Hi, everyone. Allow myself to introduce myself. I'm Em. And welcome to Danger Diorama, Episode 320, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Oh, wait, it's Verbal Diorama. Danger's my middle name. This is the podcast that's all about the history and legacy of movies, you know, and movies you don't. The groovy baby. Yeah, baby, yeah. And all of the other things that millennials said in 1997 when this movie came out. Welcome to Verbal Diorama. Whether you're a brand-new listener to this podcast, whether you're a returning listener, thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing to listen to this podcast. I am so happy to have you here for the history and legacy of Austin Powers, International man of mystery. And a huge thank you for continuing to listen and support this podcast. If you are a regular returning listener, thank you so much. It means so much to have you back. It means so much for your support and we have left October. October is spooky season for scary movies. And I'm not just saying this, but there were some truly brilliant movies on this podcast. In the month of October, we started the month with Candyman. The original 1992 movie went into Wes Craven's new Nightmare and then into Hocus Pocus. Then into the Evil Dead, the 1981 original, and most recently, Evil Dead 2. Which I was not going to do. But then I did the Evil Dead. And I just simply had to do Evil Dead 2. So we've basically gone from groovy to groovy, baby. That was unintentional. But truly, is there anything scarier than the world being blackmailed for $1 million? Here's the trailer for Austin Powers, International man of mystery.

Swinging London, 1967. Having thwarted an ambitious assassination plan by his arch nemesis, Dr. Evil, the British super agent and son loving hedonist Austin Powers has himself cryogenically frozen. Just in case the world ever requires his services again. Three long decades later, Dr. Evil threatens the world once again. And now the time is right to thaw out Austin Powers. Feeling like a fish out of water, the bespectacled hero tries to find his feet in a strange new world. And joins forces with brilliant young agent Vanessa Kensington. However, a lot has changed since the 1960s. Let's run through the cast. We have Mike Myers as Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. Elizabeth Hurley as Vanessa Kensington. Michael Yorke as Basil Exposition. Mimi Rogers as Mrs. Kensington. Robert Wagner as number two. Seth Green as Scott Evil. Fabiana Udenio as Alotta Fagina. And Mindy Stirling as Frau Farbissina. There are loads of cameos in this movie. We have Will Ferrell as Mustafa, Burt Bacharach as himself, Tom Arnold as the Texan in the bathroom, Carrie Fisher as the therapist. And interestingly, the UK release also features additional scenes that the US didn't get, including one featuring Christian Slater as the hypnotized guard, Rob Lowe as John Smith's friend and Kenny Preston as the Hooters waitress. Mr. Bigglesworth is played by Sphynx cat actor Ted Nude Gent, which I love because this is a movie that loves its puns. And so why would you not get Ted Nude Gent gent to play Mr. Bigglesworth? Austin Powers International man of Mystery was written by Mike Myers and directed by Jay Roach. The life of Sir Austin Danger Powers KBE was wild and fascinating in 1967. He was the ultimate gentleman spy. Womanizing hard partying and enjoying nothing more than mind bending drugs and promiscuous sex with many partners. He was also in his own band as well as a fashion photographer and photographed many of the supermodels of the day. Women wanted him and men wanted to be him. He was known for his Union Jack Shaguar, not Shagwar Shaguar. Here's jumbo jets, his crushed velvet suit, his Italian leather boots and that book about Swedish made penis enlarger pumps. It was a bestseller. But the thing he is most known for is his constant fight to rid the world of Dr. Evil. The Ministry of Defense used state of the art cryogenics technology to freeze Austin Powers in 1967 and revive him in 1997 to continue the fight against the tyranny of Dr. Evil who intends to steal a nuclear warhead and ransom the earth for $1 million. What do you mean that's not enough? Oh okay, four, $100 billion. And who was the real Austin Powers? Where did all the chest hair come from? And does he make you horny? Baby? Be honest. It's no secret that James Bond heavily inspired Austin Powers. But the main inspiration was somewhat a hell of a lot less famous. The story starts with of course, Mike Myers. He's featured on this podcast before a few times actually. For Shrek, which is episode 79, Shrek 2, episode 286, but also Wayne's World which is episode 199. In 1991, the year before Wayne's World, when Myers was a regular on SNL, his father died. He named his production company Eric's Boy in honor of Eric Myers. But Eric, who was A World War II veteran who hailed from Liverpool, also imparted the typical