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Much as the legend has grown that Mike Myers' Austin Powers character Dr. Evil is a Lorne Michaels parody, Myers insists "The Lorne of it is just a little tiny overlay." Speaking last month at Vulture Festival, the actor explained that both he and Michaels are Canadian, but Michaels' accent is "educated." To explain what bits of Michaels' personality made it into Dr. Evil, Myers recalled a trip to the Saturday Night Live boss' Hamptons home in the '90s. 

Myers recalled being a bit awed by the surroundings ("It was like, 'That’s Mick’s room, or do you want Keith’s room?' And I was like, 'Either’s fine. Couch works! The car works!'") and spending time with "people who own elemental things, like, 'That’s Bill Smith, he owns bay salt.'" He shared: 

"Meanwhile, I’m like 'Hi! I’m from Scarborough!' And so the first thing I said as a joke was, 'Gee, Mister Gatsby, it’s so great of you to invite me! All these people are so crazy! I see those parties across the lake and that big green light!” It got a big laugh, and Lorne looked around like, 'Hmm. My latest creation.'"

You can see a bit of Dr. Evil in the anecdote, but the truth is the inspiration behind the character "was Donald Pleasance forever," Myers said. Long before Austin Powers (and before meeting Michaels), he'd done a sketch with his co*edy partner Neil Mullarkey called "Dr. Wicked." And that sketch was based on an old idea "to do a one-man show of a generic Bond villain, An Evening With … some Bond villain talking about things like 'It’s really hard to get sharks with laser beams!' The truth behind the clichés," Myers explained. "Like, if you have a private army, well presumably you’d need a private cafeteria for the army, too! All the questions that never get answered on those."

Ultimately, Dr. Evil came more from the James Bond canon, which studied Myers "inside and out" and "knew all the tropes." He said, "All Bond villains tell you everything. They all have an affliction. The Dr. Evil pinkie was originally that he was unfrozen but his hand was ten minutes late, and so he’s constantly warming up his hand, right? And then he goes, 'Look at me, I’m a freak!' and he’s in no way a freak."