Pop Culture Retrospective # 28 - Wayne's World - one of the highest grossing movies based off of an SNL skit!

1992 was a magnificent year for moviegoers.  Some of the most well-known, well-received and beloved films of the 1990s came out that year including but not limited to:  Lady Bugs (starring my sister’s junior age crush, Jonathan Brandis), Beethoven, Mighty Ducks, Aladdin, The Bodyguard (one of my sister’s first CDs), 3 Ninjas (I was obsessed with this movie), A League of Their Own, Sister Act, Radio Flyer (which I am still emotionally trying to recover from) and Aladdin. In the summer of 1992 my sister and I spent a few weeks staying with our grandparents and they took us to see Sister Act and A League of Their Own at the theatre and we loved both films. 1992 also marked the release of one of me and my sister’s all time favorite and cult classic films, Wayne’s World.  As a matter of fact, for many years, my sister had a Wayne’s World keychain that she purchased at Claire’s Boutique (I believe) and it said “Way” on one side and “No Way” on the other.  I believe I also attempted to rock the black Chuck Taylors, torn jeans, band shirt and plaid shirt.  I definitely did not pull that off as well as Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, but it was worth a shot.

With that being said, on today’s show we will be discussing the synopsis, cast and some behind the scenes details of one of the highest  grossing films based off of an SNL skit going back to 1980 when the first one was released, the Blues Brothers.  So grab your heavy metal band t-shirt, your cassingle of Bohemian Rhapsody and your way/no way keychain, here we go!

Hello and thank you so very much for tuning in to the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast, a show inspired by, and in memory of, my big sister Rebecca and her love for all things pop-culture, especially the people, places and things of the 80s, 90s and early 00s.  My name is Amy Lewis and I am your captain aboard this pop culture time machine.  You are tuning in to Episode # 28 - Wayne’s World, a true cult-classic film that has incredible rewatchability almost 30 years after it was released.  

On February 14th of 1992 there were several places you could have taken your date on Valentine’s Day….perhaps that could have been to a nice restaurant like the Sizzler for a nice steak or for the health conscious, the salad bar, or maybe you went out for an adult beverage at TGI Fridays or maybe, you made an EXCELLENT choice to see Wayne’s World, sorry had to say that like Wayne.  If you did make that EXCELLENT choice I’m sure you thoroughly enjoyed the movie because you were not distracted by people using their cell phones..then again, a beeper could have gone off.  Anyways...here is a synopsis of the film (spoiler alert) from Roger Ebert, one of the most well-respected movie critics of our time.  In the Chicago-Sun Times he said quote:  The movie is inspired by "Saturday Night Live's" long-running parody of local access cable TV. "Wayne's World" originates from the paneled basement room of its host, Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers), who looks to be in his late 20s but still lives at home with his parents in Aurora. Wayne's sidekick is Garth Algar (Dana Carvey), looking uncannily like Arte Johnson and operating with the brain power of a clever 7-year-old. The two of them interview strange guests, drool over posters of their favorite models and use the word "excellent" a whole lot.  Onto this basic situation, director Penelope Spheeris and writers Myers, Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner have grafted a plot of overwhelming predictability: An ad executive (Rob Lowe) spots their show, and sees it as the ideal vehicle for a client (Brian Doyle-Murray) who owns a chain of video arcades. Wayne and Garth don't want to sell out for the big bucks (individual cashier's checks for $5,000), but get outsmarted. And meanwhile Wayne falls in love with a foxy Chinese chick (Tia Carrere) who's the lead singer in a heavy metal band. Of course Lowe tries to win her away from him, which leads up to the final emotional showdown, etc., etc.

