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His most recent project,Netflixs 2022 miniseriesThe Pentaverate,is the most acute example of this tendency.
Also, probably no.
He portrays gremlins, grotesques, outsiders, and children with equal levels of pity and empathy.
Some of his most memorable villains are misunderstood victims who just need a hug.
Hes an auteur who paints with flaccid penises and hyperrealistic shit.
To rank the 20 best Mike Myers characters is kind of bizarre.
Its like putting a numerical value on a persons diary entries.
And yet, that fools errand is now my responsibility.
Characters that havent aged well, are one-dimensional, or are completely irredeemable are not on this list.
Trust me when I say I did my best.
20.Ken Scarborough
20.
FromThe Pentaverate
The response toThe Pentaveratewas likely not what anyone hoped.
Guru Pitka was an idea clearly influenced by Myerss interest in New Age spirituality and self-improvement.
But it wasnt funny or relatable.
It was just odd.
His last name, Scarborough, is borrowed from the Toronto suburb Myers grew up in.
Nor is there much in the way of comedic potential to mine.
Also, we see his penis multiple times.
That said, we do see his penis more than once.
19.Lothar of the Hill People
19.
Its a one-note character that makes the list because the Chris Evert sketch was kind of fun.
18.Pat Arnold, the Superfan
18.
Its both keenly observed and totally universal.
But its not a Mike Myers sketch.
Theres no Superfan sketch that ever feels like its about Pat Arnold.
If anyone gets the showcase in these sketches, its Chris Farley as Todd.
So, why is this on the list?
Because the sketch itself became one of the most memorable recurring acts inSNLhistory.
Also, because Im not putting Guru Pitka on here.
17.Goldmember
17.
FromAustin Powers in Goldmember
I dont like Goldmember.
The idea of a Dutch pervert in theAustin Powersuniverse is interesting on its face.
A walking gold erection looking for his next thrill.
But Goldmember barely registers in the 2002 movie that bears his name.
Its not that Myers doesnt do his best to inhabit the character.
Its not even a terrible idea.
The rest is dedicated to various loosely connected sketches featuring Dr. ## 16.Anthony Lansdowne
16.
The Pentaveratemight have too many characters.
Okay, it definitely has too many characters.
He talks too much, too fast, and about mostly nothing.
Hes embarrassing and gross, but kind of sweet.
15.Charlie Mackenzie
15.
It was Myerss second film role and his immediate follow-up toWaynes World.
One can imagine this going to Albert Brooks and Charlie taking on a caustic edge.
Or the one-liners of Shandling deftly defusing the Hitchcockian tension built by director Thomas Schlamme.
14.Rex Smith
14.
Perhaps thats why his funniest work in the show comes from the loathsome characters.
Thats a big reason why the character works so well.
Its just a sketch character, albeit one performed by one of the art forms greatest practitioners.
13.Phillip
13.
I cant say this for certain, but I am fairly sure Myers hates cynicism.
From a modern perspective, it might seem like Myers is making fun of Phillip for being different.
Anyone whos been a kid (everyone) can relate to that.
12.Steve Rubell
12.
It makes use of his greatest gift: finding comedy in pity.
Rubell is pathetic, or at least he believes he is.
Rubell is pitiful in the way Fat Bastard is pitiful.
He so completely cannot stand himself that he fashions himself into a sociopath for protection.
His performances are not subtle.
And it ends with Rubell puking onto a pile of money nothing subtle about that.
Instead, it comes off like the punch line to a sick joke.
11.Tommy Maitland
11.
FromThe Gong Show
The appeal ofThe Gong Showprobably confounds most people younger than about 35.
After all,The Gong Showwas … kind of mean.
It was anarchic and completely reliant on its terribleness.
If an actually talented variety act appeared on the show, it seemed like a betrayal of the premise.
It also worked because Chuck Barris was so appealing in his lackadaisical hosting style.
It was perfect disposable entertainment for the 70s.
So, of course, Myers would make a run at revive it.
So bringing backThe Gong Showin 2017 made all the sense in the world for Myers in his postLove Guruphase.
Eddie Murphy maintained his movie-star bona fides out of makeup in between doing multi-character romps likeThe KlumpsorBowfinger.
Peter Sellers fought against his gift for anonymity and desperately wanted to play the action hero.
But Myers seems perfectly content to disappear.
Tommy Maitland is here less for the work itself and more for Myerss commitment to the magic trick.
10.Kenneth Reese-Evans
10.
Phil Hartman played a clueless Charlton Heston.
Dana Carvey played a version of Mickey Rooney that was bitter about his fading relevance.
He remained the focal point of every sketch he appeared in.
