Adam McKay

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Adam McKay
McKay (right) performing with David Koechner (left) on stage in Chicago
Born	(1968-04-17) April 17, 1968 (age 44) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation	Screenwriter, director, comedian, actor
Nationality	American
Period	1986–present
Notable work(s)	Anchorman Talladega Nights The Other Guys
Spouse(s)	Shira Piven (m.1996)

Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. McKay is most famous for his partnership with comedian Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die through their production company Gary Sanchez Productions.

Early life

McKay was born in Long Island, New York, graduated from Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, in 1986, and attended Penn State and Temple universities. He is one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy group and a former performer at Chicago's Improv Olympic, where he was a member of the improv group, The Family, whose members included Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Neil Flynn, Miles Stroth, and Ali Farahnakian, and Child's Play Touring Theatre. While a member of the mainstage cast at Second City, he wrote and performed in that company's landmark revue, Pinata Full of Bees. In several politically charged sketches, McKay played characters like Noam Chomsky as a substitute kindergarten teacher, and a hapless personnel manager trying to inform a corporate vice president (Scott Adsit) of some disastrous IQ test results without losing his own job. The latter performance was excerpted in Second City's 40th anniversary compilation.

Career

McKay originally auditioned for Saturday Night Live to be an onscreen performer, but did not make the cut. However, the scripts he submitted to the long-running sketch show earned him a job as writer from 1995 to 2001, including three seasons as head writer. He also directed a number of short films for the show, including the original SNL Digital Shorts. McKay encouraged his Second City idol Tina Fey to submit some of her scripts to Saturday Night Live, and she later succeeded him as head writer on the show. Though McKay was never an actual SNL cast member, he did make several on-camera appearances over the years and had a recurring role as an obnoxious audience member named "Keith" who would often shout insults at the celebrity hosts during their opening monologue.

McKay was claimed to have been the main reason Jim Breuer was cut from SNL. In an interview on The Howard Stern Show on June 7, 2010^[1], Breuer told the story of a Godzilla sketch with Tracy Morgan that resulted, Breuer claimed, in McKay becoming jealous of his talent. McKay allegedly used his influence to try repeatedly to kill the Breuer/Morgan Godzilla sketch for the live show. Breuer said that he finally quit in disgust over McKay using his influence as head writer to attempt to get Breuer out the door.

After leaving SNL, McKay teamed up with comedian Will Ferrell to write the comedy films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. In April 2007, Ferrell and McKay launched the user-submitted comedy video site Funny or Die. A video on the site, titled The Landlord^[2] features both him and his young daughter, Pearl, whom Ferrell and his wife bait to say curse words. Pearl also starred in a second video titled "Good Cop, Baby Cop". Ferrell and McKay co-produce the HBO series Eastbound & Down.^[3] He directed and co-wrote with Ferrell the George W. Bush Broadway show, You're Welcome America. He is producing the horror-comedy film Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.^[4]

Filmography

References

External links

• Adam McKay at the Internet Movie Database
• The official Upright Citizens Brigade Theater website