British wit and wisdom onto his Canadian born son. He introduced him to James Bond, Peter Sellers, the Beatles, the Goodies, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Peter Sellers also starred in the 1967 unofficial James Bond parody Casino Royale, which is completely separate to the official EON series. That movie also features Burt Bacharach. It was hearing the look of love from Casino Royale that set Myers into reminiscing about the 60s and about all of the 60s and 70s pop culture that his late father had loved. Myers loved James Bond. He studied the movies and all the tropes and wanted to create a loving homage. But James Bond parodies were and are nothing new. Not just Casino Royale, but also in the 60s, mostly in and around 1967, actually. There was Matt Helm, Our Man Flint and its sequel in like Flint, carry on spying, OK, Connery, come spy with me and into the 90s and 2000s with Spy Hard, Johnny English and its sequels, as well as American TV series Get Smart and its film adaptation. Even British kids TV show Danger Mouse spoofs Bond. The actual character of Austin Powers was created as the lead singer of the fictional band Mean Tea, consisting of Mike Myers, Susannah Hoffs, Matthew Sweet, Stuart Johnson and Christopher Ward. Susanna Hoffs from the Bangles, no less. The name Ming T came from the Ursula Andres film the 10th Victim, which features a fictional company called Ming Ti. That movie also features something akin to Fembots. The band all adopted 1960s personae and performed under pseudonyms, including Hoffs as Gillian Shagwell. That surname rings a bell with Myers as lead singer Austin Powers, who has a British accent. Myers would perform the accent. His then wife Robin Ruzan, including catchphrases, and she encouraged him to write a script based on the Powers character, partly as a tribute to his father and partly because he enjoyed playing the character. Myers wrote the bare bones of a script in 1995 after the successes of Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2, and showed it to Susanna Hoff's husband, director Jay Roach, who had made his directorial debut in 1990 with Zoo Radio. Roach gave him 10 pages of notes to tighten the concept and make it more of a loving, if sometimes little ribbing pastiche of the old Bond movies. Myers wanted to get the comedy made however he could, and the script landed in the lap of Michael DeLuca, then president of production at New Line Cinema, who invited Myers for a meeting where he did the character without costumes or props. DeLuca loved the originality of the script that it was something completely different to any studio based comedy. And since Myers was a Saturday Night Live veteran and Wayne's World had been so huge, DeLuca was completely on board. New Line would option the Austin Powers movie so long as they could secure a good director. J. Roach was not their first choice. Mike Myers lobbied for Roach to get the gig, even to founder and former CEO of New Line, Robert Shaye, who asked the simple question, who is this guy? They weren't just going to give the director gig to Mike Myers friend. Roach put together a directing reel including scenes from A Hard Day's Night, Our Man Flint, Danger, Diabolic and the Knack, which apparently wasn't very good according to Robert Shaye. But then he spoke to New Line honestly and passionately about Austin Powers and gave them his vision for the movie and that cinched it for him. He presented storyboards for the Fembots based on the castle anthrax scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where Sir Galahad is nearly thwarted by a group of seductive looking women. Chariot DeLuca agreed to greenlight the movie for $16.5 million and not a penny more. The hottest comedian of the 90s had just had an incredible 1994. Would he be willing to join this shagadelic cast? Mike Myers did seek out Jim Carrey originally for the role of Dr. Evil. Carrey was interested but had scheduling conflicts with Liar Liar. So Myers, with clear inspiration from Ernst Stavro Blofeld, stepped into a dual role of Austin and his nemesis Dr. Evil. He didn't spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called Mr. And it turned out to be a genius decision. The idea that these two men are two sides of the same coin. His Dr. Evil was mostly based on Donald Pleasant and partly based on SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels. Although Myers has always denied the inspiration was anything other than tiny. But it would lead to a falling out between Mike Myers and the Garth to his way Dana Carvey, who insisted Dr. Evil was based on his impression of Michael's. Dr. Evil started as Dr. Wicked, a human comedy show sketch between Myers and his comedy partner Neil Malarkey. A one man show of a generic Bond villain who just wants sharks with laser beams. And the stories behind the evil henchmen. Because there must be a place where all the henchmen hang out on lunch