Alice Cooper came to the set under the impression that he would be performing musically for the film, with one line. Upon arrival, he was surprised to be handed an entire monologue to memorize and shoot with a small amount of time to do so. However, Cooper is known to be a history buff outside of his music career.
Mike Myers fought for the inclusion of the Queen song "Bohemian Rhapsody". But Paramount and film's producer, Lorne Michaels, rejected it at first. The studio reasoned that the rights were too expensive, while Michaels said that the song was too old. He suggested Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle", because it was more current. Myers threatened to quit the production if he didn't get what he wanted, and eventually the studio gave in to his demand.
The film is credited with reviving the popularity of the British rock band Queen in the US through its use of their 1975 song "Bohemian Rhapsody". They had dropped in popularity throughout the 1980s in the US and hadn't even bothered to include the country in their final two international tours. This film caused the song to become a bigger hit in the US chart than it had been first time around, peaking at #2. Unfortunately, Freddie Mercury didn't live to see the song's renaissance as he passed away just a few months before the film's release. However, according to guitarist Brian May, Mercury did give permission for the song to be used and saw the clips while he was close to death because Mike Myers had sent a tape and wanted him to see it.
Is the only Saturday Night Live (1975) spin-off movie to date (including The Blues Brothers (1980)) that has grossed over $100 million.
When Wayne and Garth are on the hood of the car watching airplanes fly over, Garth asks Wayne if he ever thought Bugs Bunny was attractive in women's clothing. The comment was an ad-lib by Dana Carvey made while waiting for an incoming plane to finally come in to scene. Mike Myers was laughing at something else Dana said at another time during the same scene, and the director decided to edit Mike's laugh after the Bugs Bunny joke, because it looked better than a fake laugh.
The scene where Wayne's ex-girlfriend Stacy (Lara Flynn Boyle) tries to patch up their relationship by buying him a gun rack is based on some truth. Mike Myers once dated a girl who apparently broke up with him due to his preoccupation with his comedy. A week later, after some thought, she tried to reconcile by buying Mike a gun-rack. To her, this was an absurd joke that she had hoped Mike would appreciate. He didn't, and the two remained apart. When the movie was released, and Mike's ex viewed the movie with her new steady boyfriend, she was mortified not only to learn that the gun-rack anecdote had been written into the film, but also she was shocked to see that the main characters referred to the Stacy character as a 'psycho hose-beast'. Some time later, Myers telephoned his former girl, attempting to apologize for including a very detracting version of her in the movie.
Rob Lowe has said he discovered his "hitherto untapped gift for comedy" after meeting Mike Myers, who would later cast him in the Austin Powers sequels. The film is credited with reviving his career following the sex-tape scandal.
Mike Myers originally didn't want to share the limelight with Dana Carvey. Myers had originally developed the Wayne character as a solo character while performing with Second City. But when Mike joined SNL, in order to get the sketch off the ground, he needed to pair up with an already established cast member. So, the character of Garth was added for Saturday Night Live (1975). At the time, Carvey was arguably the bigger star.
As any music store employee in the seventies will attest, it was extremely common for young guitarists to go to music stores, try out an instrument, and then use that as an excuse to try to impress others by playing the intro section to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". Hearing this a couple of dozen times every Saturday became a true test of patience. Hence the sign: "No 'Stairway to Heaven'" when Wayne plays the guitar in the store.
Tia Carrere sang all her own vocals on songs she performed in the film, and her cover songs, such as Sweet's "The Ballroom Blitz", were included on the film's soundtrack album.
The scene with Wayne and Garth talking on the hood of their car was the last scene filmed. Since everyone was tired and just wanted the movie done, they ad-libbed it.
Dana Carvey did not learn the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody" prior to filming the scene where everyone is singing along to it, and was reportedly displeased with the take of that scene used in the film because he was obviously not singing, just moving his mouth in vague relation to the lyrics.
