It's been 16 years since the last Austin Powers movie but it seems that the franchise is still as popular as ever, following Mike Myers appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He brought Dr. Evil out of retirement for a bit during Fallon's monologue as the most recent person to be fired from the Trump Administration. Check it out.
A number of people have recently left the executive branch, which is, of course, great fodder for the late night talk shows. Jimmy Fallon brought it up last night and claimed that he had an exclusive interview with somebody who had just been fired. It turned out to be Mike Myers dusting off his role as Austin Powers nemesis Dr. Evil.
Dr. Evil says he was originally going be hired as the Secretary of Evil, because of course, but ended up as an "idea guy." Of course, those ideas are pure Dr. Evil. Rather than building a border wall, he wanted a moat filled with spiky blowfish, one assumes because he was all out of ill-tempered sea bass.
Unfortunately, we never learn exactly why Dr. Evil was fired from his job in the White House. However, we'll likely learn as Dr. Evil will, of course, be writing a tell-all book. Dr. Evil also announced his own plan to run for President, including his own merchandise, which, if it really existed, is a hat I would buy.
Based on the popular response from the audience, it seems that there are a lot of people who still remember, and enjoy, Dr. Evil. Could something like this renew interest in the franchise? The door to a fourth Austin Powers film has always been open, the players simply haven't found an idea worth turning into a film yet. Maybe getting into character will help the ideas flow.
Mike Myers himself hasn't been in the public eye as much in recent years, though that will change this summer, as Myers has a credited role in the Margot Robbie noir-thriller Terminal which recently released its first trailer.
While we may never get another big screen Austin Powers, it's clear that Mike Myers hasn't lost a step in the performance of Dr. Evil. The evil laugh still sounds great and while the character may have become a little stale of the course of three films, it's been long enough now that we can remember what was so funny back then.
