MIKE & DANA’S WORLD : ‘Saturday Night Live’ Pair Takes Way Cool Act on the Road

“Saturday Night Live” has been spawning hip catch phrases since the days of John Belushi and “No Coke; Pepsi.”

Now, a litany of twisted teen-speak is on the lips of in-the-know fans of “Wayne’s World,” “SNL’s” fictional public access cable show broadcast from the basement of a suburban home in Aurora, Ill.

Host Wayne Campbell--a long-haired, guitar-playing teen played by Mike Myers--and zoned-out sidekick Garth (Dana Carvey) draw from a vocabulary that includes such gems as “babe-ticious” for good-looking, “spewing” or “hurling” for regurgitating, “bonus” for good and a host of insults with the root word “sphincter” (examples: “sphinctitious,” or the put-down, “I see you dabble in the ways of the sphincter”).

A little bit of “Wayne’s World” comes to Anaheim’s Celebrity Theatre on Friday, Aug. 10, as Carvey and Myers take their act out of the TV studio and on the road. The pair will perform separate sets before joining for a “Wayne’s World” encore.

“ ‘Wayne’s World’ to me is the generic suburban heavy metal experience,” says Myers, the skit’s creator. “It’s everybody I grew up with in the suburbs of Toronto.”

Everybody, that is, with his own cable TV show and such guest stars as Aerosmith, Bruce Willis and Wayne Gretzky. It’s an odd concept, Myers agrees, but one that has somehow caught on in that unexplainable, “SNL” way.

“It’s very flattering and very exciting” to know that a legion of fans is faithfully quoting Wayne and Garth the same way he once quoted Belushi, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, says Myers, 27.

“I’ve always wanted to be on the show since I was 11. I still get a chill when I see myself in the opening montage.”

Carvey, for his part, wrote his own chapter in the “SNL” lexicon with the Church Lady (“Isn’t that special”) and, among a host of other characters, can lay claim to the world’s deadliest impersonation of President Bush.

While Myers says he can’t quite predict whether a skit or character will take off and find a niche in the national consciousness (he claims surprise at the success of “Wayne’s World”), Carvey has been on the show long enough to at least have a sense of it.

“I think that something very specific and memorable that’s repeated a lot doesn’t hurt,” Carvey says. He prefers bits that work on a variety of levels: “I like stuff that’s funny with the sound on or the sound off.”

In practical terms, Carvey makes little distinction between his fictional characters and those inspired by real people--between, say, Bush and the Church Lady. “I think the line between the two is pretty narrow for me,” he says.

His Bush impression, for instance, is less an exact impersonation than a distillation of certain traits. “I try to abstract him and get to the essence of him,” says Carvey, breaking into a suppressed half-snicker that, if it isn’t exactly how Bush laughs, is at least how he oughta laugh. “I think that’s how he feels and how he wants to laugh,” Carvey explained.

Carvey’s fictional characters, likewise, are sparked by traits observed in real people rather than by office-bound brainstorming: “I’m not at the word processor in the morning thinking, ‘hmmmm . . . religious lady, uptight.’ ”

Myers also finds his inspiration in real people. Wayne Campbell, for instance, is rooted in Myers’ own heavy-metal Toronto adolescence. Another of his popular characters--Dieter, host of the ultra-avant-garde talk show “Sprockets”--was inspired by a friend from Toronto’s artist community, a German-born waiter with a taste for U.S. pop culture.

“Dieter was fascinated with North Americana in a sort of Andy Warhol sense,” Myers says. “He could go on and on about the deeper significance of “F Troop” or “Green Acres” and developed a mania for trading hockey cards.”

And just how do you sell a concept like “Sprockets” to the “SNL” hierarchy? “That’s the beauty of the show,” Myers says. “If it gets through read-through on Wednesday, it has a chance to be on the air Saturday.

“It’s video gluttony to be on the show. It’s a great gig.”

Carvey started his career with a character-based comedy stand-up act and is enjoying the chance to return to his roots. With “SNL” in hiatus until September, Carvey has been touring the country with the stage act, sometimes joined by Myers.

“It’s just a lot, lot freer,” Carvey says of his live show. “The TV show is so structured. On stage, if they like something, I can just keep going. . . . It’s complete freedom, and it’s good for me.”

Friday’s audience can expect new material along with Carvey’s familiar “SNL” characters. “It’s not really traditional monologist-type stuff,” says Carvey, who explains that he works by exploring attitudes and observations through characters--”some named and some unnamed.”

While audiences have been receptive to the new material, “there’s always a bigger rush when they see something they know from the show,” he admits. “It’s kind of like having a hit record.”

The cherished freedom of the stage is the opposite of the highly structured corporate world of movies, which Carvey tasted last summer while making his first star vehicle, “Opportunity Knocks.” The film was panned by critics and largely ignored by audiences.

“The movie forced me back into touring,” Carvey jokes. He had signed on to do a second feature, titled “Beverly Hills Ninja,” but backed out after the “Opportunity Knocks” experience.

“I wasn’t willing to do it for any amount of money, and believe me it was a fortune,” Carvey says. “Unless I get more control over my work in that arena, I won’t do it. I’d rather do a puppet show.”

Myers will open the Celebrity show with “a couple of characters” before giving way to headliner Carvey. “I’m sort of the backup band for Dana,” says Myers, who has never performed solo stand-up before but did spend several years with the famed Second City comedy troupe. (Myers was hired the day he graduated from high school.)

He would like to follow in the footsteps of SNL graduates he idolized as a child and someday step into a film career, but he’s more than willing to wait until the time is right. “That’s down the line,” he says. “Right now, I’m really happy to be where I am.”

Who

Dana Carvey and Mike Myers.

When

Friday, Aug. 10, 8 p.m.

Where

The Celebrity Theatre, 201 E. Broadway, Anaheim.

Whereabouts

Harbor Boulevard south from the Riverside Freeway or north from the Santa Ana Freeway. East on Broadway. The Celebrity is on the left, just past Anaheim Boulevard.

Wherewithal

$21.50.

Where to call

(714) 999-9536.