While filming the "Bohemian Rhapsody" sequence, both Mike Myers and Dana Carvey developed severe pain in their necks from all the head banging. There are scenes later in the movie where it becomes apparent they are trying to move their necks as little as possible.
When they filmed the scene which Wayne and Cassandra talk in Cantonese, Tia Carrere had no idea what Mike Myers was saying.
The "Stairway to Heaven" guitar riff was changed for the international, cable, and videotape releases to a generic riff because of disputes in obtaining rights to the first five notes of the song, which appear only in the U.S. theatrical release.
Mike Myers said filming was "a blur," because his father's health was dwindling at the same time. "I remember finishing the film, then I remember my dad dying," he said in an interview in 2013.
Garth describes a (wholly made up) The Twilight Zone (1959) story. Donna Dixon (Dreamwoman) played a stewardess in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).
Dana Carvey stated in interviews to promote this film during its theatrical run that he developed severe pain in his jaw due to Garth's underbite, and that he spent his nights after filming had wrapped for the day with bags of ice held to the sides of his face.
According to Penelope Spheeris, Mike Myers was a nightmare to work with, and that she "hated that bastard for years." For example, he arrived on set one day to discover that the snack table only had butter and not margarine for his bagel. Myers, who suffers from low blood sugar, became enraged, flipped the table over, stormed off the set, and did not come out of his trailer for hours. She assigned her daughter to be his assistant. Spheeris told Entertainment Weekly: "He (Myers) was emotionally needy and got more difficult as the shoot went along. You should have heard him bitching when I was trying to do that 'Bohemian Rhapsody' scene: "I can't move my neck like that! Why do we have to do this so many times? No one is going to laugh at that!" To this day, I have this image of my daughter sitting on this little cooler, looking at me, like, 'Mom, I fucking hate you." However, Spheeris and Myers have reconciled since. In 2008, she revealed that after seeing him in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), she was so impressed that she thought, "I forgive you, Mike. You can be moody, you can be a jerk, you can be things that others of us can't be, because you are profoundly talented. And I forgive you."
Mike Myers said in 2013 that he didn't think including the Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) reference would be funny, but that "people went shithouse over it."
Mike Myers and Penelope Spheeris argued over the final cut of the film. Myers then blocked Spheeris from directing the 1993 sequel.
Mike Myers appears in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) as an EMI executive who refuses to air "Bohemian Rhapsody" because it's too long and kids need a song that they can "bang their heads to in a car." This is a nod, of course, to the scene in "Wayne's World" where Wayne and crew are singing that song in the car. Additionally, the inclusion of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in "Wayne's World" was responsible for Queen's resurgence in the U.S.
A teaser trailer for the film was released in November 1991 preceding The Addams Family (1991), where Wayne and Garth sing the Addams Family theme song in the grave-yard set of that movie.
In the 1992 book "Wayne's World: Extreme Close-Up," which recapped sketches and previewed the movie, Wayne's profile lists his occupation as "International Man of Mystery," and for "Sex," it says, "Yes, please," suggesting that Mike Myers had Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) in mind back then.
Wayne Campbell's uniquely American slang proved a challenge for translators into foreign languages (Wayne's line "And monkeys might fly out of my butt!" was translated into Spanish for Latin American audiences as "When Judgment Day comes" [Cuándo llegue el día del juicio.])
Fender made a special run of "Wayne's World" signature Stratocaster guitars in the 90's after the movie became a hit. They were modeled after the white "Excalibur" guitar in the movie, with a "Wayne's World" logo engraved on the neck plate. They were discontinued but are available every so often used.
Pictures of Wayne and Garth in Garth's bedroom are from earlier Saturday Night Live (1975) sketches.
Robin Ruzan, who played a waitress at Stan Mikita's Donuts, was married to Mike Myers from 1993 until 2006.
Wayne tells Cassandra that Crucial Taunt are "Double Live Gonzo!, Intensities in Ten Cities, Live at Budokon". The first two are Ted Nugent live albums and the third is a Cheap Trick live album.
