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Mike’s World: The Life of Mike Myers

by Martin Knelman

Mike Myers has achieved massive success with his Austin Powers and Wayne’s World franchises, and in this quickie biography Martin Knelman feels compelled to pump up the significance of his already famous subject. How else to explain Knelman’s contention that Wayne’s World is an “almost Joycean concoction”? The reader can only wonder where James Joyce figures in Knelman’s literary canon.

The title of the book is somewhat misleading. After a hasty introduction to Myers’ Scarborough upbringing and comedy apprenticeship, the narrative focuses almost exclusively on the films. Whereas Myers’ father insisted that nothing in life was more important than comedy, his mother warned him to avoid comedy because he wasn’t as funny as his two older brothers.

In 1980, Myers showed his comic mettle at the Second City workshop taught by Allan Guttman, but he hit his stride when he developed the personae of Wayne Campbell, Linda Richman (based on his Jewish mother-in-law from New York), and Dieter, a dour German aesthete and host of Sprockets whose most famous line was “Touch my monkey.”

Knelman traces Myers’ meteoric rise to mega-stardom and his equally quick meltdown, following rumours about his insecurity (he was very wary of Dana Carvey), egotism (he neglected to credit his collaborators), and unprofessional business conduct. When Myers withdrew from the film version of Sprockets, he became the target of studio attack, though he has since patched things up.

Mike’s World reads like one of those pop biographies culled mainly from press files, without benefit of direct access to their subject. The writing is repetitive and fairly dull, giving little sense of the private person, except for Myers’ love for his father, doughnuts, and ice-hockey, things that even the most casual fan will probably already know.

 

Reviewer: Keith Garebian

Publisher: Penguin Books Canada

DETAILS

Price: $20

Page Count: 240 pp

Format: Paper

ISBN: 0-14-029606-9

Released: July

Issue Date: 2002-9

Categories: Memoir & Biography