World-famous Canadian actor and comedian Mike Myers is bringing his “Elbows Up Comedy Tour” to the Peterborough Memorial Centre this summer.
According to a media release from entertainment agency Polaris Floyd, the new show will be “a love letter to Canada from proud Canadians, whether we live there or not.”
“There’s nobody more Canadian than a Canadian who no longer lives in Canada,” Myers — a dual Canadian and American citizen — told CBC in 2018.
Myers will perform some of his iconic characters from Wayne’s World, Austin Powers, and Saturday Night Live — including his recent portrayal of billionaire Elon Musk as U.S. President Donald Trump’s right-hand man.
“At each show, Mike will also be bringing along a selection of famous Canada-born comedians and comic actors including Jim Carrey, Dave Foley, Rick Moranis, Dan Levy and his father Eugene, Catherine O’Hara, Russell Peters, Mark McKinney, and more,” reads the release.
While the Peterborough Memorial Centre is listed as one of the 15 stops on the summer tour, the actual date and line-up of each show is still to be announced.
The name of the tour is a reference to Saskatchewan-born hockey legend Gordie Howe’s favourite method of retribution when slashed on the ice by another player. It has become a rallying cry for Canadians in response to punishing and unjustified tariffs imposed by Trump on Canadian exports and the U.S. President’s repeated comments about Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state.
When Myers appeared as Elon Musk on Saturday Night Live, during the end credits he mouthed the phrase “elbows up” while pointing to his elbow and also displayed a “Canada Is Not For Sale” shirt.
“Mike has named his tour Elbows Up because he stands with his fellow Canadians and because he is a huge hockey fan,” publicist Flora Dalipsoy from Polaris Floyd told kawarthaNOW.
Born in 1963 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough (from where his Wayne’s World character originated), Myers’ continued passion for the Toronto Maple Leafs is well known. He even named two characters in his Austin Powers films after Maple Leafs players: Commander Gilmour was named after Doug Gilmour, and the dog Borschevsky was named after former Maple Leafs player Nikolai Borschevsky.
When asked why Peterborough was chosen as one of the 15 stops on the tour, Dalipsoy told kawarthaNOW that Myers specifically requested it.
“Peterborough is a hockey town and Mike has some fond memories of the area,” she said, but declined to provide further details.
It’s likely that the comment is a reference to the Haliburton Highlands, which Myers visited in the early 2000s and where he was rumoured to own property.
In a 2004 interview with late night TV host Conan O’Brien, Myers spoke about visiting Kosy Korner and McKeck’s Tap & Grill, both in Haliburton. The latter was owned and operated from 1986 to 2009 by former NHLer Walt McKechnie, who is currently deputy mayor for the Municipality of Dysart et al in Haliburton County.
During the interview, O’Brien showed the audience a copy of the Haliburton Echo with a feature photo of Myers wearing an elf hat while visiting Kozy Korner.
More recently, Myers entered into Canadian politics by endorsing Mark Carney as Canada’s next prime minister and appearing in two campaign ads.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re waiting until the summer for the tour,” Dalipsoy noted. “But Mike will go ahead with the tour regardless of the results of the election. This is about bringing Canadians together no matter who becomes prime minister.”
When pressed for details about when tickets will go on sale, Dalipsoy provided some further clarity.
“They won’t, because I’m not actually a real person and this is an April Fool’s Day prank.”
We did consider skipping an April Fool’s Day story this year, with the unreal state of the world and with many area residents (including kawarthaNOW) still dealing with the aftermath of the weekend ice storm, but then we thought people might appreciate a laugh. Did you know that both “Polaris Floyd” and “Flora Dalipsoy” are anagrams for April Fool’s Day? ChatGPT can come in useful.
Here are our April Fool’s stories from the past seven years:
- 2024 – Peterborough native will pilot first commercial jet to chase the moon’s shadow during the total solar eclipse
- 2023 – Dockside pizza drone delivery service coming to Kawartha Lakes and Peterborough County this summer
- 2022 – Quaker Oats announces ‘The Official Scent of Peterborough’ plug-in air freshener
- 2021 – Residents of the Kawarthas report multiple sightings of a giant beaver
- 2020 – Does Canada really need a ‘Protection Of Our Paper’ (POOP) Act? (remember the toilet paper shortages of the early pandemic?)
- 2019 – CBS reality TV series ‘Survivor’ may be coming to Algonquin Park (our most popular April Fool’s story with almost 20K shares)
- 2018 – Kawartha Kangaroos kept on hopping through the winter (our first April Fool’s story and still our favourite)