Two "No Stairway to Heaven" signs were made for the film. The one used in the movie spells out the whole phrase, while a second one, not used in the film, simply read "Stairway to Heaven" and had a "no cross" through it (similar to "no parking" signs). The one not used in the movie was featured on Pawn Stars, being sold by someone who had worked in the guitar shop used in the movie, along with some other Wayne's World memorabilia.
When the plane flies over Wayne and Garth, the plane seen from underneath is actually a four-foot-long model.
Cassandra's horrible jungle themed music video is a possible reference to Pearl Jam, who reportedly went through the same thing for Pearl Jam: Even Flow (1992). They were so unhappy with the finished result that they prevented its release and swore off music videos forever.
Rock singer and actor Meat Loaf makes a cameo as Tiny, the bouncer outside the Gasworks heavy metal nightclub.
A poster for Mary Lambert's film Pet Sematary (1989) is seen on a wall. At the time, it was the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman, a record that this movie would break many times over.
Mike Myers originally wanted Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out" in the film, but Cooper's manager Shep Gordon convinced him to use "Feed My Frankenstein" instead. It was Myers's first meeting with Gordon and it made such a positive impression on him that they formed a friendship. Myers directed a documentary about Gordon, titled Supermensch (2013).
The character of Garth was barely in the original script. Dana Carvey would add more to his character in the script, only to find that Mike Myers would then take his ideas out. This caused Dana to quit the movie just weeks before shooting. He had to be convinced to come back, which he obviously did. But, Dana would return only if Mike agreed to two conditions. He wanted free reign to ad-lib on set, and to contribute to the development of his character, which Mike agreed to both.
The scene with Alice Cooper singing "Feed My Frankenstein" was to feature more musicians that were on the recording of the song. Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira) who was part of the backing vocals; and Nikki Sixx, who plays the bass on the track, were asked to be in the scene, but couldn't make it due to scheduling conflicts. The guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai were scheduled to appear, but couldn't make it at the last minute due to flight difficulties.
"Stan Mikita's Donuts", a fictional donut shop, is named after the famous Chicago Blackhawks hockey player. The scenes at Mikita's were shot at a Tim Horton's, which is in fact a real donut shop chain. Tim Horton himself was a famous Canadian hockey player. The police officer in the shop is Officer Koharski. This could be a reference to retired National Hockey League referee Don Koharski who was told by New Jersey Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld to "have another donut, you fat pig" after a playoff game.
Although Wayne and Garth live in Aurora, Illinois, a western suburb approximately 35 miles west of Chicago, not a single frame of the movie was shot there. Mike Myers said that he had never been to Aurora, but "liked the sound of the word." After some research, he also thought Aurora's demographics were similar to his hometown of Scarborough, Ontario.
Mike Myers wanted the film to be about a local cable access show because hosting one was a lifelong dream of his. In 1992, he explained that he never had one in real life because he "couldn't get around to filling out the forms and stuff."
Mike Myers rewrote the script for "Wayne's World" so many times that director Penelope Spheeris had to institute a new rule to him: "If you give me something new, it has to be 24 hours before. Because if the prop guys have to get a gun rack in 10 minutes, that's not gonna work."
When Wayne is seen lying with Cassandra on top of her bed in his underwear, he is not wearing his hat. It is the only scene in which Wayne is seen without his hat.
The Gasworks bar in the movie is based on the Heavy Metal bar in Toronto named The Gasworks which closed in 1993.
True to his subsequent reputation, Mike Myers was reportedly very difficult to work with throughout the production.
Alan and Neil both appear in plenty of scenes during the course of the movie, but never actually have their names spoken or referred to at any point within the film.
"Wayne's World" was green-lit by "Paramount" in June 1991, with a forty-day filming schedule that began August 2, 1991 in Los Angeles, California. Principal photography was described as "hectic", partly due to the lead actors' need to return to their roles on Saturday Night Live by the end of September 1991. The film was director Penelope Spheeris's first major studio project. She admitted to being nervous during production, but stated that she was happy with the finished product.