Wayne’s World ran for 95 minutes,  and is rated PG-13.  As Ebert mentioned, Wayne’s World was based off of a skit of the same name that became incredibly popular on Saturday Night Live.  The bit first appeared on the show in 1989, it was the last sketch of the night.  Audiences loved the skit and it went on to becoming a popular and recurring sketch on the show.  Wayne Campell is played by Mike Myers.  He was born on May 25th, 1963 in Scarborough, CA. His father was an office supervisor and his mom was a veteran of the Royal Air Force.  He has two older brothers, Paul and Peter. Myers was actually a child star, coincidentally he once starred in a commercial with Gilda Radner who was also a comedic genius who was on SNL.  He got his start in comedy with Second City Canada. He went on to star on SNL from 1989 to 1995. In addition to playing the character of Wayne, some of Myer’s popular skits include:  Coffee Talk with Linda Richmond, Sprockets, and Philip the hyperactive child who wears a helmet.  Wayne’s best friend and other main character in the film is Garth Algar who is played by Dana Carvey.  Carvey was born on June 2, 1955 in Missoula, MT.  He is one of five children. His mother, Billie was a schoolteacher and his dad, Bud was a High School Business Teacher. As a child and teenager, he played the drums and ran cross country.  Carvey attended college for Broadcast Communications.  He got into acting more heavily in the 1980s where he had a number of television and film roles.  He joined the cast of SNL in 1986 and remained a favorite until his departure in 1993.  In addition to Garth, some of his other well-known characters on SNL included:  Church Lady (based off of the women in his church growing up), Hanz from Hanz and Franz, Ross Perot and George H.W. Bush.  

Tia Carrere played the role of Cassandra Wong, a musician and Wayne’s love interest in the film.  Carrere was born on January 2nd, 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii.   She is the daughter of Audrey Lee Janario who was a computer supervisor and Alexander Janairo who was a banker. She is of Spanish, Filipino and Chinese heritage. She first started acting when she was a teenager, she once auditioned for Star Search but sadly was eliminated. She got her first big break on General Hospital.  

Rob Lowe played the role of Benjamin Kane plays the role of an ad-executive in the film.  Rob Lowe was born on March 17, 1964 in Charlottesville, VA to parents Barbara Lynn who was a school teacher and Charles who was a lawyer.  Apparently Lowe is actually deaf in his right ear as a result of a virus he had as an infant.  Like Carrere, Lowe started acting as a teeanger.  In his early 20s, Lowe’s hair started to go gray and he has been dying it ever since.  He rose to fame in the 1980s due to being a part of the brat pack (young group of actors who starred in a lot of films) including Emelio Estevez, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, etc.  

Other members of the cast who we will just touch on briefly include:  Lara Flynn Boyle who played Stacy, Wayne’s ex-girlfriend, Chris Farley played a security guard, Ed O’Neil played Glen, the manager of a coffee/donut shop that Wayne and Garth frequented, Lee Tergenson played Terry, he helps with the show, Brian Doyle Murray plays Noah Vanderhoff who owns the chain of arcades that sponsors the Wayne’s World Show, Meatloaf plays a security guard named Tiny and Kurt Fuller plays Russell Finley, who is a producer on a lot of Benjamins projects.  

Now that you have a synopsis of the film in case it’s been a while since you’ve seen it or if you haven’t seen it at all, let’s get to some behind the scenes information.  Most of what I will be describing though will be best understood and appreciated if you have already seen the movie.  Here we go!

First of all, as I mentioned earlier in the show, Wayne’s World was an incredibly popular film based off of an SNL skit.  It is the only SNL movie to gross over 100 million dollars other than the Blues Brothers. The cast and crew had just over a month to film the movie and had a budget of about 20 million dollars.  I’m guessing Myers and Carvey got more than just 5,000 dollars to do the movie. Get it?  Watch the movie and you’ll know what I’m talking about.  And to all of you who know what I am referring to, thanks for understanding and really getting me!   

The character of Wayne Campbell was developed when Mike Myers was a young man...at one point early in his career he starred on a show called It’s Only Rock and Roll which was on CBC variety.  Originally, the skit was called “Wayne’s Power Minute.”  He based the character off of older kids he thought were cooler than him that he often saw at parties.  When he got the role on SNL, he brought the character with him and tweaked it a bit.  He added the element of Wayne hosting a show on a local cable access channel because Myers apparently found these channels amusing whenever he visited the US and watched TV.  

Garth’s character is based off of Dana Carvey’s real life brother, Brad. Growing up, Brad was very mechanically inclined and could fix pretty much anything.  Whenever Carvey’s parents praised Brad for doing something helpful or fixing something, he’d crack a tight smile and would quietly say- “Thanks.”  Apparently, Carvey sort of regretted utilizing the tight, awkward smile and overbite that his brother was notorious for, in his Garth character.  Sounds like it caused a lot of jaw pain if he had to do it for extended periods of time.  