breaks. All the questions James Bond movies never address or answer. And the fact that Bond villains always monologue their intentions to the hero and he always outwits them in the end. The Dr. Evil Pinky joke was originally that he was unfrozen, but his hand was 10 minutes late, and so he was constantly warming up his hand. The fembots were taken partly from the $6 million man, the title sequence of the Knack, and one of the Matt Helm movies which starred Dean Martin. But the scene where Austin overpowers the fembots purely by his overt sexuality was done because that sort of flamboyant sexual confidence can be hilariously funny and corny. And Austin Powers isn't that serious about his sexiness. Austin's mojo would become more important in the sequel. But this is a man who can have bad teeth, inappropriate humor and a chest rug and be irresistible to women because, hey, women like men who make them laugh. It's a fact. The chest hair was also inspired by Bond, specifically one Bond, Sean Connery, who had an impressive manly chest. Connery stepped down from the role of James Bond in you Only Live Twice, which came out the same year. Austin Powers was originally set in 1967. Casting the rest of the movie. Myers wanted two names, specifically two actors he'd grown up watching in films from the 60s. Robert Wagner and Michael York. They were household names thanks to their earlier roles. For Wagner, that included A Kiss Before Dying, the Pink Panther and the Towering Inferno. And for York Cabaret, the Three Musketeers, Murder on the Orient Express and Logan's Run. Wagner for the role of number two, Dr. Evil's number two, and York for Basil Exposition, who, being completely honest, taught me what the word exposition meant. And I'm not joking, because I knew the word exposition, but I didn't actually really know what it meant until I saw Bazaar Exposition. And now whenever I think of Exposition, I always think of Basil Exposition. Elizabeth Hurley was mostly known as a model, as Hugh Grant's girlfriend, and for that Versace safety pin dress she wore to the premiere for Weddings and a Funeral. She'd had a small part in passenger 57 in 1992, and Mike Myers had her in mind for the role of Vanessa Kensington. Hurley's agent called her and her boyfriend, Hugh Grant, was thrilled, encouraged her to take the role, saying Myers was one of the funniest comedians on the planet. Hurley would say in recent interviews how wonderful her time on set was, how lovely Mike Myers was, and how much he made her laugh on set. Some of her corpsing ended up in the finished film. The first day on set for Hurley was then filming the spinning bed on the plane scene. And Seth Green, lovely Seth Green. He would go on to star as Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the same year as Austin Powers. He got the script for Carrot Topps Chairman of the Board and Austin Powers in the same week. He was performing in a Mamet play at the time, so he was all about actor prep and decided to play Scott Evil. Completely straight and sincere. Scott is the only one who's in a drama, not a comedy. The iconic shushing scene between Dr. Evil and Scott was completely unscripted and it's just a testament to the chemistry between Myers and Green. The original shooting script for the film reveals several more James Bond parallels which were never filmed, including a post credits scene where with a cameo from a familiar face, we see Austin from behind talking to a girl in a bathing suit. He turns around to reveal that it's Austin Powers played by Roger Moore with the same glasses and teeth. And the final line is Roger Moore saying, oh, behave. We would get big name cameos in these movies, specifically in Gold Member, as well as Michael Caine as Nigel Powers, Austin's father, but we would never get a cameo from Roger Moore or Sean Connery or any Bond actor. Presumably to keep the two super spies separate. Because you never want to cross the stream when you're dealing with super spies. And obviously James Bond is known for many things. The martini shaken, not stirred. The classic Bond James Bond, the beautiful women by his side, their cars, the suit, and also the variety of opening title sequences and songs. Austin Powers had to have a memorable opening sequence. J Roach didn't want Austin Powers to only be seen as a Bonds booth, but also inspired by other things like Beatles culture, Carnaby street and Austin's introduction was specifically borrowed from the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night with a Bob Fosse inspired dance number choreographed by Marguerite Pomerhn Derricks. She did the choreography for the whole movie including the fembot scene and the opening number. She has been featured several times on this podcast for her choreography in Showgirls and Spider Man 3. And she also worked with Demi Moore on Striptease. Her choreography for Austin to Destroy the Fembots was actually the same moves that