Actor Mike Myers will publish a book this fall.Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Always an enthusiast for true patriot love, the comedian Mike Myers has often found ways to work in winking Canadian references to his Hollywood-based film work. A doughnut shop is named for hockey legend Stan Mikita in Wayne's World, the Toronto Maple Leafs are a heavy presence in The Love Guru and the Soul Bossa Nova theme music of the Canadian game show Definition is sampled in his Austin Powers franchise.
And so it should come to the surprise of no one that the funnyman's first book will be less an autobiography and more a celebration of his home and native land. On Tuesday, Doubleday Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada, announced forthcoming non-fiction from the filmmaker and former Saturday Night Live star. In a press release, publisher Kristin Cochrane described the semi-memoir as a "deeply personal and insightful take on Canadians and Canada as a whole."
Born and raised in the oft-maligned Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Myers is responsible for coining pop-culture catch phrases such as, "Yeah baby!", "Now I am as happy as a little girl!" and "Party on," among a half-dozen others.
The book, yet to be titled, is set to be published in late fall, 2016.
"I'm an actor, producer and writer, but no description of me is complete without saying I'm a Canadian," says Myers, in a droll press statement. "In 1967, Canada turned 100. Canadians all across the country made Centennial projects. This book is my Centennial project. I'm handing it in a little late … sorry."
Since writing, producing and starring in the critically savaged 2008 comedy The Love Guru, Myers has been something of an international man of mystery. He was virtually unrecognizable as a British officer in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 epic Inglourious Basterds, and supplied the voice for a giant green ogre in the final Shrek film one year later.
Late last year, however, Myers popped by Saturday Night Live during actor Ryan Gosling's opening monologue. Wearing a Maple Leaf jersey, Myers comically encouraged his fellow Canadian to be proud of a true-north heritage that included Justin Bieber and Degrassi Junior High.
Brad Wheeler