wouldn’t dare develop further. "I just thought, well I can't do this publicly,” he said, “‘cause I'm going to be biting Lorne Michaels, the hand that fed me."
If true, apparently Myers wasn’t as nervous to take the character further, for three massively successful "Austin Powers" movies in fact.
Despite any lingering hard feelings, the pair couldn’t say no to two of the biggest offers an actor could get. They reprised their beloved basement-dwelling, teenage goofballs, Wayne and Garth, for a spot on the Oscars in 2019. But it was a Super Bowl commercial for Uber Eats in 2021 that finally had the two old pals fully on friendly terms.
"We got closer during that whole process, yeah, definitely," Carvey said, "and started talking more. We've become very, very close friends. And we just have too much history. We have an unbelievable amount of stuff in common."
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Admittedly, even back during that 2016 chat, Carvey seemed like the whole Dr. Evil situation wasn’t a friendship-killing deal.
"But it's a long time ago,” Carvey concluded,” and look, it's a really funny affectation because it's so specific…. I'm in therapy now…when you look back at it, you get a better perspective."
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