Derricks had used for Demi Moore in Striptease and Elizabeth Berkeley in Showgirls. It's a good time actually to mention Demi Moore because her production company Moving Pictures produced Austin Powers along with sisters Suzanne and Jennifer Todd and they originally wanted Marguerite Pomerhn Derricks to be a Go Go dancer in the movie. Derricks didn't want to be in the movie, she wanted to choreograph it. And originally the opening sequence wasn't a dance number until she suggested a fussy or Jerome Robbin's west side Story style inspired sequence. Mike Myers studied tap dance as a child and their idea was to make it fun, kind the haphazard in style and feel, indie, with as low a budget as possible. But it needed a rhythm you could dance to and you needed a song that made people want to dance, that felt 60s in tone, that just screamed Austin Powers as much as young girls in the street would. Austin Powers was based on mostly obscure 60s movies, but it needed a well known, catchy song that would become synonymous with Austin Powers. Enter the legendary Quincy Jones and his 1962 song Soul Bossa Nova. Chris Douridas, the music consultant on the movie, was a DJ for KCRW Santa Monica, and he suggested Soul Bossa Nova. Jones had worked with Myers on SNL when he hosted in 1990, and he happily gave permission to use Soul Bossa Nova as a unique sounding song you could dance to, which then set the whole title sequence. That title sequence had a skeleton crew made up of members of a teen dance company aged between 12 and 17 years old dancing on the Paramount backlot after one day of rehearsal. And they got it in the bag after one day of filming. Soul Bossa Nova then experienced a resurgence and now is simply known as the Austin Powers theme. And this was a movie where everything had to be tight. I'll behave, but also tight as in scheduling due to the low budget. But that didn't mean a lack of production design. Myers wanted Austin's world to be psychedelic, swinging, fun and colourful. He wanted Coca Cola reds AT&T blues and Kodak yellows, with Dr. Evil's world gray and black and sharp in comparison. The costume designer here is Dina Apple, and she would be responsible for one of the most recognizable iconic characters of 90s cinema. She'd also worked with the Todd sisters and Demi Moore on Now and Then, and she met with Maya's A Roach to talk about the costumes. In the script, Myers had described Austen in a velvet suit and frilly Cravat and Dr. Evil in a Blofeld suit. That was the launching point that she had to work with. The whole script was described in vivid colour. She scoured 60s fashion magazines and books, watched films of the era, and it was decided that as the ultimate gentleman spy and international man of mystery, that Austen should have an extensive wardrobe, each vintage in style but unique in color, keeping the same silhouette, but changing the fabrics to create an instantly recognisable character while keeping the cost down. All of Austin and Dr. Evil Suits were made at Universal Studios by Taylor Tommy Velasco. The shape of Austin's suits came from Apple's research with Beatle George Harrison, the strongest influence for Austin. He had a formality of dress with great style and flair, but he had a sense of humor. All of Austin's shirts were made by the Anto custom shirt maker in Beverly Hills. And for this movie they had vintage black Chelsea boots. For everyone else in the movie, it was important to keep to a strict color code. Graphic and clear colors and high contrast patterns only. Apple was also inspired by Paco Rabanne's conceptual art with plastics replacing fabric and misses And Vanessa Kensington's black leather catsuits, a clear homage to Emma Peele from the Avengers, which was created by Universal Studios dressmaker John Hales. The rest of Vanessa's costumes were designed in collaboration with Freddy Lieber, a stylist Elizabeth Hurley worked with regularly at the time. For Dr. Evil, his costumes were lifted straight from the Blofeld catalogue. But they still needed to feel period accurate for the 60s. They had a narrow collar and a hidden placket front to eliminate the need for visible buttons. The color needed to be gray to fit into the strict color palette. The silhouette had to differ between Austin and Dr. Evil, even though they were being played by the same person. So Apple gave Dr. Evil's clothing a barrel chest, which was done with a padded undersuit. The costumes for the extras were made by Joe Torgren, including for the henchmen uniforms and Dr. Evil's black and white army. The designs and outfits for the Fembots were straight out of Paco Rabanne, Barbarella and Danger Diabolik. The boob guns were hidden specifically by the grommets in the outfits. And the actors would wear bras that could produce tiny sparks and smoke. The actual gun barrels were on dully boobs. The idea that Dr. Evil wouldn't be able to stand Austin and Vanessa in civilian clothes and make