When Wayne is lying in bed with Cassandra, he asks her if she'll still love him during his "hanging with Ravi Shankar" phase, and his "bloated, purple, dead on a toilet" phase. The "Ravi Shankar" phase refers to George Harrison, who met the famed Indian sitar player in the mid-1960s and became good friends with the artist, eventually bringing an Indian influence into The Beatles albums "Rubber Soul", "Revolver", and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". The "dead on a toilet phase" refers to Elvis Presley, who died of a heart attack from too many pills while sitting on the toilet.
"Paramount Pictures" was initially on the fence about backing the film. The sketch did well on "Saturday Night Live (1975)" and the film grossed over $18 million on opening weekend, but Mike Myers has said the first reaction was a note from the studio saying they didn't fully understand the concept.
Stan Mikita's Donuts doesn't actually exist. Mikita, a former Chicago Blackhawks hockey player, told Blackhawks Magazine in 2009 that when Lorne Michaels realized Aurora was right outside of Chicago, they thought it was the perfect opportunity to give their local fictional hangout a more relatable theme.
Overseas marketing and dubbing proved to be quite challenging, since much of the humor relied on slang and pop culture references that were totally unfamiliar to audiences outside North America. The Laverne & Shirley (1976) parody in particular caused much bewilderment when it was screened for potential distributors in France.
A brief scene in the film depicts eight cars impaled by a large spike. The location of this site was located in Berwyn, Illinois. It was called Spindle. Created in 1989, the site was deconstructed in 2008. Dustin Shuler, creator of Spindle, passed away two years after the demolishing.
When Wayne is interviewing the sponsor, played by Brian Doyle-Murray, he writes on the back of his index card, "This man has no penis". This may be an in-joke alluding to Ghostbusters (1984), when Bill Murray (brother of Brian) says "This man has no dick".
During the street hockey scene, Stacey goes by on a bike, and says "Hi, Wayne," before colliding with a parked car. The trailer uses an alternate take, in which she is on roller skates.
When Rob Lowe is pitching the arcade sponsorship to Wayne and Garth in the restaurant, he says "literally" very drawn out, which would later become his catchphrase on Parks and Recreation (2009).
The song that can be heard in the first Stan Mikita's Donuts scene when Stacey gives Wayne the gun rack is "Everything About You" by Ugly Kid Joe.
The theme music of Mission: Impossible (1966), also created by Paramount, can be heard in two scenes: The scene in which Garth gets his stun gun outside the Gasworks heavy metal nightclub. When Garth, Terry, Neil, and Phil break into the satellite television station to steal equipment, at which they are caught by Russell and they convince him to aid them.
When Wayne and Garth are backstage with Alice Cooper, Garth is still wearing the electric belt used in a prior scene when he zaps a guy at a concert.
When Mike Myers asked Dana Carvey to play Garth in the Wayne's World sketches on Saturday Night Live (1975), Myers told Carvey that Garth is the guy who really worships Wayne and that it was his main thing.
This is the second film based on Saturday Night Live (1975) material, the first being The Blues Brothers (1980).
In the scene where Garth dances to "Foxy Lady", Dana Carvey was just supposed to sit down, look over at his crush and then the camera zooms in on his face. But, Dana completely improvised the dancing and lip-synching. Penelope Spheeris decided it was too funny to not put in the movie, but Mike Myers was extremely upset about Dana's improvisation.
Michael DeLuise's jacket has "TR" written on it. TR (The Rejected) was the name of the group of punk kids in Suburbia (1983), also directed by Penelope Spheeris.
Following the Alice Cooper scene, when Wayne and Garth are on the Wayne's World set, a Ouija board can be seen in the background on the set in one frame. Cooper was once rumored to have gotten his stage name from a Ouija board.
