It's Friday night at NBC's Studio 8H, and the hammering, buzz-sawing, backslapping, back-talking, not-quite-there-yet, barely controlled panic of a rehearsal for Saturday Night Live is interrupted when a piece of living history strolls onto the set and begins to accept greetings. His name is Dan Aykroyd, and as the younger cast members of SNL's umpteenth ensemble gather to receive his handshakes, arm pats, and ''nice work''s, he seems well aware of the large shadow he casts. Aykroyd moves familiarly around the room, chatting, smiling, and then he spots Mike Myers, claps him on the shoulder, and leads him down a hallway for a more secluded talk. ''So, Mike,'' he says. ''You have a movie coming out. You should be really happy.'' ''I am happy,'' says Myers, scratching unhappily at the neckline of his New York Rangers jersthink it came out well. I'm just nervous-'' ''You'll never be entirely happy,'' continues Aykroyd, waving a dismissive hand. ''Maybe 70 percent. There will always be things you wish you had done differently. But remember-you must never share what could have been with the press.'' Myers nods as Aykroyd rolls on, but it's impossible to tell whether he's absorbing the advice. If he appears a little glazed, it's understandable: As he awaits the release of Paramount's movie version of his SNL sketch ''Wayne's World'' in 1,768 theaters, Myers (it's his world) and his costar, Dana Carvey (Garth just lives in it), are standing in the eye of a hurricane of promotion, publicity, and merchandising. Although this isn't the first time Hollywood has tried to strip-mine a Saturday Night Live skit for a movie, the previous effort, 1980's The Blues Brothers, was made by filmmakers who lacked that ''live from New York'' sensibility. As Carvey explains, ''It didn't come from the factory.'' Wayne's World, however, is pure SNL, produced by Saturday Night creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels and scripted by Myers and two of the show's writers. For the past few weeks, Paramount has been blasting the movie into public consciousness with all the subtlety of an armored invasion. Anyone who hasn't gotten the message yet has only to look at the film's initial slogan-actually, more of a command: One world. One party. It all seems a little...well, a little much for a sketch whose no-frills concept Carvey aptly describes as ''two stoner dudes in a basement,'' but the stakes are higher than they appear. If Wayne's World proves able to attract Saturday Night Live viewers and defectors, teen metal heads who watched Wayne and Garth's recent MTV special and their VH-1 parents, kids who love Wayne's pop-culture-fed smart-assing and baby boomers tickled by the sketch's wry view of suburbia, then the film could spawn a whole new SNL industry. At least that's the plan. ''The success of Wayne's World,'' says Michaels, ''would mean that Saturday Night Live is in touch with the moviegoing audience again, the same way it was in the 1970s.'' After the film's phenomenal $18 million opening (a record for Presidents' Day weekend), Michaels may well get to put his plan into action. Still, it seems jarring to hear such big- league-entertainment-business talk coming from the man who instigated TV's riskiest flirtation with the counterculture, but it makes sense: In its 17th year, Saturday Night Live has become more of an institution than many of the institutions it used to mock. Don't think things have changed that much? Listen to Myers tick off the Wayne's World product line, a list of tie-ins he delivers with just a flicker of an ironic smile: ''A book, six T-shirts, a hat, poster, greeting cards, mug, doll, video '' Hold on there-a Wayne doll? ''Yes,'' he says; it's due in stores in April. ''I've seen it. Nine and a half inches. With a cap and a cheesy grin. It's very flattering and very bizarre.'' And though he has been given a say (or a nay) in the creation of the products-in fact, he cowrote the Wayne's World book with his girlfriend, Robin Ruzan-the merchandising machine is beginning to outpace him. ''I'm trying to be part of the process,'' he says, ''but it's all expertise permitting. What can I say-'No, use a different weave'? All I can do is look at stuff and say, 'No, that sucks.' And they've given me that power.'' ''I was a bit of a snob about merchandising in the 1970s,'' says Michaels. ''I thought it was in conflict with doing a satirical show. Then, a few years ago, I was in Greece buying a Beatles T-shirt, and I thought, 'Would it have been so bad if there had been Coneheads lunch boxes?' No, of course not. I was just being sanctimonious.''
You Might Also Like
- Video Review WAYNE'S WORLD | Ty Burr
- Movie Review Wayne's World (1992) | Owen Gleiberman
- Video Review Wayne's World | Frank Lovece
- Video Review empty shell
- Mail Page Mail from our readers (1992)
- Pop Culture Commentary Greatest sidekicks ever: Nos. 31-35