sure they changed outfits to be captured came straight from Dr. No, where they suddenly change clothes when they're captured. Dr. Evil would have them changed into something more evil appropriate before being escorted into his lair, which is where the silver leather combo comes from. Vanessa's iconic silver dress had 60s influence, but was also based on a contemporary silhouette. John Hales created the silver dress and Clint Bryant created the boots. They shot 25 takes of the nudity blocking scene. After Austin and Vanessa are married, they just kept shooting until everything lined up perfectly. It took a lot of rehearsal, with Myers having to follow a pattern on the rug and Hurley going off a reverse polarity screen camera. It was shot in the Scientology center in LA with both actors completely nude with their bits covered in red sticky tape. And despite Myers appearing naked in various points in the movie with things covering his modesty for comedic effect, when it came to the MPAA rating, Austin Powers was originally rated R. The nudity blocking was fine, as were the movie's cheeky phallic references, such as Elizabeth Hurley biting the sausage and holding up melons. They were the butt of the problem. It was Mike Myers butt that was the problem. Specifically in the unfreezing process scene when Austin is brought back into action by the government. The sequence of him thawing out of his cryogenic sleep originally featured brief shots of Mike Myers full frontal backtal butt, which ultimately needed to be cut to earn the film its PG30 rating. And out of this whole movie, which is full of actually really funny jokes, Mike Myers favorite joke in the whole movie is the slow motion steamroller chase. He would say in an interview with Vulture. It can only exist with the key shot, which is the wide shot that shows you the spatial relationship between the guy and the slow moving thing. And yet he's acting as if it's fast. That's inflexibility on his part. We recognize him to be a machine. He's meta. He's gonna die. And we laugh, unquote. And while Austin would eventually be united in Goldmember, Mike Myers got his own royal seal of approval in 2019 when he visited Buckingham palace after going through security clearance, he saw the changing of the guard and the band came out and played the Austin Powers theme just for Mike Myers. I'm not sure if the late queen was a fan of the character, but I'm sure that she was because obviously Austin Powers did a lot for our country. Apparently the band knew that Mike Myers was going to be there and they played the song. The guards are famously not supposed to talk, but one of them said to Myers, I bet you've heard that song before, Mr. Myers. And Mike Myers would say it was one of the most incredible experiences of his life. Speaking of incredible experiences, let's segue into the obligatory Keanu reference of this episode. And if you are new here and you're not sure what this is, this is where I will try and link every movie that I feature with Keanu Reeves. Because he's not a spy, but he is the ultimate gentleman. And I thought this would be really tricky until I realized that Austin Powers influenced John Wick in a way. And I found this really interesting article in that we never see the high table in the John Wick series. And apparently this is because of Austin Powers and because Austin Powers mocked the international organization so well. Dr. Evil is so evil that all other evil organizations are the Diet Coke of evil. And so in some ways, Austin Powers influenced Keanu Reeves. And that is the best way I can link Keanu Reeves to Austin Powers. I have briefly mentioned the music and the Burt Bacharach and the soul Bossa Nova. But what is Austin Powers without the groovy music? Baby, it is a soundtrack full of really great music. I'm a huge fan of Soul Bossa Nova and there is a photograph of me dressed up for a work fancy dress competition, which I won by the way, as Austin Powers, where I had a copy of Soul Bossa Nova on my phone and I basically went around the office to Soul Bossa Nova saying Austin Powers phrases to work colleagues. And this was a long time ago. This was like 10ish years ago. But I won the fancy dress competition at work dressed as Austin Powers. So I'm a big fan of soul Bossa Nova and who isn't a big fan of Burt Bacharach? But this is genuinely an album full of great stuff. Mike Myers specifically chose the Divinyls because they had a song called I Touch Myself and he specifically wanted that in this movie. This soundtrack was certified gold for selling 500,000 copies in the US and silver in the UK for sending 60,000 copies. And the soundtrack contains everything featured in the movie except for Secret Agent man and these Boots Are Made for Walkin. After the first test screening of Austin Powers International man of mystery to a 100 person audience, they were asked to raise their hands if they were familiar with James Bond. Only