The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt party on and rewatch the 1992 comedy classic ‘Wayne’s World,’ starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey … NOT! Check out our Ringer Movies YouTube channel! Producer: Craig Horlbeck Video Producers: Jack Sanders and Chia Hao Tat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the significance of 'Wayne's World' in comedy?
Well, it speaks to, I know like we have the Devil Wears Prada award, right? And it's like, did this movie set out what, it's the crazy thing. We watched this sketch for over three years and it's only in a basement and people come down, but you never leave the basement.
And what they set out to achieve with this movie is let's see what their world looks like when they go up the stairs to the basement. They go up this, they start the movie with like the normal sketch. Like I've seen Wayne's World before. And then they go up the stairs and Wayne breaks the fourth wall immediately. And you're like, oh shit, this is cool. Like he's talking to the camera.
And then five minutes into the movie, we're already at Bohemian Rhapsody and the thing's incredible. They do an amazing job of coming up the stairs.
You're right. Probably the best of any sketch turned in. I mean, we talked about Blues Brothers last week, which I know, big Chicago movie. I'm sure you've seen it a few times in your life. Same thing where it's like, how are they going to turn this premise into this whole bigger world.
The only hint that they could do this with the movie in Wayne's world was when they had the, they had that great sketch with Aerosmith and Tom Hanks as like the groupie siblings, siblings. But those Aerosmith guys came into, came into Wayne's world in the basement for a little bit. And it was like, all right, this is weird. It's also kind of cool that Aerosmith is in Wayne's basement.
And it kind of, to me, opened the door for possibilities.
Well, it's Aerosmith. And it's the Madonna truth or dare spoof. Right. Where they're doing this big, heavily produced thing. And Wayne's like, I dare you to make out with me. And then it was like the biggest thing ever. So they did a little bit. But I didn't think this movie could be as good as it is. And I think it's still excellent. You were talking about how much you were laughing.
There's some of the stuff now when you watch that you laugh at because it's genuinely funny. I find myself laughing that we used to laugh at this because it's so stupid. But I promise you at the time we laughed at it and it was cool.
Well, Myers kicks off this whole era of like this absurdist meta referencing little stuff that had happened in the past leading to Austin Powers and all those movies. And this is like a 12-year run of just goofiness. You know, it's all the Jim Carrey movies. It wasn't really until that 03, 04 range with old school and the Apatow movies that we moved into some new version of movie comedy.
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Chapter 2: How does nostalgia influence 'Wayne's World'?
I never watched, but which, but I got the two Darren's joke. Like there wasn't a single joke in that movie that I didn't get, even though I was just old enough to have a history for it. And then the devil wears Prada word for, is this movie actually perfect for to try to do? I'm going to say yes.
yeah they said it's like a 9.7 yeah and a wholly fully realized world with friends and characters and rock bands it was great most rewatchable scene opening scene you think it's an snl sketch and then it blows out bohemian rhapsody let's go i think we'll go with a little bohemian rhapsody gentlemen good call
I see a little silhouette of a man. Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me.
Probably my answer. It brings me the most joy. The first time they did it, Or the first time you saw the movie, kind of didn't know what was happening, and it was so goofy and silly, but so much fun to watch. It kind of resuscitated Queen.
Yes.
Not that Queen was dead, but all of a sudden the song was number two. It had been out for I don't know how many years. It rose to number two in the rankings because the music video, everything about it. And then great Chicago footage. I mean, it's Aurora, but it's like there's a couple of Chicago adjacent landmarks. What else did you like?
I, you can't say enough about the Bohemian Rhapsody scene. That was the takeaway from this movie for the masses. That's why it was a big hit. And I think it's really interesting because if you, you have some of it in the research, like Myers insisted that it was Bohemian Rhapsody. It was a queen song. It's old at that point. It's not a nineties song. Myers loves everything British.
And then allegedly there was pushback from Lorne Michaels who wanted it to be a welcome to the jungle. And Myers eventually won. And I think he won. I'll tell you why. I saw this movie at 13 years old. I had never heard Bohemian Rhapsody in my life. I didn't know what the hell that song was. I don't know, this Beelzebub and all that shit they're talking about and the headbanging was crazy to me.
