{"id":291183,"date":"2025-04-26T21:46:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T21:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/26\/mike-myers-on-playing-elon-musk-politics-on-s-n-l-and-why-he-filmed-a-campaign-ad\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T21:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T21:46:07","slug":"mike-myers-on-playing-elon-musk-politics-on-s-n-l-and-why-he-filmed-a-campaign-ad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/26\/mike-myers-on-playing-elon-musk-politics-on-s-n-l-and-why-he-filmed-a-campaign-ad\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Myers on Playing Elon Musk, Politics on \u2018S.N.L.\u2019 and Why He Filmed a Campaign Ad"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/26\/multimedia\/26ST-MIKE-MYERS-01-tgzm\/26ST-MIKE-MYERS-01-tgzm-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Mike Myers on Playing Elon Musk, Politics on \u2018S.N.L.\u2019 and Why He Filmed a Campaign Ad\" title=\"Mike Myers on Playing Elon Musk, Politics on \u2018S.N.L.\u2019 and Why He Filmed a Campaign Ad\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As he played <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FlllqDv2zC8\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk<\/a> on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d in March, the veteran Canadian comedian Mike Myers was not intending to make a personal political statement. But when he stood onstage for the closing credits of the show, he said, \u201cI got angrier and angrier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He thought about Mr. Musk\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/canada-musk-petition-revoke-citizenship-00205964\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">remark<\/a> that Canada is \u201cnot a real country,\u201d and about how President Trump had called the former Canadian prime minister <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=H-1XWfMLhJU\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cGovernor Trudeau\u201d<\/a> and rudely <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/11\/us\/politics\/canada-trump-statehood-attacks.html\" title=\"\">referred to Canada<\/a> as \u201cthe 51st state.\u201d He thought about tariffs, and about graffiti he\u2019d seen in Winnipeg: \u201cThere\u2019s no greater pain than being betrayed by a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And he thought about the legendary Canadian hockey player <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/06\/11\/sports\/hockey\/gordie-howe-dies-detroit-red-wings.html\" title=\"\">Gordie Howe<\/a> and his famous \u201celbows up\u201d response to aggression on the ice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And so Mr. Myers, the 61-year-old star of the \u201cWayne\u2019s World,\u201d \u201cAustin Powers\u201d and \u201cShrek\u201d films and a beloved figure on both sides of the Canadian-American border, boldly <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=amUPuVHaUO0\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">opened his down vest<\/a> and flashed his \u201cCanada Is Not for Sale\u201d T-shirt on live television. \u201cElbows up,\u201d he mouthed into the camera, twice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhat happened came from my ankles and from my brain and from my heart, and it was not about me \u2014 it was about my country,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to send a message home to say that I\u2019m with you, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As public acts of defiance on \u201cS.N.L.\u201d go, the unveiling of Mr. Myers\u2019s T-shirt was less shocking than, say, the Irish singer <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/26\/arts\/music\/sinead-oconnor-snl-pope.html\" title=\"\">Sinead\u2019s O\u2019Connor\u2019s dramatic destruction<\/a> of a photo of Pope John Paul II in 1992. But for the mild-mannered Mr. Myers, an expatriate who said that \u201cno one is more Canadian than a person who no longer lives in Canada,\u201d it was the moment the gloves came off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhat\u2019s happened has really hurt our feelings,\u201d he said in a recent telephone interview that began when, in what felt like a classically Canadian move, he apologized for having hay fever and perhaps sounding a bit snuffly. \u201cWe love America. We love you guys. We don\u2019t understand what this madness is.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Myers moved to the United States in 1988 because \u201cAmerica is the entertainment capital of the world\u201d and it was where his career took off, he said. Though he divides his time between New York and Vermont, he said he travels back home to Toronto often. He has an American wife, three American children and an American passport (alongside his Canadian one).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI am also an American citizen, and I took my oath very seriously,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s so crazy. Americans are the last people you would think would ever be a threat to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Canada, Mr. Myers has two streets named after him, appears on a postage stamp and in 2017 was named an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gg.ca\/en\/honours\/recipients\/146-16540\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">officer of the Order of Canada<\/a> for his work in comedy. He published <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.ca\/books\/548777\/canada-by-mike-myers\/9780385689250\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cCanada,<\/a>\u201d a memoir-cum-Valentine to his native country, in 2016.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Emboldened by how his \u201celbows up\u201d defiance on \u201cS.N.L.