The building used for Cassandra's loft is directly across the street from the building used as the exterior of Gasworks.
Ed O'Neill had appeared in a Wayne World's sketch on Saturday Night Live: Ed O'Neill/Harry Connick Jr. (1990) but as a different character.
Garth showing the audience around Benjamin's apartment parodies Sir David Frost's panel show Through the Keyhole (1987).
Frankie Sharp's nickname, "Mr. Big", is a reference to the villain played by Joe Pesci in the Michael Jackson vehicle Moonwalker (1988). Frank DiLeo, who played Sharp, was Michael Jackson's manager from 1984 to 1989 and served as the film's executive director. Mr. Big's real name in the Moonwalker film is Frank LiDeo.
Dana Strum from the hair metal group Slaughter is often falsely credited as the guitar store clerk in the "No Stairway" scene.
This is the second film featuring Colleen Camp (Mrs. Vanderhoff) that has three alternate endings. She also played Yvette in Clue (1985) which has three different endings.
There are subtitles when Wayne speaks Cantonese. However, at one point he stops talking, and the subtitles keep coming (This is a play on foreign films where long streams of speech are accompanied by ridiculously minute, concise subtitles.)
Included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.
Robert Patrick reprises his role as the T-1000 in this film, which was filmed only ½ mile (¾Km) from where the T-1000 appeared in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Guns N' Roses wrote and performed the soundtrack to T2, and the studio wanted to use a Guns N' Roses track instead of "Bohemian Rhapsody", but Mike Myers fought for the inclusion of the Queen song. Myers even threatened to quit the production if he didn't get what he wanted, and eventually the studio gave in to his demand.
The scene where Wayne asks a random passenger of a Rolls-Royce for Grey Poupon is based off of an actual Grey Poupon commercial from the 1980s.
The film makes a few nods to Star Trek (1966). Garth whistles the theme tune when Wayne and Garth are lying on top of the Merth Mobile when they look up at the night sky. Garth quotes "We've been spotted and are being pulled in by her tractor beam." when Wayne and Garth are spotted by Stacey at a nightclub and Wayne compares Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) with the original series when drinking champagne at Benjaiman's apartment. Star Trek was produced and broadcast by Paramount which is the production company of the movie.
Although Mike Myers was 28 - 29 and Dana Carvey was 36 - 37 when the movie was in production. Wayne and Garth's ages weren't revealed in the movie and it is speculated that Wayne and Garth are both in their early 20s.
One of the songs that Cassandra's band performs at the end of the movie is "Ballroom Blitz". This was originally recorded and was a hit for the British glam rock band The Sweet. The song was re-recorded in the 1980s by the Swiss rock band Krokus.
Garth's question about Bugs Bunny dressed up as woman is Garth referring to What's Opera, Doc? (1957) which Bugs Bunny disguised himself as the beautiful Valkryie Brunhilde during an opera.
Included among the American Film Institute's 2004 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 America's Greatest Music in the Movies for the song "Bohemian Rhapsody."
The night ride scene fades out on a view of the Aurora Bank & Trust, a building supposedly in Aurora Illinois, the setting for the story. However, this building is not in Aurora Illinois, but in Covina California (200 North Citrus Ave). The bank name signs are apparently just movie props hung on the front and side of the building.
It's been considered that Garth Algar could be autistic. Some of his behaviors mimics parts of autism such as that he has difficulty picking on social cues. Struggles with social interactions. Avoids making eye contact with anyone (except the camera). Has a narrow range of interests and seems to have some motor and other developmental delays.
In the opening scene, Ione Skye's character's name is not said in dialogue. In the closing credits her character's name is revealed to be Elyse.
Phil, Alan, Davy, Dreamwoman, Stacey and Officer Koharski did not return for Wayne's World 2 (1993).
