20 years of living in the now!
This is something that really makes me feel old. I was 8 years old when my mother took my 6 year old brother and I to see Wayne’s World in a little theater in Santa Fe Springs, Ca. It was her way of spending Valentine’s day with her kids before the night of wacky romance with my father. I remember that day fondly. At 8 years old, I was staying up late every weekend, watching the living shit out of Saturday Night Live. Sure, there were a lot of jokes that went over my young head, but there was also a lot that captured my imagination. I knew at a young age Phil Hartman was a brilliant performer. I knew that Chris Farley made me nearly piss my pants with his Motivational Speaker and was something special that the world had never seen. And I knew that even though I didn’t get the sexual or musical references, I knew that I loved Wayne’s World.
But on this Valentines Day in 1992, I would witness a movie that would be ingrained into my DNA as much as the Simpsons would. Wayne’s World, the movie about two music fans and their tiny little public access show, turned out to be perhaps the best SNL movie of all time. Sure, some would say Blues Brothers, but that’s an argument for another day for brevity’s sake. No, this day, I would watch as a group of grown ass man boys drive around Aurora, Illinois rocking out to Queen.
I cannot express in words the sicking amount of times my friends and I have reenacted this scene over the years every time Queen comes on the radio. That right there, is a testament to Wayne’s World‘s staying power. A film where the world stood up and realized that Mike Myers is a talented man, five years before his much needed box office bomb Austin Powers International Man of Mystery. His Wayne Campbell is a portrait of guys everywhere who in many ways, refuse to grow up. Something that we geeks know a thing or two about.
Then there’s Dana Carvey as Garth Algar. The Milhouse to Wayne’s Bart. A true nerd who loves drumming, Garth is shy, awkward, and at times, insanely brilliant beyond many men working for NASA. Wayne and Garth is that friendship that you know is going to last until they’re both in an old folks home, still rocking out to some classic ACDC.
Then, there’s the rest of the cast: Rob Lowe, the man who never ages, as the sleaziest man in all of Chicago. Tia Carrere, in a time capsule of why she was once the hottest thing in Hollywood. Though, I doubt that then a guy sees that one girl that knocks him off his feet, damned is he probably doesn’t hear Dream Weaver in his head. The great Brian Doyle Murray, brother to legend Bill Murray, as Noah Vanderhoff, the sponsor of the syndicated version of Wayne’s World. Finally, a true legend on one of the best cameos ever.
Wayne’s World is a comedy that I think has survived the test of time. 20 years later, the comedy is still funny, the jokes are still relevant, and it kinda makes you yearn for this Mike Myer‘s again. So with that, I toast to you Wayne’s World. To another 20 years!
