Mike Myers is nothing if not a man of a thousand funny ideas. The very latest is The Pentaverate, which just launched on Netflix. But over the course of his five-decade career (he did his first commercial when he was 2), Myers has acted in over 50 projects, from Saturday Night Live to the Austin Powers and Shrek films.
Knowing that everyone has their favorite Myers project — this reporter’s is Wayne’s World — we thought we’d ask the cast of The Pentaverate for theirs. Here’s what Keegan-Michael Key, Debi Mazar and more had to say...
Lydia West, who plays Canadian TV camerawoman Reilly: My favorite has to be Wayne's World. I actually only watched it about five years ago. Watching it in my 20s opened so many doors to so much dark humor that I wouldn't have understood growing up.
That being said, I did grow up with Shrek, too, so Shrek also has a place in my heart. And he’s Scottish!
Debi Mazar, who plays Patty: You know, I love [Saturday Night Live recurring sketch] “Coffee Talk,” obviously, because he was hysterical, but I have to say, when I saw Bohemian Rhapsody, I was like, “Wait a minute, that's Mike Myers?” Same with Inglourious Basterds. I didn't recognize him! He’s just so good in dramas. He has such an attention to detail and, as you can see in The Pentaverate, he transforms.
My husband loves comedy, and my children, who are now older teenagers, love Mike Myers, so we love Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. But for me, being an actor, I love seeing him in drama. It's so fun and unexpected.
Keegan-Michael Key, who plays Dr. Hobart Clark: I think my favorite Mike Myers project would be the first Austin Powers film, because of the way he embraced a genre that he clearly loves. He lampooned it in such a specific way that we had never seen anything like that before. His mind is so exacting about the things that he wants to pinpoint.
[When we were making The Pentaverate, I was] having conversations with him, and one of the interesting things was that he said, “If you have all these henchmen, and you have this enormous evil organization, there must be a cafeteria. There must be an evil soup of the day.” I was like, “That's brilliant.” Like, that was the thing that he latched onto? Is there a benefits plan? Do these guys have dental? For a mind to work that way, I think we're all blessed. It’s a treasure that he thinks of things that way.
Richard McCabe, who plays Higgins: Austin Powers, absolutely. It’s a love letter to being British, and it's a love letter to London. I had no idea until I was chatting with Mike, you know, about his background. His family is from Liverpool, so while he’s Canadian, a great part of his heart is in England.
Maria Menounos, who plays Maria Menounos: It's hard to pick! I mean, Wayne's World? Austin Powers? I don't know. They're all amazing. I've had so many laughs throughout the years and re-laughs and re-laughs over all of them. Even Bohemian Rhapsody! He was friggin’ brilliant. In everything he does, he’s just top notch.
