How did the character change from the time you developed him on stage to now?

MYERS: The original on-stage character was 30 years older, which is something that often happens for me is I start it one place... What Austin Powers looked like when I did it on stage, and what he became, just tonally, he was very amped and hyped - "Baby, yeah, yeah, yeah!" - when I first did it. And over time it sort of became more real, I mean as broad as he is, it became more vulnerable. These are the transformations. It’s a fascinating job I have. The train leaves the station. You think it’s going to one station and it goes to a different one. And so he was 30 years older.

You mentioned circling the airport and landing at different times. What about the stuff that never lands. Can you give it away and give up on it? Dieter was one.

MYERS: But Dieter was one of - honestly, the ratio of what I make and what I start to develop is probably 1:20. On Saturday Night Live, Lorne [Michaels] would always do a half hour more material than was [needed] - between the dress show and the air show. And every year, an efficiency expert from the studio, from the network, forgive me, the network comes and goes, "Why do you mount 12 sketches and only broadcast eight." And every year Lorne says, "Because I don’t know." And he’s been saying this for 30 years. He said, "The only thing I do know about comedy is the audience ultimately decides, and these things have their own life." I always have 20 ideas circling the airport at any given time. And how and when these things land is actually beyond my ability to understand. My only thing that I celebrate is that they land every now and then.

Who are some of your influences? Is Peter Sellers an influence?

MYERS: Peter Sellers, my father worshiped the ground that Peter Sellers walked on. Alec Guinness, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Belushi, Dick Van Dyke. I met Dick Van Dyke last night, could not talk. I met Dick Van Dyke! Carol Burnett, Bob Hope...Oh, God, so many.

Where did you meet him?

MYERS: I met him at TV Land. I got a TV Land Legacy of Laughter Award last night and my very, very, very good chum who is one of the writers on Roseanne, he was there for Roseanne. And we have a friendship based solely on him saying-- I said, "Look, do you want to go to this friend’s birthday party?" He goes, "Hmm, I’m going to go home and watch Dick Van Dyke." I went, "You’re my best friend. You’re my friend for life," because I thought I was the only person that would be like, "Hmm, I’m going to home and watch Dick Van Dyke." I’m like, "Ahh, all is well with the world. All is well." And so we met him last night. I couldn’t talk.

Do you look at some things and say, "This would really be a good laugh but it’s over the line?"

MYERS: You know what? I don’t. Nothing I do, I feel, breaks the skin. What I do, I will bite something but they mostly get gummed and never break the skin. You have to bite things sometimes, not a lot. And I don’t, very frequently. But I like silly, you know what I mean? I like it a lot. And I’m not apologetic for it. I don’t apologize for loving a silly. it could be a smart laugh, it could be a dumb laugh. If it makes me laugh, that was why I did it.

You were talking about possibly doing another Austin Powers through Dr. Evil’s eyes. Is that still...

MYERS: This is a possibility. This is one of the 20 ideas, which is, when things don’t get made, is less remarkable to me than when things do get made.

It’s 11 years after the first one. Are you still amazed that there’s still a big wanting for Austin?

MYERS: I’m amazed that I have a job and that I get to do this for a living, and that it turned out as awesome as it did. And there was no guarantees of anything when I was 6 and went and turned to everybody and said this is what I want to do. There’s no guarantees Gilda Radner, who played my mother in a TV commercial when I was 9, was on the show when I was 11, that my brother said, "Hey, your girlfriend - because I fell in love with her and cried on the last day - you’re girlfriend’s on this stupid show that’s coming up. Doesn’t even have a name. It’s on Saturday." I was like, "What?" - "Yeah, that Gilda lady that you cried about." I said, "Oh." And we watched - it was Saturday Night Live and turned to everybody and said, "I would love to be on this show one day." And I got to be. I don’t know how that happened. But between 11 and 25, 14 years later I got to be on that show. I didn’t know that there would be a show around to be on, to be honest with you. There was no guarantees that it would have the longevity. 35 years? How many years now is Saturday Night Live, 30? 30 years and the show is still relevant, good and Lorne’s still keeping it at a very high level of quality. These are miracles, you know. I didn’t know any of this would happen. It’s unbelievable.

When you heard of these protests among Hindus, were you surprised that Deepak came in to stick up for you?

MYERS: Well, I’m not surprised. Because he knew, like I knew, that this movie is based on fictional teachings. And this was a person who has not seen the movie that is taking exception. So it’s like somebody from another country suspecting that Fredonia is about their country and they haven’t seen the movie yet. This movie is - it’s the force, you know. It’s Parador. It’s a make-em-up. And I just think he’s just awesome. I think he’s been such a source of inspiration to me. So I’m a big fan.