Reese-Evans would appear four times onSNL, twice in season 17 and twice in season 19.
9.Simon
9.
A kid talking about you looking at his bum in the tub feels a tad creepy.
Its often not funny at all.
When you see through the absurdity of the drawings, its actually quite sad.
Its a distillation of so much of Myerss work and is almost self-aware.
All art is a fool trying to understand that which is unknowable.
Simon is so innocent that he doesnt even realize that his father is on a manic-depressive, self-destructive bender.
The laughter comes from how ridiculous his fathers problems become, but even those are infrequent.
And yet, Simon returned five times between 1990 and 1994.
It might be his most poignant and dramatic work yet.
8.Linda Richman
8.
Does anyone remember Paul Baldwin?
Its a one-note affair in which Myers as Baldwin says various things in a New York accent.
The second Coffee Talk is the one that made the impact.
It was another hyperspecific reference that expressed something universal.
Its also Myerss most indelible drag character.
To Myers, a shy Canadian, the real-life Linda must have seemed like an alien.
As is often the case, Myers here seems fascinated by culture, creed, and nationality.
But there might also be a hint of yearning to besomething.
Canadas humdrum plainness is a stereotype, one hes happy to play with inThe Pentaverate.
In Canada, the footage is analog, pan-and-scan, and fuzzy.
America is pristine, crystal-clear HD.
One could read Myerss oeuvre as a hope for the clarity of being part of a tribe.
Theres comedy in specificity, but theres also quite a bit of comfort to be found in belonging.
7.Dieter
7.
The great lost Myers movie isDieter, a.k.a.
Its a parody of the European avant-garde that most American audiences would have no frame of reference for.
That might be why the planned film version of the sketchnever got made.
The script, co-written by Michael McCullers and Jack Handey, is hilarious.
Sadly for the studio, that was the entire joke of the Sprockets sketch.
The film probably would have been an ahead-of-its-time masterpiece if it was made.
6.Fat Bastard
6.
The entire joke is that hes disgusting because of his size.
Hes also Scottish and eats babies for some reason.
Oh, and he coerces Felicity Shagwell into sex in exchange for favors.
5.Stuart Mackenzie
5.
This sort of mirrors what Myers has said about his own family life.
My mom would say … Everyone in the house step forward whos funny.
Not so fast, Michael,he told Charlie Rose back in 1999.
That might be why he so rarely acts without prosthetics or makeup of some sort now.
These tools give him the distance to be funny without the interior judgment that he isnt.
Stuart is loud, brash, and unapologetically Scottish, which is probably pretty exotic to someone from Canada.
And for that, we should be grateful.
4.Austin Powers
4.
He thinks he can and should have sex with every woman when he wakes up from his cryogenic sleep.
The idea of spending even a minute with a real-life Austin Powers would make the most even-keeled person snap.
But thats sort of the point.
Austin is Myers testing his appeal and ability to make even the most irredeemable characters sympathetic.
Its his secret weapon.
The airheaded libertine has a code of ethics and morals.
Hes capable of learning and growing by the end of the movie.
In a sense, hes a parody of masculinity itself.
3.Shrek
3.
After all,we are still talking aboutShrek12 years after the last movie came out.
Whats remarkable about that is Mike Myers wasnt even the first choice to voice the character.
Chris Farley recorded anentire performance as Shrek that had to be replacedwhen he died in 1997.
When Myers came aboard, his initial intention was to play the character in his normal voice.
Once again, hes playing a monster who just wants to be loved.
Its just that inShrek, its no longer subtext.
2.Wayne Campbell
2.
It would take five years for Myers to have another hit film.
The process of playing Wayne seemed to be unpleasant for Myers.
Penelope Spheeris, the director of the first movie, recalls Myers being misanthropic throughout the production.
She toldEntertainment Weeklyin 2008that he was emotionally needy and got more difficult as the shoot went along.
Why do we have to do this so many times?
No one is going to laugh at that!
As a sketch actor on a live variety show, laughs come immediately from the studio audience.
On a film set, theres no audience to respond.
Fortunately, Wayne is in many ways just as needy as any one of us.
His dogged, quixotic pursuit of Cassandra is relatable and endearing.
Waynes an innocent whos uncorrupted by self-hatred.
His emotional longing is pure and untainted.
The greatest Mike Myers character of all time is the one character of his that truly gets to evolve.
TheAustin Powersuniverse is, as I mentioned above, an elongation of the sketch format.
TheAustin Powersmovies are about thefragility of masculinityand our collective inability as men to grow up.
That theme is expressed most fully in Dr. Every movie and TV show now is about inherited psychic trauma, butAustin Powersdid it first.