And a kind of a cool thing, like when the Bohemian Rhapsody movie came out with Rami Malek, I, through the NFL, got to interview the four guys in the band, like Rami Malek and the three other dudes. Yeah. And I asked them, I said, so when did you guys first hear Queen's music? And these are pretty erudite, smart, like mostly British actors outside of Rami.
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Chapter 3: What are the key themes explored in 'Wayne's World'?
And there's weird shit with that, where everybody had the VHS of Wayne's World. I think it was even one you could get at McDonald's if you ordered a value meal. And he would start that scene, and Wayne would play these three bizarre notes that sounded nothing like Stairway to Heaven.
Because they couldn't get the rights.
Right. So the story is they couldn't or wouldn't pay Led Zeppelin to even play those three notes. So it doesn't sound anything like Stairway. The joke doesn't make sense, but we just went with it for years.
So in the research... They said they didn't want to pay the $100,000 for the VHS and the DVD. And so instead they mangled the movie. It's $100,000. I can't imagine how many people bought the Wayne's World VHS. Like they definitely could have paid for it. And it fucked up the movie like forever. And then when they finally did like the Blu-ray, I think, three years ago, they fixed it.
if you watch it on amazon now just if you rent it for three bucks it's the notes from stairway to heaven and it totally makes sense and the joke is there we everyone even though it didn't make sense we would still all talk about no stairway it's the joke still lived without it making any sense at all i mean you could buy it for five bucks on amazon it was half price because i think it was because s and o week um yeah i have more what do you have for what stage the best
We talk about Tia Carrera's performance. Like I fucking love her in this movie. And the fact that they chose her and where she came from, like Tia Carrera was from Hawaii. She had done all these weird, stupid little shows that they did back there, like Airwolf or Love Boat, that type of stuff. Yeah. And was going to do Baywatch and did this movie.
And as far as I've read and understood, does all of the singing. That's actually her. It's not like Marty McFly with a fake voice singing Go Johnny Go. That's actually her singing. I love her in this movie. Love it.
I had a different spot for her later. I'm happy to do this now. I never understood why she wasn't in more stuff and she wasn't bad. Like she was in true lies. Like she was in some good stuff. She had a good career. She was a curb, your enthusiasm, even with a, she played Richard Lewis's girlfriend. Yeah.
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: How did 'Wayne's World' impact music culture?
All right. Flex category. I gave you a couple of choices, sent you all the backup categories. What do you got for us?
I'm going to go with an old classic on the rewatches. I'm going to go with the racehorse fantasy team name, band name, because there's just so many of it. We mentioned Dutch door action. My buddy Aaron, whose Bar Mitzvah theme was Aaron's World in homage to Wayne's World, he named his fantasy team the Shitty Beatles.
There's Psycho Hose Beast, but the best one by far for a horse, band name, or anything is Pralines and Dick. Yeah.
if benjamin was a nice cream flavor he'd be pralines and dick i still laugh at that too pralines and dick is a horse name perfect that's great i love that one butch's girlfriend award weak link of the film this is hard i'd say i i'm nitpicking because i love this movie but the last like 25 minutes probably just isn't as good as the first hour would be my nitpick
Once they're trying to get to Jackie Sharp, the record exec.
Yeah, you know, all these comedies have the same issue. Would you have gone with something else?
Mine is a little outside the box. My problem with this movie, how and why is Phil Hartman not in this movie? Why was there not a place for him with Carvey's love for him and his working with him in so many other movies? I have it two different parts. He could have been Glenn, which was the Ed O'Neill role, but Ed O'Neill was great in that.
And you have him as Officer Koharski and he's talking about body cavity searches and it's really funny.
Well, and also he had him in So I Married an Axe Murderer. So it's not like he, and he also stole that movie for five minutes. I even thought he could have played the guy who owned the record company at the end.
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Chapter 5: What makes 'Wayne's World' a cult classic?
I'd like to stick my penis in you, not.
Yes. As your very nice prostitute, not.
We're doing Borat this year. That's 100% happening. Do you have any other What Stage is the Worst?
No, we covered the sequel, The Doors. I'm good on that.
The Ruffalo Hannah Rubinick Partridge Overacting Award, which I think in this case is an underacting award for Frankie Sharp of Sharp Records. Yes. I can only assume like Christopher Walken was supposed to have that part and called in sick day of, and they just like grab somebody. That guy is the worst actor in this movie by far. I have no idea why he's in the movie. No idea. None.