The infamous gun rack scene, where Stacy tries to win Wayne back by purchasing him a gun rack was actually based on real life.  Mike Myers was once in a relationship with a woman and they broke up, apparently it was because he was too into and busy with comedy.  She attempted to win him back by purchasing him a gun rack, she thought it was a pretty hilarious gesture, but he didn’t agree.  They did not end up getting back together.  I was not able to find information about whether or not the scene where Stacy hits a car while being distracted saying hi to Wayne was based on real life.  It would be awesome if it was though! 

There is a famous scene in the movie where Wayne and his friends are driving to the heavy metal club that they frequent...during the car ride, they sing along to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.  Originally, the movie studio wanted them to use a Guns and Rose’s song.  Mike Myers allegedly threatened to quit if they didn’t use the Queen song.  Thankfully, Myers won this argument.  I can’t imagine that song not being used and I think the only reason why I am familiar with the song in the first place is because of Wayne’s World.  Dana Carvey apparently didn’t know the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody and didn’t learn them in time for filming, so when that infamous scene was filmed and he is lip-syncing terribly, he is not pretending.  I think it’s a very endearing moment of the Garth character when they cut to him not singing along appropriately but apparently he was very upset that the clip was used in the film.  Freddie Mercury did approve of the song being used in the film but he sadly passed away before the film was released in theatres.  Thankfully, Mike Myers had sent him some clips as they were filming.  With the song being featured in the film, it reached more popularity than when it was originally released.  As a matter of fact, the song shot to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100  Both Myers and Carvey allegedly dealt with neck pain as a result of all of the head banging they did, especially during the infamous Bohemian Rhapsody scene.  Nonetheless, this scene was not only an homage to Queen, but also to Myer’s adolescence as he and his friends used to jam out to the classic song while they were driving around the mean streets of Ontario.  

Wayne’s World is set in of Aurora, IL which is an actual city outside of Chicago, about 45 minutes or so away.  There weren’t many, if any, scenes actually filmed in Aurora, IL but Myers somehow heard of the city and liked how it sounded.  Originally when the film was written, it was set in Scarborough, Ontario.  Most of it was filmed in the Los Angeles area but apparently some of the shots used in the scene where Wayne, Garth and their friends are lip-syncing to Bohemian Rhapsody were shot in various locations in the greater Chicagoland area.  

One spot that Wayne and Garth frequent in the movie is a place called the Gasworks Bar.  It is actually based off of a real night club which was in Toronto, CA.  Wayne describes it as: “an excellent heavy metal bar! And always a babe fest.”  

As I mentioned a bit earlier, Chris Farley starred in Wayne’s World, he played a security guard at the Alice Cooper concert that W & G go to.  It was his first film role and it was definitely memorable as he uses a lot of deliberate and impassioned hand gestures during his conversation with Wayne and Garth where he tells them about where a music executive is headed after a concert.  He’s only in the movie for about a minute or so but his short spot was certainly unforgettable.  

Speaking of Alice Cooper, he also had a short, but memorable role in the film.  In case you have forgotten, in the concert scene, Wayne and Garth get a chance to go backstage to do a meet and greet with the band and Cooper goes off on a long winded tangent about the origins of Milwaukee, WI where the concert was set. Allegedly, Cooper didn’t know he was going to be acting in the film, he thought he would just be singing.  And the tangent he goes off on isn’t too far fetched as Cooper is a huge history buff.   

Since Wayne’s World was such a popular movie, it of course spawned some merchandise and inspired a theme park ride, believe it or not.  First, there was a video game called what else, “Wayne’s World” that was created for the Nintendo, Sega, Game Boy and Super Nintendo systems and by the time this game came out, in 1993, my sister and I had zero interest in video games.  Apparently the game was pretty cheesy because in the Super NES version, in one level Wayne is chased by evil donuts and coffee cups in Stan Mikita’s Donut Shop and in another level he is chased by musical instruments like bagpipes, clarinets, kazoos, etc.  And in yet another level, Wayne and Garth find themselves at the Gasworks and they are attacked by bar stools, disco balls and darts.  What?! I am sadly, not making this up.  And another shameless plug, if you want to learn the fascinating history of Nintendo, check out episode #5 of this show.  Also of note, is that there was once a roller coaster called the Hurler which you could ride at one of the two amusement parks once owned by Paramount Pictures- Kings Dominion which was in Virginia and Carowinds in South Carolina.  