Wayne opening a door which shows spies training which Wayne says "I just always wanted to open a door to a room where people are being trained like in James Bond movies" foreshadows Mike Myers's spy spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) which is a parody of the James Bond films. Tia Carrere would later star in the spy flick True Lies (1994).
The building used for Cassandra's loft is located in Los Angeles, California, and is directly across the street from the building used as the exterior of Gasworks.
The games that Noah Vanderhoff have mentioned or featured from his local arcade are Capcom's Commando (1985), Midway's Ms. Pac-Man (1981), Namco's Pac-Man (1980), Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog: Mega-Tech (1991), and Vectorbeam's Warrior (1979). Vanderhoff also mentions non-arcade titles like Bungie's Operation: Desert Storm (1991), a PC-only game that is based on a real war beginning in 1/17/91 after Iraqi forces who had invaded neighboring Kuwait refused to withdraw. Lastly, there is also a title called "Zontar" which is a reference to an SCTV character played by John Candy.
When Cassandra walks offstage after finishing her band's cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire", she encounters two men that had just started fighting. One of the men is wearing a shirt that says "Hendrix", which could lead one to surmise the fight started because that man said "Hendrix did it better" or something to that effect.
When Garth shows us around Benjamin's apartment it's very like the British television series Through the Keyhole (1987). This might not be a coincidence since the format started as a sub-strand on TV-am's Good Morning Britain (1983), the same breakfast television company that also broadcast the Wide Awake Club (1984) children's show on which Mike Myers regularly appeared with Neil Mullarkey as "The Sound Asleep Club". Mullarkey later appeared in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997).
Brian Doyle-Murray (Noah Vanderhoff) and Mike Haggerty (Davy) both made guest appearances on Seinfeld shortly after doing Wayne's World. Doyle-Murray appeared in the "The Bubble Boy" in 1992 while Haggerty appeared in the "The Raincoats" in 1994.
When the movie premiered on TV2 in New Zealand in 1995, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen was briefly heard in the scene which Noah Vanderhoff meets with Benjamin and Russell to discuss with him about sponsoring Wayne's World. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is the song Wayne, Garth, Terry, Neil and Phil sing along to at the beginning of the movie.
Garth zapping the bully at the Gaswork heavy metal nightclub when the bully insults him and won't let him get pass him is a nod to the western genre which the cowboy shoots or beats up the local troublemaker when he insults him and attempts to bump him off.
The stun gun Garth zaps the bully with at the Gasworks almost resembles the Liberator handgun from the British science fiction series Blake's 7 (1978).
In the "I Will Not Bow To Any Sponsor" scene, the food and soft drink Wayne is seen eating and drinking are Pizza Hut. Doritos, Pepsi, and Nuprin.
Noah Vanderhoff mentions sponsoring 'The Love Boat.' Donna Dixon (Garth's 'Dreamwoman') played Dr. Jill McGraw on The Love Boat: The Expedition/Julie's Wedding/The Mongala/Julie's Replacement/The Three R's/The Professor's Wife: Part 1 (1981)/The Love Boat: The Expedition/Julie's Wedding/The Mongala/Julie's Replacement/The Three R's/The Professor's Wife: Part 2 (1981).
Wayne lives in Aurora, Illinois. Mike Myers (Wayne), used to live 43 kilometers away from Aurora, Ontario.
When Ron Paxton demonstrates the Suck Kut on Garth. Garth looks incredibly nervous and screams when Ron tries to cut Garth's long blonde hair. This hints that Garth may have a fear of having his haircut.
During the 2010-2011 television season, the ABC network had 3 back-to-back sitcoms on Wednesday nights featuring 'Wayne's World' alumni in starring or recurring roles. At 8 PM aired The Middle (2009) with Brian Doyle-Murray (Noah Vanderhoff) as Mr. Ehlert. At 8:30 PM aired Better with You (2010) with Kurt Fuller (Russell Finley) as Joel Putney. At 9 PM aired Modern Family (2009) with Ed O'Neill (Glen the Manager) as Jay Pritchett.