They went to the Halloween store and got the costume in a bag for Agent with a cigar and a pinky ring and a pinstripe suit. Hi, I'm Jackie Sharp, and I must say, while you're very beautiful, it's tough. I don't know.
It's really bad. He's so bad. I can't believe that's who they picked for that part. All right, you have another flex category. What do you got?
All right. The category of the actor I can't believe did not become a bigger star. Let's talk about Dana Carvey. All right. Dana Carvey brought me into SNL when I was in about sixth grade. He was the star. He ran the show. It's all his biggest sketches. And I look back on it and I feel like the absolute ceiling for Dana Carvey with his talent and his audience reception was like a Steve Martin.
And I would have thought the basement would have been Tim Allen or maybe even like Kevin James, like who had big success in a lot of avenues. And it didn't work out for a couple of different reasons. Why do you think he didn't become a bigger commercial star?
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Chapter 6: What are the standout performances in 'Wayne's World'?
And are they just like, they're having sex and it's party time. Excellent.
We don't see the sex. Like somebody starts unbuttoning a button and it's, it's just the next scene.
I'll be honest, Bill. Can I get the one with the sex? I'd like to check that one out.
The original Zayn's world on DVD.
Yeah. The director's cut.
Half-assed internet research. We talked about no stairway to heaven. We talked about Myers being a dick. Spheeris had some quotes about him, the director. Emotionally needy and got more difficult as the shoot went along. That was one. You should have heard him bitching when I was trying to do that Bohemian Rhapsody scene. I can't move my neck like that. Why do we have to do this so many times?
No one's going to laugh at this. She said on one occasion he stormed off the set because there was no margarine for his bagel. Got to do it. And in one of the features about Myers, his PR person said that there was no truth that he was hyperglycemic and kind of poo-pooed the story. And then they argued about the final cut, and Myers did not let her do Wayne's World 2. So there's that.
So the Pacer, a.k.a. the Mirth Mobile, was a 1976 Pacer. The original car was sold and appeared in a 2015 episode of Pawn Stars. It was restored to running condition with the original movie props in the car. A stair system added. Sold in 2016 for $37,400. That's low.
Bill, where do you have this in your all-time pacers? Is it more Reggie Miller or like Austin Crozier?
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Chapter 7: How does 'Wayne's World' reflect the 90s pop culture?
Let me give you some. I have some. All right. So you have Spinal Tap. You have Wild Stallions from Bill & Ted. I don't really get to see them play. The School of Rock Kids. Steel Dragon with Mark Wahlberg. The Pinheads with Marty McFly. And then our guys Stillwater from Almost Famous.
I was throwing Citizen Dick from Singles.
Yes!
Although I don't know if we actually saw them play. I think they just pretended to be a band.
We saw Soundgarden play. They're a real band.
Yeah.
Citizen Dick, though. I think it's Stillwater.
Stillwater was... I mean, they played, what, three songs in front of a crowd of like 20,000 people and the songs were all actually good. I think I downloaded a couple on my Spotify or whatever.
Fever Dog. And Jason Lee really does the singing like Cassandra does. I think I have Stillwater as well in that movie.
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Chapter 8: What are the most memorable quotes from 'Wayne's World'?
The writers, it's just so dense. Every line is awesome. Myers and the two writers.
Probably unanswerable questions. Was Garth playing with a full deck?
Good question.
Would you say he was on medication? How would he be treated in 2024? Would he be diagnosed with specific things? What was going on there? Was he in a special class in high school? Did he graduate? Was he like a Rain Man type of savant? What's going on with Garth?
Every time he gets a little nervous, Wayne goes, Garth, your pills, your pills. He even says, take your Ritalin. It's not subtle. So they were a little ahead of the curve on that one. I think he's got all kinds of stuff like that. But I also think that he is, if you sat him down to take some sort of calculus test, that he would ace it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then we, you mentioned this earlier and it's gotta be discussed. How old were these guys? Cause I think, so I'll give you a range. Okay. You could tell me they're 19 and the actors are just playing, they're going to Ian's earring and just playing like 35 year olds as, as 21 year olds. You could also tell me they're out of college.
You could also tell me they're like 27 to 30, but Garth also seems like he's like 38. Yeah. I don't know the range. What do you think?
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