two people in this audience raised their hands, and this concerned New Line Cinema. And the audience response prompted them to tell creator and star Mike Myers that the film would need massive rewrites and reshoots in order to be salvaged. But Mike Myers was so confident in his character and in his vision that he refused to change the movie. And that was probably a good thing because Austin Powers International man of Mystery was released on 2 May 1997, where it opened at second at the US box office behind Breakdown. It dropped a fourth in its second week, but it didn't leave the top 10 for nine weeks. The UK release was different to the US release. We got extra scenes including the dead henchman scenes and the cameo from Christian Slater. But we also had a scene cut which referenced the adultery of the then Prince Charles. The movie was released here in the UK shortly after Princess Diana's death in August 1997, so the royal family joke was removed. It was reinstated for the VHS release and is in the version on Amazon prime. On its $16.5 million budget, it would earn $53.9 million domestically in the US and $13.8 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $67.7 million. It didn't do as well as expected here in the UK, but then it was released in September 1997 just after Princess Diana's death. It grew a steady following on VHS and ended up selling well on home video and critically. This is the most critically well received entry in the series with 73% on rotten tomatoes, with a critics consensus of a light and goofy comedy which provides laughs largely due to performances and screenwriting by Myers, There are obviously a couple of sequels Austin Powers the Spy who shagged me in 1999 and Austin Powers in Gold member in 2002. They've been talking about Austin Powers for for two decades. I hasten to add I'm a big fan of the Spy who Shagged Me, so chances of that coming to the podcast soon are quite full. I would say Austin Powers is the rare spoof that actually creates his own world rather than rely on the pre-existing stuff. You should know if you've seen a Bond movie you'll get the jokes, but if not, it never feels like you're missing out by not knowing because it's funny on its own rather than funny by comparison. This is a franchise that has produced two sequels and obviously Austin Powers has entered the cultural lexicon despite the obscure influences, it seems the character was destined to become a hit because of the shagadelic catchphrases and the unbridled endearing goofiness. Everyone knows who Austin Powers is. It is easier to dress as Austen than it is James Bond because Austen is more recognizable. And trust me, add soul Bossa Nova to the mix and you've got a winning costume. Because I know this Making any sort of spoof is hard. Ask any of the people who made the variety of spoofs in the 2000s. James Bond liberated Austin Powers rather than confined it. By shifting societal attitudes from the 60s to the 90s, Austin Powers is able to subtly question how the attitudes of the 60s had changed, whether it was making a statement about the intrinsic corniness of sexual attitudes or simply pointing out the more manufactured elements of popular spy films. As a result, Austin Powers appeals to a large audience, even if they're unaware of James Bond or Peter Sellers or Dudley Moore. The movie being set in 1967 was more than just being 30 years prior to 1997. 1967 set the stage for 1968, which some dubbed the Year of Revolt. Protests against the Vietnam War were already taking place all over the world by 1967. Homosexuality was partially decriminalized in the UK for over 21s in 1967. It was also the year that Sean Connery, the original James Bond, resigned from his role as a character who had established the pop culture phenomenon that was James Bond. Austin Powers is metatextual in that incorporates the subtext of the Bond series by having the same actor play both hero and villain. In the scene where Mike Myers As Dr. Evil tells Mike Myers as Austin Powers, we're not so different, you and I. The movie directly addresses the tendency for villains to represent James Bond's dark side from Dr. No onwards, and the series would later establish Austin and Dr. Evil, aka Ducky Powers, as long lost brothers, something James Bond also leaned into for Spectre with Bond and Blofeld discovered to also be brothers. Famously, Austin Powers not only influenced Bond, he also evolved Bond. In a 2014 interview, Daniel Craig said of the change to make Bond more serious from 2006, quote, we had to destroy the nick because Mike Myers f'd us, unquote, making it impossible to do the gags of earlier Bond films. The Austin Powers satirized, I have loved Austin Powers for a long time. I grew up with these movies and honestly I worried a little how well it would all hold up. And truthfully I feel like it does. Austen is the epitome of what we think masculinity should be. Power guns, beautiful women. But