Josh Gad's epic Wayne's World reunion includes Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Aerosmith, Cooper, Queen, and more
After nine months in lockdown, the words “Zoom reunion” come with a certain exhaustion. The charm of charitable table reads and Q&As has faded, especially since many of these gatherings are, even in lockdown, missing key players. Not so with Josh Gad’s Reunited Apart series, the gold standard in this strange new artform.
In the early days of the pandemic, Gad’s Ghosbusters, Ferris Bueller, Back To The Future, and Splash gatherings brought together elusive A-listers like Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, and Christopher Lloyd with the movies’ minor characters and behind-the-scenes talent. As good as those reunions were, though, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be able to top his latest. To help raised money for the First Responders Children’s Foundation, Gad’s staged a virtual Wayne’s World reunion featuring everyone from stars Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, and Tia Carrere to Alice Cooper, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, and Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor. Director Penelope Spheeris is also on hand, as are a slew of producers and supporting cast members like Ed O’Neill, Lara Flynn Boyle, Lee Tergesen, Mike Hagerty, Ione Skye, Colleen Camp, and Charles “Suck Cut” Noland. (Yes, it would’ve be great to see Kurt Fuller and Brian Doyle Murray, but you can’t get ‘em all.) Judd Apatow even swings by for a trivia session. Truly nuts.
There’s plenty of memorable moments. It begins with Perry and Tyler evoking Cooper’s cameo and ends with Carrere reprising her performance of “Ballroom Blitz.” In between, Myers reflects on learning Cantonese, Spheeris reveals why she would never have used a Guns N’ Roses song in the film, and Carvey details his intentions with that twitching robot hand. Tergesen, meanwhile, remembers going to his audition straight from prison (real prison, not Oz prison). In a touching moment, Myers learns (apparently for the first time) that Freddie Mercury saw the film and approved of its use of “Bohemian Rhapsody” before passing in 1991.
This is apparently the first in a second season of Gad’s series, making us curious what other reunions he’s got up his sleeve. Home Alone, mayhaps? Can he get Pesci? At this point we wouldn’t put it past him.
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