TORONTO — Mike Myers paid tribute to his late father and a slew of his fellow Canadian comedians while accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award at Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival on the weekend.
Myers described Eric Myers, who died in 1991, as a working class man from Liverpool, England, who “believed that having a sense of humour was more important than having money.”
The Toronto-born Wayne’s World and Austin Powers star recalled being just four years old when his dad took the family to Expo 67 in Montreal.
“As a Liverpudlian, my dad decided that not only would he not pay for a hotel but that we would camp,” said Myers. “And, of course, we wouldn’t camp in a real camp where we have to pay money so we ended up camping in the woods on government land for free.”
Myers recalled: “The next morning, while we were eating breakfast, we got crop-dusted by a plane spraying DDT. We stood there stunned, covered in white powder. Finally my dad, in true Liverpool tradition, said: ‘Alright, how quickly can we find this funny?'”
(During a Q&A session later, the SNL alumnus admitted fame has it perks but “it didn’t bring my dad back from the dead.”)
Myers, 52, was the only Canadian honoured at Friday’s light-hearted awards ceremony, which also recognized Kevin Hart, Ellie Kemper, Patton Oswalt and writer Armando Iannucci.
Myers used the opportunity to recognize the wealth of comedic talent in his native country.
“I’m very honoured to be a Canadian comedian,” he said.
“And I say that he is the boss but the truth is the real boss are the people who come to see my stuff and I’m very happy to say that you’ve all been a very nice boss, indeed, so thank you.”
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