Here's an interesting fact for you - Mike Myers hasn't been the central star of a film since 2008. That's almost ten years ago.

The Love Guru, which has a Metacritic rating of 24%, was Myers' last on-screen leading role. He did have a brief appearance in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, but he's been most living off that mountain of Shrek money since then. In fact, IMDb has Myers' last official credit in a feature-length film was in 2010.

Why is that, you might ask? Well, The Love Guru really was awful and maybe Myers just didn't need the work anymore. It could be that the type of comedy he worked in just wasn't right for its time. At any rate, Myers is now ready to return to the mainstream - albeit in a very different way.

The Gong Show was essentially a precursor to the likes of Britain / America / Denmark / The Ninth Circle Of Hell / Wherever's Got Talent, wherein celebrity judges would bang a gong whenever they were tired of an act. It all ran during the '70s and was hosted by Chuck Barris, who later claimed he was a contract killer for the CIA. Yeah, really. George Clooney made a film about it called Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind.

Anyway, ABC is bringing back The Gong Show with Will Arnett involved as a producer and a British comedian called "Tommy Maitland" hosting the show. By all accounts, "Tommy Maitland" is an elaborate character designed by Myers, but the show itself is pretty serious.

Zach Galifinakis, Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie, Andy Samberg, Joel McHale, Will Forte, Jack Black and many others are all lined up to appear as judges on the show, which kicks off on June 22nd. As for Mike Myers, he's even giving interviews in character and even Will Arnett is speaking about him as if he's real.

According to Arnett, he discovered Maitland "in the U.K. while traveling as a teenager. He was so funny and original. I had the good fortune to cross paths with Tommy a few years ago and ever since we've talked about working together."

Whether the whole schtick works or not remains to be seen, but all will be revealed in a couple of months' time.

 

Via THR