he's also remarkably humble and awkward and sweet. He's into free love and promiscuity, but he also has a Swedish made penis enlarger pump. He has no inner monologue and mentions how beautiful Vanessa is and how she probably shags like a minx, but also refuses to have sex with her when she's drunk. He infiltrates a lot of vagina in more ways than one, but to him it's just a job, part of being an international spy. But there's a difference between sex and love, and Austin powers recognizes it. Dr. Evil thinks that Frau Farbissina's fembots will take Austin down, but his sexuality actually seduces them so much their heads explode. Austin Powers basically suggests that women prefer goofy vulnerability, and it's so wildly true. Dr. Evil is formulating diabolical schemes only to be thwarted by Number Two pointing out that modern corporate enterprise has been doing these things for years and continues to do so. And Scott Evil is genuinely one of the great comedy creations. He's a disappointment to his father, and yet he's considerably smarter than him in every way. Comedies from the 90s rarely hold up. They're usually full of casual racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and sexual assault masquerading as normal. There are jokes towards mentally disabled people, physically disabled people. Austin Powers refrains from making mean spirited jokes and subverts many of the tropes of spy movies and comedy movies. Austin Powers makes fun of Austin Powers and in doing so it makes him lovable, endearing, and actually quite sexy. It feels ahead of its time in so many ways, and yet he is a man out of time, but completely perfect in this time. By that time I mean 1997. I'm not sure Austin as an entity would work in the 2020s, but I'm down for Mike Myers to prove me wrong. One podcast episode titled Austin Powers International man of Mystery. This sort of thing is My Bag Baby by M from Verbal Diorama I'm not going to deny it. I guess this is my bag baby. In the meantime, I have one simple request and that is to have sharks with freaking laser beams attached to their heads. Does anyone know a stockist thank you for listening. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Austin Powers International Man Mystery and thank you for your continued support of this podcast. If you want to get involved and you want to help this podcast grow and reach more people, you could leave a rating or review wherever you found this podcast. You can find me and follow me on social media where you can like post, share posts, comment on posts, etc. I am @verbaldiorama. Or you can just tell your friends and family about this podcast or about this episode. And if you like this episode on Austin Powers International man of Mystery, you might also like the episode that I did on Wayne's World, which was episode 199. I love Wayne's World as well. Again, another movie that I grew up watching and I think it's hilariously funny. I guess I'm just a huge fan of 90s Mike Myers. Give me feedback on my recommendation. Let me know what you think. The next episode. Again, something wildly different. In New York City, a virus created to cure cancer wipes out 90% of mankind. The only human left is US army virologist Robert Neville. He is Immune to the virus, the rest are nocturnal creatures. Neville's only companion is his German shepherd, Sam, and the mannequins he talks to to alleviate loneliness. I Am Legend but enough about me. The next episode is on the 2007 adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend, starring Will Smith. I am very excited to be talking about this movie and this is a movie that has so much to talk about, especially that ending and what that ending was supposed to be. Please join me next episode for the history and legacy of I Am Legend. If you enjoy what I do for this podcast and you want to support an indie podcaster who does all of this on her own, if you have some spare change you can financially contribute to the upkeep of this podcast. You're under no obligation. This podcast is free and it always will be free. However, if you get value out of what I do and you can afford to help, there are a couple of ways that you can. You can make a one off donation@verbaldiorama.com tips or you can subscribe to the patreon at verbaldiorama.com/patreon all money made goes back into this podcast by paying for things like software subscriptions and website hosting or new equipment. Huge thank you to the amazing patrons of Verbal Diorama. Oh behave. Simon, Laurel, Derek, Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Dave, Stuart, Nicholas. So Kev, Heather, Danny, Stu, Brett, Philip N. Xenos, Sean, Rhino, Philip K, Adam, Elaine, Kyle, Aaron and Connor. Yeah baby, yeah. If you want to get in touch, you can email verbal dioramaa@gmail.com you can also go to the website verbaldiorama.com and fill out the contact form. Oh wait. I guess I was an Embot all along. And finally,

Bye.

Story.