austin powers

It was groovy, baby. Chase Hofer woke up one day and decided to hire an Austin Powers impersonator to just, well, come over. And that he did, creating a brilliantly funny and equally awkward exchange between two guys just hanging in an apartment. (Albeit one of them was dressed head to toe as the infamous English ladies' man.)

For those unfamiliar with the Austin Powers franchise, comedian Mike Myers created and played the character in a series of three films directed by Jay Roach. The gist was that Powers is a British international spy who loved crushed velvet suits and "shagging" and wasn't ashamed of either. The purposely cringe-heavy dialogue created hours of fun, and the '60s spy satire was blatant.

In the clip, Hofer opens the door to find "Austin Powers" (as played by actual impersonator Richard Halpern) dressed in his trademark blue velour suit, frilly white shirt, and thick black glasses. They shake hands, and Halpern immediately says, "You must be Chase, baby! What a grip you have. You must live alone!" They laugh uproariously.

Halpern asks, "So what do you want me to do? Like what I would do at a party?" He then begins laughing maniacally, pacing and yelling out some of his catchphrases—most notably, "Oh, BEHAVE." After turning to his smartphone, he remembers a line that would only work if looking at a woman's chest area: "Oh, you make a lovely couple." This lands awkwardly, as he tries to explain that it's a "boobie" reference. Hofer assures him he got it, though it's a "different time."

From there, the awkwardness just gets better. Halpern is now lounging on the couch. Hofer asks, "Did you watch the Super Bowl?" He answers, "Oh yeah, yeah sure I did." Hofer follows this up with, "Are you more of a soccer guy since… U.K.?" He yells, "Soccer, I don't even know her!" Hofer attempts to feign a laugh, but it putters out pretty quickly.

The room is incredibly quiet for a bit, followed by a little more forced banter. The clip ends with the two of them watching a rap performance on TV in complete silence.

The comments on both Hofer's TikTok and Instagram page are also truly observant and funny. One points out the commitment to the bit: "Dude has the car and everything."

Austin Powers impersonator arrives at Chase Hofer's apartment.Photo Credit: Kenneth Webb, TikTok

Another jokes, "When the Austin Powers impersonator thinks YOU'RE the weirdo."

On Instagram, a person references the rap performance they're watching, noting, "The 2016 XXL freshman cypher at the end is pure gold. PURE GOLD."

Upworthy had a chance to chat with Hofer, who shares how the idea sparked. "I came up with the idea after doing it with a magician! The magician was a friend of mine. So I thought it would be great to do it with this Austin Powers impersonator that my friends have worked with."

Said aforementioned impersonator has been playing Austin Powers for ages. "Austin was played by this man on Instagram known as 'Austin Powers Impersonator.' He's been doing this professionally for more than 25 years."

(Note: On Richard Halpern's Instagram page, he lets it be known that he's L.A.-based and "ready for YOUR event.")

We asked if Halpern had been given a heads up. "Basically, I gave him the rundown that it'd just be us two, and then I rolled non-stop for 30 minutes. So it was basically all improv."

As for Myers himself, Hofer is a fan. "I have not met Mike Myers! Big fan though. I felt like I was watching him a couple of days ago!"

As popular as this clip has become, some wonder if this cringe humor would be too much for younger generations. On the Reddit thread, "Does Generation Z enjoy the Austin Powers movies or find them offensive and outdated?" the OP writes, "I recently watched Austin Powers with my nephew. He found half of it funny, but the other half he didn't really get. Some jokes he thought were racist and not funny. This made me wonder, Gen Z, do you like these movies, or do you find them offensive and outdated?"

The OP adds, "Personally, I found these movies really funny. I love that Mike Myers has the laugh-per-minute dialed up in these movies. There's constant jokes… nonstop jokes. Definitely some of the jokes lost their luster from when I was 19 years old. But the jokes are still there."

A scene from Goldmember, part of the Austin Powers series. www.youtube.com, Nizzinny, Newline Cinema

This thread received nearly 3,000 comments. One Redditor wasn't bothered at all, noting that being offensive is the POINT. "That seems funny to me because Austin Powers is a direct parody of the old Bond movies, so the overt sexual and offensive jokes are part of the satire."

Another points out that it's all relative, writing, "The weird thing is that despite Austin being a complete and total horndog, he's also weirdly more respectful than a lot of characters at the time or since. There's a scene in one of the movies (I can't remember which one) where the female co-lead is finally willing to sleep with him after he's been unsuccessfully hitting on her most of the movie, and he respectfully turns her down because she's drunk as a skunk and he has the decency to not take advantage of someone who's inebriated and thus can't consent."

Perhaps Dr. Evil (also played by Myers in the Austin Powers films) said it best when he pointed out in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery: "I've been frozen for thirty years, okay?"