How Mike Myers created metalhead Wayne Campbell

Mike Myers didn't have to stray far from his roots for inspiration when it came to a character he's been playing for more than 30 years.  

"I grew up in the suburbs of Toronto," Myers told Ralph Benmergui, host of CBC's Midday, on Feb. 20, 1990. "It was just basically the group of people I hung out with."   

Myers was talking about Wayne Campbell, the heavy metal enthusiast and host of a segment called Wayne's World on the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live.

"We used to take the Red Rocket into town," he went on, speaking remotely from New York City. "Sort of a[n] adolescent, suburbia, heavy metal thing."

Origins of Wayne

"They were sort of funny people to hang out with," Myers went on, telling Benmergui he had "immediately" grasped their potential to inspire a character for him.

Wayne Campbell existed well before Saturday Night Live, however. He was seen on CBC in August 1987 in the CBC/Insight co-production It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, purportedly as a prize in a "win your own segment" contest. 

In Wayne's Power Minute, Myers emerged from a van in Campbell's black T-shirt, long hair and baseball cap.

"Let's talk about bad English in heavy metal, OK?" he said, pulling out LPs by Led Zeppelin, Ratt and Motley Crüe. "Look, there's an umlaut over the U. That's German. That's not even English."

Myers was used to appearing on screen by then. According to the CBC-TV catalog, he'd been in CBC productions including the sitcom King of Kensington in 1975 and was cast in two TV dramas in 1978. 

'Hanging out and being a goof'

Myers told Benmergui that even though Wayne Campbell was inspired by his Canadian peers, Americans could find the character relatable.

"I think there's a certain homogenous, adolescent, heavy-metal experience," he said. "It's just ... hanging out and being a goof." 

Earlier this month, Myers reprised Wayne Campbell along with sidekick Garth, played by SNL cast-mate Dana Carvey, for a 2021 Super Bowl TV commercial.