When Everyday Is Halloween

by Michael Edgar Myers, Founding Director

"I bet you get a lot of crap about your name!” mused the car rental clerk while typing my driver’s license number.

There ARE ironies about my name. It’s not just that Michael Myers the fictional slasher killer is spelled exactly the same as mine — with one E — instead of the usual misspelling of MEYers. There’s confusion with the other guy. The human with the mini-me nomenclature — Mike Myers of “Saturday Night Live,” “Austin Powers,” and the rest. In many ways this reality has been nightmarish since we both arrived at The Second City theater in Chicago in the late ‘80s, are both SAG-AFTRA members, and have mutual acquaintances. All of which lead to lukewarm introductions, like, “I thought you were Mike Myers, the actor.”

When she eventually looked into my face, my countenance did not resemble my smiling mugshot, but the eerie visage of a movie character who begin haunting Jamie Lee Curtis in a 1978, and subsequently me in real life encounters as this for the last 40 years. I have special responses for those who check my ID in travel.

“I AM Mike Myers the actor,” I explain.

“I mean, you know...” She flushed, staring into my stoic Buster Keaton.

Whether instigated by Austin Powers, The Slasher Killer, or my own insecurities, being me hasn’t been easy. I’ve often wondered about my identity. I cope by creating my own fun. The car rental clerk’s face responding to my deadpan? I howled.

Visit The Blog: MEMos from Michael Edgar Myers -- https://myersplacemedia.wordpress.com/about/

Each October when there’s a Michael Myers “Halloween” bingefest or, better yet, another sequel (including this month, a Jamie Lee reprisal) , I’m tempted to make guest appearances and bag scads of candy from children fleeing my house. Yet, my skewed sense of self has created other opportunities.

Here’s an idea for you and your family: spend time this month reading scriptures referencing The Holy Spirit or, in the King James, “the Holy Ghost.” Read them aloud. Tell us what you discover.

The purpose is to help you see what I’ve discovered: it’s easier to take a lot of crap about your name when your identity is in Him first instead of you. I take 2 Corinthians 5:17 to heart. On the other hand, my name really causes kids to behave when I’m teaching. So why does Jamie Lee keep blocking my calls?