"Guru Pitka," International Man of Enlightenment

What if a spiritual leader such as Deepak Chopra was channeled through the completely politically incorrect energy of a very famous comedian? You’d get a character named Guru Pitka, and Paramount Pictures would want to make a feature film about him.

Guru Pitka is the invention of “Austin Powers” star Mike Myers, who has taken to showing up at comedy clubs in the persona of an inappropriately touchy-feely guru offering “love seminars.” Presumably, much of the material from this routine--which he calls "Mike Myers' Padsana on Human Potentiality and Equipoise by His Holiness the Guru Pitka"--will make it into the film’s script, in much the way “Austin Powers” also developed from stage to screen. In fact, Guru Pitka was a part of the original “Austin Powers” script and was taken out because of the controversial nature of the character’s spirituality. Myers said in an interview that “Guru Pitka was, in some people's eyes, racially disturbing. It was a funny part, but it offended many Indians and I did not want a negative thing around Austin Powers.”

Maybe Myers doesn’t understand the obvious difference between mocking a generation's bad fashion and hairstyle choices and mocking someone’s religion, but I am guessing the response to the new guru in his life might be less than groovy, baby.