\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=amUPuVHaUO0\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">caught on up north<\/a>, Mr. Myers plotted an escalation of his political involvement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI consulted with my brothers, who are both, obviously, Canadian, as well as being very savvy politically and smart and funny,\u201d he said. The result was a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=al9yWA4TUII\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">television ad<\/a> for the Liberal Party, featuring Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mr. Myers \u2014 wearing a \u201cNever 51\u201d jersey \u2014 chatting beside a hockey rink. Though <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/06\/world\/canada\/liberals-carney-trump-tariffs-election.html\" title=\"\">the race has been tightening<\/a>, the Liberals have been buoyed by a surge of anger at Mr. Trump\u2019s bellicose behavior, and pollsters say they are favored to defeat the Conservatives in Monday\u2019s federal elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Inspired by \u201cthose World War II movies where they ask the fake Americans who won the World Series\u201d as a way to unmask them, Mr. Myers said, he wanted the ad to be a reaffirmation of his own Canadianness as well as an endorsement of Mr. Carney.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI wanted it to be like, \u2018I know I don\u2019t live there anymore, and let\u2019s talk about that,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI thought it would be funny if the prime minister of Canada ran an identity test on me.\u201d (The part in which Mr. Myers correctly identifies Toronto\u2019s \u201ctwo seasons\u201d as \u201cwinter and construction\u201d was contributed by Mr. Myers\u2019s best friend since childhood, David Mackenzie, he said.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The ad shows that Mr. Carney, in addition to being a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/09\/11\/business\/mark-carney-bank-of-england-brexit.html\" title=\"\">former governor of the Bank of England<\/a>, has fine comic timing. \u201cI think he\u2019s very reasonable,\u201d Mr. Myers said of Mr. Carney. \u201cHe\u2019s taken a calm, resolute, articulate stance in defense of our sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Myers was an \u201cS.N.L.\u201d cast member from 1989 to 1995. He\u2019s now appeared three times this season as Mr. Musk, who is originally from South Africa but who was raised in Canada. (At one point, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=R8E3arXq75Q\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Mr. Myers had Mr. Musk make a classic Dr. Evil pinkie gesture<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTo the extent that Elon Musk is involved in our democratic government, it goes against how I feel as a Canadian,\u201d he said of Mr. Musk\u2019s slash-and-burn approach. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a distrust of the government. We have a belief in good government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And comedy is one way Mr. Myers can make that point, he believes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFascism doesn\u2019t like to be ridiculed; it likes to be feared,\u201d he said. \u201cSatire is an important tool in the toolbox to say that this is not normal \u2014 that the cuts he\u2019s making are not normal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Myers said he had no ill will toward another prominent Canadian expatriate, the hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky, whose embrace of Mr. Trump\u2019s MAGA movement has caused some Canadians to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2025\/mar\/27\/wayne-gretzky-canadian-pro-trump-rebrand\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">turn against him<\/a>. Mr. Gretzky remains \u201ca great Canadian,\u201d Mr. Myers said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He mentioned the game Red Rover, which he played as a boy in Toronto, as a vehicle for inviting Mr. Gretzky to join his side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cRed Rover, Red Rover, we call Wayne over,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope he does. We would accept him with open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his book, Mr. Myers writes that his native country has often struggled to define its purpose, its residents asking not \u201cWho are we?\u201d but rather \u201cWhy are we?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It has an answer now, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAs the great Canadian poet Joni Mitchell said, \u2018You don\u2019t know what you\u2019ve got till it\u2019s gone,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThe possibility of it all being gone has raised our consciousness of how great we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/26\/style\/mike-myers-elon-musk-snl-canadian-election.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As he played a chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d in March, the veteran Canadian comedian Mike Myers was not intending to make a personal political statement. But when he stood onstage for the closing credits of the show, he said, \u201cI got angrier and angrier.\u201d He thought about Mr. Musk\u2019s remark that Canada [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/26\/multimedia\/26ST-MIKE-MYERS-01-tgzm\/26ST-MIKE-MYERS-01-tgzm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2243,194288,189810,2534,55220,165074,6225,6039,113875,1770,169207,369,226511],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291185,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291183\/revisions\/291185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}