Many of the most memorable scenes in the movie were completely improvised.  For example, in the scene where Wayne and Garth are laying on Garth’s car waiting for an airplane to fly overhead and Garth asks Wayne if he thought Bugs Bunny was attractive when he dressed up as a woman were all improvised.  Thankfully, the camera crew was able to capture Myer’s confused and genuine laughter which was used in the final cut.  

During the 25th anniversary of the film, there was a pop-up replica of Stan Mikita’s Donuts, a replica of Wayne’s basement at the local community college and Wayne and Garth’s wigs at the library, all in Aurora, IL.  

There was a sequel to Wayne’s World called Wayne’s World II, but it wasn’t as popular as the original.  I know I have seen the movie but I think it was only once.  It was hard to beat the first one.  There’s long been a rumor that Nirvana was slated to appear in WWII as grunge was really starting to take over in popularity in the rock music genre, over heavy metal.  After reportedly seeing some clips from the film, Kurt Cobain axed the idea as he wasn’t all too impressed by the footage.  That being said, Cobain was apparently a huge fan of the first film.  Shameless plug, if you want to learn more about the history of Nirvana and their significant impact on the world of music, please check out episode #13 of the Pop Culture Retrospective.  

Following Wayne’s World, many of the main characters in the movie went on to continued professional success.  Myers would go on to star in a multitude of well-known roles including the Austin Powers series of films where he plays multiple characters, voicing Shrek, and a host of additional acting credits.  I found out that apparently Chris Farley was supposed to do the voice of Shrek but sadly he passed away before the film came to fruition.  Apparently in 2012, Myers semi-retired from acting.  

Dana Carvey would go on to host his own sketch comedy show called the Dana Carvey show. It was short-lived but certainly funnier than it was given credit for.  The show helped launch the careers of Stephen Colbert and Steve Carrell.  I watched a few clips recently to refresh my memory and it was a pretty decent show for it’s time.  I did watch it when it originally aired but that was over 20 years ago so I didn’t quite remember.  Anyways, I watched a sketch that both Steves were in where they play waiters that get nauseated whenever they have to discuss the menu options with patrons and it’s quite funny.  Carvey had an opportunity to host a late night talk show, but he turned it down in favor of being around and available for his kids which I really appreciated.  He has starred in a few movies, but he has said he enjoys doing stand-up the most and often does corporate gigs which are apparently very lucrative.  I forgot how amazing he is at doing impressions, he does a spot-on Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Michael Caine and Paul McCartney among many others. 

Rob Lowe has gone on to many impressive acting credits since Wayne’s World including The West Wing, Parks and Recreation and several made for TV movies like Killing Kennedy and The Christmas Blessing and also feature films like all 3 of the Austin Powers films, and Behind the Candelabra.  

Tia Carrere has also continued to act and sing post- Wayne’s World (side note, she did all of her own singing in the movie!).  She has starred in many films including:  True Lies, Lilo and Stitch, and probably the most emotionally demanding and profound film of her career- “Aloha Scooby Doo.”

I hope you have enjoyed this look back on the cult classic film, Wayne’s World which continues to be one of my go-to movies when I feel nostalgic or just need to watch a fun and somewhat mindless (in a good way) comedy.  There’s just something very comfortable about it, like a warm blanket or your favorite sweater. If ever there was a film that I find myself quoting for no apparent reason, it’s Wayne’s World.  Quotes such as:

“What I’d really love is to do Wayne’s World for a living. It might happen. Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt.” and “I once thought I had mono for an entire year. It turned out I was just really bored.” and “I don’t even own ah gun, let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack.”  and “Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man's gone before, but I'll probably stay in Aurora.” and It's like a new pair of underwear, at first they're restrictive but then after a while they become a part of you. and “"If you're gonna spew, spew into this.” 

and finally, my personal favorite:  “I mean, we're looking down on Wayne's basement. Only that's not Wayne's basement. Isn't that weird?”

If you are enjoying the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Spotify or whichever podcast platform you use.  Please also rate the show as it helps direct more listens to this joyous show that travels down memory lane. You can contact me anytime, my email address is:  popcultureretrospective@gmail.com or you can follow me on Twitter, I’m @popcultureretro.  I hope you will join me for my next show where we will be discussing phone technology from the 80s and 90s inspired by a listener.  Until then….