Like Elon Musk in Washington, Mike Myers’ ‘SNL’ Return Appears to Be Nearing Its End
James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump led off Saturday Night Live this week, explaining the new tariffs that sent everyone’s retirement savings into the national trash bin. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see Trump joined by Elon Musk, once again brought to life by Mike Myers in his less-than-triumphant return to the show.
This week, Musk is wearing a cheesehead despite his ill-advised, expensive and embarrassingly unsuccessful attempt to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court election. “I’m an idiot,” he concedes. “I should have just bought Wisconsin.”
Almost as soon as Myers’ Musk enters the sketch, Johnson’s Trump is sending him on his way. “Elon is great, but, sadly, it’s time to never see you again, okay?” he says. “You got to get back to Tesla, right?”
Don't Miss
Musk’s government exit is (hopefully) happening in real-life, but Saturday Night Live appears to be sending Myers off as well. Like Dana Carvey earlier this season, the classic cast member likely signed up for a handful of shows, after which he’ll be on his merry way.
But Myers’ turn as Musk just hasn’t hit in the way that Dana Carvey’s Joe Biden did in earlier episodes. That Biden impression nailed something bizarre but true about Biden that earlier impressions hadn’t been able to capture. From George Bush to Ross Perot, Carvey could always develop political impersonations that weren’t dead-on in voice or appearance but were devastatingly real nonetheless.
We can’t say the same thing about Myers’ Musk. It didn’t help that Carvey beat him to the punch, unveiling his impression months before Myers got his chance to affect that off-kilter South African accent.
The problem is that Myers’ signature take on Musk — spinning his head while chanting “Pinwheel!” or freezing his face while exclaiming “Glitch!” — is a mean-spirited take on wherever Musk lives on the spectrum. Better targets would be Musk’s dismantling of the federal government for his own monetary gain or his misguided belief that he’s a hilarious comedian. But those traits are harder to capture with a catchphrase or goofy look to the camera.
What happened to Myers? He was arguably the world’s biggest comedy star in the 1990s, but like Austin Powers, someone has stolen his mojo. Outside of the Shrek franchise, he can’t find a comic vehicle that hits with audiences in the 21st century. The Love Guru was embarrassing as much for its ethnic stereotypes as it was for lame jokes. And his Netflix comeback, The Pentavarate, landed with a thud.
A return to Saturday Night Live made sense as a Myers comeback vehicle. In his prime, Myers scored in sketch after sketch — it’s what he’s built for. But while his Musk is okay, his recent SNL turn was too tepid to relaunch a big-screen comedy career.
The best thing Myers did on SNL last night, according to fans on Reddit? That was his appearance during the goodnights, proudly sporting a Canadian Tire T-shirt. It was a more pointed middle finger in Trump’s direction than anything he managed during the opening sketch.
