Mike Myers was ‘scared s—less’ by how funny his ‘SNL’ costars were

Imposter syndrome, not so excellent.

Mike Myers looked back at his time on Saturday Night Live, revealing in a recent podcast that he was intimidated by how funny his costars were. “When I got to Saturday Night Live and saw how f—ing good these guys were, I was scared s—less. I had an anxiety attack,” Myers said on Vulture’s Good One comedy podcast.

“Phil Hartman. I mean, Dana Carvey. [Kevin] Nealon, Jan Hooks, who I also worship. You know, it was unbelievable,” said Myers, who was a cast member on the sketch comedy show between 1989 and 1995. Thank the character of Wayne Campbell, first introduced not live on air but at a Second City show, for Myers’ addition to the venerable series.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

“I did my sketch . . . and I came from the audience and it f—ng killed, which was unbelievable because I had only been in the show for like two seconds,” recalled Myers. “I mean, it was cheerstomps and whistles. It was a jet taking off. I don’t know what happened, but the audience just went for it and loved it.”

Added the comedian, “Two weeks later, I’m in Chicago, and I get a call from Lorne Michaels. And he said, ‘I understand you do a Wayne character.'”

All this for someone who was unfamiliar with the show just a few years prior. Myers, who is Canadian, moved to England in 1983, “and Saturday Night Live was on, but I never watched it because I had one of those top-loading VCRs, and it was on at exactly the same time as the Toronto Maple Leaf game, so I could only tape one thing,” recalled Myers. “And of course, I watched the Toronto Maple Leafs. So I didn’t watch it for those years.”

“And then in England, nobody had heard of Saturday Night Live at all,” added Myers. It wasn’t until he moved back to Canada that he was introduced to the show. “I checked it out and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s really, really funny.” Myers later praised Michaels, sharing that he’s “learned so much from him.” Added the comedian, “He’s very generous, Lorne, with telling you the black arts, the real politic of how things get made. The pragmatism.”

Since his departure from the show, Myers returned to host in March 1997 and has made several cameos, the last of which was for a December 2015 episode hosted by Ryan Gosling. His popular Wayne Campbell character has spawned two movies, 1992’s Wayne’s World and its 1993 sequel. Myers is also known for his work on the Shrek and Austin Powers franchises.

Listen to Myers’ podcast episode above.