Wayne s World

Wayne s World was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series Saturday Night Live. It evolved from a segment titled “Wayne’s Power Minute” (1987) on the CBC Television series It’s Only Rock & Roll, as the main character first appeared in that show. A prototype of the Wayne character had appeared several years prior on CITY-TV in Toronto’s overnight show City Limits. The Saturday Night Live sketch spawned a hit 1992 film, its 1993 sequel, and several catchphrases which have since entered the pop-culture lexicon.

The sketch centered on a local public-access television program in Aurora, Illinois, hosted by Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers, the same actor from “Wayne’s Power Minute”), an enthusiastic long-haired metalhead, and his timid and sometimes high-strung, yet equally metal-loving sidekick and best friend, Garth Algar (Dana Carvey). Wayne lives with his parents and broadcasts his show “live” from the basement of their house every Friday evening at 10:30. The first “Wayne’s World” sketch appeared in the 13th Saturday Night Live episode of the 1988-1989 season.

Format of sketches – Wayne s World

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The show would open with Wayne and Garth singing the opening theme, accompanied by Wayne’s frenetic strumming of his guitar, and Garth drumming on his lap with drum sticks. The two would introduce themselves (Garth: “Party on, Wayne.” Wayne: “Party on, Garth.”) and then proceed into their various exploits, including discussions of their love of hard rock bands and “babes”, as well as juvenile antics, such as the “Extreme Close-Up” (where a camera would zoom in on Wayne and Garth as they screamed) and tricking their unsuspecting guests into saying vulgar words. Garth would frequently get overexcited and lose control, upon which Wayne would have to tell him, “Take your Ritalin.”

Sketches also often included dream sequences where Wayne and Garth imagine themselves in fantasy settings. The sequences were introduced with Wayne and Garth imitating a fade-out by waving their arms in front of them and imitating a commonly used fade-out sound effect accompanied by an excerpt from Gary Wright‘s “Dream Weaver“. Notable dream sequences include Wayne defeating Wayne Gretzky in a one-on-one hockey game, upon which Janet Jones runs to kiss Wayne, and Wayne and Garth meeting Madonna in a spoof of her Madonna: Truth or Dare film and controversial music video for “Justify My Love“. Wayne dares Madonna to make out with him while Garth is seen dancing in a parody of the video.

In the early sketches, Wayne and Garth are high school students, and their guests on the show included their teachers (including one played by Ed O’Neill, who would later play a very similar character in both films), and other students from school (such as Nancy, a “babe” played by Jan Hooks). Other frequent guests included Garth’s father, “Beev” (played by Phil Hartman), so named because of his teeth. He was often ridiculed by Wayne despite the fact that he was married to Hillary Algar (Candice Bergen), whom Wayne considers a babe.

In later appearances Wayne and Garth appear to be young adults (although Wayne still lives with his parents—a theme which would carry over to the first film), and their discussions shifted more towards current events and pop-culture phenomena, with the show featuring actual celebrity guests.

A notable sketch featured Wayne and Garth in a jam session with their idols, the rock band Aerosmith, performing an extended, hard rock version of the “Wayne’s World” theme song, written by Myers and SNL music director G.E. Smith. Tom Hanks played Garth’s cousin, Barry, who was an Aerosmith roadie who checked the microphone and set up the performance. This sketch was listed as moment #1 in the TV special ‘Saturday Night Live: 101 Most Unforgettable Moments.’

Other formats – Wayne s World

Mattel released a Wayne’s World VCR Board Game in 1992. The game featured a videotape with approximately 30 minutes of new footage recorded of Myers & Carvey as Wayne & Garth.^[5]

A video game loosely based on the first film was released in 1993 for NES,^[6] SNES, Nintendo Game Boy, and Sega Genesis. There was also a PC point and click adventure.^[7]

A “Wayne’s World” sketchbook was also sold around the time of the premiere of the first film. It included a mail-in-offer for Wayne’s trademark ballcap and showed various celebrities such as Elvira and Michael Jordan modeling the same hat Wayne wore.

“Gawain’s Word“, a regular segment on the children’s educational show Between the Lions, takes inspiration from both the “Wayne’s World” sketch and its theme song. It was also spoofed in the film Stay Tuned with the sketch “Duane’s Underworld” (Myers and Carvey were offered the chance to cameo as their characters but were filming Wayne’s World at the time).

An episode of the sitcom Step by Step also featured character J.T. (Brandon Call) hosting his own show, appropriately titled “J.T.’s World”, in which J.T. (with sidekick Cody) singing the theme song, which sounds similar to Wayne’s theme. On a 1995 episode of Sesame Street, Telly Monster and Big Bird hosted “Telly’s Town”, which featured Myers guest starring as Wayne, though portrayed as a delivery man.

The “Wayne’s World” soundtrack contained the extra-long hard rock version of the theme song that was performed by Aerosmith in the famous sketch. As the song is winding down, an easter egg can be heard where Myers and Carvey are peppering the guitar riffs with quips from their other SNL characters such as “Isn’t that special?” (Church Lady), “Don’t look at my bum!” (Simon), “Not gonna do it! Not gonna do it!” (George H. W. Bush).