Last Night on Late Night

Fired Trump Official Dr. Evil Announces His Own Presidential Bid on Tonight

Because at this point, why not bring back Mike Myers as his most beloved Austin Powers character?

On Wednesday night, Jimmy Fallon landed the exclusive of a lifetime: an interview with a recently fired member of Donald Trump’s White House team. The subject? Dr. Evil.

Yep: for the first time since a 2014 Saturday Night Live appearance, Mike Myers resurrected his delightfully diabolical Austin Powers character—who, naturally, had a job working under the president until recently. What job, specifically, did Dr. Evil hold within Trump’s Cabinet? “Naturally, I was going to be secretary of evil . . . but Steve Bannon got that job,” Myers told Fallon. And apparently even with Bannon gone, the job never went to him; as the supervillain explained, “I was more of an ideas guy, really.”

“The wall, that was all me,” he said. “But I wanted it to be a moat filled with spiky blowfish. And I didn’t want the Mexicans to pay for it; I wanted Alec Baldwin to pay for it.” One idea that didn’t come from Dr. Evil? Deporting DACA recipients: “Even I have my limits,” Dr. Evil said. “I’m evil, but I’m no monster.”

Farcical interviews and appearances from Trump Cabinet members have become a popular way for late-night hosts to razz the president, although they usually involve actors portraying real-life members of Trump’s inner circle—like Laura Benanti playing Melania Trump on The Late Show, or Jo Firestone, whose Betsy DeVos impression became a Tonight Show staple last year. The jokes in these bits tend to be less cutting than more straightforward monologue jokes. But when executed properly, they can be another entertaining tool in a comedian’s arsenal—as demonstrated by Fallon and Myers, both clearly getting a kick out of their bit on Wednesday night. On Tuesday night, Kathy Griffin joined the game as Kellyanne Conway on The President Show’s hour-long telethon special; perhaps more relevantly, Myers’s fellow S.N.L. alum and Wayne’s World co-star Dana Carvey played a seriously unhinged John Bolton on Late Show last week.

So, what’s next for Dr. Evil now that he’s been “fired”? A tell-all book, of course, titled Fire and Fury and Also Evil and More Fire and Also Magma Too. Oh, and a 2020 presidential bid alongside running mate Mark Zuckerberg—with the campaign slogan “Make the World Evil Again.” Some might say the ship has sailed for that slogan, but hey, it’s worth a shot.